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Re: M_Boats: Refurbishing M-15 trailer
by Steve R 06 Feb '02

06 Feb '02

--- Conbert H Benneck <chbenneck(a)juno.com> wrote: {in part} > I totally rebuilt a trailer for a ComPac16. ... > > I then bought a good hacksaw ... > > I was ... away from my shop.... > > Don't bother trying to undo rusted fittings. .... > > Just cut and be done with it. .... The most useful power tool I have bought is a reciprocating saw. I think I have a "Tiger" by Porter Cable. It was the cheapest one in the store. With a metal blade it will slice through bolts like butter. Very handy around the house - and boat. Steve R. M-15 #119 Lexington, KY

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Gloucester 19?
by BOGO441＠aol.com 06 Feb '02

06 Feb '02

Anyone know anything about a Gloucester 19? It was made in the '80's and I'm looking at possibly buying one. (My preference is for an M-17, but this one fits more within my price range.) Thanks for any info.

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Re: M_Boats: Refurbishing M-15 trailer
by Conbert H Benneck 06 Feb '02

06 Feb '02

Hi David, Rebuilding a trailer is easy if, ......you have some tools; ....some mechanical know-how; .....and some time. I totally rebuilt a trailer for a ComPac16. Everything was rusted out: wheel rims; springs; axle, ..... As a neophite at trailer rebuilding at that time, my first step was to find some Know-How, which I found in the excellent GLEN L book - on how to build a trailer. Get one, and it will answer just about every question you might have. With that book as my guide I then bought a good hacksaw (I was in Florida when I bought the ComPac and away from my own shop and equipment). You need this to cut through the "U" bolts holding the axle: to cut off the bolts holding the springs in place; and whatever else has to be removed. Don't bother trying to undo rusted fittings. Just cut and be done with it. You're not going to be reusing those parts. With things taken apart, I took the axle to a trailer shop where they rebuilt it. They installed new stub axles on the axle tube; put in new bearings; and new wheel hubs. I bought the necessary hardware for mounting it all in place again: springs; bolts; "U" bolts - and a new wiring harness, and lights. I bought new rims and new tires. Removing the rusted bolts is the hard part. Assembling the new equipment is the easy part. I painted the trailer white, using Rustoleum primer and paint (white so that you can see it more easily in murky water when loading the boat on the trailer) The paint has stood up very well, though it's main use has been in fresh water lakes. ------------- On my M15 Trailrite trailer, the axle tube was severely rusted when I bought it,so I had my local trailer shop weld in a new tube after bringing the boat back to Connecticut from Florida. I put on new rims; new tires; and added new wiring. (This adds to peace of mind while trailering - you KNOW everything is in first class condition) This past summer I built a plastic pipe guide for the keel - see M archives for pictures and details - which makes retrieving the boat a lot easier since you are forcing the keel to be centered over the keel rollers. Side winds might pivot the boat a bit, but as soon as you start winching it in, the keel guides force the boat to stay in the proper position. It's a modification I highly recommend: makes retrieving easy under all conditions. My M15 has a winch strap eye in the bow fitting where you fasten your forestay. The winch strap hook goes into the bow eye. The winch strap pulls in a straight line, with the winch bolted to the vertical tube which doubles as the forward mast support (64" - height of tube from the trailer frame). A rubber "Vee" block is bolted to the top of the tube which holds the mast. Connie M15 #400 LEPPO ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.

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Re: M_Boats: Rendezvous in NC?
by Conbert H Benneck 06 Feb '02

06 Feb '02

Ken, You are so right! When I see what I do now, I wonder where I ever found 40 to 50 hours a week to work in my profession, when I was gainfully employed. Connie ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.

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RE: M_Boats: Trailer Refurb
by Morris, Giles 06 Feb '02

06 Feb '02

OK... I went through the archives and found where I'd written about getting my trailer refinished. The coating seems to be holding up reasonably well, no complaints so far although I would still have preferred galvanizing. If you would like to know anything that's not in the old description, just let me know. Best, Giles -----Original Message----- From: Harvey Hochstetter [mailto:LoHHochs@ihc.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2002 6:13 AM To: Montgomery_boats(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: RE: M_Boats: Trailer Refurb Giles, PELICAN's trailer needs a serious going over and I was considering sanding and painting. Haven't gotten into the details yet, but it sounds like a fair amount of work ( besides doing something with the boat in order to get to the trailer.) I'm curious about the "powder coating" that you mentioned. How long have you had it and how durable is it? Is it a process you did yourself or was it something that you had to take in to a shop? If so, what type of shop..... auto body, marine, paintshop or something else? Thanks for the response. Harvey & Deena M-15 #348 PELICAN Walla Walla, WA ***************Start of old post from archives**************************8 From: "Morris, Giles" <MorrisG(a)federal.unisys.com> Subject: M_Boats: Umiaq Has a New Trailer (Sort of) Date: 16 Feb 1998 14:52:00 -0500 Until I bought her, Umiaq had been used primarily in fresh water. This meant that the Trail Rite trailer, although fifteen years old, was in pretty good condition. Living near the Chesapeake Bay, I have every intention of making life hard on the trailer by dunking it in salt water as often as possible. So it was that, a few days after getting back from a trip to Florida with Umiaq, I was in my driveway with the idea of inspecting the trailer to make sure that it wasn't going to fall apart this coming summer. Aesthetically, the trailer could best have been described as functional (it isn't only dogs who look like their owners) but the overall condition was encouraging. The frame itself was excellent for the most part - probably because it has no enclosed box sections. The wheels were new, and the grease from the leaking seals ensured that they weren't going to corrode. The wooden parts were another matter: Although still in the right place the side guides and the V-shaped keel guide just behind the rear roller had seen better days, and the carpet on the side guides would have been an insult to a parrot cage. The bunks were ok, but the high-friction carpet on them was sometimes making life difficult at the ramp. It looked like the trailer would easily last a couple of seasons without doing anything to it, so I did the obvious thing. A few minutes later I was jacking up Umiaq's keel preparatory to pulling the trailer out from underneath her. Tools available were a hydraulic bottle jack and timbers. A landscaping timber formed blocks for the keel to rest on, and two by fours took care of the rest. This was to be a solo effort because my son is much too young to be scampering around under half a ton of boat and my wife is much too smart to get involved with this sort of thing. My mother was visiting, and is usually game for this sort of thing ("I'll distract it while you grab it and slip the muzzle on - watch out for the tail"), but even I have some shame About an hour's work found me wondering why the trailer was still stuck to the boat. I lost count of the number of times that I checked every place where the hull was even close to the trailer. Eventually I noticed that the mast was still firmly tied to the trailer at one end and the boat at the other. Bingo! A few minutes later, the trailer rolled out free, and Umiaq was sitting proudly on blocks. But not for long. Before I could even stop the trailer moving, there was a "creak". Uh, Oh! "Creak". Doesn't sound good. "CREAK". Oh, no! The temporary props were too far back on the hull, and one of them was moving slowly. Quandary: Do I go and hold the timbers, knowing that the worst that can happen is that I break the hull's fall, or do I keep out of the way. "Rumble, bump". Option B, by default. To make the best of it, I decided that I would not worry about the damage that I'd just done until I got the boat back on the trailer. And the good side was that when my new centerboard arrived it would be easier to fit it (see "Umiaq Has a New Centerboard"). The rest of the afternoon was spent in reducing the trailer to its component parts. Here's what I found (remember, this trailer is about fifteen years old and may not have seen salt water until this year): All of the wood (bunks, side pieces, keel guide) were significantly deteriorated. All of the fasteners holding the wood had corroded - some of them almost to nothing. Many bolts had their nuts corroded solid with them and a bolt cutter was extremely useful at this point. The wiring was in such poor condition that it was a miracle it worked. Two of the six plates at the tops of the bunk board supports were rusted paper thin. The lights should have fallen off long ago. Apart from that, things were in good functional condition, although the original paint was falling off in many places. The hubs were absolutely free of water inside and showed no wear at all, which may well be a result of the bearing buddies. The ensuing work lasted several weeks and involved two outside contractors. First I took the trailer to a welder and had all six of the bunk board supports replaced. I also had him remove the single (permanently attached) safety chain and put on two loops for new chains. I also had him add loops for the hold-down strap that had previously been kind of jammed into a convenient hole. In addition, I had him remove a skid that prevented me from fitting a tongue extension (I'll write about that when I find out whether it works). I made quite a few phone calls about a new surface finish. My initial plan was to get the trailer sandblasted and hot-dip galvanized, but two problems prevented this. The first was return on investment. The only galvanizer I could find to do it wanted nearly eight hundred dollars, and this seemed rather a lot. The other problem was that I had to arrange for it to be sandblasted just before galvanizing, and this turned out to be really hard. Most sandblasters around here seem to want to do only buildings or small metal parts. I phoned every one in the Yellow Pages. Some were helpful, some were insulting, but most were just uninterested. Now what? It turned out that I could rent a sandblasting machine and, although not exactly fun, could expect to do the whole thing in a day. But the machine was too big to carry in a car - I needed a truck to carry it. Well, call me chicken but I opted out. There was one company that would clean to bare metal and apply a powder coat finish for under five hundred dollars. They and their work looked good, and a few days later I was in their parking lot one misty, moisty morning removing the axle, springs, wheels, hubs etc. "It'll be done in ten days", they said (it wasn't, but I didn't really believe them anyway so no harm done). Meanwhile, I was in my basement making new wooden parts. I used preservative treated lumber and stainless steel nuts, bolts and fittings. This was an easy but long task that involved duplicating the shapes of the old wood and bolting them together. All of the lighting and accessories were new. I decided to change the bunk board surface to Ultra-High Molecular Weight (UHMW) plastic. Somebody in the Potter group has recorded frustration with trying to bend the stuff, so I tried a different approach - I bought it thick enough to countersink and screwed a flat plate of it to each board. This didn't cost too much more than carpeting at well under $40 for two six-foot bunks. At the same time I sent an order to Champion Trailers (www.championtrailers.com) for new springs, bushings, U-bolts etc. Everything that was available in stainless steel, I bought stainless steel. Other pieces were bought locally at Boat/US or West Marine. I was initially planning on using new hubs, but after looking at prices for new ones I decided to fit new bearings to the old ones. (The cups were so tight that it took a professional mechanic friend over an hour to replace them). Considering that an idler hub is basically a lump of metal with a hole in it, new hubs would probably have been a waste of money. Eventually, the trailer frame was ready (one day under three weeks) and I was fortunate enough to be able to assemble it for the road in the finisher's warehouse. He even supplied an assistant to help me. The assistant was a little stand-offish at first, but after about an hour he was sitting in my toolbox and playfully biting my feet. This assistant was a delightful Labrador/German shepherd cross puppy with one blue eye and one brown. Never having done it before I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to assemble the springs, axle and hubs. Just as well, really, since that was the only way the trailer was going home with me. Now what? The trailer, mostly reassembled, was sitting in front of the boat. Neither of them was going anywhere unless I did something about it. Actually, this part had been worrying me. One option I considered was to invite all my friends round for a boat-raising, but it looked as if it was going to be hard to get everybody together at the same time. So... It was back to me, my bottle jack and plenty of lumber. It turned out to be pretty easy, partly because the UHMW plastic on the bunk boards allowed the boat to slide and partly because I had put a new, and stronger, winch on the trailer. The whole job took about two hours including tea breaks. It's hard to describe the feeling of relief when Umiaq was once more sitting squarely on her trailer instead of lying sadly on her side. And what about damage from the fall? Thank you, Jerry Montgomery, for building such a strong boat. A few scratches, nothing more. Final touches: Fine tune the fit of the new bunk boards, fit the V-shaped keel guide behind the rear roller, fit the new side bunks. Put on new wiring, including a proper ground wire instead of trying to use the trailer frame and... done. Conclusions? It was worth it for two reasons: The trailer is now ready to perform its duties with minimal maintenance for quite some time, and I now know a lot more about the trailer, and any potential problems have been addressed. This wasn't an inexpensive exercise, without having bills in front of me I would estimate $125 for welding $450 for stripping and refinishing $200 for parts Plus a considerable number of hours of my time. On the positive side are a better-than-new trailer and a great sense of personal satisfaction. One other thing. While I was doing this I decided that it was time to make a tongue extension so that I could get the trailer further into the water on shallow-sloped ramps without immersing the car in automobile solvent. I've just about finished an eight-foot extension to the tongue based on the design that was on the back page of Sail magazine a few months ago. I'll let the group know how it woks out when I get the chance to try it. Giles Morris Arlington VA M-15 #264 "Umiaq"

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RE: M_Boats: Trailer Refurb
by Harvey Hochstetter 06 Feb '02

06 Feb '02

Giles, PELICAN's trailer needs a serious going over and I was considering sanding and painting. Haven't gotten into the details yet, but it sounds like a fair amount of work ( besides doing something with the boat in order to get to the trailer.) I'm curious about the "powder coating" that you mentioned. How long have you had it and how durable is it? Is it a process you did yourself or was it something that you had to take in to a shop? If so, what type of shop..... auto body, marine, paintshop or something else? Thanks for the response. Harvey & Deena M-15 #348 PELICAN Walla Walla, WA

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Montgomery 17 available
by Bob 05 Feb '02

05 Feb '02

We have another new Montgomery 17 coming out of the mold and is available without waiting. We have had a very busy summer and fall, built boats for many nice people: http://personal.palouse.net/vhimsl This Montgomery 17 is the next out of the mold and Sheer color and cushion colors can still be picked. Some options can still be installed. Call or email for details. If someone ordered enough options we would pay the shipping to anywhere in the lower 48...... And thats a good deal. Bob (949) 489-8227

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RE: M_Boats: Refurbishing M-15 trailer
by Morris, Giles 05 Feb '02

05 Feb '02

>The other issue was refinishing >of the frame itself What I MEANT to say was that I couldn't find anybody to galvanize it for a reasonable price and ended up with a powder coating, which seems almost as good.

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RE: M_Boats: Refurbishing M-15 trailer
by Morris, Giles 05 Feb '02

05 Feb '02

Did you just look at the recent archives? The older ones are here: http://www.xmission.com/pub/lists/montgomery_boats/archive/ -----Original Message----- From: David Rossi [mailto:David.Rossi@wcom.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 3:38 PM To: montgomery_boats(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: RE: M_Boats: Refurbishing M-15 trailer Thanks Giles. I searched the archives on the owner's site and didn't see your postings about trailers. Should I look somewhere else? _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats

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RE: M_Boats: Refurbishing M-15 trailer
by Morris, Giles 05 Feb '02

05 Feb '02

I believe that information from when I rebuilt the trailer for my 1983 M-15 will be in the archives, if you search for "trailer" and "Umiaq". If not, I'd be pleased to answer any questions. My main source of parts was Champion Trailer (http://www.championtrailers.com/) The other issue was refinishing of the frame itself, but I simply couldn't find anybody in my area who was willing to do it at anything like a reasonable price -- you may have better luck if you live in a place where they actually make things. I'd say that it wasn't particularly hard, but it took a while. >The boat has no eye-hook so I just tie the line from >the winch to the bow cleats I find that the bow fitting for the forestay is more convenient, but it probably doesn't matter much. Giles Morris Vancouver 25 "Dolphin" Montgomery 15 "Umiaq" Sundry small craft

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