April 7th, 2011 - "76 Calkins Trailer Sanding, Priming and Hubs

Time to paint the trailer. I sanded all of the pieces that I removed from the trailer yeaserday. Then I used a black primer since we decided to go with a black trailer. I removed the pins that hold in most of the rollers and removed them from their brackets. I will clean them later and decide if I want to replace them or not. After that, the hubs came in from UPS. I put one together to test the fit, and it didn't. The bearing sixe is right, but the hub is too long for the axle shaft. I called Champion Trailers and asked them about it. They said that I have a hub that is no longer available and I will either have to replace the axle, use my old hubs or find some donor hubs. I elected to try toi salvage my old hubs. I used their bearing pack and my hubs. I am not to confident in this setup so I will keep a close eye on them. In the meantime, I will be looking for some donor hubs. Finally, I mounted the new tires on the trailer.

 Various brackets primed

 The primed pieces from today

 The rollers

 Another view of the primed parts

 The NEW hubs (unused)

 Trailer with wheels on it

Trailer with wheels on it again

April 6th, 2011 - Starting the refurbishment of the '76 Calkins Trailer

I started taking the '76 Calkins trailer apart today. I already had the hubs removed and found out that I need new ones. The replacement bearings and dust shields don't match, so I can't just replace the bearings. I found new hubs at http://www.championtrailers.com/. While I am waiting for the hubs to arrive, I started to disassemble the trailer so that it can get new bolts and a new coat of paint. Not quite sure what color to go with yet.

 The rear with lights and rear rollers

 The left side. I'm not sure what the plate is for.

 The mid boat roller

 The bow mount and winch. The winch is being replaced

 View from the front

 Fenders and roller bars removed

 New look from the back

From the side



March 31st, 2011 - Bringing Home the Calkins Trailer

My neighbor, Don, and I went to Wisconsin to recover the trailer from the '76 GT-150 today. Our plan was to remove the motor from the boat, pivot the boat on it's transom and set it on the ground next to the trailer, and pivot the trailer up and around, so we could load it on another trailer and bring it home. Easy, huh?

First of all, the motor didn't want to come off of the boat. The steering cable wouldn't come out of the motor. With the steering cable attached, we couldn't seperate it from the boat, making it far more difficult to move everything around. We did get the boat off of the trailer, finally. Now we were on to the trailer. We tried to lift the tongue so we could pivot it around the rear but the one wheel still attached was frozen in the ground. We tried to dig it out, but the ground was really frozen. We ended up taking the hub off of the axle and pulling it free. This worked. We loaded it on the trailer and brought it home. It seems like it is a really nice trailer and I can't wait to get the '79 GT-150 on it.

'76 GT-150 off of the trailer but with the motor attached 

Ready to load up next 

The GT-150 is set in a position so it should be easy to get out next time 

Don attaching the trailer to the other trailer 

Our nice little package 

This trailer has really nice rollers 

Here is the hub that we had to take apart 

The other hub is fine and still spins 

The tongue is in great shape 

A view from the front 

Calkins

March 26th, 2011 - Installing a Tell-Tale

Today I installed a Tell-Tale. What is a Tell-Tale you might ask? Well, on other outboard makes, there is a stream of water that shoots out of the motor to let you know that the water pump is working to keep the engine cool. On Chryslers, they decided to leave that feature off. there isn't a good way to see if the cooling water is flowing. With this modification, you tap into the top of the cooling jacket through an existing capped hole, and when the water pumps, there is a stream coming out (if the water pump works, which mine doesn't!) I screwed a fitting into the hole, attached some clear hose and drilled a hole through the motor case to send the stream out.

The top of the cooling jacket and the screw that plugs the hole 

This screw can be very ddifficult to remove so I used a little help 

The screw removed 

The new brass fitting 

The new fitting wrapped in teflon tape 

Tightening the new fitting 

Attaching the hose 

The attached hose secured with a wire tie 

The hose routed through the motor case 

The outside view

March 23rd, 2011 - Interior Cushions, Motor Controls, Fuel Tank and Battery

After the carpet glue was dry, I installed the battery box tie down and the speakers.I also finished up the wiring under the dash. I hope it's all correct! After that, I attached the motor controls to the panel. Next it was time to attack the interior side cushions. I cut out numerous pieces of 3/8 plywood, 4 inches wide to use as a base. Then I put blind nuts in the pieces, clamped them to the wall and marked the sides for drilling. I then covered it all in one long string to go all the way around the boat. It was almost 20 feet long. Next it was time to attach it to the boat. I used 10X24 screws from the back, screwed into the blind nuts so they couldn't be seen. It turned out pretty nice!. 

 Side Cushion Backing Boards (rear of boat)

 Side Cushion Backing Boards (front of boat)

 Cushions Ready to be Attached

 Cushions, Fuel Tank and Battery Box

 Cushions, Front

 Cushion and Controls

Close Up of Controls and Dash

March 22nd, 2011 - Carpet!!!, Horn and Front Nav Light

It is finally time for carpet. I glued the carpet to the back wall, side cutouts and ski locker area first, them carpeted the floor in two sections. I did the back of the boat first, then finished off the front, putting the seam in the middle, to fall between the seats. I will cover this with a small aluminum strip after I get the seats mounted. Later, I took the horn apart to see if the reason it didn't work was a simple answer. It appears to be a little corroded. Maybe it will clean up and work. If not, I will have to get another one.

Back Wall 

Ski Locker 

Back Carpet 

Front Carpet 

Front Close Up 

 Ski Locker

Horn 

Old Light 

New Light 

New Light Again