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Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on March 21, 2016 at 4:31pm

Started glassing those blades when I got home. I`m gonna name the boat the"Stone Fly". Thats been my screen name on the Michigan Sportsman website for 15 years.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on March 27, 2016 at 7:18am

So I got my brown plastic seats from Bass Pro. I dont know who picked out the shade of brown they use, kinda odd color, but they go better with the wood then the green! The good and bad. The good is I got them mounted on the new plastic mounting releases and to the benches, the bad is they sit up higher than what I had planned on using before the change.

I`m still putting coats of epoxy over the glass on the oars, but I got in the boat with the oars and I think I`ll have to re-do my oar lock blocks and make them a little taller. Another option is to do away with the release mounts and just use steel swivels to the benches. (might still do that) I liked the idea of removing the seats.

Got some latches mounted on the benches, turns out my brace for the transom bench is too thin and my hasp wont fit on it. Thought about making a new board, but I might just try one of the super duty magnet catches on it first. I giess I`m needing to work some kinks out of things at this point. Thats ok, we just had a spring/winter storm here a couple days ago, went from 50 to a ft of snow in one day, but warming back up this week.

So still lots to do. Just to change things up I`m gonna start cutting steel and doing some welding for the trailer. I need to get some varnish on the oars as the grips and donuts will be here any day.

Looking around, if you spend $600 on Sawyer oars, you get the pro tip protectors for the blade tips. I scoured the interweb looking for those things, they are not to be had. The plastic blade covers that they do sell wont fit my blades. I`m not gonna worry about it for now ;)

I thought they would be pretty light with the DF, but they weight in at just under 7 lbs. They are 2" thick though the full length, 8`6", kinda seem like telephone poles. I`m gonna try them out though like they are, then maybe I`ll shorten them 6", maybe narrow them out between the wraps and blades. I picked up some of that super sticky carpet tape to put on under the rope wraps, we`ll see how that works out!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on March 27, 2016 at 8:57am

Used some magnet catches from Home Depot for the compartments.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on March 27, 2016 at 6:31pm

Started making some new oarlock blocks out of some 2" cherry. Gonna go a inch taller and 1/2" deeper through the rails. Originally I wanted the 2 holes 3" apart but after I cut those ends I could only go 2 1/2" OC, so now I`ll get the 3". It will be the last set I make. If they need to go higher, Regal makes some really nice oar locks that are 8" long and come with a couple plastic spacers so they can be adjusted for heights.

My nephew came by and said if I want to cut that Dierks transom bracket off, he will re-weld it so it fits the angles of my boat nicer. I might just cut it up.

That 11 ga. is way over kill for a boat trailer but oh well. I`m using the plan off this site, with mod sizes from Phil W., and construction ideas from Michael Rosso. Leaving the sides tubes open, and the 45`s open make a clean shot for pulling wires. I`m hoping to cut some oval lights into the rear pc and I can fish all the way to the 3x3. I`ll have to cut a hole in that to get the rest of the way through.

Got most of the steel cut for the trailer, still need to cut the other ends of the 2-45deg pcs. Ive got enough coming back from taxes to cover the rest of the materials for the trailer so "game on"...

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Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on April 3, 2016 at 2:36pm

Started working with that steel a little. Didnt think about when I was cutting it up to put all the seams on the inside, so now they are all mixed half/half. Oh well, long as it tows a boat I guess. Also, keeping in mind I bought this little mig welder years ago for a project and havent used it in years, this wont be pretty!!haha

Hey Rick, how many times have you seem this happening on the forums? :)

I already made the mistake of not leaving enough length on the back for the roller+ the oval tail lights, so I`ll go back and weld 2" more back onto each end of the tube. Then I can cut the lights into the tubing. I`ll still have to wait a bit to get the axle and rest of the parts I need, but I`ll have a good start on it.

My glass layup on the oarblades didnt come out too well, but I sanded them up and am just gonna leave them alone for now. I got the new oarlock blocks made up and started getting some varnish on them. Hitting the old oars for the jon boat too while I`m at it, they were pretty dried out and bare.

I really think the 8`6"oars will be a bit long for my boat, its not that wide or long, but I`ll try them out before I cut them to 8`. I`m sure there is a good reason for using long oars, anyone know what it is?

The new guy at work put a picture on his desk of his girlfriend kissing him on the cheek, well all I have is my boat so Ive got a picture for my desk now!!

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on April 3, 2016 at 2:46pm

The wider the oars the greater the leverage. With that wild Michigan whitewater you might want to lengthen them. You could probably cut down the diameter of your oars by quite a bit if you want to lighten them.

There has only been three or four trailers built so we haven't seen too many pictures yet.

Rick

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Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on April 3, 2016 at 2:53pm

Dont be pickin on our rivers Rick ;)  We really do have some awesome rivers here. Theres one river that takes down a drift boat every year. I know, still no big white water, but awesome rivers none the less!!

I might thin those oars out some, they are like telephone poles, they are close to 7lbs ea

Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on April 9, 2016 at 10:12pm

Thanks Rick, I knew there was a good reason for silly long oars.Took a break from the trailer to get the oars wrapped.

I picked up 4 rubber casters (got that idea from Dreau`s lathe) and mounted them to some sawhorses. They worked great to turn the oar with one hand and wrap the rope with the other.

I got some wide 2 sided fiberglass reinforced indoor/outdoor carpet tape from Home Depot and some parachute cord from Michaels. This tape is no joke, you get one chance to get it stuck and it holds that rope tight when you let go to rest your hand from wrapping tight. I started by cutting a 2` pc of the rope and tying it into a loop. Set it aside for later. Starting the rope is like starting thread on a fly hook. The tape worked great to hold the tag end in place.

When I got a few inches from the end of the wrap, I taped the loop in place on the shaft and continued wrapping over it (pretty snuggly) to the end of my tape. Threaded the tag end through the loop, used the hammer handle to pull hard, really hard. I could only get the tag through 1 loop, sometimes 2, then I used a thin screwdriver to pry the wrap over the loop/tag end and pull again.

When I finaly got it through, trimmed it off with a knife and tightened up the wraps a little. It all turned out really tight.

I dropped the rubber donuts in a pan of hot water for a while. Once I got them past the handles and onto the shaft, they will roll inside out down the shaft and onto the rope. Once on the rope, with right side out, they can be pushed with thumbs to position them.

They turned out pretty nice. Just for the record, 16" of wrap on a 2" shaft used 60-70 ft of cord.

Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on April 12, 2016 at 6:55pm

Got the Sawyer indexing grips on the oars tonight, but not without loosing a big chunk of skin, blister, even inside leather work gloves. Those things were very had to get on. I almost gave up. They never got pliable like it said they would even with the heat gun (instead of a hair dryer they suggested), and I`m sure my dia was a little bigger than should have been, and they dont suggest any sizes or ideas. In fact the little instruction sheet is a joke. I wont recommend them.

Got a little more done on the trailer framing. I wont be getting any points for pretty welds. Primer and paint will make it look great!!

The 11 ga. steel is so heavy I`m not sure how I`ll flip it over once the axle is on it. I would suggest using 14ga., and would also suggest using 2x4" tubing for the back cross pc so that oval lights will fit into the pipe if someone was gong with the led ovals. I`m adding some steel above and below the lights so the bezel will seat decent.

Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on June 23, 2016 at 9:13pm

Adding in this note on the oar wraps. DO NOT USE the super glass 2 sided tape I used this first time around. It melted in the sun and 90 deg weather and bled through the rope. Use a thin light duty 2 sided tape instead.

The method I used in the above post was good. Also 2nd time around I added more rope. 21" on a 2" shaft used almost 90ft per oar

Permalink Reply by Mike Baker on April 13, 2016 at 8:11am

Sorry Mike, could have saved you some frustration. Wood oars are way more comfortable without grips.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on April 13, 2016 at 8:14am

Usually fewer blisters too.

Rick

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