Trailer Mod Complete

[mastreb]

Hey Mastreb, I think I found your missing boat!

Ha! And it's been painted blue! Gosh, and with an awesome logo and everything

[raycarlson]

post was in response to bscott statement, not anything you stated.

[RobertB]

Ray

Sorry - my bad

[RobertB]

Mastreb

Just noticed the name of your boat - my wife thought she was so clever (and original) when she thought that one up. Letting her name the boat helped me get her to agree to buying it .

I will try to keep my boat on the east coast so as to not soil your reputation and have people think you are sailing a blue boat

We want to get some small flags made with the logo - I will tell you when we do this if you are interested.

[mastreb]

Mastreb

Just noticed the name of your boat - my wife thought she was so clever (and original) when she thought that one up. Letting her name the boat helped me get her to agree to buying it .

I will try to keep my boat on the east coast so as to not soil your reputation and have people think you are sailing a blue boat

We want to get some small flags made with the logo - I will tell you when we do this if you are interested.

Well I googled it out and didn't find any others, so maybe we're the only two. It's named after our kids, Kira Lu, Nathan, and Seanna.

I do like your logo so let me know!

Matt

[u12fly]

Well I googled it out and didn't find any others, so maybe we're the only two. It's named after our kids, Kira Lu, Nathan, and Seanna.

I do like your logo so let me know!

Matt

But wouldn't that make the name of your boat "Ki", "Nu", "Sea"....
Our boat is named after the Admiral, I find that is always a good plan

Chris.

[RobertB]

I wish I could say we arrived at the name in such a thoughtful manner -

Ours was more a play on words - a judgement on our buying a boat (now lets all say it three times quickly)

It is also a good description of life aboard with my wife, three sons, and a pair of large Chesapeake Bay Retrievers (I keep a well stocked bar for the end of the day).

[Tomfoolery]

It is also a good description of life aboard with my wife, three sons, and a pair of large Chesapeake Bay Retrievers (I keep a well stocked bar for the end of the day).

Yikes! I find two people to be a crowd on my .

[March]

Depends on who the other person is

[Russ]

Very nice job.

So what was the cost of the components? Where did you get them?

I'm impressed you did this with the boat still on the trailer.

[u12fly]

Very nice job.
So what was the cost of the components? Where did you get them?
I'm impressed you did this with the boat still on the trailer.

Doing a dual axle mod with the boat on the trailer is pretty impressive.
I did not have the boat on the trailer when I converted my 2009 aluminum trailer to a dual axle.
.
If I recall correctly, I moved the old axle forward 15" and located the trailing unit with minimum spacing. I found some pre-fabricated diamond plate plate fenders (they were 66" long) which I backed with 1/2" plywood and covered with black trailer fabric to act as both a stiffner to the fender and a bumper for the boat. I fabricated angle brackets and mounted them inside the wheel wells. This was alot more work then bolting them on the outside but the finished product looks much better.

The fenders were purchased via West Marine for $95 each, the other parts were things I had sitting around the shop... Well not including the new wheels and UFP axle that I had to buy.

Chris.

[RobertB]

The cost? I really do not know anymore I guess between $1000 and $1200

Axle and related components are from Waymire - distributor for UFP.

The axle was around $300. I thought that was great - then I got a phone call back the next day asking if I wanted the trailing arms also. YES... And how about hubs - did I need those also? YESSS... And did I need bearings and grease seals? YES YES YES - I need everything to put an additional axle on the trailer - all the way to the road. I ended up also buying the aluninium fenders and wheel/tire assemblies. I learned that the 5/8 inch dia bolts holding the trailing arms on the axle splines are thought by the distributor as not necessary - I bought those locally (stainless steel). The next largest cost behind the axle was truck shipping - both from UFP to Waymire and then to my house. Suggestion if you do this - get the narrow fenders as I did, there is really hardly any clearance between the fenders and the hull.

Outside of that order, I bought bunk carpet from Bass Pro, U-bolts to hold a bunk (carpet over treated wood) on the new axle from West Marine, Monel stapes to hold the carpet on the wood from the hardware store, small dock edge bumper from Sportsman Guide, custom bent fender end mounting brackets and other metal pieces for the intermediate mounts locally ($150), and about 316 pieces of stainless steel nuts/bolts/washers to assemble the whole thing from the local Ace Hardware (half the price of West Marine/Lowes/Home Depot). Hardware included bolts to hold the axle to the trailer, bolts for the fender to the trailer, and machine screw to hold the bumpers on the fenders.

Only thing left are to get the replacement wheel assemblies (Waymire sent the wrong size tires) and covers for the bearing buddies.

I originally planned to rent a mooring buoy at a marina in Annapolis. I finally took a close look and found the boat does not actually rest on the axle if snug up against the bow stop on the trailer. Also bought a right angle air drill from Harbour Freight to make drilling the holes in the I-beam possible. For reinstallation of the original axle bunk, I did jack up the bow a couple of inches using an upright 4x4 on a floor jack.

Please do not try to add up all I spent - I am happy thinking it cost what I think it cost. As boat owners most of you should understand (swimming pool owners should understand also, one you make a money hole in the water, the other is a water filled hole in the ground you throw money into - I have both ).

I just measured my tongue load and it is 325 pounds without the spare mounted and the Dometic cooler moved forward opposite the head (and a partial fuel load, etc.). Was hoping for closer to 250 pounds but whatever. I figure I cut around 150 pounds off the tongue load.

[raycarlson]

try contacting UFP directly,they have a wharehouse in tenn. and one in ca. when i purchased my axle four years ago it was all parts from bearing buddy to bearing buddy for 285 plus ups to my house.they didnt try to tack on any extras or soak you for more money. also if you have even basic fiberglass skills just cut your existing fenders in half and add 30 inches or what ever additional measurement your axle spacing is set at, and fiberglass them back together,this will save you alot of money, my entire axle addition with new rims,goodyears,and all parts needed for axle was less than 700 american.

[RobertB]

I contacted UFP in Tenn. directly. Very friendly but no luck - cannot purchase direct from the factory anymore. Need to ship halfway accross the country and back again.

A chose to use prefabed fendors for two reasons - (1) easier (and really not that expensive considering the material cost of extending the current fenders) and (2) the stock ones really annoy me the way they keep on pounding against the side of the boat and leaving black marks. This is also the reason I installed an intermediate fender brace between the two wheels.

[u12fly]

UFP also told me that I could not buy direct so I used a local distributor around here, http://sixrobblees.com/Locations.aspx?TB=3 They are all over the west coast, I think I paid $285 for the axle complete, no shipping, no sales tax. This was just over a year ago. All I needed to do was give them the serial number off my old axle and they fabricted an exact duplicate. It was a simple installation, just align it where you want it, drill it, and attach with stainless steel bolts & nuts.

I was originally going to extend the fiberglass fenders. Working in fiberglass is easy for me. But I did not like the stock covers, you can't step on them, and they bounce alot while driveing down the road, marking up the side of the boat. I would have spent two days or more extending the fiberglass ones - so in the long run I thought it would look better, be stronger, and alot less stress (on me) to go with the diamond plate fenders.

For the wheels: I wanted all four to match, so I went over board and bought all brand new ones. I now have two old tires and rims as spares if I need them. I bought my tires and wheel through http://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Tires_and_Wheels.aspx I matched the originals as close as possible on all size and ratings, they ended up costing me $119 each since I got them on some special sale at the time and they also had FREE shipping. The tires came mounted on the rims with valve stems and full of air, ready to bolt on. It was a great deal.

Chris.