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Let the Journey Begin!! West Virginia Bound


LarsJensen

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You guys are awesome! Thanks for looking out for me. I did make it home about 2pm on Friday afternoon and then dove right into parent mode. Kids to practice, meals cooked, laundry piles everywhere and a snots-storm of ice and rain and snow meant all I could do after all that was done was just leave the boat alone in the driveway. I felt so guilty.

I do have another chapter to write in this comedic drama. And that is, how to fit my new toy in the garage. To be totally transparent, I goofed and I own it. When I got the specs, I made the assumption that when the tower is folded (the illusion from '06...I think), the windshield/rear view mirror would be the highest obstacle regarding vertical clearance.  NOPE, not the case. My dreams were momentarily crushed and heavy drinking ensued. 

As it stands now, I'm two inches too tall. I need to be under 82 1/4 inches. So my mind starts crunching out numbers, equations, Pythagorean theorems, while hoping some Karma kicks in......and then, LUCK. I realize the tires are at max psi and the wheel jack at the tongue of the trailer was high because I wanted any potential moisture to collect in the back of the boat. 

With a renewed sense of hope, minus the booze, I cranked the wheel jack all the way down and took off the ski ball. That in itself brought the highest point of the boat down to about 82 inches. This action plus removing unneeded air pressure in the tires should do the trick. All I need when moving the trailer now is a hitch with 12" drop or perhaps more(a quick google search revealed there are many hitch types out there that would lower the tongue of the trailer low enough for a 40-foot journey.)

The boat won't actually be stored in the garage but will pass through it to the back yard under a yet to be constructed boat port. I live in a rectangular ranch home where the attached garage is offset from the rest of the house. The offset is closer to the street which means I have a ton of wasted space behind the garage.  Last year's project involved pouring a new patio in the back yard. The pour included basically a driveway out the backside of the garage where a garage door would replace 3/4 of the back wall.  In essence, my garage would now have a pass through. My plan is to build a nice boat port with shingled roof. For safety and security, all four sides of the port will be closable with roll down doors. Overkill? Perhaps. But due to proximity to neighbors home,  who is a good friend, and building codes regarding strict adherence to minimum distance from "shed" to home, this looks like the best solution as the structure would function as a shed/garage but not be classified as a shed/garage. And more importantly, its cost effective as a boat port costs a lot less than blowing out the back of the garage and changing the footprint of the house. Saving that for the next house about six years from now when we are empty nesters. Projects, projects, projects!!!

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@LarsJensen

Lars, will Kegonsa be your primary lake? If so, are you eyeing up a particular ramp for your regular launching? As you certainly know, Amundson is significantly closer to town but has limited parking. The state park has plenty of space but is a slightly longer drive. Do you try to save a few minutes with the closer location or just go for the sure thing?

Just curious!

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1 hour ago, RedOwl said:

@LarsJensen

Lars, will Kegonsa be your primary lake? If so, are you eyeing up a particular ramp for your regular launching? As you certainly know, Amundson is significantly closer to town but has limited parking. The state park has plenty of space but is a slightly longer drive. Do you try to save a few minutes with the closer location or just go for the sure thing?

Just curious!

Amundson! Well, I think that is the name of it. We are usually there by 5am during the summer months. There's never any problem getting on:off the water at that time. Some great sunrises there. A photographer in Stoughton took some good shots. One attached hangs above our couch in family room. 

IMG_0701.JPG

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5am!  Jeez!  I thought my 6 am starts were early.  Though I am usually on the road at 5:20.

I've heard of guys inverting their axles to get extra clearance (i.e. mounting axles to tops of trailer frame instead of bottom), though that means way more prop guard grinding.

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1 hour ago, UWSkier said:

5am!  Jeez!  I thought my 6 am starts were early.  Though I am usually on the road at 5:20.

I've heard of guys inverting their axles to get extra clearance (i.e. mounting axles to tops of trailer frame instead of bottom), though that means way more prop guard grinding.

That's a really good idea. Didn't know that could be done. Thanks!

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1 hour ago, hethj7 said:

Bigger project, but can you potentially raise the header of the garage?  Beautiful photo by the way!!

Nope, the gable end is on the north side of the house. If it were off the front (west) I would consider it. 

The photo I attached I can't take credit for as it is a cropped version of the photo below. The real artist's link is here. https://www.facebook.com/CassiusCallenderPhotography/. He's brilliant with the camera!!!!!!

IMG_0703.JPG

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12 hours ago, LarsJensen said:

That's a really good idea. Didn't know that could be done. Thanks!

couple things to consider if you do this.

1.  Do you have the clearance for running gear, tracking fins, etc?

2.  You need to also raise fenders relative to bunks.  Will the boat still fit?

3.  Do you have a steep driveway or tricky boat launch?  Trailer frame closer to ground means more dragging.

4.  You're putting axle mounting hardware under tensile force.  Make sure you're using high quality stuff.

 

 

Now that I think about this some more, I may be confusing the inverting of axle/leaf spring orientation with axle/frame.  Would need to research.  :)

Edited by UWSkier
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There is a torsion axle (if that's what you have) lowering how-to in our resources guide:

Otherwise lowering a leaf spring trailer can be done with shackles and/or hangers, a flip kit, or blocks depending on how it's set up. Flip kit will of course be the most drop, and likely too much unless you extend other pieces to compensate.

Beyond all that there is/was a garage rear hoop available for that tower that is flat across rather than bowed. There was one in the classifieds a couple months ago, but I don't see it there now. 

Edited by jk13
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23 hours ago, LarsJensen said:

With a renewed sense of hope, minus the booze, I cranked the wheel jack all the way down and took off the ski ball. That in itself brought the highest point of the boat down to about 82 inches.

You probably already did this but taking out the post for the ski ball will get you a couple more inches.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/28/2017 at 9:21 AM, UWSkier said:

couple things to consider if you do this.

1.  Do you have the clearance for running gear, tracking fins, etc?

2.  You need to also raise fenders relative to bunks.  Will the boat still fit?

3.  Do you have a steep driveway or tricky boat launch?  Trailer frame closer to ground means more dragging.

4.  You're putting axle mounting hardware under tensile force.  Make sure you're using high quality stuff.

 

 

Now that I think about this some more, I may be confusing the inverting of axle/leaf spring orientation with axle/frame.  Would need to research.  :)

Wow! Thanks. I'm hoping I don't have to be this aggressive. If my measurements are correct, I'll have one inch to spare. 

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Man, just now seeing this thread, not sure how I missed it? Where in WV did you buy the boat from? 

Im probably one of the few on here from WV, would've offered you a place to stay if it was close and convenient. Glad you made it back home safely!

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On 2/28/2017 at 9:21 AM, UWSkier said:

couple things to consider if you do this.

1.  Do you have the clearance for running gear, tracking fins, etc?

2.  You need to also raise fenders relative to bunks.  Will the boat still fit?

3.  Do you have a steep driveway or tricky boat launch?  Trailer frame closer to ground means more dragging.

4.  You're putting axle mounting hardware under tensile force.  Make sure you're using high quality stuff.

 

 

Now that I think about this some more, I may be confusing the inverting of axle/leaf spring orientation with axle/frame.  Would need to research.  :)

Wow! Thanks. I'm hoping I don't have to be this aggressive. If my measurements are correct, I'll have one inch to spare. 

(Geez I wrote this a long time ago. Think I forgot to hit submit)

Edited by LarsJensen
Forgot to hit submit.
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29 minutes ago, Cmb396 said:

Man, just now seeing this thread, not sure how I missed it? Where in WV did you buy the boat from? 

Im probably one of the few on here from WV, would've offered you a place to stay if it was close and convenient. Glad you made it back home safely!

Thanks for the hospitality. It was a long drive but pure adrenaline kept me going. The boat was in Milton and I test drove it on the Ohio River in Huntington. 

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6 minutes ago, LarsJensen said:

Thanks for the hospitality. It was a long drive but pure adrenaline kept me going. The boat was in Milton and I test drove it on the Ohio River in Huntington. 

No worries! Milton is about 70 miles or so from me, Huntington is 90 miles south. Went to school there at Marshall University.

We boat the Ohio river up where I live too. Sounds like quite an adventure!

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