Three Dot Knives
Cadet
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2023
- Messages
- 11
Warning - Long Read
Ok-so I inherited this 1987 Glasstream ProBass 1550 with 40hp Evinrude VRO from my dad who passed away in 2015. He bought it new in 1987.
Since about 2010 (last registration I could find on it) it sat in his barn. My dad was particular about his stuff-always kept up on it. The down side is, when he passed away, the barn started to populate with feral cats...lots of them. This went on for years. The boat sat uncovered-although the barn was enclosed. I guess the good side of this was, no mice. Bad part-lots of cat poop!
So fast forward to three months ago...my brother and I inherited the house and property in 2015, three months ago we sold. Three weeks ago, I made plans to go pick the boat up.
I researched what I might need to get it to make the trip from Tennessee to North Carolina (~400 miles). I bought two new tires mounted on wheel from Tractor Supply. I packed our truck with tools (all kind of sockets, meter, pry bars etc..) floor jack, straps, grease... I probably over packed LOL.
I knew the tires were gone, and the lights probably didn't work. We (our youngest son-17 years old-was going with me) had three days...two would be spent mostly driving. The plan for day 1 was to drive straight there, change out the wheels/tires, pull the boat out of the barn and clean off the poop and whatever other trash may be on it-to get a first hand good look at it. We arrived around 2pm (thankful for going from EST to CST and getting an hour of daylight back).
Side note-my niece was renting the house, so we had a lot of pictures and info before making the trip.
Once there, we executed the plan. Swapped out the wheels/tires, and got the boat out. Then we scooped poop off with a horse feed scoop we found in the barn-there was a lot of it. We took papers out of the storage, cleaned off so much trash...and looked it over really good before pushing it back in the barn for the night. Then it was off to the hotel...30 minutes away.
We decided to go through Chic-fila for dinner-while there, my 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 was making a squealing noise in the left front wheel area. My mind was spinning now. We are 400 miles from home trying to get a boat back and I might not even make it back with my truck.
I had to make a plan. I spent the night at the hotel in front of the computer-going through what ifs and what it might be on the truck. I narrowed it down to front wheel bearing/hub or brakes. Hoping and praying for the later. I searched the big three auto parts stores in the area for brake stuff and a hub assembly just in case-even researched what tools would be needed for the jobs...since I knew I would be doing this at my dads old place with no way to get anything once I committed to the work.
The next morning, I went out and started looking at the left front. I noticed the back of the front rotor was 'chewed' up really pad...like metal to metal on the pads-maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought. We then went to the parts store and bought roughly $600 in parts and supplies (two rotors, brake pads, tools, hub assembly). The next stop was Academy Sports for a front bunk roller and trailer 4 pin to 7 pin adapter. Then to Tractor Supply for a magnetic trailer light set (because of the truck repair-I knew I wouldn't have time to work on the lights). One last stop at Wal-Mart for a 100' hose and some Dawn dish detergent.
We made it to dads old place and the truck was sounding worse. I pulled the boat back up and closer to the house where the water was. The plan-my son would start cleaning the boat while I started working on the truck. Well-to shorten this 'novel' up...the truck needed the hub assembly and I put the rotor on and replaced the front brakes. Amazingly, I had brought my heavy jack from home-good thing I did, because the two small ones my dad had wouldn't even lift the truck.
Needless to say, three hours later, the truck was done! My son did a great job on cleaning the inside of the boat up as much as possible-at least for the road trip. Some may ask if this was necessary-and yes, for several reasons. One, to see if there was any major damage that would negate even taking the boat. Two, let my son be involved in this 'father-son' project. And lastly, give us hope!
So with only a few hours of light left, we replaced the bunk roller, checked all the straps, removed the bearing buddies and checked the bearings/grease them and installed the magnetic trailer lights. It was better to tow the boat to the hotel so we could leave first thing in the morning.
I will condense this even more to get to the boat stuff....
The trip home had issues. We lost the magnetic lights several times...they just didn't stay attached to the fenders. So for about three hours we went without lights on the trailer. We also had no trailer tag. Oh well. The right side of the trailer also had wood/carpet before and after the fender-this somehow came detached and was dragging under the trailer. Thankfully we saw this when we stopped at a rest area. We finally made it home with only minutes to spare before it was completely dark. Thankfully, our truck has a 4' lift and bright LED taillights!
I will post follow ups to this thread...
Ok-so I inherited this 1987 Glasstream ProBass 1550 with 40hp Evinrude VRO from my dad who passed away in 2015. He bought it new in 1987.
Since about 2010 (last registration I could find on it) it sat in his barn. My dad was particular about his stuff-always kept up on it. The down side is, when he passed away, the barn started to populate with feral cats...lots of them. This went on for years. The boat sat uncovered-although the barn was enclosed. I guess the good side of this was, no mice. Bad part-lots of cat poop!
So fast forward to three months ago...my brother and I inherited the house and property in 2015, three months ago we sold. Three weeks ago, I made plans to go pick the boat up.
I researched what I might need to get it to make the trip from Tennessee to North Carolina (~400 miles). I bought two new tires mounted on wheel from Tractor Supply. I packed our truck with tools (all kind of sockets, meter, pry bars etc..) floor jack, straps, grease... I probably over packed LOL.
I knew the tires were gone, and the lights probably didn't work. We (our youngest son-17 years old-was going with me) had three days...two would be spent mostly driving. The plan for day 1 was to drive straight there, change out the wheels/tires, pull the boat out of the barn and clean off the poop and whatever other trash may be on it-to get a first hand good look at it. We arrived around 2pm (thankful for going from EST to CST and getting an hour of daylight back).
Side note-my niece was renting the house, so we had a lot of pictures and info before making the trip.
Once there, we executed the plan. Swapped out the wheels/tires, and got the boat out. Then we scooped poop off with a horse feed scoop we found in the barn-there was a lot of it. We took papers out of the storage, cleaned off so much trash...and looked it over really good before pushing it back in the barn for the night. Then it was off to the hotel...30 minutes away.
We decided to go through Chic-fila for dinner-while there, my 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 was making a squealing noise in the left front wheel area. My mind was spinning now. We are 400 miles from home trying to get a boat back and I might not even make it back with my truck.
I had to make a plan. I spent the night at the hotel in front of the computer-going through what ifs and what it might be on the truck. I narrowed it down to front wheel bearing/hub or brakes. Hoping and praying for the later. I searched the big three auto parts stores in the area for brake stuff and a hub assembly just in case-even researched what tools would be needed for the jobs...since I knew I would be doing this at my dads old place with no way to get anything once I committed to the work.
The next morning, I went out and started looking at the left front. I noticed the back of the front rotor was 'chewed' up really pad...like metal to metal on the pads-maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought. We then went to the parts store and bought roughly $600 in parts and supplies (two rotors, brake pads, tools, hub assembly). The next stop was Academy Sports for a front bunk roller and trailer 4 pin to 7 pin adapter. Then to Tractor Supply for a magnetic trailer light set (because of the truck repair-I knew I wouldn't have time to work on the lights). One last stop at Wal-Mart for a 100' hose and some Dawn dish detergent.
We made it to dads old place and the truck was sounding worse. I pulled the boat back up and closer to the house where the water was. The plan-my son would start cleaning the boat while I started working on the truck. Well-to shorten this 'novel' up...the truck needed the hub assembly and I put the rotor on and replaced the front brakes. Amazingly, I had brought my heavy jack from home-good thing I did, because the two small ones my dad had wouldn't even lift the truck.
Needless to say, three hours later, the truck was done! My son did a great job on cleaning the inside of the boat up as much as possible-at least for the road trip. Some may ask if this was necessary-and yes, for several reasons. One, to see if there was any major damage that would negate even taking the boat. Two, let my son be involved in this 'father-son' project. And lastly, give us hope!
So with only a few hours of light left, we replaced the bunk roller, checked all the straps, removed the bearing buddies and checked the bearings/grease them and installed the magnetic trailer lights. It was better to tow the boat to the hotel so we could leave first thing in the morning.
I will condense this even more to get to the boat stuff....
The trip home had issues. We lost the magnetic lights several times...they just didn't stay attached to the fenders. So for about three hours we went without lights on the trailer. We also had no trailer tag. Oh well. The right side of the trailer also had wood/carpet before and after the fender-this somehow came detached and was dragging under the trailer. Thankfully we saw this when we stopped at a rest area. We finally made it home with only minutes to spare before it was completely dark. Thankfully, our truck has a 4' lift and bright LED taillights!
I will post follow ups to this thread...