Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

[andgott]

I acquired a 1959 Tee Nee trailer to go with my '59 Lake N Sea, And will be restoring it so it is ready to go when the boat is.... I just love these old classics- Back when the trailer had to look as good as the boat!

It started out looking like this-

I want to do a thorough job of the restoration, so first I wanted to take it all apart... After a few hours, a couple cans of PB Blaster (I LOVE that stuff!), and a few choice words, I had a big pile of parts-

It's all in pretty good shape. I was amazed that the nuts & bolts came off so easily, I only had to cut two of them, and one was because a previous owner had decided to weld a fender on.

Next- The fun process of removing all the paint and rust, Priming, then painting!

-Andrew

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

Seems to me that there was a post here with info on matching paint and decal replacements. You'll have to do a search here.
Looks like it should be fun and a nice time piece to go along with that hull.

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

Yeah, the color is almost dead-on to rust oleum sunburst yellow- so close that you'd never know the difference... Most parts (decals, etc) ate available from a couple of sources. I just wish I could find some tee nee hubcaps- I've got plain chrome ones, but not the ones with the tee nee logo embossed in them...

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

Another productive day on the trailer. This was a 'dirty' day- Stripping the paint and rust off the trailer. Definitely something that should be done OUTSIDE! I wish I could have taken it in to be media blasted, but that's just not in the budget.

A grinder with a knotted wire wheel makes pretty quick work of this-

After a few LONG hours, I had a bunch of nice, clean parts-

I found a bit of hidden rust. There was some in the tongue, a few spots on the bottom near the hitch have rusted through. It seems as if sometime in the past, water 'pooled' there, inside the beam. It seems strong enough still, but I think for peace of mind I'm going to weld a piece of channel stock on to reinforce it.

There was also a little rust under the winch stand, and on the side of the winch stand itself. It is pretty minor stuff, I'll be able to weld some patches in place- Once I get my new welder. One is on the way- should be here in the next week or so!

Once I got everything stripped down, I primed it all. I don't like to leave steel bare for long if I can avoid it- It's amazing how quick surface rust can form!

I've still got a few other parts to strip... Then it'll be time to shoot some yellow paint!

-Andrew

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

Looking good - Got a picture of the boat going on it?

LK

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

Looking good - Got a picture of the boat going on it?

Thanks... There are plenty of pics of the boat on my restoration thread-

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=518629

She's in pieces now... Getting a full restoration. I want the trailer ready to go so when the hull is finished, it can go back on it

-Andrew

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

I got some painting done today-

I was using a new spray gun, and it took me a while to get all the settings dialed in right, but once I got it set up, it went well... It'll need another good coat to cover the dark primer all the way.

The black parts are painted, too-

The fenders need to be repaired a bit more than I had thought- So I've got to wait until my welder is here.

It'll be time to start putting it all together soon. I need to find the right shock absorbers- They are different than the other ones that people have used on the forum for Tee-Nees, This is a smaller trailer with smaller shocks. The old ones were Gabriels, and I emailed the company to see if there is a modern equivalent to them. Hopefully there is- or I'll have to start digging through catalogs to see if anything is close

-Andrew

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

Coming along nicely!

Unfortunately for me the couple of trailers I've done I had to roll'n tip because the compressor I have just isn't big enough to handle a gun.

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

Most of the paint is done, and i reassembled the main parts-

The fenders aren't done yet. I still need to weld a bit on the fenders, to fix a few cracks, then prime & paint them.

All the rollers have to be replaced, too. They're on order. I had to be a bit creative with them, since I couldn't get exact replacements, but I think that the solution I found is going to work fine. I've also got to find lights that look good on her, too

I've got small wheels on there now- But, I'll be replacing them with 'original' 12" wheels once I get the tires on them.

I think it's going to look good under the Lake N Sea!

-Andrew

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

So what did you do to replace those old keel rollers? Looking pretty sharp!

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

Luckily, the keel rollers were in great shape, so I could leave them in place... I'm not sure how you'd go about replacing them- I certainly couldn't find any way to get them out easily!!

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

I worked on the fenders today. It 'iconic' tear drop fenders are what separates a classic Tee-Nee Trailer from the rest of the 'rif raff' out there that people are hauling boats on, so they deserver a little extra attention

There were some small cracks around the rim of the fenders, which I welded-

I'm not a great welder, and I have a pretty crappy wire feed welder that likes to spatter. But, I get the job done.

After some grinding with a flap disc-

I ran a pretty good bead on the back, too, for strength. A little filler and you'll never know it was ever damaged. There were about half a dozen cracks like that on each fender.

Then, I finished stripping off the paint, and got the inside primed-

The plan is to coat the insides of the fenders with the same black rubberized undercoating that is used on wheelwells and car frames, I think it'll stand up to road use better than paint. Then, I'll prime and paint the outside.

-Andrew

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

Andrew, I just seen one of these on CL yesterday that was no were near as nice as the one you have and they were asking, believe this, $1500.00

Enjoy your pictures, nice work.

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

Thanks. They go for pretty big money sometimes, especially restored! I've seen them go for $2-3k or more, if there is a buyer that 'needs' it enough!

 

[Old Growth]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

here is one for sale on ebay, comes with a 15' Crestliner Silverstreak and 35hp Johnson, sound like a steal at $1900.00

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

I finally got around to doing the metal work that I needed to do on the Tee Nee- Since I've finally got the welder, and got some practice in!

I wanted to add some reinforcement to the tongue- There was some rust on the bottom, which looks like it was caused by water getting trapped inside. It wasn't that bad, and only on the bottom, so it probably would have been fine, But I don't like the word 'probably' when I'm cruising down the highway at 65 MPH

So, I welded a couple of lengths of 1" angle stock to the bottom-

Painted it up-

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

There was also a spot on the winch stand that had rusted through. It looks like something got trapped between the stand and the trailer, and got wet, and stayed that way long enough to rust the metal through. It's more of a cosmetic issue than anything, but I figured I'd fix it anyway-

I cut out the damaged area, with my 3" metal saw & body saw, & wire brushed the paint so I'd have clean metal to weld to-

Then, I cut a patch out of 18 ga steel to fit, leaving a small gap around the edge-

Then I tack welded it, and then slowly welded it all around. I took plenty of breaks so I didn't warp the relatively thin metal by overheating it!-

Then, I ground it all down smooth-

And painted it-

You'd be hard pressed to tell there was ever damage there! I love that MIG welder. It does a great job on sheet metal like this, I've used it a lot on my truck!!

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

I got the new tires on the 12" rims, which are the original ones for the trailer... If course, they need white walls.

I masked them off-

Sprayed on many, MANY thin coats of Matte white- 2 cans worth!

They look decent. Yeah, that's a Dilly hubcap, Still looking for tee nee OR blank ones for this trailer!

Then, I installed them on the trailer. She's rollin' on 12's like she's supposed to now!!

The last of the hardware & parts should be here any day now, so I can finally finish it up!

-Andrew

 

[Mikeyboy]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

Good work andgott she's looking great. Now you just need to finish the boat and your all set.

 

[andgott]

Re: Restoring a Classic 1959 Tee Nee Trailer

The last of the parts are here, and installed, and it's all wired and ready to go-

And, for a finishing touch, a 1959 Michigan License plate... The Lake N Sea was built in Michigan, after all

All that's left is to do the final adjustments to the rollers, once the boat is on. All I need to do is get the boat done now

-Andrew