TOPIC: Snowy morning road trip expected

Calling for 3” of snow by morning when we head out at 7am for a 2 hour road trip to pick up a Glassic. Heading south and want start back north to avoid possible freezing rain. Guess I will pretend I am towing a snowmobile trailer. The Jeep will only have about 450 miles on the new motor, so will just take it easy as it comes. Wish me luck. Hope a safe trip results in a few pictures. Never let common sense get in the way of the next Glassic lol...and to think it was in the 70’s just a few weeks back and it was 5 last night.

Luck...be safe

Good luck! I feel a little bad, i'm looking out the window at no snow and the suns out

Roads are ice around my area also.
I should not have opened up the corridor to Meteor this fall from Calgary, Alberta. Now I really pay the price for that bow light:laugh:

made round trip safely, but 3 trucks flipped and totaled and a semi backwards on the way home north of Portage, Wisconsin. The drizzle passed through that area as I was loading. Good thing we took the time to eat as I think we would have caught it. Took it easy until I drove out of the freezing drizzle and back to light snow then dryer roads. Left with only 2 inches and an icy left lane. Hurray that the Jeep made her just fine considering I only had 450 miles on new motor when I started towing. Only got 12mpg pulling 1,500 pounds into a headwind and no overdrive. Normally 20mpg with the 4.0 I-6 on hwy. new tires and 4 wheel drive made it track nice. No quick moves obviously. I now realize I have caught the affliction if this doesn’t even make me hesitate lol.

Congrats Mark. Success on both, you got a new project and the Jeep is back to normal. If you got 20mpg on your older one you somehow got lucky. Usually those 4 ltr mills got around 16.17. Both my older XJ and my daughters Wrangler get the 16mpg. My Liberty is no better with the V6. They are not known for economy but sure are nice on bad roads.

Outstanding! Glad the trip was uneventful!!!!!!

Bob

now time to remove the 110 Merc with power trim, pump, throttles to deliver to a Fiberglassic friend in Michigan next chance I get to visit family in Indiana. Just curious what was the first year they offered the power trim on mercs? Always liked the look of the 110.

Once I was able to thaw the ice plugging the drain hole, I just now finished filling 7 - 5 gallon pails to the brim with water from the hull. I will keep pails under for several days as perhaps there may still be unthawed slabs of ice left under there. Does this qualify as officially starting a restoration?

Most definitely the initial beginning. Are you restoring a water tank with a deep V?

I think I am still in the assessment and evaluation stages. When I put on my rose colored glasses, she is a nice rig. I will try and do some follow up with previous owner and if lucky, the owner before that so I can find out if some of the hardware that had been removed is still in the boat or in a corner of a garage somewhere. Would be cool to find the original brightwork. If not, there will be a big hunt on for that and some $$$ that I won’t have to put towards a motor someday. This one will have to sit behind the Wilson restoration and another car motor replacement, but might as well recon while snow and ice are here.

Dr. Go!, I sent you a pm, but I'm not sure you got it?

Thanks. Crazy busy traveling for work this week. May be days before I check, but for sure will get back with you.

Drb007 - replied to your PM.

Just checked e-mail and re-sent a PM. I also accepted connection.

Now up to 10 buckets (50 gallons of water and still dripping). I still see ice in bilge area. I will keep it inside until that ice is gone. This weekend the preliminary fun begins...trace all wiring...document and then remove engine. Glad I still have the engine hoist cherry picker from doing the Jeep motor. Ran to Mn today, so now have over1,200 miles on new engine. Time to change oil and likely broken in by now.

Thinking there's a lost post somewhere. So far you have a 110 Merc attached to something that holds 50+ gallons of dirty water and ice. You traveled dangerous icy roads to get whatever it is. Can assume it's on a trailer and that you can fit in in your garage.
Might be missing some hardware

At the moment, it is a planter filled with water, weeds, and moss called a Sea Ray.The hope is to someday convert the planter back to a boat where the water will be on the outside instead of on the inside. I am sure it will only take a few minutes of buffing. Great project to challenge my abilities and patience.

According to the motor serial number ( assuming it is a matched rig), and the amazing library, this is a 1966 Sea Ray SRV 170 which is 16’ long, rated for 110hp, and weighs 1,000 pounds. With that weight and a vee bottom, maybe it will ride like an 18 footer. I always heard these boats rode fairly smooth for their size. Considering the partial motor and 50 plus gallons of water, that’s about 1,600 plus without adding trailer weight. Now I know why my 4.0 Jeep was getting 12.5 mpg at 65.

Nice find. Those SeaRay's are very stable comfortable boats, good quality but I suspect you bought the motor that just happened to have a boat attached to it. Trailer must be good to make that trip. Ski bar??

The motor was purchased by another person and I am just the messenger. With all that extra weight in water I figured the rig around 1,600-1,700 on a trailer likely rated at 1,100 as I have that same trailer on the cat. One leaf was an index finger from bottoming out and other side was 2 fingers and that was sitting still. I am sure every bump would have been hitting frame and the one leaf was already convex. Add older cracked tires, so I stopped a few miles down the road and bought a bigger trailer...don’t ask the price lol. I did it for public safety for all. Would have not been wise to run 100 miles at 65mph with occasional drizzle and snow. I saw 3 flips in a quarter mile from black ice and they were totaled and a Semi facing backward getting towed out. Great way to get a trailer I guess. Bigger trailer rated 2,600 with new tires and fit like I set it up just for this boat. Sure made trip home uneventful and lowered initial stress levels.

Got the original empty trailer home last night in the pouring rain and holiday traffic (deer hunting “holiday”) so Super heavy traffic heading north. I am starting to look like a hoarder...this kind of sneaks up on a person doesn’t it?! I will try to get some pictures.

That's why I pared down over the years. I have one small 12' tin for my pond and the rocket. O yah and the 5.5 '57 rude, a few shelves full of old parts.

Please please tell us the story on getting a new trailer! You found one right down the road? How did you make the switch?
There's a good story in there we need to hear!

well look at it this way. if it held 50 gallons of water in. then the hull should be good. haha it should hold water out.

good catch pictures pictures i went back and was looking thru my pictures and i saw some i don't remember taking, never seen before.

keep it up
billy

Still draining and now up to 60 gallons. Yes - there is a “Paul Harvey...the rest of the story” story here. When I get a minute from busy work schedule, I will add pictures and the rest of the story. First clue: before trip I was looking for the add and pictures when I ran across a nice trailer...then after seeing the boat was bigger than trailer and looking in the library to find this boat was 1,000 alone... then add a few hundred more for motor without lower... I started thinking that trailer looked rated for 900-1,100 since it looked like a trailer I have. Figured even though I was bringing spare tires, bearings and grease gun as plan “B”... figured a plan “C” might not hurt. Called and found it was for sale about 5-6 miles from pick-up point. I will later upload pictures telling the rest of the story...considering I later learned that I also had about 500 more pounds of ice water, the rig was at least 1,700. For safety of my wife and EVERYONE one the road, I wound up buying a 2,600 pound rated EZ loader that ended up fitting perfect like it was set up for this boat. Transfer photos coming. 5 hour trip ended up 9 hours...I did get out of the snow and ate at a sit down home cafe after it was secured on trailer. My reward was all you can eat chicken and ribs that was like awesome home cooking!

I have to resize some pictures on the computer before posting. For now, picture a leaf spring bowed past horizontal with maybe an inch before it bottomed out to the frame...just to help, I had brought 2 2x6’s to use to try and re center the boat to help balance the load. Once I can get pictures posted, I will add more pictures for the rest of the story. Surely it would have bottomed out on every pot hole. That made me even more concerned I could blow a tire with repeated hard bottoming out blows. I saw ice frozen in the drain hole and was suspicious of extra weight from water (later at home to discover about 500 more pounds of water as a hidden stowaway. Stay tuned. The picture was the good side.

Blocked the tilt pivot with a block of wood to keep it rocked back. Leveraged the front over to center on front rollers. Then (though I have no pictures)...was able to talk my wife into helping. Though she is very tiny, I asked her to "hang" off the front bow while I used my 2x6 at the back trying to get some help with the pivot point of leverage. After several small gains, we finally got it centered on the rollers. It was cold and windy, so big thanks to my wife who was a super trooper! Towed it about 6 miles to used car/trailer place (Big shout out to Mr. T's Motorsports in Rio, Wi. who also has a few boats/trailers for sale. They saved the day with the EZ loader in the picture). I removed the winch post stop of the small trailer...then as you can see, I placed the other trailer right in front of it...since the big merc had no lower unit, I was able to use the nice strap on the bigger trailer's winch and crank it off the small trailer right onto the EZ loader and it fit like a glove. Went from about a 900 pound trailer rating up to a 2,600 rating with new tires. Safe ride home...then went back a week later to pick up the small trailer thanks to luckily working out of town (since it was about 2 hours away). After emptying all of the water (12 - 5 gallon buckets filled to top), I figured the boat, motor and water were around 1,700 pounds! All in a day's work when you think about Jan's logic of not letting anything get in the way of a boat decision...and the "Buy the Boat" chart see on the forums. I have to thank all of the "enablers" out there lol!

Clever! Running straight onto the other trailer. That feeling of pulling into your driveway at the end of the adventure .... nothing but pure relief. and exhaustion.

Though I was not in Scouts, Mom and Dad raised us with boating and a fast moving muddy river... so learn maintenance and safety. We always made 400 mile trips towing, so Dad taught to bring your supplies and be prepared. Not only pack bearings, check and fill tires including 2 spares, but bring extra bearings races and grease to re-inspect and repack bearings before returning home. Towed about 3,000 miles a year and Dad never stranded us growing up. Also launching boats at different challenging launches taught lots of skills. Understanding pinch points, shifting of loads, not forgetting the drain plug, using the tractor and fishing boat to learn to back and haul and launch a ton of times long before you needed those skills behind the wheel of a car or truck with a bigger heavy boat. I taught my girls the same as Dad taught me. That is why I choose my Daughters to pull me barefoot waterskiing because they paid attention and are good boat operators. I am thankful Grandpa and Dad passed things on. Now I have to finish my Little boat in time to teach the grandkids. Gotta teach the kids you won’t die getting a little greasy . Now you know “the rest of the story” so time to end this thread and move on to restoration. Time to bring some little things into the basement for winter progress on prep for the Wilson restoration while I try to replace my other vehicle motor for spring. Need that done so I can get back to Boats!