...And back on again!

The trailer is now complete. Hooray! Much work was needed, but we've finally got it done. Firstly, the original winch post was so badly damaged that a complete new one has been welded up by Dad. Then all the rollers were replaced, and a frame was welded below the rear roller as it was too low down for the boat.





New mudguards were purchased and new frame welded for those. The whole trailer has been rust treated and painted.



The side rollers have been given a bit of a makeover.

And finally, two new Mini wheels have been bought. I only wanted one as a spare, but the two were in such good condition we bought the pair.

Off the trailer

It was slightly wet. Very windy. But this weekend, we finally removed the boat from the trailer. It took a good few hours, but at the same time it was quite simple.

We made some wooden frames to sit under the boat at both the front and back. We then jacked the boat up a few inches higher than the trailer, starting with the back, and placed it onto breeze blocks. The trailer then simply wheeled out from underneath.



It took a few trials and errors (such as the mudflaps having to be cut off as they wouldn't fit underneath), but it now looks fairly stable. Probably more so than when it was on the rusty trailer!



Now the trailer is free we have taken it back to my Dads, and work can now begin making it more useable. I have a full set of brand new rollers for the main middle section, and Dad is making new brackets to hold the existing rollers on the sides. He has also made a new winch post for the front - initial plans were to repair the existing one, but it was so badly rusted it made more sense to make a new one.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks these should all be attached to the trailer, and the whole thing will have been rust treated and painted.

That's the plan anyway.

The name saga continues...

I have more info on the boat name and make. After chatting with people on the cmba.co.uk forum, and from checking out various boats on eBay, I have found out that my boat is either a Fletcher V139 or a V149. The V139 is just under 14ft, so I’m thinking it’ll be a V149, but it’s just a case of measuring it up and confirming, which won’t be for another week as I’m off to Skegness tomorrow!

They even supplied a picture of the V139 from the original brochure. It’s apparently from the late 60s! Unbelievable. It’s in fantastic condition considering. Just think, when this boat was made nobody had yet landed on the moon, and England were current football world champions…

Take a seat

After a rainy April, hopefully more work should be done on the boat this month. The main progress over the last couple of weeks has been the rear seats. One is now completely finished, and the other isn’t too far off. Dad made the wooden bases, I varnished them, and Mum made the cushions. A real family effort!

The wooden bases have a hardwood frame underneath them, which is designed to slot into the side storage compartments on the boat to hold the seats in place. In the past it looks as though hinges were used, but I imagined it would be a little awkward opening and closing the seats to reach the storage, so we went for the lifting on and off idea instead.



The wooden bases then have a 2” piece of foam on top, and are covered in white fake leather, chosen to match the front seats. However to get a proper colour match I’m going to have to really give the front seats a good clean. Or maybe dirty the rear seats up (would certainly be easier).



Last weekend the side panels were taken off the boat (with great difficulty, due to the rusted in bolts – again, a job for Dad). These will now be re-made and covered in the same fake-leather material as the seats. I think the sponge from the old side panels is still useable, so I’ll give that a clean up and remove all the embedded bolt rust.

Apart from the dashboard, the boat is now completely stripped inside, with only just over a month to get it ready for holidays. Arrrrgh!!!