Got my boat home! Yay!

You know the drill..

Moderators: Redneck_Randy, badmoonrising, lakerunner

Message
Author
yardbird
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 3:50 pm

Got my boat home! Yay!

#1 Post by yardbird » Sat Jul 29, 2017 3:26 pm

But not without some issues... BOOoooo....

Registering the trailer after I paid the guy. It has a title and a registration (New York State... go figure)
The TITLE is supposed to list the UNLADEN weight of the trailer.
The REGISTRATION is supposed to list the GROSS weight of the trailer at full load.

They both had the same weight. 2500 pounds. I told the woman, "It's a boat trailer. There is no way on earth it could come in at 2500 pounds. 650 or 700 maybe... but not 2500". She said if I could take it and get it weighed she could fix it. I said, "It has a boat on it!" Long story, shortened... I registered it as a heavier trailer, ponied up about &75 more than it should have taken, and got a license plate so I could bring it home. As a heavier class trailer, though, it's supposed to have brakes and stuff. I'm hoping I can fix this after the fact. I need to get it weighed on a certified scale after the boat it off of it. Ok... I can do that. But wait... there's more! I can not for the life of me find a VIN plate on this trailer nor can I find the trailer's numbers stamped into it anywhere. So... how can anyone certify it without knowing what they're certifying. Was thinking of going to Harbor Freight and getting some letter and number stamps, stamping the number on the frame of the trailer someplace, and seeing if that works out. I figure I can't get in trouble for stamping the CORRECT number on the trailer.

Then.... the boat paperwork. I buy boat, previous owner signs title, all set.. right? Well I get home and down the side of the title it says, "All signatures must be notarized" .... seriously? Neither of us saw that during the transaction. WE signed stuff in a coffee shop. Had we simply walked across the street to the bank we could have had it notarized there. We didn't see it. Now keep in mind this boat was about 2 and a half hours away in another STATE and I've made 3 trips already in the last 2 weeks. Once to look at it, once to pay the guy, and today to go pick it up. The GOOD news is, his wife told me he has to come up here to pick his mom up at the airport on Tuesday and if I can set it up, he can just stop at a notary close to the airport (there's a bank with easy parking about 5 minutes from the airport and next to the entrance to the highway he'll take home).

I lost one swivel fishing seat on the tow home. Well not lost like over-the-side- but it worked loose and fell over. It was lagged to the decking. Easy fix. Get some stainless bolts, nuts, and big washers and through-bolt it. Or... leave it off and put my zero gravity lounger there.. heheh. Inspected the decking from below and it appears to be in excellent condition so I'm not worried about having to tackle that anytime soon.

I put the bimini up and it was indeed mouse-chewed, but he had told me about it so no surprise there. It's not terrible. And I found acorns in the console. The stern light is a long shaft that plugs into a socket. It seems loose and the light flickers a little. It doesn't look old. I'm going to try just shooting it with some electrical contact cleaner and blowing it out with some air.
Pics in next post.....

yardbird
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 3:50 pm

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#2 Post by yardbird » Sat Jul 29, 2017 3:32 pm

Without further ado.... here is what I'm starting with...
Attachments
topside1-30.jpg
I just noticed today that it has a Sun Tracker swivel at the helm. Seems fine. Not in a hurry to change much.
topside1-30.jpg (400.94 KiB) Viewed 4270 times
console-30.jpg
simple console. But the Lowrance might be nice :)
console-30.jpg (388.79 KiB) Viewed 4270 times
stern-30.jpg
Stern... with the infamous sun deck that will almost certainly be removed as I can't GET to anything when on the water with it there. I don't dislike it. I dislike what it's keeping me from.
stern-30.jpg (439.93 KiB) Viewed 4270 times
OnTrailer2-30.jpg
OnTrailer2-30.jpg (598.91 KiB) Viewed 4271 times
trailer1-30.jpg
Trailer
trailer1-30.jpg (423.78 KiB) Viewed 4271 times
side-30.jpg
Side view
side-30.jpg (635.95 KiB) Viewed 4271 times

Wreck Tangle
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2017 8:23 am

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#3 Post by Wreck Tangle » Sat Jul 29, 2017 4:00 pm

I would REALLY want to take those hubs apart and re-grease before I went too much farther.

yardbird
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 3:50 pm

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#4 Post by yardbird » Sat Jul 29, 2017 4:49 pm

Yep... on the list. Although these hubs do have grease fittings that I can see. Dirty? Yes. But they ran 2 and a half hours at about 65mph and were cool to the touch. Not even warm. But once I get the boat itself squared away, it will be launched and slipped on a nearby canal so I can work on the trailer. General cleanup, inspect all the wiring, if it looks the least but suspect, it will get rewired. Just not that much to it. Overall the trailer appears solid and sound. And it hauled well. Although my brother's Hemi did drink kind of a lot. :)

The boat looks basically ok. All safety equipment is present and in good working order. For the short time we have left in the season I might do a few small things and call it good and get it in the water so we can use it. Then figure out what, if any, changes we would like to make. But it really pretty much suits what we want to do. I would like to add a second battery though. I can charge on shore power but this little outboard doesn't appear to have any kind of generation. Boat needs vacuuming, cleaning the seats... and just a general straightening up and we'll figure it out from there, I guess.

JLester273
Posts: 241
Joined: Wed May 10, 2017 10:23 am
Location: Cincinnati Ohio

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#5 Post by JLester273 » Sat Jul 29, 2017 10:10 pm

In Ohio you don't have to title the trailer just the boat and motor. All titles have to be notarized.

The trailer has to be weighed empty. I had to take mine to the lake unload it and drive to a certified scale. Mine has numbers on it. But I have had others that they just make them "homemade" on the registration.

Glad you got it home. You will have a blast with it.
My rebuild thread.
http://www.pontoonforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=24807

User avatar
zoom650
Posts: 659
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2014 7:14 pm
Location: Macon, Panama City Beach

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#6 Post by zoom650 » Sun Jul 30, 2017 7:35 am

Allow me to address the no serial number issue. Here's what I did.

In Georgia, as with a homemade trailer, go to DMV and they issue a serial number (metal plate) which you then affix to your trailer. A form accompanies the plate for a deputy or police officer to witness that the plate is affixed to your trailer.

I made a non-emergency call to my sheriff and had an officer come to my house. Took all of 5 minutes.
Michael and Laura
'12 Ford F150 Lariat SuperCrew Ecoboost
'14 Harris Solstice 220, P3 tritoon, Mercury Verado 150, Enertia 14p.
prior boat: '02 Century 2600CC, twin Yamaha EFI 200's, full instruments.

yardbird
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 3:50 pm

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#7 Post by yardbird » Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:00 am

[quote="zoom650"]Allow me to address the no serial number issue. Here's what I did.

In Georgia, as with a homemade trailer, go to DMV and they issue a serial number (metal plate) which you then affix to your trailer. A form accompanies the plate for a deputy or police officer to witness that the plate is affixed to your trailer.

I made a non-emergency call to my sheriff and had an officer come to my house. Took all of 5 minutes.[/quote]

I appreciate that, but... New York State. If I want to claim it's home made they want to see original receipts for all of the materials. Then fill out a form, pay $25 or something for a new VIN number... wait a while... HUGE pain in the ... stern.... much like most everything else in this state.

I'm gonna try just stamping the numbers into the frame of the trailer and hope that goes well. It's a legal trailer, legally purchased, and it already HAS a VIN number assigned. Somewhere along the line NYS screwed up and put the wrong weight on the title. That's a shame cause they can't go back in the records and see the first time it was registered and see what the weight was? The clerks aat DMV are doing their job the way they've been told to do it. So... common sense does not come into play. :)

yardbird
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 3:50 pm

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#8 Post by yardbird » Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:12 am

Today I vacuumed. Glad I did. I was sucking little fish hooks out from under the console and one of the couches. The previous owner was a fishing guide so I'm not surprised, but glad I cleaned. The seats are going to require something more than Murphy's oil soap to get them clean. I'll try some vinyl cleaner. It won't stop me from putting it in the water, but it bugs me.

Wiring.... yeeesh.... probably typical older boat, added stuff by previous owner(s). Tracing wiring I'm finding red wire used for ground, white for power, etc. This is inside the console. There is a 10 gauge red and a 10 gauge black running from the battery to the console and then all hell breaks loose where nobody can see it. That drives me nuts. My wife once said, "why do you care about that stuff?"... I said, "Because some day I may be the one who has to fix it!"

So... again... won't stop it from going in the water as I REALLY have to get the stuff with the trailer squared away, but maybe in the fall when I pull her out I can start on that. Oh and despite having the power run to the console, some lights are run to the battery. Stuff like that. In my mind, the battery should have connections to the motor, and the power run to the console. Everything gets controlled from the console.

And I REALLY want a master switch. But.... all this happens after the trailer work.

User avatar
rbtnt
Posts: 100
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:27 pm
Location: Central Ohio
Contact:

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#9 Post by rbtnt » Sun Jul 30, 2017 10:30 am

You might try a different title/registration office in a different county. In Ohio I have found a few title offices (1 hour away from big city) that interpret the laws and procedures in a way that have helped me out.
2020 Bennington 23 SSRXP Mercury 250 Pro XS
www.mtboats.com - Links to all types of powerboat resources

yardbird
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 3:50 pm

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#10 Post by yardbird » Sun Jul 30, 2017 1:38 pm

[quote="rbtnt"]You might try a different title/registration office in a different county. In Ohio I have found a few title offices (1 hour away from big city) that interpret the laws and procedures in a way that have helped me out.[/quote]

This actually WAS in a different county. :)
It was south of me a couple hours where I bought the boat. Not that I'm disagreeing with you. If I go to my local DMV, things could be different. I'm going to stamp the numbers in the frame, get it weighed, and see what happens. As of right now I have a trailer, and I have a boat. I can drive it the 15 or 20 minutes to the launch, put the boat in a slip, and get to working on this trailer fiasco. If it goes badly, I'll try the ...."wait a minute... this might be a home made trailer" ... route. Single axle qualifies. Just a whole different set of paperwork and pain. Still gotta get it weighed. And while there's no boat on it, I can take accurate measurements, which they also want.
One way or another it should eventually work out.

You would THINK that if it's a boat trailer, and they've registered a lot of boat trailers, they'd KNOW it doesn't weigh 2500 pounds. But even with that... if I try to look at it from their side, how would they know how much it DOES weigh, unless I get it weighed? It's not like they can just pull a number out of a hat. So... I'll play along for a while and see if we can't come to some amicable solution.

Cape Dave
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2016 1:28 pm

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#11 Post by Cape Dave » Mon Jul 31, 2017 5:46 am

Find a nice flat spot in the lawn and dry launch the boat on to grass or lumber. You will always need some thing else when working on the trailer.

yardbird
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 3:50 pm

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#12 Post by yardbird » Mon Jul 31, 2017 7:36 am

[quote="Cape Dave"]Find a nice flat spot in the lawn and dry launch the boat on to grass or lumber. You will always need some thing else when working on the trailer.[/quote]

I actually thought about this... hahah. I've never done it before. I have no idea how I'd get it OFF the trailer, and then no real concept of how it would go back on. My driveway is a generous 2 cars wide all the way to the street. If I cranked the trailer around hard after I pass the trees, the lawn is actually a foot and a half or 2 feet above the driveway level.

Right now I've found some wiring that just bothers me too much to leave it alone. I went and bought stainless bolts, washers and nuts to through-bolt the front swivel/fishing seats. Then I'm going to do some wiring. Not a complete rewire, but enough that it won't just bug the absolute crap outa me until it's done. Too many runs direct to the battery, fuse holders seized up with bad fuses inside. I just have to neaten it up a bit.

JLester273
Posts: 241
Joined: Wed May 10, 2017 10:23 am
Location: Cincinnati Ohio

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#13 Post by JLester273 » Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:39 am

[quote="Cape Dave"]Find a nice flat spot in the lawn and dry launch the boat on to grass or lumber. You will always need some thing else when working on the trailer.[/quote]

Cape Dave,
I would like to know how this is done. I have looked and can't figure out how you take a boat off a bunk style trailer into the yard.... I'm going to be rebuilding mine soon and being down lower would be nice. But I cannot figure out a way that doesn't make me think I'm never gonna get it back on the trailer or be able to do it without damage.

yardbird,

I have been thinking of adding a sun deck to mine. But that is a long way down the list.

Electrical on mine was a mess too. You might look at Pontoonstuff's wiring harness when you get to that stage. I've heard it makes things easy. I'll be going that route as I have interior house wiring someone decided was a good idea to use on mine that needs to go. At least you can access the wiring on these boats easier than some V hauls etc.
My rebuild thread.
http://www.pontoonforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=24807

yardbird
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 3:50 pm

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#14 Post by yardbird » Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:56 am

[quote="JLester273"]

Cape Dave,
I would like to know how this is done. I have looked and can't figure out how you take a boat off a bunk style trailer into the yard.... I'm going to be rebuilding mine soon and being down lower would be nice. But I cannot figure out a way that doesn't make me think I'm never gonna get it back on the trailer or be able to do it without damage.

yardbird,

I have been thinking of adding a sun deck to mine. But that is a long way down the list.

Electrical on mine was a mess too. You might look at Pontoonstuff's wiring harness when you get to that stage. I've heard it makes things easy. I'll be going that route as I have interior house wiring someone decided was a good idea to use on mine that needs to go. At least you can access the wiring on these boats easier than some V hauls etc.[/quote]

The problem I have with the sun deck is that it completely blocks access to gas tank, battery, motor when you're on the water. On this Landau, the sun deck cantilevers over top of all that stuff and I'd have to be far more acrobatic to scramble over the back of it and try to land a toe on the back edge of a pontoon. I see a lot of the newer toons have the rear of the playpen a couple feet shy of the motor area with a corner gate to walk back there. One even had enough room for 2 fishing chairs aft of the playpen. I don't have that. :)

If I were to completely redo this boat, I would consider making the playpen a couple feet shorter to accommodate this. Not sure I'd ever actually USE a sun deck. If I wanna lounge around I can do it in the boat. And I don't lay out in the sun... I hate it. You get PLENTY of sun on a boat. Usually more than you thought. :)

JLester273
Posts: 241
Joined: Wed May 10, 2017 10:23 am
Location: Cincinnati Ohio

Re: Got my boat home! Yay!

#15 Post by JLester273 » Mon Jul 31, 2017 10:57 am

Yeah the reason I have considered one was because my girls liked it on a pontoon we rented. I have seen them where the sides are storage and the center section hinges to one side etc. Thought about doing something like that as there is a place that makes the parts you just buy the "kit" and bolt it on. But I am just trying to decide really how I want to do everything too.
My rebuild thread.
http://www.pontoonforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=24807

Post Reply