# Resurrecting a 1652 MonArk



## lbursell (Nov 28, 2010)

All right, gentlemen,

I guess it’s finally time for me to step up to the plate. What we have here is a long neglected 1982 model 1652 MonArk with a 25 horse motor by Evinrude, also 1982 model. The boat has been sitting beneath an RV carport for at least 8 years. Right off the bat, here, before anything else – Thanks to Jim for creating a fantastic site for ordinary fishermen and boaters to share knowledge and experiences in an enjoyable, supportive environment. This is the only forum I’ve ever joined or even been interested in joining. I’ve been hovering and lurking here, with the occasional posted comment since last summer, when I stumbled across a couple of YouTube postings with links to TinBoats. I’ve been feeding my TinBoat addiction with almost daily injections of cruising the threads, getting ideas and inspiration from the builds found here to apply to my own soon-to-be dream boat/fishing machine. Fair warning – I am completely new to this boat remodeling craft so I will unashamedly beg, borrow and definitely steal ideas and techniques from here to use in my own build. Plans at the moment include using vinyl decking boards, instead of wood, for trailer bunks; using HydroTurf mats, instead of carpet, for all of my horizontal deck surfaces and trying out one of Water Snake brand trolling motors from Australia. I have some ideas that may be a little off the wall (I prefer “out of the box”) about how to proceed with parts of my build, so I will welcome any and all comments, questions, encouragement or criticism that will help me in getting a better boat out of the process.

So, here’s the boat. We bought it back in the late 1990’s primarily for fishing in the back bays around Corpus Christi and Port Aransas, with the very occasional trip into fresh water. We moved to North Texas in 2000. Somehow, going fishing took a back burner position to other priorities and the boat became the location to stack scrap lumber and other materials left over from various projects around the house. Looking back, it seems like there were a LOT of projects back then, so there is a lot of just plain, ol’ junk to get out of the way. 

















How long does something have to sit to sink this deep into the soil?





A couple of pics of the “VIN” plate just to show how much there is to work with here.










All of the junk is out and either hauled off or stashed elsewhere. I have to admit (while hanging my head  ), this was a great opportunity to get rid of an eyesore that had grown in the back yard. Pic from the front of the boat.





Middle bench towards the stern. Gotta love the green astroturf-colored carpet. I don’t think they made outdoor carpet in any other color back then.





And the back.





From the stern towards the bow.





I hope “is on the rise again” applies to the boat.





The floor between the benches.





The front deck.





The previous owner had put actual carpet padding beneath the green stuff on the front deck. It was easy on feet and kept that big aluminum sheet from sounding like a big kettle drum when you dropped something on it. I’m not intending to go that route.





Weapons of choice for removing carpet and glue. The carpet padding took very little effort to get up.





And the green carpet came off like peeling an orange. Just a few quick tugs and it peeled right up.





The carpet glue, however, was another story entirely. It had bonded to the aluminum extremely well (can’t be mad, ‘cause that is what it’s supposed to do) and was a bugger to get up.





In the end, there were three different types of glue applied to the boat. The white stuff came away fairly easily. The two types of darker, gray stuff felt at times like I was chipping away at marble. I don’t know if the PO did it in three different projects, or, if he would have been like me, and just worked with what he had around the house at the time.





Anyway, getting out the carpet and the majority of the carpet glue took the better part of a week, working one or two hours a day. I decided to refurbish the trailer before getting too deep into the boat, so digging out the trailer became the next step.





Almost like an archeological dig. Somewhere, Indiana Jones is hanging from a winch and cable over a snake pit. I did kill two copperheads that I disturbed during this phase of operations. Pretty snakes, but I didn’t want them that close to the house.





Front end up and out.





Is the back end sunk that deep or is the tire flat? Both.





Step 1: Jack up the trailer and boat on both sides.
Step 2: Place cinder blocks, spare tires or whatever works for you beneath the boat with landscape timbers laid across to support the boat.





Step 3: Lower the trailer, leaving the boat supported in mid-air. I was not happy with the single landscaping timber, so I repeated the entire process and doubled up on the landscape timbers.





Rotate the trailer guide-ons back and then down so they can clear the landscape timbers when the trailer is pulled out.





The rear of the boat is supported on two sides with cinderblocks and landscape timbers and at the stern with more cinderblocks. The guide-ons were released and allowed to drag behind the trailer until it was clear. I’m replacing the lights, anyway.





The front end of the boat is suspended from the roof of the RV shed. Move a few bricks out of the way and the trailer is ready to pull out.





I guess I forgot to take pictures of the trailer while it was pulled out. This pic just shows how little room there is to spare once I got it into the garage. But, there will be plenty of trailer pictures in the next upload which will consist mostly of the trailer tear down and preparation for paint. Also, there will be blood.


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## jcb (Nov 28, 2010)

YOUS HAVE A BOAT THAT HAS LOT OF POTENTIAL RITE THERE.IF I WAS YOU I WOOD REMOVE THE MITTLE SEAT BENCH SO YOUS CAN HAVE OPEN DEZINE AND THEN YOUS CAN ADD LENGHT TO FRON T DECK.YOUS CAN ALLSO ADD ALIMIMUM FLOORING AN PAINT OF NON SLIP COATINGS.I WATCH AS YOUS MAKE PROGRESS ON HER.OPEN DEZINE IS LIKE WHAY I HAS ON ME TIN BOAT,OPEN DEZINE MAKE OTHERS THINK YOUS HAS BIGGER BOAT THAN WHAT YOUS ACTUALY HAS WITCH IS GOODD =D>


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## Brine (Nov 28, 2010)

Great to see you bringing this one back to life.

Not many that have to be unearthed to start. :lol:


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## Flatsdaddy (Nov 28, 2010)

That looks like a carbon copy of my Alumacraft 1648 (although yours must be a little wider). My middle seat has a live well that I use for storage. I put hatches on either side of the live well for extra storage. You could use your center seat for storage too. I was afraid to remove mine because it's structural support.

Awesome looking boat. It will be a flats/bay fishing machine.


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## lbursell (Nov 28, 2010)

Thanks guys. One of the challenges I've put in front of myself on this is to keep the benches and foam intact. Call me paranoid, but I want to know the flotation factor is there if it is ever needed. Even then, I plan to add more foam beneath the flooring. The good thing about a boat of this size is that the roominess allows flexibility. Right now, my intention is to deck over between the middle bench and the front deck to provide storage and space for a bait well, with a live well just behind the middle bench. Back when I was using the boat in the bays, it had no trouble planing with me and two other guys, equipment and ice chests, so I'm pretty sure it can handle the weight of a live well, especially if I pay attention to weight distribution.


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## Flatsdaddy (Nov 28, 2010)

I did remove all the foam from one side and some from the other in my middle seat. There was a block on either side of the live well. I plan to put foam under the floor when replace it and have a foam block in the front when I redo the front deck. That middle seat is a ton of storage space.

I may even try to insulate the livewell to make a fish box. I usually use a flowtroll bucket if I fish live bait.


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## SaltyBuckster (Nov 28, 2010)

That's a great boat !!Took me two weeks to get all the carpet glue out of mine with a wire wheel.Glad that I did it though.Have fun,I am with mine.I'm thinking of cutting my center bench and making it a walk through.Then closeing off the ends a foot on each side and filling them up with new foam.


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## DaveInGA (Nov 29, 2010)

Looks like you got a good start going there. Love to see a tin that's resurrected. 

If you are still having carpet glue removal issues, check out my build. There's some information there on carpet glue removal that'll save you a lot of labor.

Have fun.


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## lbursell (Dec 11, 2010)

OK – The trailer is in the garage and its time to start the tear-down process. This is a 1982 Highlander trailer made in Fort Worth, Texas by Fuqua Industries. Apparently, they’re not in business anymore, so now you know as much about the trailer as I do. I didn’t get a full length picture of the entire trailer, but we’ll start at the front and work our way back to give an idea of what we’re working with.






You can see that rust is starting to get a good hold on pretty much everything. That’s why I decided to go ahead with an entire trailer re-build and paint.






A new winch and new trailer jack are on order from Great Lakes Skipper.






Everything made from wood will be replaced with the vinyl decking material. I’ve got a couple of ideas about how to counter the flexibility and reinforce it for strength and rigidity. I’ll be the guinea pig for everyone else and see if it can be made to work.











The roller brackets are going away and not coming back.











The guide-ons worked flawlessly before and there’s no reason not go ahead and re-use them. They will also get a fresh coat of paint just to freshen up the look.






This is what a bunk bracket looks like after several years of being dunked in and out of salt water. All of the bunk brackets and associated hardware will be replaced.
















Putting that shiny new hitch latch up there was like just getting a taste of what could be done here.






Winch and jack coming off.











Dropping the tongue out of the frame.






Thanks to lckstckn2smknbrrls for the advice on the white lithium grease. I had no idea what it was.






Years of salt water immersion did a real number on the nuts and bolts. There were three ways of getting them off. #1 – Holding with a vise wrench on one side and a box end wrench on the other and unscrewing them apart in the normal way. That worked for about twenty percent of them. The other eighty percent split about evenly between:

#2 – The bolt just sheared off and
#3 – Getting out the dremel tool with a cutting head and cutting as deep as I could into the nut. Then, I’d take a hammer and cold chisel and split the nut the rest of the way. Technique #2 was by far the easiest of the three.











Trailer completely disassembled and all hardware off.





















I originally wanted to try to save the fender decals, but decided later that if I wanted them back, it would be easier, and probably better looking, to just get replacement decals. Even though it’s a galvanized trailer, you can see where the rust is getting a foothold below the decals. Another reason to go ahead and paint.






The entire trailer frame is disassembled and put out of the way on sawhorses.





















I couldn’t justify to myself buying all new hardware and brackets when everything was already there. Pretty much everything, except nuts and bolts, was just as strong as when it was first mounted. It was just all ugly with rust.






So, I got a wire wheel and a wire cup brush and put them in the drill press. A little bit of grinding and elbow grease and you can see the difference.






Halfway done with this piece.






This piece is done. The difference is obvious.

The rusty bunk brackets, however, were completely unusable. Just so happens that I bought a used boat trailer a few years ago to turn into a lawn mower trailer. When I took the bunks off of that trailer, I saved the bunk brackets and other hardware, thinking they might come in handy someday. They had been covered in black paint, so they were definitely if good shape. Just needed to go back to the drill press and the wire wheel for a little paint and rust removal.






The bracket on the right came off of the Highlander trailer the boat has been sitting on. The bracket in the middle came from the converted trailer. The one on the left is freshly scraped and ready for primer.






I can’t do a project without putting a little blood into it. After this, I wore leather gloves for the rest of the grinding.

Next up is wheel bearing replacement and lots of painting.


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## DuraCraft (Dec 11, 2010)

Looks like to me you are doing one great job! I noticed the cut hand right away. Looks just like my hands... Can't wait to see your work on the boat! Keep them pics coming!


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## SaltyBuckster (Dec 11, 2010)

I bet that ole trailer is sitting in the garage telling stories,with a big smile on it's face.Nice work.


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## lbursell (Mar 3, 2011)

OK, back after a short hiatus - Holidays, family upkeep, etc. A lot of these pics were made back around Thanksgiving and I'm just getting caught up on the postings. Replaced the bearings and got started painting on the trailer hardware.





















This is what the wheels looked like at the beginning. 





Lots of grinding with the wire wheel in the drill, along with patience, patience, patience....










Gave them a short bath in vinegar to provide a very light etch before applying primer.






Even the primer looks good! (IMHO)





But the painted white looks even better.





















Now, back to all that trailer hardware that needs to be painted. All the grinding has been done and now its time for a little primer.
















Farm Implement Paint in Ford Blue from Tractor Supply. To quote Richard Pryor: "That's a PRETTY blue."  











Next up - Painting the actual trailer frame. That was a weekend adventure all by itself.


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## Brine (Mar 3, 2011)

Superb! =D>


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## Ictalurus (Mar 3, 2011)

Looking good! =D>


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## fender66 (Mar 3, 2011)

This is really an amazing build. I only have one request...can you post a few pictures please? :LOL2: 

Seriously....love the pics. Makes me feel like I'm right there with you. Keep it up!


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## basshunter25 (Mar 3, 2011)

Looks good. Awesome boat to work with. Look forward to progress.


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## lbursell (Mar 5, 2011)

Thanks, guys. I never really thought about just how much intricate detail there is to a trailer until I broke it down to all the various parts. I knew when I started that this project would take at least a year. Now, I'm realizing that I'm gonna have to re-vise the estimate. I just work really slow and, as the saying goes, "The devil is, indeed, in the details." But, I am having a therapeutic blast.


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## reedjj (Mar 5, 2011)

I can't believe how good those wheels look. What an amazing restoration of that trailer. I cant wait to see the job you do on the boat.


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## skimsucka (Mar 6, 2011)

WOW talk about gettin to work Awesome job keep those pics coming! I think alll new vehicle production should be shut down for 5 years so everyone can rebuild save and use what we have!! no need for this throw away system


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## basstender10.6 (Mar 6, 2011)

great work! i cant wait to see the boat.


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## lbursell (Mar 16, 2011)

Here At Last! Its painting day for the trailer frame. I had every thing laid out in the garage, then decided I didn't want to go to the trouble of turning the entire garage into a big paint booth.







So, I loaded every thing into the back of the truck for a trip to the carwash to get rid of any last bits of dirt or oil residue.











Back from the carwash and ready for primer. I had a low volume spray gun that I borrowed from my Dad to do the spraying with, but my little pancake compessor just didn't have enough "oomph" to do the job.
















So, a quick trip to Wal-mart and I bought a Wagner Power Painter. More about that thing in a minute. This is the primer I used for the galvanized metal.






Every thing all primed and looking pretty good.





















These are the saw-horses I used while spraying with the Wagner Painter. Notice the amount of overspray. There's also a huge spot of much lighter concrete on my driveway.






Sorry, but I've got to rant here. :evil: I will never, ever recommend the Wagner Power so-called Painter to anyone. If you don't hold it exactly level, it loses suction. Despite have everything set at the lowest possible volume, it still spewed out clumps of paint. No matter which nozzle setting I used, there was no way to avoid enormous overspray. With the amount of area I needed to paint, I should have been able to prime at least two trailers with the one can of primer. Instead, I had to use a full second and part of a third can to finish the job. When I was done, I completely cleaned the worthless piece of junk exactly according to the instructions and took it back to Wal-mart. Told them that they should be ashamed to sell that kind of stuff to the public. I figure they must have been used to hearing that, 'cause they refunded my money with no questions asked. As I posted on another thread, If you offered me a T-bone steak with the name "Wagner" on it, I'd rather go to McDonalds. And, I am no fan of that clown, either. I will never buy another Wagner product again.
OK, its out of my system; Rant over. 8) 

While the primer was drying, I decided to paint the trailer guide-ons.






The guide-ons got Krylon Fusion paint for plastic and PVC.






Redneck paint booth in action.






All the frame parts back in the garage, ready for top coat. After my adventures with the sprayers, I decided that low tech rollers were my best route.











Valspar Tractor/Farm Implement Paint from Tractor Supply. The little trigger attachment for the spray cans is great. Makes using the cans so very easy. I used the spray cans for the little nooks and crannies that the rollers couldn't get into.






And the pay-off.
















A little re-assembley and tires, wheels, fenders and frame all coming together. This is why we do it.


























I like this blue. The boat and the trailer are going to be the same color. This is a sample of the HydroTurf mat that the decking will be covered with. I'm gonna try the HydroTurf instead of carpet. I think the blues match each other pretty good.






Next up, bunks and bunk carpetting.


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## fender66 (Mar 16, 2011)

Simply amazing job. =D> =D>

And I too will never recommend the Wagner sprayer. [-X


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## bm3dufner (Mar 16, 2011)

looks awsome way to take your time.


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## alanbird_87 (Mar 25, 2011)

Trailer looks very god! =D> Already u have came a long ways.


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## Oldgeek (Mar 25, 2011)

Nice job on the trailer. Disassembling it was the right way to go. I just wire wheeled mine, primed it with rust restorer and painted it. Mine "looks" okay but I know I should have taken it apart. I am running out of time to get the rig ready to fish this year so I cut some corners. I can't wait to see what you do with the boat. =D>


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## lbursell (Mar 26, 2011)

Thanks to all for the compliments. If anybody sees me doing something wrong, please feel free to let me know. This is not my first boat, but it is my first boat modification project. And, I don't come from a boating family, so I didn't grow up with this stuff. 

Oldgeek, you are right - taking it all the way apart was definitely the way to do it right. I'm making myself try to make it right every step of the way and still stay within a reasonable budget. Without winning the lottery, this is my last boat. The hope is that, once its done, its completely done - with no do-overs required - and she'll do everything I want her to do. My mind-set on this is to make every effort to build it so that it will last me until my last fishing trip (hopefully a couple of decades away) and, then, if one of the kids wants her, and I haven't sunk her, she'll be their project boat.


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## Brine (Mar 26, 2011)

Looks great man. 

Curious, did the Toyota happen to catch any of the overspray? [-o<


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## lbursell (Mar 26, 2011)

Brine said:


> Looks great man.
> 
> Curious, did the Toyota happen to catch any of the overspray? [-o<




Thank you. Actually, yes. But, it was far enough away that it was just a very few tiny little micro-beads of paint. It was like they were already dry on the outside so there was no adhesion to the truck paint. Rub your hand over them and they just came away.


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## ohiolunker (Mar 27, 2011)

Nice color choice on the trailer. Looks good.


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## Ouachita (Mar 27, 2011)

Love the blue. Can't wait to see what you do to the boat!


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## lbursell (Apr 2, 2011)

Progress is being made and it feels good. Time to get some bunks on. This is one of the areas where I'm wanting to stretch the envelope a little bit. Instead of using wood for the bunks, I gonna try out the composite decking material. A lot of people have said that the composite decking is too flexible. I think that I've thought this through pretty well and I don't see the problem. I'll keep an eye on the bunks and report back on how they're doing in a year or so. With my slow rate of progress, I just hope the boat is in the water within a year. 
One thing I want to point out is that during this phase of the project I was working on multiple things concurrently. Bunks, lights, winch post and trailer jack were all being worked on at the same time. While paint or glue was drying on one thing, I would be working on something else. To keep the thread readable, though, I've separated each sub-project into its own category. So, you may see guide-ons with lights already mounted in the bunks section and then later on you may be reading the section about lights, but the pictures don't show that the bunks have been mounted yet. I'm doing it this way to try to keep the thread from being confusing.

OK, before I started this project, the bunks were four foot long 2x4's that only extended a little past the axle on two bunk brackets. And the front 18 inches or so of the bunks were unsupported.





So, I went with two 6 foot long sections of the composite material in a 2x6 configuration. I later decided that the 6 foot length was a little too long, so I cut off 4 inches, to make them 5 feet 8 inches. I'm a little concerned right now that this was a mistake, but I'm committed now. We'll just have to see how it comes out. The new bunks will be supported from all three of the trailer crossbars. In other words, three bunk brackets supporting the bunks in front, middle and back. My thinking is that this will defeat the flexibility issue.





First thing is to establish the height of the bunk brackets. I used this template I had put together when I built a wheelchair ramp for the mom-in-law. I'm not even sure what the actual height is; It just happens to be the right height so that all the bunks will sit clear of the fenders.





Bracket heights are set. The first thing you will notice about the composite material is the grooves that run the length of the board. To be sure of stability, I decided I didn't want that side to be mounted directly on the bunk brackets, so that automatically became the top side.





To locate the position of the mounting holes, establish the middle of the board.





Draw the center-line down the length of the board.





Lay the board, with the center-line down, on the bunk brackets. Then, from underneath, mark the location of your mounting holes.





Drill out your mounting holes.





Use a hole saw to carve out the grooved section so that a washer will fit in that space.





Only use the hole saw to cut out just to the bottom of the groove's trough.





Then, use the wood chisel to remove the little arced sections to flatten out the bottom part of the hole.





One of the little arcs removed.





Use the wood chisel to smooth out the bottom of the mounting hole. This composite material is very easy to work with.





Bolt and washer ready to go into the mounting hole.





The bolt head is below the top of grooved surface.










Bunks laid out on top of the brackets. So far, so good.


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## imgonnamissher (Apr 2, 2011)

Great job so far. I to am hoping to make my trailer and boat the same color, but haven't decided whether to spent he money to match or just paint it black. Can't wait to see progresss on the boat. You're doing great. =D>


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## lbursell (Apr 3, 2011)

I got to thinking about the bolt head being covered with carpet and realized that it would probably just turn when I tried to tighten the nut. I didn't want to cut out the carpet to gain access for a wrench, so I decided to give this stuff a try. Its one of those two-part epoxies that you slice off a chunk, then knead it like bread for a minute or so to mix and activate the chemical reaction.





Applied the epoxy to both sides of the washer, then squeezed down on the bolt head.





This is the first result and I decided it was crap-ugly. (Even though its gonna be invisible.)





Then, I thought some more. Eventually, water is gonna get into those grooves. I don't want the water to be stuck there and stagnate. That will in turn cause the bunk carpet to start rotting. I'm gonna have to make some drains for the water to get out. I don't want anything inside the grooves to impede the flow of the water to the drains, so I want everything around the bolt-head to be as smooth as possible.


So, then I developed myself a little system. First, apply the epoxy only to one side of the washer.





Then, squeeze the washer down over the hole with your thumbs. See that little dollop of epoxy that squishes through the washer hole?





From underneath, push the bolt through the washer to clear the epoxy dollop from the center of the washer.





Remove the dollop and pull the bolt back out. Use the dollop to form a collar around the bolt, just beneath the bolt head.





Re-insert the bolt through the washer. This time from the topside.





Squeeze down with you thumbs again, squishing out the excess epoxy from beneath the bolt head.





Remove the excess epoxy from around the bolt head and use it on the next bolt/washer combination.





So, those aren't grooves in my bunks anymore. They are now _channels_ to facilitate draining water from my bunk boards. Three holes drilled through the channels at the lower end of the bunk boards creates my drains.





Notch out the bottom holes in each channel so that every drop of water can get out.





If you have drains at the lower end of the channels, you need air holes at the upper end to insure that the flow of water is unimpeded.


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## lbursell (Apr 3, 2011)

Time for a little carpet work on the bunks. I wanted to find a matching blue for the bunk carpet. Checked out the local carpet stores and nobody had what I wanted. The Lowes and Home Depot carpet didn't leave me impressed. Ordering online, I could have gotten the color I wanted, but I couldn't see forty bucks for bits of carpet that will be under a boat 99% of the time. Got this remnant outdoor carpet several years ago, thinking I might use it on the front deck of the boat. Ten bucks for 6 x 7 feet. That was before I found TinBoats and learned what could really be done to a boat. The roll is hooked from laying over a rafter for at least five years. Even though its not blue, the maroon is close enough to red that I can say my trailer is red, white and blue.  





This is the adhesive I used. If they ever need a product endorsement, I'm the guy. Works great. Note the test sample in the background.





Carpet laid out nice and flat. Place the boards for measuring your cuts.





I masked off the area I wanted to put glue on during this step. Apply the adhesive to the carpet, then apply to that side of the bunk board. Apply the adhesive on the board only on the top of the board that will be in contact with the carpet. Keep the glue out of your water channels.





After applying the adhesive to both surfaces, wait five minutes, then place the board on the carpet. Remove the masking.





Appy suitable weight, then give it a couple of hours to cure. Or, in my case, overnight. That Weldwood Contact Cement works good enough that I probably could have finished the job without waiting. But, it was the end of the day and I was tired.


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## lbursell (Apr 3, 2011)

The next day I uncovered the combined bunk board / carpet assembly and started making preps for the final application of glue. Cut slits in the carpet for the drain holes using a piece of scrap composite to get things lined up.










As you can see, I didn't allow quite enough space for the fold-over.





So, on the next piece, I used the scrap composite plus two layers of scrap carpet as spacers. That made it near perfect.





The most mentally challenging part of this phase is getting the cuts right to allow for folding the carpet around the ends of the bunk boards. Really take your time here, visualizing how each layer will fold around, because once you lay the glued pieces together, they'll be very difficult to pull back apart.










Applied clear tape to cover the drain holes. I didn't want any glue inside the drain holes. Then painted the adhesive all over the bunk board and covered the carpet.





Wait five minutes or so, then remove the masking tape.





Then, start folding the carpet into the adhesive.










I wanted to get multiple layers of carpet at the lower end of the bunks to provide some cushion for those "just in case" moments.










Folded over - Almost ready. Note the little gap where I mis-measured in the lower left corner. I just cut another small piece of carpet to plug in to the gap. We'll see how long it holds.





Reinforced the tag ends with screws and washers.





I think the results came out pretty good.










I'm pretty pleased. The red, white and blue goes pretty good together.


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## lbursell (Apr 9, 2011)

Now to back up a little and show the lights assembly and how I put a little more blood into the project. Starting out with the guide-ons.





Wiring ran through the guide-ons and out the top.





Guide-ons mounted.





Lights are also mounted low down at the trailer frame.





The next problem is that the guide-on pipe wasn't wide enough to accept both of the mounting posts on the trailer lights. So I figured to fabricate a bracket to attach to the guide-on for mounting the trailer lights. Took a simpson strong-tie for rafters and joists.





Used tin snips to cut off the sections I needed to fab my brackets.





Took my brackets to the drill press to enlarge the hole to accept the trailer light mounting post.





There's something that I've known for a long time, but never needed to articulate until I was making these brackets. One of the things that happens when you're drilling through metal is that, just as the drill bit breaks through the far side metal, the bit and the metal bind together. This either causes the drill to torque in your hand or, if your using a drill press, can cause a rather small piece of metal to start spinning at a fairly rapid pace....





....Resulting in this. That finished my work for that day.


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## lbursell (Apr 9, 2011)

So, after licking my wounds and buying some bigger band-aids, I finished the brackets and mounted them at the top of the guide-ons.





See the hole in the guide-on for mounting the other side of the light post? What I failed to think through is the fact that both mounting posts need to be grounded to the trailer frame. That fact gave me the blues for about a day and a half trying to get the lights to work properly.





I wanted something a little more substantial that just running a wire between the mounting posts. So the fix was to take a short length of galvanized metal duct tape and mount the lights with the mounting posts through the holes in the duct tape. 





Hook everything up and suddenly I have trailer lights that do what they're supposed to do. 





You can see the galvanized duct tape on the left side of the light. If anybody's curious, the forward facing red reflectors are for backing up at night.





Then working on connections at the front end.





Every connection on the trailer got two coats of liquid tape, then sealed with at least one layer of heat-shrink tubing.





Final product on the front end.





Now we're getting towards the end on the trailer. A little more painting and mounting of some hardware. I'm starting to see a light at the end of this tunnel.


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## rmzachar (Apr 10, 2011)

That looks fantastic!


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## GaBassin (Apr 10, 2011)

I cant wait to see the progress of the boat. This is the same boat I have. If I can figure it out I will upload the pictures from my modification. Good luck and enjoy.


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## fender66 (Apr 10, 2011)

Dang.....project looks great. Your injury made things inside of me hurt. Have no idea what that was either...just hurt. :shock: Hope you heal fast.


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## lbursell (Apr 17, 2011)

GaBassin said:


> I cant wait to see the progress of the boat. This is the same boat I have. If I can figure it out I will upload the pictures from my modification. Good luck and enjoy.




I would love to see someone else doing the same boat I have. See if great minds really do think alike. 8) Uploading pictures isn't that hard, just time consuming. Getting feedback just motivates you to keep going. Knowing that the photographic evidence of your accomplishments and mistakes is out there for the world to see makes you want to keep on doing it right. And, I'm still having a blast doing this. I'm so close to actually getting started on the boat, it makes my mouth water.


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## lbursell (Apr 17, 2011)

fender66 said:


> Dang.....project looks great. Your injury made things inside of me hurt. Have no idea what that was either...just hurt. :shock: Hope you heal fast.




Thanks for the compliment. The thumb is all healed up. Just real tender and itches constantly. When I first did it, I actually expected it to be broken. The funny/embarrassing thing is... Right before I did it to myself, the thought crossed my mind: "You should probably put those leather gloves back on." :idea:  #-o ](*,) Maybe someday I'll be smart enough to use power tools. [-o<


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## Slowcrank (Jul 13, 2011)

I'll have to tell you, I'm really enjoying following you along with your progression. Wish I was there to help... You have been doing a great job. I can't wait to see and read about your experiences with the boat itself. Do you know when your gonna start on it? Or when your gonna start posting again? I'm sure the finger is completely healed by now. LOL Good luck and thanks again for all that you are doing to help everyone out there have a better understanding and "guide" to the How To's of Resurrecting an old classic boat like the "1652" MonArk.

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>


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## Anonymous (Jul 13, 2011)

Woah ... such great attention to detail !


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## bulldog (Jul 13, 2011)

Amazing. Everything looks very well thought out and you have a great eye for detail. Great job and thanks for all the pics.


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## hueydr (Jul 15, 2011)

Nice job. Love the blue. Did you take the leaf springs apart prior to painting? If not, how were you able to clean them up?


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## mmf (Jul 17, 2011)

Great looking job on those bunk boards! Keep up the good work!


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## Jay415 (Oct 18, 2011)

Nice work to the trailer! How's the boat coming along?


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## Jonboat Jerry (Oct 19, 2011)

Jay415 said:


> Nice work to the trailer! How's the boat coming along?


That trailer is definitely over the top!......Where's Da Boat? Pics??


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## lbursell (Oct 20, 2011)

hueydr said:


> Nice job. Love the blue. Did you take the leaf springs apart prior to painting? If not, how were you able to clean them up?




Left the leaf springs as they were. Hit them with rusty metal primer and sprayed them in place. My thinking is that they are underneath the trailer which in turn is underneath the boat. In that location, I'm just gonna let function take priority over appearance.


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## lbursell (Oct 20, 2011)

Thanks for the compliments. Had to kind of set the boat to the side for the summer to work on a big maintenance project at the house, then plans and preparations for live-in mom-in-law's 85th birthday. Every in-law I have was at our house last week. We had a blast! Now that we are out of the 110 degree plus days and you don't get blasted by heat just stepping out the door, the paint scraping has begun. I'll post more pics when she's shiny. Hopefully, I'll get primer and paint on her before true cold weather (for Texas) sets in.

Again, many thanks for the compliments.


Larry


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## JasonLester (Feb 9, 2012)

Great job on the trailer....I need to do a complete teardown of mine too. Come on nicer weather. 

Hows the boat coming


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## lbursell (Feb 10, 2012)

No real progress to speak of.  Had it parked under the shed in the back yard through the holidays. Excuses include a big time change with my job, holidays, multiple projects around the house and the usual family responsibilities. Of course, my personal laziness has nothing to do with lack of progress. :roll: Got it back around to the garage last week, so HOPEFULLY I will get back to scraping paint within the next week or so.


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## MattAttack85 (Jun 9, 2013)

Bringing up an old topic here... Just curious of any progress that might have been made..? I have the exact same model and year Mon Ark boat, so this thread has definitely piqued my interest...

Awesome looking trailer!! Very nice and detailed work! Thanks for the pics!


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## lbursell (Jun 16, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=318003#p318003 said:


> MattAttack85 » 08 Jun 2013, 23:09[/url]"]Bringing up an old topic here... Just curious of any progress that might have been made..? I have the exact same model and year Mon Ark boat, so this thread has definitely piqued my interest...
> 
> Awesome looking trailer!! Very nice and detailed work! Thanks for the pics!




Paint is about 98% gone from the boat, finally. Have a long awaited demotion coming up at work, effective July 1st, which will mean regular scheduled hours, fewer hours spent on the job and, effectively, a pay raise (when you look at the actual hours spent on the job). That will give me back a lot of hours in my day.
I'm definitely ready to get back to the boat. First, all I have to do is finish a bedroom remodel for the Mrs., keep up with the lawn, have a yard sale, etc, etc, etc. :? 

I ain't done yet, and neither is the boat. Pics will be coming.

I see this is your first post. I would love to see pics of your boat, too. There doesn't seem to be many of the 1652 MonArks around and I'm always looking for good ideas to steal.


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