Old boat, new owner, scissors trailer??

[ftl900]

I've never even heard of a trailer like this before, and now I own one.

Couple of questions... it has a hand crank winch to raise and lower the trailer. Is there any good reason not to go with a small electric winch for that? Seems like a no brainer, but like I said, I have zero experience with pontoons and this type of trailer.

How EXACTLY does it function? Mine seems to be 'stuck' with the front just off the ground and the back touching the ground. I can crank it up or down a little, but not much. I think the back of the trailer frame is warped somewhat, and it seems that it's not releasing from the pontoons in the back. It seems like it's almost hung up, since I crank it down, and the cable goes slack while the front is still an inch or two off the ground.

Thanks for input and suggestions.. I'm sure I'll be a frequent flyer here while I get this thing figured out!

 

[flycaster]

Re: Old boat, new owner, scissors trailer??

I've never even heard of a trailer like this before, and now I own one.

Couple of questions... it has a hand crank winch to raise and lower the trailer. Is there any good reason not to go with a small electric winch for that? Seems like a no brainer, but like I said, I have zero experience with pontoons and this type of trailer.

How EXACTLY does it function? Mine seems to be 'stuck' with the front just off the ground and the back touching the ground. I can crank it up or down a little, but not much. I think the back of the trailer frame is warped somewhat, and it seems that it's not releasing from the pontoons in the back. It seems like it's almost hung up, since I crank it down, and the cable goes slack while the front is still an inch or two off the ground.

Thanks for input and suggestions.. I'm sure I'll be a frequent flyer here while I get this thing figured out!

PICTURES from several angles will show something that may not be evident to the untrained eye.

 

[ftl900]

Re: Old boat, new owner, scissors trailer??

Yeah, if I can get the toon off the trailer, I'm sure it will become a lot more clear to me.
Gonna try to jack it up and block it this weekend.

 

[ftl900]

Re: Old boat, new owner, scissors trailer??

I jacked the boat up and got the trailer out from under it. It seems to operate ok, so I'm not sure what the problem was, but I'm giving it a good going over - replacing all the trailer wiring.

I already lubed up all the expansion joint/sliding areas that move when it goes up and down.

Needs a little welding, and then it'll be ready for the water.

 

[rentprop1]

Re: Old boat, new owner, scissors trailer??

what ever you do keep that trailer, unless you gonna be making a trip every weekend over to the river that will be fine to get you up to the lake.

you don't see a lot of those around anymore, perfect if you ever need to work on the toon off trailer....

 

[ftl900]

Re: Old boat, new owner, scissors trailer??

We did about 2 hours of welding on it last night, now I just have to rewire the trailer. I cut all the old wiring stuff off of it.

I'm brainstorming the best way to protect the new trailer wiring. The old stuff was wrapped in duct tape the whole length. I'm thinking maybe PVC or something, but that would hold water once it got inside. I've used orange electrical cord before, but it's only 3-wire and then I have to depend on a good trailer connection for the ground.

 

[ryanmitton]

Re: Old boat, new owner, scissors trailer??

We did about 2 hours of welding on it last night, now I just have to rewire the trailer. I cut all the old wiring stuff off of it.

I'm brainstorming the best way to protect the new trailer wiring. The old stuff was wrapped in duct tape the whole length. I'm thinking maybe PVC or something, but that would hold water once it got inside. I've used orange electrical cord before, but it's only 3-wire and then I have to depend on a good trailer connection for the ground.

Not if you drill holes every few feet in the conduit. Or if you grade the conduit from front to back or even dip it in the middle whatever you want. I would use your idea of conduit thats a good idea. Just make it drainable like weeping tile.