Spring Prep

[dtmackey]

This is time of year when my Whaler wakes up from its winter nap, I move the boat from a storage location to an area I can access it, and I get a few things done. I decided to install new hubs with studs rather than the wheel bolts. Installed stainless lug nuts and new, larger size rims and tires.



I ditched the old hubs and went with galvanized units with studs.



With not many rim options available, I really liked this design.



Overnight temps this week dipped to a low of 19-degrees-F, so I'll unwrap in several weeks when we have more warm temps.

I did post earlier with hope sto upgrade to a torsion axle, but with the trailer C-channel design, there's just not enough flat surface area to bolt it up. I am thinking of a way to insert a plastic material under the rear lead "slipper" to smooth the ride and quiet it down over bumps.

D-

[Oldslowandugly]

I'm thinking of a way to insert a plastic material under the rear lead "slipper" to smooth the ride and quiet it down over bumps.

D-

Please let us know if you find the cure for that. Everything I tried eventually failed. On my trailer there is a big bolt that crosses under the slipper to retain it. I had found a nylon sleeve that fit around the bolt. It actually helped until the sleeve cracked apart. I just uncovered my boat to test the motor and rebuilt lower unit. They both seem fine. I had to recover it because it snowed and is back in the 30's now.

[jimh]

Spring in Michigan is still cold. It has snowed here the last three days, but no accumulation. My boat--which is 250-miles north--won't come out of storage until May. In extreme northern Michigan, the snow is still falling, and they've had 300-inches already--25-feet of snow!

[dtmackey]

Spring in Michigan is still cold. It has snowed here the last three days, but no accumulation. My boat--which is 250-miles north--won't come out of storage until May. In extreme northern Michigan, the snow is still falling, and they've had 300-inches already--25-feet of snow!

It was 65 on Sat and tonight it's going to hit 18F. This time of year is always and up and down, but we should be moving into warmer temps soon. Where your boat is located is like up in Maine--where they are still snowmobiling. Maine didn't get the 25-feet of snow that northern Michigan did, bit I wish they did, because all that snow is fun.

D-

[jimh]

The report of 25-feet of snow was from Keweenaw County, in the wester Upper Peninsula of Michigan. That area gets substantial snowfall every year. There is a highway billboard sign on the road to Copper Harbor--a snow thermometer--that shows the snowfall from the previous winter.

The Keweenaw snow thermometer. Photo Credit: a reddit user

snowThermo.jpg (115.75 KiB) Viewed 1937 times

In 2018-2019 the winter was so cold that there was still ice in Lake Superior in June.

Perhaps not just by coincidence, many of the residents up there are of Finnish descent.