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cutwater
05-28-2007, 11:39 AM
Friday night I drove from Knoxville to Charles City, VA in a Penske truck and Saturday at 8am I picked up the 16 Ski Sporter with the Eaton drive. Then I drove directly to Charlotte where a friend met me to pick up Slacker's 88 Minx Testarossa. One quick stop at Waffle House for dinner, then back home to Knoxville on Saturday night! It was a crazy weekend (1200 miles!), but worth it.

Kevin (Slacker) is a great guy and was really flexible as my plans changed while I was on the road. He has an awesome race shop that I wish I could have spent more time in... '57 Corvette, '56 Thunderbird, Detomaso, Beemers, classic Jaguars, Porsches, you name it. I took the Minx out late yesterday afternoon and turned heads here at the local boat ramp.

I think the gel on the Ski Sporter is in a lot better shape than I thought it would be. Also, there is no warping of the deck, although it feels a little soft. I'll get a flashlight and try to find the hull number today or tomorrow.

John

SurfGreenTele
05-28-2007, 12:18 PM
That's a good weekend. :eek!: Thanks for the pics. :cool:

What are your plans for the 16?

p729lws
05-28-2007, 12:47 PM
How did you get the 16 in the truck?

need for speed
05-28-2007, 01:43 PM
yeah. how did it get in the truck..:boggled:

cutwater
05-28-2007, 02:39 PM
Getting it in was "easy"... The place I picked it up from had a loading dock, but it wasn't the right height. Fortunately, we were able to just manpower it in there over some small steel ramp plates. Took about 5 of us to make sure it went in right, then I strapped it in with ratcheting straps.

Now, coming out... That was an ordeal. I have a friend who manages a processed home/mobile home lot. He had a few ideas, none of which I was comfortable with. But he has a lot of experience moving trailers so I trusted his judgement. Keep in mind that the bow was facing the front of the truck. He rigged two sets of fiberglass stairs (which were about the same height as the deck) on either side of the 14' loading ramp that came with the truck. Then, he used the first step down of those two sets of stairs to support a pair of 15' steel runners/loading ramps just wide enough for the trailer tires. We eased the back wheels out onto the top of the fiberglass stairs at first, just to make sure the tongue weight was sufficient to keep the bow from flipping up and hitting the roof of the truck. We were going to do a 'come along' from the front of the truck cargo bay and ease it down the ramps, but there was no anchor point inside. So we had to do a reverse 'come along' where the guy at the bottom of the ramp held the strap that allowed him to slow the boat's descent somewhat. Fortunately, the tongue wheel was bent under and the spare tire up front was dragging, so they slowed the boat down a lot when the tongue started dragging on the loading ramp. As the trailer tires were halfway down the 15' ramps, our "safety chain" went taught and stopped it. By this time three extra guys had showed up who were able to help us ease the boat down the last few feet of the ramps as we cut the safety chain and let it roll out on its own.

I would have taken pictures, but I was too busy thinking that I was going to lose the boat! Fortunately everything worked out fine. I'll try to draw a picture of the setup and upload it sometime.

BERTRAM BOY
05-28-2007, 03:39 PM
I'll be VERY (but pleasantly) surprised if you find a hull number.

cutwater
05-28-2007, 04:07 PM
Me too. Especially since the dash appears to have been messed with at some point (two of the gauges aren't original). There's a good chance that they could have wiped out any markings that were there. But it's worth a shot! Here's hoping...

Okay - so if I remember correctly from old threads, I should look on the backside of the dash and under the foredeck for markings? Anywhere else?

glashole
05-28-2007, 04:12 PM
why didn't you guys rent a fork truck for the day with extended forks to lift it out ?

hope you have fun with the boats
good luck


Shea

jl1962
05-28-2007, 06:26 PM
Mine is on the stemhead up in the bow. Right behind the bow eye strap. I have never been able to make out any number behind the dash.

JL

cutwater
05-28-2007, 09:43 PM
Almost rented the fork truck and also considered just taking it to a marina with dry docks. They probably would have done it for 25 bucks or so, but my friend has a 100% track record loading and unloading just about everything you can think of, so when he says he can do it he gets it done. But a fork lift would have been easier on me! I have to admit I was worried.

Looked tonight for the HIN, but didn't really see anything. I'll look on the stemhead next time I'm near the boat. The deck is really soft, and the underside of the deck is deformed in places, although it is not mis-shapen on the top of the deck.

Rootsy
05-29-2007, 07:37 AM
many of the first boats lack any hull ID numbers anywhere... Cliff has looked high and low on his 65 16... I know a few 18 triple hatch owners that cannot find any numbers anywhere... and so on and so forth