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9/06- Teenee Trailer Restoration

9/06
TeeNee Trailer Restoration

It's been way too long since I contributed anything, but I finally managed to get another piece of the "puzzle" completed.

Attached are pictures of my 95% restored TeeNee trailer. I believe it is 1957, but I have been told it could be a 1955.

I still need to do the wheels, and one fender probably should have some body work done to smooth out a dent.

I had to put modern lights and reflectors on it to get it to pass inspection, but I designed and welded up the stainless steel brackets for the modern lights so they could be removed easily.

I lucked out and was able to salvage the pieces of the one remaining original logo. I made a mold from that and cast some replacements, but I still need to come up with better castings and get them chrome plated.

I found a source to match the original light lenses, and found shocks that were almost a perfect match to the originals.

I couldn't find the correct rollers (5" x 2", gray), so I cut 9 1/2" x 2" rollers in half and put springs in to self align them..

I couldn't find any real canvas in my area, but the local fabric store had a material called "duck cloth" which is very close. I used that on the bow V blocks.

I took "creative license" with the walkway planks and installed "plastic/wood" composite decking instead of real wood.

Let me warn anyone that thinks of restoring a trailer that it is an incredible amount of work! Paint stripper won't work on really old paint so I had to manually strip it with belt sanders, sanding disks on angle grinders (Dangerous even if you are careful!), and sand blasting.

It took me about 40 hours to strip everything down to the bare metal. If I had been smart I probably would have had it done professionally, but quite frankly I couldn't afford it. My wife thinks I spent more doing it myself anyway. (As usual, she is probably right.)

Painting was a hassle because I had to wait for good weather to prime, then paint. I started the process the week of July 4th (full week stripping), and finally got the fenders on September 9th.

Many thanks to Larry Newton, a friend of mine that welded up the stress cracks on the fenders and fins. He did a superb job of hiding the mess I made on one. (Lesson here is have a pro do any welding on sheet metal!)

I photographed everything during disassembly with a digital camera and it was a godsend when it came to reassembling all the "shrapnel."

I've got to get the boat back on the trailer, then I can finish it off and get you pictures.

Hopefully it won't be another 4 years!

Robert B. Willsie
[email protected]

6/18/01

As far as I know my boat is a 1957 Crestliner 15' Voyager with a 1957 Johnson Seahorse 35HP RDE-19 motor. The Trailer is a TeeNee and appears to be from the same era with springs and shocks no less.

I finally got my boat out on the water yesterday! Got the engine tuned up and hit a breath-taking 23+ MPH with a strong headwind and a lot of chop. Not bad for a 43 year old 35HP that hasn't been propped out yet.

Here are a couple of pictures of my boat's dash and bow area. Note the black knob to the right of the steering wheel. It's a hand operated wiper system.

I still haven't figured out what was mounted on the "Y" shaped area in the second picture. One person guessed it might have been a mount for one of those old huge spot lights. Any ideas?

The logo plate on the right stern deck corner was broken. I welded it up, then sand blasted it and it now looks brand new. Let me know if you want a picture, or any other info on making repairs like this. - Bob Willsie

Email: [email protected] if you have any questions about his 15' 1957 Crestliner Voyager.

7/04

7/04
    It's been way to long, but I am finally getting to work on my Crestliner again! I've been so busy with my new position, kids, and house it seems I haven't touched it for a couple of years.

    I figured out a really neat way to be able to work on it, so I thought I would send some pictures. Obviously the custom vanity doesn't have anything to do with the boat. Other than the fact by making it I earned enough "brownie points" to get to work on the boat again!.

    Basically I converted two automobile engine stands so that they attach to the bow and stern of the boat.

    The engine stands allow me to spin the boat around it's long axis, so I can work comfortably on any spot on it.

    All I have to do is pull the pins that keep the heads from rotating, grab the handles, and twist. The heads have stops about every 35-36 degrees.

    Once I get the boat into the nearest stop position I want, I pop the pin back in and go back to work.

    The stands I have are rated at 750 lbs each, but the dry weight of the boat is only about 375 - 400 lbs. I picked them up locally from AutoZone. I think they were about the same price there as off the web, but I saved $25-$35 in shipping charges per unit!

    To get the boat on them I bolted the stand on the transom, pounded in a couple of wooden blocks to tighten up the attachment plate, then pushed/pulled the boat back off trailer until I was close to having the front come off.

    I then blocked up the bow while I pulled the trailer the rest of the way out.   I used the outboard motor lift* I made to raise the boat off the blocking while I attached it to the bow engine stand. For those interested, I made the motor lift out of a cheap ($49) "Door Jack" like autobody shops use.

    The original engine stands had about a 12 degree tilt built into them and were not quite the right height.   I used 2" x 2" x 1/4" angle Iron to make modify the stands, and took the tilt out of them at the same time.

    If I was going to move the boat around much I would probably change out the fixed casters for rotating ones on the long rear legs of each stand.

    I would also recommend using a long piece of channel iron to bolt the two stand bases together.

    I'll try to document more of this restoration as I go. Here are a couple of things I've picked up so far.

    1. The right grit of Scotch Bright pads work great for removing dirt and paint from the bottom. Unfortunately they don't seem to touch the outer crust on any corrosion. I found that 240 grit sand paper seemed to work best. Not too aggressive, but it would break thought the corrosion crust and give me a smooth surface.

    2. Scotch doesn't work very well with a short stroke orbital sander. Another reason for using sand paper.

    3. Use aluminum oxide or Garnet paper only. Apparently other types of grit will react with aluminum and cause future corrosion. (FAA Advisory Circular 43-4A for aircraft, but makes sense for aluminum boats too.)

    4. Wear a good dust mask!!! Apparently there are medical studies that suggest a link between aluminum dust or corrosion and Parkinson's and other diseases. I also wear long sleeves and gloves and wash my hands immediately upon leaving the sanding for any reason.

    5. I also use a double fisted approach to sanding. One hand holds the air powered 1/3 sheet palm sander while the other hand holds the Shop Vac pickup brush. I try to vacuum up the dust before it has a chance to resettle on the work. Despite this, there is still a thin film of aluminum dust left on the surface. I use a dry paper towel to wipe this film up when I am done.

Bob Willsie
[email protected]