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I have a friend of mine that spotted this boat. Free, come and get it.
SO, I loaded up all my boat retrieving gear, smaller floor jack, duct tape, portable towing lights, air compressor as well as Lots of straps. Even rubber rope to hold things down.
The boat was about 20 miles away and it was right around 3pm, hmmm, so I went for it. I figured if nothing else, make two trips as I was told the tires have been flat for a Long time. I could pull the wheels and tires and get others mounted up for it.
Once I got to it, it was setting out in a wooded area, facing the wrong direction, tongue in the dirt, boat full of garbage such as old tire, blue tarp and a bunch of old seat cushions. Oh yeah a Old looks to be 5hp Merc engine and fuel tank under a bunch of rotten blue tarp. Can't tell yet on the Merc and fuel tank, seen a old 12volt battery laying in the back as well.
I looked at the wheels and notice they had the line up pins and Bolts, not nuts. Means its a old Mopar spindle setup, 14" Big snow tires on it..
First things first, put the air compressor on the tires and see if they will come up. I did notice they were tubeless tires so got the floor jack and block under the axle in case the bead was broken. As soon as I got the jack under it, the tire started to pump up.
I thought, ok, thats one. Went to the other side, pumped it up as well.
Left side was leaking down, I timed it, took about 20 minutes to go flat again. I am 20 minute drive back to the shop, might be doable, I will just pull over and air it up every 10 minutes.
I then jacked the tongue out of the ground, 1 7/8" and was working with a little WD-40. One safety chain, doable too. I have one of those trailer ball's that the balls just sit down over a big pin and you shove another pin back in the ball. Made that switch, hooked it up (oh, forgot, she was bow down and half full of water) and was able to turn it round and using my little tracker, was able find a spot that I could get the tracker up high as so to let some of the water drain out while hooking up the tow lights.
Got those all duct taped on, hooked up and tested, all works OK, good to go. That was 20 minutes and the tire was back down, so pumped it up and hit the road.
I got Almost across the train tracks before a Amtrak train passed only to find another train was waiting for him to pass so they could move out. That was about a half hour wait. Tire went down, I filled it back up, yep, takes about 20 minutes to loose its air.
I would have put more air in the tire to help the bead to seal but the tire was weather checked Really bad. Too much air, it might just blow it up.
The tires were the Old Nylon tires and almost square feeling until they got warmed up.
I headed for the shop again thinking, Oh crap, if I have any tire issues now, the tire stores are all closed.....Dumb move..
I get about 5 miles from the shop and kept watching it and as I looked again, I seen it blow out. Here I am on a road that has no curb or wide spots to pull over. It was my luck I had Just passed a side street by about two car lengths. I also knew if I kept going, I would destroy the rim and being it was a old Mopar rim, being hard to find a replacement, I new I was done.
I back it onto the side street and there was enough room to get it totally off the road, not a busy road either so my hopes were it would still be there in the morning when I came back with a used tire mounted on the old wheel to put on it.
This morning, used tire mounted and started looking for the boat as I was getting closer and sure enough, there she was.
I had put a block under the axle and a block under the tongue so it did not look like it was just abandoned, just gone after a tire and wheel.
The boat and trailer was leaning over the edge at a pretty good angle so first thing I did was back up and get the tongue back on the trailer hitch to help hold the boat while I jacked it up and put the tire on.
Its now setting on the back of the property were I have a hill to help it drain the water out. Made it to the shop. Now for clean up and assessment.
What I found last night was its not a Dart at all, Its a Razorback made back in Arkansas. Being this is only 14 feet, make her a 1958 or 1959 what they call Ski-Jet, Razorback.
Down here the only way you even get close the salt water is the rivers that have access to the ocean so a 14 foot boat is used more in the lakes which makes the 14 footer popular for people to own.
Hell, I might even try to talk my X out of my old 1959 14foot Skagit Sportster. All that one needed was steering and if I remember right, I got that free from one of our friends up around Laconnor, Washington, Clint Stroebel. (I still favor Skagits)
Remember the thing that Chuck Carry came up with NMB which was supposed to be No More Boats. Well, still have that confused to be NEED More Boats.
Now that I am on a fenced 2 acre lot, lots of trees and such around it, the only way to see my boat cache is from a fly over or Satellite.
Here is the boat dirty.
SO, I loaded up all my boat retrieving gear, smaller floor jack, duct tape, portable towing lights, air compressor as well as Lots of straps. Even rubber rope to hold things down.
The boat was about 20 miles away and it was right around 3pm, hmmm, so I went for it. I figured if nothing else, make two trips as I was told the tires have been flat for a Long time. I could pull the wheels and tires and get others mounted up for it.
Once I got to it, it was setting out in a wooded area, facing the wrong direction, tongue in the dirt, boat full of garbage such as old tire, blue tarp and a bunch of old seat cushions. Oh yeah a Old looks to be 5hp Merc engine and fuel tank under a bunch of rotten blue tarp. Can't tell yet on the Merc and fuel tank, seen a old 12volt battery laying in the back as well.
I looked at the wheels and notice they had the line up pins and Bolts, not nuts. Means its a old Mopar spindle setup, 14" Big snow tires on it..
First things first, put the air compressor on the tires and see if they will come up. I did notice they were tubeless tires so got the floor jack and block under the axle in case the bead was broken. As soon as I got the jack under it, the tire started to pump up.
I thought, ok, thats one. Went to the other side, pumped it up as well.
Left side was leaking down, I timed it, took about 20 minutes to go flat again. I am 20 minute drive back to the shop, might be doable, I will just pull over and air it up every 10 minutes.
I then jacked the tongue out of the ground, 1 7/8" and was working with a little WD-40. One safety chain, doable too. I have one of those trailer ball's that the balls just sit down over a big pin and you shove another pin back in the ball. Made that switch, hooked it up (oh, forgot, she was bow down and half full of water) and was able to turn it round and using my little tracker, was able find a spot that I could get the tracker up high as so to let some of the water drain out while hooking up the tow lights.
Got those all duct taped on, hooked up and tested, all works OK, good to go. That was 20 minutes and the tire was back down, so pumped it up and hit the road.
I got Almost across the train tracks before a Amtrak train passed only to find another train was waiting for him to pass so they could move out. That was about a half hour wait. Tire went down, I filled it back up, yep, takes about 20 minutes to loose its air.
I would have put more air in the tire to help the bead to seal but the tire was weather checked Really bad. Too much air, it might just blow it up.
The tires were the Old Nylon tires and almost square feeling until they got warmed up.
I headed for the shop again thinking, Oh crap, if I have any tire issues now, the tire stores are all closed.....Dumb move..
I get about 5 miles from the shop and kept watching it and as I looked again, I seen it blow out. Here I am on a road that has no curb or wide spots to pull over. It was my luck I had Just passed a side street by about two car lengths. I also knew if I kept going, I would destroy the rim and being it was a old Mopar rim, being hard to find a replacement, I new I was done.
I back it onto the side street and there was enough room to get it totally off the road, not a busy road either so my hopes were it would still be there in the morning when I came back with a used tire mounted on the old wheel to put on it.
This morning, used tire mounted and started looking for the boat as I was getting closer and sure enough, there she was.
I had put a block under the axle and a block under the tongue so it did not look like it was just abandoned, just gone after a tire and wheel.
The boat and trailer was leaning over the edge at a pretty good angle so first thing I did was back up and get the tongue back on the trailer hitch to help hold the boat while I jacked it up and put the tire on.
Its now setting on the back of the property were I have a hill to help it drain the water out. Made it to the shop. Now for clean up and assessment.
What I found last night was its not a Dart at all, Its a Razorback made back in Arkansas. Being this is only 14 feet, make her a 1958 or 1959 what they call Ski-Jet, Razorback.
Down here the only way you even get close the salt water is the rivers that have access to the ocean so a 14 foot boat is used more in the lakes which makes the 14 footer popular for people to own.
Hell, I might even try to talk my X out of my old 1959 14foot Skagit Sportster. All that one needed was steering and if I remember right, I got that free from one of our friends up around Laconnor, Washington, Clint Stroebel. (I still favor Skagits)
Remember the thing that Chuck Carry came up with NMB which was supposed to be No More Boats. Well, still have that confused to be NEED More Boats.
Now that I am on a fenced 2 acre lot, lots of trees and such around it, the only way to see my boat cache is from a fly over or Satellite.
Here is the boat dirty.
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