I was waiting for motors to get shipped from Florida so I started work on the trailer.

I believe (aswell at Pete) that it was an original Skater trailer. A company in California converted it to the tri-axle duallies for whomever owned the boat at the time. Haven’t a clue why. I think it’s horrible ugly and way over kill. Removed axles, replaced outside tubes, started working on drive guard, put some steps on the front, cleaned some old welds up, put a new tongue on it, and some other odds and ends

Test fit the boat on the trailer and realized it was too high. By a long shot. I ordered 45* down angles on the torsion axles and should have ordered 0*. I’ve got a couple different ideas to lower it but winter had finally hit in Michigan and I didn’t want to haul it back and forth to work on the over salted roads and have a rusted out trailer before paint so it sat under the boat in the barn. I took the axles out from underneath of it so I had enough height clearance to try and rig some motors. I initially was going to run the boxes and bravos but found a smokin deal on some surface drives and love the concept and idea of them. My father has a 40’ skater with ASD 8’s and I like the simplicity, strength, and hydrodynamics of the drives. I ran down to Skater and got some motor mounts from Pete and fit them in the boat. To get the minimum amount of angle on the driveshafts I had to move the motors over an inch and three quarters and down two inches. I have not received the ASD 7’s yet but I think if anything I will be able to mount the motors even lower and keep them where they’re at side to side.

Rear motor mount clearance to slide closer to the tunnel


After cutting a bit out the mount out I wanted to fill some of it back in to regain strength


Taking an inch and three quarters out to move inboard


Clearance for tunnel on the front motor mounts


New piece tacked in


Fully welded (1/16” dual shield)


Sanded flat


And the clearance cut out to move over


Built a jig to ensure the mounts were true with eachother and still maintained a 9” offset in height difference


Both mounts setting on jig


One side of mounts done!

There is a little incentive to go a few MPH faster than a 40’ skater around town

I wanted to fill in the stringers that had been cut down and kind of just went off the deep in with sanding in the bilge for paint and what not. The boat came with a single hatch that opens front to rear. I am thinking about either going back to the barn doors that open to the outside of the boat or making two skinnier hatches that open toward the middle of the boat. Either way I would like to have a hatch in the center for fenders and ropes... possibly a cooler.



Mounts on the motor



The begining of a long journey



Started sanding and figured it was time to split the barn in half with some plastic. I’ve got a few other toys nestled in there and didn’t want to have to detail them after sanding and now I only have to heat half of the barn!











Let there be light!


Before the overhead lights


After. Much much better