Correct Craft ( ski nautique) trailer restoration

What I'm working on now... And for the last few weeks.

New to me original 70's correct craft ski nautique trailer for my ski nautique. The old trailer failed. I said I'd start a thread/ pictures. It took a while to find one of these trailers, but I found one in Eagle River Wisconsin. Funny and cool story about that too that I'll get to.

How I bought the trailer.

Yep, that's my boat on the lawn. Looonnnnnggggg story. I'll get to it...

He's how the trailer is now. Putting new bunks on it this weekend/ week. I stripped everything off the tether to paint it.

This is 2 coats of POR-15 top coat. I really like how it turned out.






I'll do the bow stop, side poles, and fenders after I get the boat on the trailer. Bunks are next. I'll need to make new fender brackets as those were rusty enough to need new ones, they are simple 90° steel brackets.

 

How does the boat perform in the grass? ; )

Looks like a fun project! Will you go LED for lighting?

 

It runs still in the grass, but that's it.

I had LED lights on the old trailer and really liked how bright they are. Probably will go with LEDs in spring. For now I'll just throw the incandescent lights back on to get it in to storage.

 

Lots of satisfaction in dressing up and restoring old iron! Skiing behind your boat right now is probably pretty boring, I mean like just standing there in the grass with skis on.

 

The trailer was actually made by correct craft, who made the boat. So it's going to be "correct".

If you see how a nautique sits on an original CC trailer, it take actually sits " in" the trailer.

So the really cool story about this trailer , is that the guy I bought it from, an older gentleman that was an ex pro water skier. So my boat, before I bought it, was from Eagle River, and was on Catfish lake on the chain of lakes there. I knew that from the nautique dealer I bought it from like 21 years ago. Well, the guy I bought my CC trailer from told me about that boat, my boat, and the original owners, as he knew them. The original owners were from my town I live in and sold their nautique when they sold their cabin on catfish lake. They had the only local nautique dealer consignment sale their boat. He described my boat, and if you know about correct craft boats, they only made 24-36 of my boat a year in the 70's. He actually skiied behind my boat. I guarantee that he's talking about my boat, based on the low build numbers, and him describing my boat, and the information I have about my boat.

 

This is how it will sit on the trailer when done.



That trailer is heavy duty C channel steel. Unlike my old trailer that folded when the springs broke on one side.

 

The grass is better than the street. Damage was already done to the prop, propshaft, and rudder, as well a a little fiberglass. The boat is up on lumber sleepers. I can't do anything about the running gear on the boat until I get it on a trailer. The old trailer literally puked it's axle out and nearly took out a group of 15 or so bicyclists. Oh the pictures I have...

 

Finally, a boat that you don't need to haul it somewhere, no risk of drowning, emissions free and all it takes is massive amounts of adult beverages to enjoy. I probably could even stay on the skis behind that baby!
Sweet job on that rejuvenation!

 

I entirely understand having the "Correct" trailer for your Correct craft! I would want the same. Still a lot of satisfaction in refurbishing used items. All I can say about your backstory is Small world!

 

Yep...Great story Horkn, nice rehab of the old trailer!!

 

Been working on the trailer these last few weeks. Not too much time, especially warmer days left. I'm glad I got it painted when I did.

It's still smelling like fresh paint, but has a nice hard shell to it now. The bunks were a bit of work.

Here's pics of 2 weekends ago making the Bunks. There's a 45° angle on the bunks and also a cut on that 45° end making them a little narrower than the 3.5" that 2x4's are.

That took a bit to get cut on the 14' long pressure treated boards, but a friend of mine was able to stop out and help. After we got them cut, it was time to mount them. We started at the back and got the first 2 holes drilled and countersunk. Then we bent the bunks on and fastened as we went to the front of the trailer.

We used all SS hardware and nylock SS nuts. The nylock nuts are the way to go apparently on the Bunks of these trailers.
That was 2 weekends ago.

This past weekend I carpeted the bunks. I went with SS 1/2" staples in an electric arrow staple gun. That gun worked awesome. I highly recommend it compared to the black and decker electric one I have. I went with a 20 oz marine bunk carpeting.


Here's the pics...

You can see the 45° cut




All done with the bunks.


Tonight before it got dark, I put on the trailer lights. I'll need to put some sort of wire clips on to keep the wires in the frame. I wheeled the trailer over to my truck and the lights worked. Good enough to get it to storage at least. In Spring I'll put new LED lights on the trailer.

Now, time to get the boat lifted and on the trailer. Hopefully this weekend.

To be continued....

 

Awesome job there! Love the curves in the 2X4's.

 

Impressive as always

 

That looks great!

 

I know it's just a trailer, but it has an organic look to it. To me it looks like a whale skeleton or something like that.

Thank you. I try to do everything as thoroughly as possible. I've had this boat for over 20 years, plan on another 20+ years, now with an original correct craft trailer.

They were wetted previously. In the pile I bought them from which was outside and recently rained on, and I left them out the night before cutting and then mounting them to the trailer. It wasn't horrible work, just putzy. One at a time. But it turned out great

I'm happy with it. I'll be even happier when the boat is on the trailer.

 

Ok boat lifting day is this Friday! I'll use my wyze camera to record the process.

Here's the rig that will be doing the lifting. That wheel and tire combo is 5500 lbs. My 2400 lb boat should be no issue

I'll put a lifting strap on both of the "fingers". Those will go to the lifting eyes on the front and back of the boat.

Like this....


Yes, that's my boat. And why I needed a new trailer

 

Ok. It's on!







I've got more pictures and videos I can upload later

 

Horkn Looks like you got it on before the rain moves in.