Offshoreonly.com - 32 Skater Project AKA Beat Dad

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32 Skater Project AKA Beat Dad

Well... here goes

Been boating all my life and I cant get enough of it. I remember going to races as a kid growing up and watching my dad fly by! Just cant get enough of it. So I bought my first boat when I was 16 - a 23' Powerplay Conquest. Had a blast with a bunch of friends and figured why not go faster and bigger. A few years later I bought a 32' Velocity with some 454 mags. That was fun too! A real drivers boat - especially on Lake Michigan. My father had a 35 Fountain and the velocity out ran it by a few MPH. He ended up with a 42 Tiger and I was left far behind. He found a sweet deal on a 40' Classic Skater and snatched it up. I have never had as much fun on the water. After the first ride and driving the boat i started hunting for a cat. Went to Florida to look at a 39 ocean express that ended up having a hurt motor and a wet hull (was a great trip glad we flew all the way down there...NOT). A few months later at lunch my father showed me a 32 Skater on Ebay and I went and looked at it the next day and bought it!

The day I looked at it

Bringing it home

Its pretty cool how you can see traffic behind you while towing the boat! LOL

So I am not sure why the original trailer was ever modified... No need for dually tri axles at all. The brakes were out dated and I was unable to find parts anywhere for them and I didnt want to end up on a long trip some where and end up on the side of the road - Also one of the axles was bent. I drove down to Skater and discussed some options and what they run on their new trailers with Pete and settled on some 7K lb torsions.

Took the boat off the trailer

And then started hacking apart the wagon

It was time for the axles to go!

Added a drive guard on the ass end (This will change before paint once the other drives show up)

The trip to Florida was not a total waste of time! I found a 40' Classic Skater in Clearwater that needed too much love and care that I was willing to put into it at the time. Looking back I should have snatched it up. Anyways - The guy with the 40' Skate also has a bunch of other cool boats down there and tons of parts! He showed us some old merc 700's in a crate. On the way home with my 32 I called my father to shoot the **** a bit and he threw the idea of "Hey why not give Ralph a call and see if hes still got those motors!?" A few days later they were on their way.

Added some steps

And some axles

If you look closely in this pic you can see where the tongue and the trailer meet there is bondo that i had ground down. I found that there was a 4X5" rectangular tube welded to a 4X3" rectangular tube to achieve a 4X8" rectangular tube mess that is the tongue.....Not my style

Replaced the tongue and received some wheels in the mail. Quick trip to a buddies shop and had the rubber mounted on the rim and then onto the trailer they went

Great job on everything, fantastic looking boat. What’s the cockpit look like? Does it have engines now?

Thanks Al! I am working on trying to find a better way to post pictures - I'm no computer genius. It is a 5 man cockpit steering on the starboard side nothing special. I have dipped a motor in it a couple of times to get an idea on where they need to land and have modified the motor mounts but they may change again. The boat has IMCO boxes / 1.36 Bravos and I think its time they go. My father sometimes calls me "Stone hands" and I feel like it would only be a matter of time before the Bravos and I disagree. That being said if anyone is looking for or knows someone who needs a whole transom set up give me a PM or phone call. 616405406four

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...fa6c5f0b8.jpeg
Off with the old tongue
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...21748e73e.jpeg

On with the new
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...e7903fa7c.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...442b4e18c.jpeg

Needed to figure out where the fenders needed to land so threw the boat back on the wagon
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...8b89a245d.jpeg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...15f3b9c0d.jpeg

I think it sits too high. Will have to lower it down at some point in time

Congratulations, Nice ride..!!! Thats quite the trailer a 3 axle dually!!!

Wow sitting like a monster truck lol. What are you plans for drives . Hope the bravos live?

Thanks guys. Plan for drives... good question. Suggestions?
I don’t believe the bravos would make it a summer to be honest

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rossman (Post 4667096)

Thanks guys. Plan for drives... good question. Suggestions?
I don’t believe the bravos would make it a summer to be honest

Lots of #6 stuff for sale these days.. thats the route id go.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...59dbb237d.jpeg
Found a pickup truck that should haul it. I took a trip to munising (pictured rocks) with the velocity a year ago and towed with a lifted 1500 Silverado. This duramax has impressed me so far
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...ee82b0825.jpeg

Set the truck in front of the boat and yes it needs to be dropped lower for sure

Great thread and love the build.That Clearwater guy is about 10min from me, always has a lot of cool stuff in the yard and laying around.

Thanks Nate!
Ralph has everything you need to build a dozen boats and he knows what he’s talking about! Great guy to deal with.
Do you boat around that area I’m assuming?

Definitely get the boat as low as possible on the trailer. That's going to help your launching and retrieval, as well as much easier to work on and wash; when on the trailer.

Sydwayz
I agree with the boat being as close to the trailer as possible - some of the launches up north in Michigan completely suck though. I’ve watched many 36’ and up trailers scrape the ground half way down the launch from being so low. I will have to find a happy medium
thanks for the input!

If the bottom of your sponsons are approx 3" to 4" above your fenders, that should be perfect. IMO

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rossman (Post 4667179)

Thanks Nate!
Ralph has everything you need to build a dozen boats and he knows what he’s talking about! Great guy to deal with.
Do you boat around that area I’m assuming?

That I do, we are out pretty often around here.

What Co / who's fab shop is that?

Also, where did you get the fenders?

Frickstyle
I did the fab on the trailer at my job. We build mega trenchers in the shop so the trailer was one of the smaller projects.

I got the fenders from Pete at Skater. I can’t say enough about the guy. I’m a 23 year old kid and own a 22 year old boat and whenever I walk through the door he’s always more than willing to help with whatever I need. I cannot say thank you enough to him for all of his advice and guidance. A few others there who have helped me is Mike and Robert. Mike helped me find the right motor mounts for the hull and Robert hooked me up with some glass and resin / hardner. It says something about a company when they have employees that work there today who built my boat 22 years ago! Thanks Pete and Skater!

The "Junkman". That boat has been from Bravo's to Sixes to Bravos and now maybe back to ______?
Cool project. Good luck

TxHawk
What do you mean by “The Junkman”
Have you got any history on the boat?
The guy I bought it from isn’t much help. He said he bought it from a a buddy of his that used to run it out Lake St clair but he seemed to have “lost his number” he claims the tanks have been done and I would really like to talk to the previous owner to see if he had them done or not. I’m looking hard for some ASD8’s. Thanks for the compliment!

EDIT - Forgot to mention - It has
"Power by Derebery" painted on the transom
and
"Custom Touch Graphics Austin Texas 512-423-7889" painted on each side at the back of the boat.

Not sure if this info helps at all

EDIT - Silly me it’s right on Custom Touch’s website as “Junkman”

It was originally a 525SC Bravo boat. A friend bought it and did the paint, interior and power. After destroying IMCO's regularly it became a #6 boat. With 1100's it was a rocket. Yes, Custom Touch painted it and it was apart of the Derebery clan and chased B'yond Reason around.

Search "Junkman Skater" here on OSO and you find various bits of info.

TxHawk
Thanks for the info! Much appreciated.

EDIT - I seem to have tracked down his profile on OSO as "used_parts"
Unfortunately he has not been online since 2007 and his inbox is full.
Creeper level 10/10

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...f1da2deaac.jpg

Heres my 36 cat on a trailer for perspective. Crazy its been swapped back to bravos. Theres a pair of drop box asd 8s for sale on facebook up north has huber 1450s too

Dsmawd350
Good looking rig! You must have some forgiving ramps / launches around you! As of now the boat is supported on the strikes by the trailer. Instead of cutting all of the tubes down some inches to make the boat sit lower I think I will support the boat from the tunnel. I will be able to set the height that way and I hear it is much much easier to load - can’t really screw it up.

Have you got a pic or a phone number I could call about those ASD 8’s? I haven’t got a Facebook profile. Thanks!

Raymo1979
Not disagreeing with your statement just curious as to why you would prefer No. 6 over surface drives? Thanks!

I will be selling a set of ASD7's 2007 drives with boxes, steering, trim and all the components cheap if interested.
Converting to dry sum M6's.

Pro1
PM sent!
More progress pics on the way

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rossman (Post 4667248)

Raymo1979
Not disagreeing with your statement just curious as to why you would prefer No. 6 over surface drives? Thanks!

There are a few 32A with 6's and they seem to run well and since the boat had 6's on it before setup shouldn't be a big deal. just my opinion tho

I think I am computer challenged lol. This private message thing is not working for me.
What is your emails address. Looking for $8500 per side complete.

Raymo
I somewhat agree! I will have to dig into it more and find some dimensions on transom assemblies between the two. I have a hard time dropping 30k for drives that have more moving internal parts vs 15-20k for an “indestructible” drive that should gain me less drag thus better top speed. I also like the idea of the prop being 3’ behind the boat. I would love to ride in a 32A with 6’s and a 32A with Surface drives. My fathers 40’ has Arnesons and is a dream to drives. Kind of comparing apples and pairs here but I feel that some attributes would transfer over to the 32. I appreciate everyone’s input I’m not genius and love learning new things!

Pro1

Email:
[email protected]

Phone:
616405406four
Text or phone call either way

Thanks!

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...4e2cd3f64.jpeg
I built some carts that support the boat under the strike just as the trailer does. I was going to put these under the boat to get it as low as possible to the ground to be able to rig the motors inside the 14’ tall ceiling barn.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...2d5f18da5.jpeg

I built them to fit any cat. The uprights can be slid in and out To achieve the perfect tunnel width. After building them I was messing around before paint and figured shoot they would work for a V bottom boat as well if the uprights were put on oppsing sides and the 4X4 placed on the inside of the angle iron. I have yet to test them yet. Only thing I wish I would have done is put bigger casters on them. They are 3” and rated to 1000lbs - bigger casters never hurt
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...3819d77f2.jpeg

Living in Michigan I didn’t want to store the trailer outside for the winter as I have work to do on it yet and didn’t want to accumulate too much surface rust. To be able to put the motors in I took the axles out from under neath the trailer

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...6c293cdc2.jpeg
Notice how close the top of the I-Beam attachment is to the garage door frame ;)
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...cc9624d3f.jpeg

Aluminum stringer brackets from skater along with the motor mounts
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...cb4602871.jpeg
There was a compound angle on the driveshaft. From the trasom assembly heading towards the flywheel the driveshaft has an UPWARDS angle and an OUTWARDS angle. I did not want to go through U-Joints every other ride and have vibrations throughout so I took the motor mounts to the shop and started hacking away. Dad came over and lended a huge hand in thinkin how to move the motors around to not only get better driveshaft angles but also lower the COG.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...7cb80ce4e.jpeg
The guy who got my into boating, snowmobiling, dirtbiking, and wrenching! Dads got the 40 that I’d like have a few MPH on :D
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...123eb5a8f.jpeg

Some friends came over to check the progress out and lend a hand- Thanks Mike, Logan, Nate, John, and Joe
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...1ef9d1ab9.jpeg

I’ll just leave this here for a bit. More pics to come of the inside :hitfan:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rossman (Post 4667203)

You can always put a rise hitch on the truck at the ramp if it has a terrible/steep cutover angle. Also, something that works is going across the cutover angle (top of the ramp) at a 45* angle. It may still scrape, but you shouldn't high-center and lose traction on the truck. I've had to do this with 37' ATs before on a crappy ramp in Miami.

And since you are doing so much trailer modifications, one of the worst things to happen is to drop all the axles of the trailer OFF the end of the ramp. As such, some folks have had custom "triangles" welded onto the trailer just forward of the front axle. That way you can drop the truck in 4-low, and drag the front axle back onto the ramp using the "triangle" to lift the trailer.

Sydwayz
everything you said is spot on. I would like the think I’m not too long yet where I need to add the triangle. All the places I went with my old 32’ Velocity I will hit up with the skate. If the trailer does fall off the back side of the ramp I’ll send a buddy down with some ratchet straps and use the buoyancy of the boat to lift it back up :ernaehrung004:

I've also heard it’s great for the launch if you just start the boat and put the sticks to the dash. Should help get some momentum going LOl!

I made some phone calls today to Dave @ Custom Touch Graphics and to Leon @ Derebery Proformance.
both were very helpful and great to talk to!

The cool stuff I learned today:
Junkman was originally a 525SC - bravo boat and then Henry (unknown last name) bought it and brought it to Derebery performance where it got 572 CI and 1471 BDS blowers making 1250HP. Dave from Custom Touch Graphics did the paint on the boat he said if he could remember correctly that was around 2000-2001. The goal was to hold the record for fastest bravo boat at LOTO. It didn't even make it half the run before a bravo blew. It then got the merc No.6 drives and was a poker / pleasure run boat that mostly ran in Desert Storm, LOTO, and many other poker runs. I was told the boat ran 165MPH with the No. 6's.
-1.24 Drive ratio
-34 pitch 15 3/4 diameter props
-Spinning in

Said the boat handles like **** and porpoises with the props spinning out

The not so cool stuff I learned today:
The boat was sitting in the bottom of the lake tied up to a dock with the front of the sponsons still above water

Im not sure if either Dave or Leon are on OSO, but if you ever read this I appreciate all of your time and information!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rossman (Post 4667378)

I've done the trick of using the drives from the boat to assist up the ramp more times than I can count, but only with Pat from AT in the boat, and me in the truck. That ramp at 14th Street in Pompano can get slicker than frog snot on a low tide, and sometimes even with 4WD on the truck, having the props turning makes a significant difference. It sure makes a crap to of noise though!