Toad Machine Tales, ep #4

Toad Machine Tales, episode 4

New Wheels, sorta
June 28, 2020

David Hutton, 
Palmetto Fly n' Fish

Its no secret that I like boats. Big ones, small ones, old ones, new ones, most any one. I'm the Water Rat in Kenneth Grahame's classic, "The Wind in the Willows,' when he says...

"there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

But, as much as I like boats, there are a few things I DON'T like about them:

1. I DON'T like wrestling with them, getting to and from the water
2. I DON'T like paddling them, when thats not their intended form of propulsion. 

As of late, #1 has been a struggle. Literally. 

The Struggle Is Real

Until recently, if I wanted to take out my boat, "The Toad Machine",* I had to lift the trailer tongue up and down to mount it to the hitch.

* (If you dont know about The Toad Machine, check it out here: Toad Machine Tales, episode-1) 

When I want to take it back off the hitch, I repeated that feat of strength in reverse.
Once off, I then lifted it AGAIN onto its hard stand; that's a another heavy lifting chore, disliked greatly.

But all that has changed.

The Gifted Jack
A friend and I had been talking, and I mentioned that I was looking for one of those folding, hand-crank tongue jacks. 

"You can buy em at Harbor Freight," he said.

"Yeah, Russell - $30," I said. "When they have them, that is. They didn't last two times I went."

"You want a better deal than that?" 

"Sure," I said. "Contrary to popular belief, Im not made of money; I don't know where people get that idea.
Honestly, there's nothing I'd like more than a better deal."

"How does free sound? I have a trailer I made from an old pop-up camper, and I'm putting a fixed jack stand on it. I can take the folding one off, and you can have it. It only needs a new wheel."

"Count me in!" I exclaimed.

The Wheel
Of course, every boat owner knows that "free" is relative when it comes to boats. I didn't pay for the jack, but that wheel was a mess.
"Crunched" is the best way to describe the wheel when I got it - the whole inner portion was smashed. 

I already knew that replacement wheels are available online for between $10 and $15, so once I had the thing in hand and cleaned it up, I was faced with getting a new wheel.
The thing is, I wanted it done right away - like yesterday.

If I ordered one, I must wait a week or more to get the thing.

Marine shops are close and they sell the wheels - but they are double the price.

And to be honest, I was still digging the whole "free" part of the episode

So I asked myself, "What can I do right now to get by, something that won't cost anything? Even better, maybe it'll be good for a season or two, and repeatable whenever needed?" 

Sounds like a tall order, but it actually turned out to be easier than I imagined.

A Bio-Mechanical Wheel
First, I drilled and cut and chiseled to remove the inner part of the wheel - all the damaged stuff.
I simply could do nothing with all the smashed bits, so lets get em outta there and see whats what.

After the Demolition - a few pieces survive

The demo process left me with a rim - the literal tread portion of the wheel. Once I had this in hand, the solution was obvious: replace the section INSIDE the wheel.

To do that, there was really only one thing to use: wood
And as it happens, I have some well-aged, pressure treated wood that is solid, and hard as iron.
I would just cut out a new inner portion and fit it in place.

Of course, it was a little more involved than that.

Using a reciprocating and table saw, I cut the wood in a slightly oversize circle, such that it must be forced into the rim.
I left the inside surface of the rim rough, so the wood would have lots of things to grab as it forced its way in.
I added some Gorilla Glue for good measure, then pressed the whole thing together.

Next, I marked the wheel center and bored out a hole for the axle bushing.
This wheel was not going to have a full width hub, but that doesn't really matter.
The original wheel was rated for 1500 lbs, and my trailer toungue weight is a tenth of that.
"It'll be okay," I said aloud.And I believed it.

Once the bushing was pressed in, everything fit together perfectly and assembly was a breeze.

The final touch was filling all the gaps and wood grain with 20 year silicone caulk This thing wasn't going to run the Indy 500 - it was just gonna sit there and occasionally roll around a little.
But I wanted to get some kind of weatherproofing protection on it, and the caulk was handy. It's white caulk so it looks pretty hideous, but someone ask me if I care about that.

The Wheel, The Cover

Here you see the jack stand deployed in the lift/lower position.
It is mostly shielded from the weather by a homemade protective cover. 
The boat winch is under there, and the mechanical workings of the jack stand are likewise protected.
The black, half-round thing seen peeking out from under, thats an old trailer tire cut in half. This semi-circle of rubber is forced over the hitch, and all the wiring and chains are stowed beneath it - and in this way these sensitive things are protected from the weather when not in use.  

The Wheel

And there you have it. In the above picture, the wheel is resting in an old tire rim. But I got rid of that, and its now on a paving block that alows me to roll it a bit - this makes lining it up with the hitch a breeze.

My wife said, "Why don't you just buy a wheel?"

"Well," I replied, "I would have. And I was planning to. But now I dont have to."

She nodded, and that was that.

I hope you enjoyed this and learned something from it. I get nothing from this other than the satisfaction of a job well done, so if you enjoyed it, a like and share is appreciated.
And if you are inclined, feel free to join our no-drama, no-hype Facebook group:

Palmetto Fly n Fish
(click the  link)
 

Thanks for reading and Tight Lines,

David
Palmetto Fly N Fish
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