Without a tongue it’s impossible to take the boat and go fishing.
When we were experiencing spring-like weather starting a couple weeks ago I figured it would be a great time to be lying on a cold, concrete garage floor. I decided to remove the splint I had added to my tongue back in late November and then start removing the bent and cracked tongue that came with the Shorelander trailer when it left the factory.
The work wasn’t very difficult and in about two hours I had the tongue close to being off the trailer. It was getting later in the afternoon and the final two bolts that actually hold the tongue in place at the distal end were all that needed to be taken out so I could pull the electrical wires out through the front. I left them for another day.
That later day was Monday of last week. I had hoped to be fishing on the river on Wednesday when the temperatures were predicted to be in the mid to high 50s but that plan was scrapped when I put the new tongue on the trailer. While looking things over and thinking about why the original tongue bent like it did I decided that just putting the pedestal back on might wind up with a second bent tongue (cost was $160). Instead of proceeding I called Mikes Ives who I have worked with on other fabrication projects. He lives just west of Wyocena on highway 16 and his shop is there as well. I called him and then took my bent tongue and pedestal to him.
Mike is a busy fabricator and has some really interested and detailed projects going. I knew my fishing plans for Wednesday were not going to happen after we figured out why the tongue bent and what would need to be done to keep the new one from experiencing the same issue.
My pedestal is built from much heavier tubing and has a custom built step in it that allows a person to get into the front of the boat when it is on the trailer much easier than having to crawl in. The weight of the pedestal and the step along with the fact that the bottom plate that rests on top of the tongue is really short is what we determined to be the issue. Rough roads and holes in the river bottom at the landings caused by boaters who power load their boat caused my tongue to experience some high level torsion with the result being a bent and cracked.
Mike called me today to tell me he was about to get started on the new way to mount the pedestal. It won’t be long and I will be back in business for the next warm winter fishing day.
Now all I have to do is figure out why my running lights and left direction work but the brake lights and right directional does not.
Enjoy the unusual warm winter temperatures but be ready for a huge blast of white stuff sometime between today and mid May.
Oshaukuta Outdoors 