Batboat Rebuild: Day 17 October 7, 2008

Boat Motor Rack plan and an example of a rack that I found online

The outdoor temperature had been dropping significantly at this point. Any further fiberglassing on the Batboat this year was out of the question. There was one last project I had left to work on; the Batboat outboard motor rack.

Someone posted plans for one of these a while back at the Fiberglassics site. I used that print out, a handful of wood screws I had salvaged from the Batboat fin, a bag of old nails, and some pallet and ply wood I've had for over 8 - 10 years.

I knew those nails, screws and wood I saved would come in handy some day.

Click to enlarge the boat motor rack.

Ready to get started!

This was one of the longest days I worked for the Batboat. It took more time than I thought it would to build this motor rack. I started out late in the afternoon and finished at dusk. It was very nippy and damp outside all that time. This needed to be done because I wanted to move the motor off of the porch and it was suppose to rain at any time that night.

The old plywood covered with red carpet pictured above came from a renovation I was hired for at the Midland Mall Sears store's "Tool Territory" back in the summer of 2000. High quality stuff so I asked if I could keep it.

I also joined the wood frame together for added strength rather than just nail it together

I have no idea where I got the wood that I built the frame out of but it is some kind of hard wood that is very difficult to saw through and nail into. 4 inch by 4 inch square by 5 foot long, or so. These used to be side supports for banded pallets and I got them for free, too. Must have brought those home from one of the many low paying temp service, slum sweat shops I used to work for long ago and prefer to keep those times a distant memory. At least I got some free, but high quality wood out of it all.

This stuff was heavy and did not cut easy at all. The result was an exceptionally solid rack.

Cutting the support sections

That was also the first time I used the table saw since I cut the tip of my finger off. I double checked and made sure everything was safe every time I turned it on and was extra cautious while cutting. I'm glad to say that as a result there were no more accidents.

Plywood has been cut to shape and ready to be nailed to the rack

The plywood was 1/2 inch thick and instead of just nailing it to the rack, I joined it by removing 1/2 inch into the frame, same as the height of the ply, then nailed it in. I figured this would give the rack more stability and strength.

Diagonal and bottom width supports are nailed in place.

This surely will hold much more weight than that of the 125+ pound motor I have

I'd like to make this a movable rack and looking around a week or two later I found four lawnmower wheels in the shed but the 125+ pound motor may wreck them. They are plastic.

As of this writing I'm still looking for a small kids bike with inflated tires to add to this. I can't see paying $30 or more for new casters considering everything else I used was free. Until then, the motor still is leaning on the porch.

The two above photos show the finished product, sans wheels. It was dusk and the camera's flash was needed.

Freezing cold out, too, but I kept on working until I was done. Rain began to fall as I nailed in the last two stubborn nails. This project had to be finished that evening or I may not be able to finish it until who knows when because Michigan winter had finally arrived.