Frozen in on Lake Minnetonka - Day 3 Trying to pull big Chris Craft

[Three Seasons]

There is a day 5 update just search “Turbine Guy” on YouTube . The boat is still on the ramp. Turbine guy said he would be back today and he’s planning on another live stream when they attempt to move it sometime next week. The comments on Qualified Captain & YouTube are priceless.

 

[km1125]

I just can't understand why they didn't pull it with a travel lift in the fall, block it, and when/if the trailer was properly set up, load it. And why not use a normal transport trailer? None of this makes any sense. I am guessing the owner has to be a piece of work.

I don't think I saw any confirmation that there is a big enough travel lift on the lake to haul this boat. The previous owner had a custom trailer - with six axles - that he used to haul the boat. Not sure whatever came of that, but I'm also not sure that it was a "road worthy" trailer. Just something to haul the boat when necessary. It was pulled by a large farm tractor. There's pictures floating around of that somewhere.

They did say they were going to spend today securing it more. Those outriggers look really flimsy though. I noticed some of the stanchions are bent on the port side.

Hey, get your language correct... those things are called STANDARDS! You'd know that if you watched the video!

 

[LTD.330]

I've got $50 that says that boat will still be sitting on that ramp in March.

 

[Golfman25]

I've got $50 that says that boat will still be sitting on that ramp in March.

Do you know the value of aluminum these days? I'm surprised it's still there.

 

[Riptide III]

There is no way that thing was going to make it down the road without crunching the side supports that guy made. That thing is ridiculous. Engineering is now his strong point. Nor is risk management.

 

[Stee6043]

I still can't stop...I'll have to keep checking daily to see if/when it gets moved. They have a bunch of jack stands supporting it but nobody has started working on the trailer. I'm imagining they are one good snow storm from that thing being locked in place on that ramp.

And why is the pontoon boat still there??? Man....I'm so easily entertained.

 

[OllieC]

I still can't stop...I'll have to keep checking daily to see if/when it gets moved. They have a bunch of jack stands supporting it but nobody has started working on the trailer. I'm imaging they are one good snow storm from that thing being locked in place on that ramp.

And why is the pontoon boat still there??? Man....I'm so easily entertained.

I think you’re onto something. It could be a permanent fixture. We’re expecting a little snow, some warming, and then more freezing and snow Christmas Eve. There’s no way they’re moving that thing unless they put some man hours in rebuilding that trailer soon. I wouldn’t want to be the one underneath that boat welding stanchions and outriggers.

 

[copb8tx]

His last broadcast was much about nothing (even more so than the previous ones). Good thing I don't follow live and can blast through them. But one more like that and it'll break my habit.

 

[LTD.330]

There is no way that boat is leaving Lake Minnetonka over the road.

The boat by itself weighs 90,000 pounds, add in the 40,000 pounds of weight for the tractor and trailer, and the National max weight limit of 80,000 pounds has been smoked. And then there is the small matter of the 16' beam and whatever the Air Draft is.

Looking more closely at that trailer, there is no way that thing is remotely road worthy. There are no brakes on the trailer and I'd worry about welds breaking under the weight while bouncing down the road.

Their best shot at moving the boat would be on her bottom and work their way to the Mississippi River.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Is this a woody boat or something else?

 

[Stee6043]

There is no way that boat is leaving Lake Minnetonka over the road.

The boat by itself weighs 90,000 pounds, add in the 40,000 pounds of weight for the tractor and trailer, and the National max weight limit of 80,000 pounds has been smoked. And then there is the small matter of the 16' beam and whatever the Air Draft is.

Looking more closely at that trailer, there is no way that thing is remotely road worthy. There are no brakes on the trailer and I'd worry about welds breaking under the weight while bouncing down the road.

Their best shot at moving the boat would be on her bottom and work their way to the Mississippi River.

During the video someone confirmed the boat was closer to 50,000lbs. The 50 ton statement in the title of this guys You Tube channel is about as accurate as his commentary is tolerable

He could also have a permit to exceed max weight limits? Ha.

 

[Pirate Lady]

There is no way that boat is leaving Lake Minnetonka over the road.

The boat by itself weighs 90,000 pounds, add in the 40,000 pounds of weight for the tractor and trailer, and the National max weight limit of 80,000 pounds has been smoked. And then there is the small matter of the 16' beam and whatever the Air Draft is.

Looking more closely at that trailer, there is no way that thing is remotely road worthy. There are no brakes on the trailer and I'd worry about welds breaking under the weight while bouncing down the road.

Their best shot at moving the boat would be on her bottom and work their way to the Mississippi River.

Wait a minute. I looked on maps and the lake looks landlocked. Are you saying this fool could have moved it by water to the Miss?

 

[OllieC]

Well he did have a 27' Constellation which is the same boat, so it's gotta be 90k lbs.

 

[OllieC]

Wait a minute. I looked on maps and the lake looks landlocked. Are you saying this fool could have moved it by water to the Miss?

No. You can't get to Lake Minnetonka from the MN or Mississippi rivers.

 

[LTD.330]

Wait a minute. I looked on maps and the lake looks landlocked. Are you saying this fool could have moved it by water to the Miss?

Not sure. I know there are a lot of interconnected waterways in MN and I think if he can get to the Minneapolis/St.Paul area he is home free.

As far as the weight goes, I was basing that off of Turbine Guy's video when he spoke to the owner. Googling for the boat weight I only found two boats that listed a displacement, one was 63,000 and the other 71,000.

 

[km1125]

That boat wasn't built on the lake. It had to get there somehow.

 

[Pirate Lady]

That boat wasn't built on the lake. It had to get there somehow.

KM, through all this I have thought the same thing. That monstrosity got in that pond somehow. Why it so tough to remove it. Except the part where the owner decided to wait until the weather was similar to Siberia.

 

[ttmott]

A couple of things about Mn on heavy loads -
Chart Industries in New Prague, Mn build many of our propellant tanks and they are heavy - 150K to 200K. Some are shipped by rail some over the road and some are barged. The state required overweight shipments on any Mn roads to occur in the winter months when the soils are frozen. The locks on the rivers are closed in the winter months so springtime for barging. The issue then is the barges are stacked up and you quite possibly will not be anywhere near the front of the pack when the locks open.
I agree that trailer is questionable for the road wheel load limitations; it's sad for the owner.
At this point he needs a couple of cranes and a heavy load trailer.... CaChing.

 

[OllieC]

She ‘ain’t’ going anywhere. She’s still 50 tons too.

 

[Stee6043]

I've enjoyed the ride so far....


My highlights:

1.) When the boat first comes breaking through the ice on day 1 they drive that boat right up to the boat ramp. It is clearly making contact with the ramp. In later videos you can see the props are chewed up something fierce as well. I assume they weren't worried about some "minor" damage to the hull and props.

2.) When they backed the trailer into the water the first time they hit bottom with the "outriggers" on the way down the ramp, did nothing. Full send, fix it later. You can see mangled metal in later vids when they get it back out of the water.

3.) Whilst using two tow trucks to pull the boat up onto the trailer one of their straps broke. It seemed like pure luck that the strap/cable didn't smoke one or two people when it broke.

3a.) They winterized the engines/gen on day 2 or 3 but it was single digit temps the night before with the boat fully out of the water.

4.) It appears they have zero permits per the video guy, the rig is too high to fit under traffic lights and they need to accomplish a U-turn to get the boat to it's winter resting place.

5.) In the most recent videos you can see they have strapped the boat to the dock/seawall via the prop shafts...to stabilize the entire boat? I wonder how straight those shafts will be after this is all said and done.

6.) According to the guy making the video he found a "very similar" Chris Craft that sold for a cool $1.0M. "lots of value in this boat, it was a steal at $30-$40k".