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Old Sharks have value in any condition. They bring new people into the Fleet. Sell your Shark on the ASA website free of charge. Please help us find new owners for your unused Sharks. Don't let them sit. These boats are meant to be sailed, not parked. In order to keep up with the demand we need more boats posted.
The big problem is the tires. It takes four to get a shark through a soft beach. Finding four big, cheap, light tires with a hub that will allow an axel that will support a shark on a twelve-foot dolly was a challenge. Available tires like lawn mower, atv and wheel barrow are designed to fit a ¾ or ½ inch axel. A shark is ten feet wide, eight feet between the center of each hull. We need to have a tire on the inside and outside of each hull. A ¾ inch solid axel rod is definitely strong enough to hold up a shark but barely rigid enough to use unless it’s hardened steel. This material is expensive and difficult to achieve the length we need. I tried ¾” threaded rod and sleeved it with steel pipe between four new wheelbarrow tires. I ended up with an ex-pensive set of cat trax that was frustrating to build and didn’t work well. They were too flexible and the tires were too small to get through the deep sand in Traverse City. New tires suitable for cat trax even at a Farm and Tractor store were over $40 per tire. Too much money.
At our local lawn mower repair shop, similar to the one in just about every town in the country, I looked through the junk parts mowers. The rear tires on a riding mower are wide enough for soft sand but way too heavy. They are designed to slide on a ¾” drive shaft. The front tires are wide enough and much lighter. They are designed for a ½” axel riding on a sleeve/bushing inserted in the front tire hub. All of the front tires of the riding mowers that I looked at were similar. If you removed these sleeves out of the tire hubs you could slide a much bigger more rigid axle through. This was the answer to the tire problem. These used tires are abundant and cheap. Since I forgot to put oil in my mower last summer I all ready had two! It takes about ten seconds with a hammer and a screwdriver to pop out the sleeves to make room for a bigger axel.
One inch black iron gas line or galvanized water line has an outside diameter of 1 ¼”. This is the ideal size to slide through the hub of our tires. 1” pipe is plenty strong enough yet light enough to use. At any hardware store get three 4’ lengths, two unions and two end caps and you’re only out about $20. A 1 ½” or 2” pvc pipe works for the sleeve that the boat sits on. Just wrap the pipe with some old carpet and duct tape. Your tie lines must be tied to this pvc sleeve. Wrap them around a few times on the end.
Once you have your materials you can literally assemble everything with your bare hands. Assemble your axel by threading your pipes together using your unions. Slide one tire on each end until it stops on the unions. Then slide on your pvc sleeves and then the outside tires. Screw on the 2” pipe caps and you’re done. To fine tune the tire placement a 3/16 drill bit and 16 common nails works for me as a codder pin.
MATERIAL LIST:
4 tires (used front riding lawn mower tires, sleeves/bushings removed)
three 4’ long 1” iron pipe
two 1” pipe unions
two 1” pipe caps
two 2’ long 2” pvc pipe
two carpet strips
duct tape
two 5’ long ¼” rope
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SHARK #610 WOOD SHARK FOR SALE
Contact Jeff Vandeveer (313) 980-8724 or Vandeveerdtr@aol.com
10/02/03 - Can be sailed as is. Or restored to its original condition. Mainsail useable, but I wouldn't race with it. 2 jibs in good shape. Hulls and wood parts solid. One rudder blade wood, the other, composite. Mast and boom in great condition. All standing and running rigging included. Trailer in great shape and tows great. New hub, bearings, and wheel/tire on one side. Located in Brooklyn, MI. Trader-Bobs, 517-592-4646, or email for pictures/info $1100.00.
Congratulations to:
Bryan & Christina Perrin - 1st Place
Rob & Dawn Turbett - 2nd Place *
John & Pat Perrin - 3rd Place
Jerry Pattenaude & Christina Couch/Joe Lieberman - 4th Place
Jack & Leslie Bennett - 5th Place
*The Turbett’s were sailing the Shark that Jack Carpenter built from a kit. This was the first shark on the Lake when she was launched in 1964. Rob rebuilt her a few years ago.
**one boat per winter production rate
*equipment includes trailer, sails, mast, boom, centerboards, rudders, blocks and lines.
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