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TOPIC: Shell Lake Rebuild
Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #69909
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A new project is about to begin.
I think it is a 1966? 17 footer. Shell Lake Sunliner, the numbers stamped on an aluminum tag on the inside transom are 1766 db 1037. 
The interior is original with good looking seats but the material is stiff and easily cracked so it will be trashed. It has been stored inside and last registered I believe in 1978 but layed up in '98. 
The brightwork is in exceptional good condition, no pitting and really heavy chrome plated stuff, nothing broken so it will all be re-used. 
Hanging on the back is a Johnson Golden Meteor 100 hp. The hull is heavy gauge glass and really deeeeeep V. The floor is rock solid but I have not had time to check the transom yet. The plan is to transform it into a "woodie" using African mahogany for all topsides, deck, seats, dash. I was inspired by Valero's picture. This will take a long time and play it by ear as I go. Should be interesting. Cal |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #69913
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Very cool project boat. I seen that boat on the ranches website and really liked it, I may have bid against you had my wife not stopped me
 I'm so glad a fellow glass head bought it. I can't wait to see what a talented guy like you can do with her. Good luck on the project I look foward to following your project. |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #69915
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Jetflite, Funny thing, when I picked the boat up Pam asked me if I really wanted it, almost like she felt guilty about the sale. I've only gotten maybe two zombies that I had to junk out of the dozens that I have purchased from them over the past 25 or so years. Even then I was able to salvage parts and recycle enough to break even..This will be fun and no hurry up.
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #69943
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Cal,
That's going to be great. I can't wait to see how she comes out. That's going to be an outstanding custom when your done! Bob |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #69949
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I'm with Bob, Cal, looking forward to seeing you work your magic on this one! Looks like a great "big water" boat, nice a roomy too. Sounds like you may have a winner with the Golden Meteor as well, looks promising.
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Mark
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #69953
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You're right, it is a big deep water boat. The pictures are deceiving. those seats are about the size of a small living room chairs and cushy(?) and to stand up in it the gunwales are almost waist high.
Everyone on this site is a visionary, we have to be to see the boat in our mind's eye as it will be and not as it is now. I can't dig in like the Herters, lots of things to do and catch up on around the homestead so some of the actual "doing" photos might be far between. Keep the faith. Cal |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #69955
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This is going to be an interesting transformation! I can't wait to see it...
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70026
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Before I start on the boat I want to make sure the motor is running before I pull it off the transom. Today I dropped the lower unit and removed the water impeller, had a pretty good set to it. Tomorrow I'll jam a water hose up the inlet pipe to flush the water lines and install the new water pump. Fire up the motor and run some seafoam in it to clean up the carbs and cyls.
Might be able to unload the motor sometime this week if all goes as planned. |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70027
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Well Cal, looks like you are going to be able to keep busy this winter. That is one big boat.I was going to go after it myself but decided not to.Hope you get that motor sorted out soon and get it running. Skip.
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70136
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Took some time last night to strip 99% of the brightwork off and box it. Removed the motor (I'm guessing it weighs close to 3 ton)
I also found out where some racoons were holed up. Ask me how I know it was coons? The size of the ..... 
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70142
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I am glad I am not the only one who had racoons living in there boat.
 Skip. |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70163
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A little background on the boat. Wisconsin requires a title on any boat 16' or longer. The boat was a donation to Rawhide Boys Ranch which is a faith based organization to help young men who the courts feel need special guidance. The 17' boat did not have a title and was donated by a man who was clearing out an estate and had POA. No title, last registered 14 years ago with no matching numbers. I went to the WI DNR office this afternoon to see if I can get a clear title and reg for the boat. All I had was a bill of sale and a copy of the POA from the doner and the hull number which I found on the inside of the transom. In less than 10 minutes I walked out with a clear title, registration, and a temporary reg certificate if I wanted to take it on the water.
Now that is efficiency from a qualified counter person. She made it really pain free and quick. In a few weeks I will have the permanent paperwork. (probably expire befor I finish the boat .
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70176
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Glad to hear it went well at the DNR office Cal, some of us have had quite a time getting that task accomplished. Three cheers for "The Dairy State", and more particularly the counter person who made it happen for you!
 Also a "good on ya" for supporting Rawhide, gotta love an organization doing a much needed public service AND helping support themselves IMHO. Better keep the garage door closed for a while though, make sure that raccoon doesn't come looking for the guy who stole his "condo"! (I hear they can be pretty mean.)  |
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Mark
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70179
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Man Wish it were that simple in NYS!
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70181
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That big Johnson Meteor brought back fond memories of our neighbors boat back in the late 60's. It was a Pipestone Tri-Hull with the windshield all the way to the front of the boat. Great project that you have going for you. Did you get the windshield?
A few years back, I picked up a Century from Rawhide. What a cool place and beautiful country to see! |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70371
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Stashm2,
I feel your pain. Being from Buffalo, I once had to register a wood boat, that I bought from a guy, who bought from someone else, that got it from someone else, who got it from his brother, who bought it from a guy who is now dead (or so I thought ?) No title, just a bill of sale from the guy I bought it from. The beauty of NY is the old boats before... some certain year did not have titles. But you did need a bill of sale from the last registered owner. The hard part is getting the DMV in NY to give you the name of the last registered owner. I had the boat, it still had the DMV hull registration number only+ serial number stamped on the stem. I had to make two calls. Erie county wouldn't tell me the last registered owner, but I calld another county, told them the story, all the way down to the dead guy, and asked what my options were to get it registered ? The kind lady checked to see if the dead guy had a valid drivers licence... which he did, so in fact was not dead. I was able to get his name, did some phone book checking, called him, gave him 20 bucks, he gave me a bill of sale, and I was able to register the boat, after going to line "C" then line "D" then to line "A" then verifying who I am, show my mother's birth cetificate, give my passport, verify what grandpa had for breakfast...etc (NY is a pain!). |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70372
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Hornet, unfortunatly I didn't get the windshield, I'll have to do some searching but that won't be for quite some time, still working on the leaves falling and the honey do list.
Chuck, They didn't ask for your first born???? they must be slipping. |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70379
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Cal, I have the wind shield from the crestliner still. I could measure it for you and take a couple of pics of it if your interested. You can have it if your interested. Skip.
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70438
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Skip, thanks for the offer but I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do with her yet. Still leaning towards a woodie look like Valero's picture. If I do that I'll have my son make up some cool windshield frames out of mahagany. (the cabinet maker).
Removed the 18 gallon inboard fuel tank last night, it is steel and rusted quite alot, don't know if it's worth saving or not, smells like a can of varnish. Honey do list is still taking the lead role around here, cold weather is beginning to set in. Putting up 210' of leaf guard gutter toppers, the second story is the worse working up on a ladder. Question, can the drive shaft be removed from the mark 78 lower somehow without harming anything? |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70452
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That would look cool having a wood framed windshield on a wood deck on that hull. I think the hull is just the right size to make it look good. That type of windshield always looks better on a deeper hull. I am kinda lucky as my wife don't have a honeydo list. She knows it will get done when I get to it. As for the drive shaft i never got around to getting mine off as I was not too sure how it came out. I have never pulled one of these lower units apart before so I really can't say. Maybe I will post in the merc section and see what we can come up with. I have a 19 gal alum tank here I no longer have any use for also. It is 18" wide, 18" high, 12" deep and 20" high overall.
Let me know if you have any use for it. Skip. |
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Re: Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70458
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63sabre,
DARN! why can't i ever find a BIG/DEEP hull like that?? IF i could find one, it would be VERY UTILITARIAN (for example, no windshield) for fishing for BIG sharks/gamefish on the TX/LA coast. (fyi, i've had an "unauthorized boarding" by a about 9ft juvenile tiger, which ATE a tackle box & "took a bite out of" a seat before we could disembark him. - SCARED us all to death. - NOT an experience that i would care to repeat!) BEST WISHES on your winter project! yours, satx |
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Resistance to tyrants is obedience to Almighty God.
Thomas Jefferson, 1803 |
Re: Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70466
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Satx.
This one did have downriggers that were removed, holes are in the gunwale. Lake Michigan salmon and trout but they only get in the 30 - 40 pound range. I suspect the tiger didn't salute the ensign and ask permission to come aboard. Sounds like they do have an appitite, that's gotta be fun! Skip, I kick myself again, I had an 18 gal aluminum tank this spring that sat around for three years, put it on craigs list and sold it for $85 to a fella that was lake fishing and needed an extra tank. It's a long winter, I'm sure the drive shaft comes out somewhere/somehow, I'll work on it. The final paperwork came in the mail today from the Wisc. DNR. Full title and registration certificate with stickers that expire in 2015, probably about the time I get the project launched |
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Re: Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70481
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63 Sabre,
Tigersharks will eat ANYTHING that they can swallow. - i know of a fellow from Corpus Christi, TX who removed a whole roll of tar-paper, from the gullet of a BIG (about 14 foot long & well over 1000 pounds) tiger, that must have weighed at least 100 pounds. Also, i know of a tiger (caught off Galveston Island, TX) that had swallowed a 13" tire/wheel off a compact car! (shark digestive systems work both ways. - If they cannot digest an item, they simply "reverse the process" & spit it back out.) yours, satx |
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Resistance to tyrants is obedience to Almighty God.
Thomas Jefferson, 1803 |
Re: Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70486
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Got it, sorta like drinking too much beer.
Did some demo on the boat this morning. Pulled out the rotted seats and removed the side panels. Here are some pics, one is a good example of why not to encapsulate wood with glass. 
The light colored board is original where the side storage shelf is. The bottom darker part near the floor is a 2x that was glass encapsulated and then the bottom of the side panels were screwed into them which compromised the glass covering,...totaly rotted out. 
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Re: Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70487
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63Sabre,
Understood. What are you going to do to replace the rotton stuff? my choice would be MDO Plywood bedded in peanut butter. = i think that that would outlast the both of us. (IF you haven't guessed, i'm envious of your find.- looks like a SUPER fishing rig for the salt to me.) yours, satx |
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Resistance to tyrants is obedience to Almighty God.
Thomas Jefferson, 1803 |
Re: Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70493
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Next step will be to pull up the carpeting, using the multi tool to cut out the rotten wood and then drill some 3" inspection holes in the deck to see if the rot migrated. The floor seems really tight and solid but we all know how deceiving that can be.
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Re: Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70498
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Nice project Sabre! (I'm also a huge Century afficianado.) Always loved the Sabres! The Shell Lake that you have will look so good with a Woood Windshield that is reminiscent of the Carvers and Thompsons of the early 60's, only in glass!
My .02 worth on the fuel tank is to pitch it. I have repleced all of mine due to the same issues that you describe. (Don't ask me how I know! LOL) You never seem to get them clean. Do yourself a favor and have a new one made or buy a portable. It looks to be a great project, keep the progress coming! |
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Re: Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70592
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Hit a little stumble today, the place where I get my mahogany went belly up a few years ago and now I have to search for another local supplier. Going to assume the price has gone up considerably since I rebuilt the Century in '05.
Did some more clean out of the interior, removed all the wiring, gauges, motor controls etc. Vacuumed up some pretty large racoon droppings, those things must have been the size of a St Bernard. 
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Re: Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70891
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Found a local place about 1/2 hour away that has rough sawn mahogany by the board foot so Tuesday morning I'll be taking a little trip to see what's available. I figure about 80 bf should be what's needed for the project. Time to bust the piggy bank
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Re: Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70892
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Yeah, the stuff is not cheap- hard to find, and getting harder! There is no where around here that has it, nobody has anything but 'local' woods here...
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70902
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There's actually two places close to me that I can get African Mahogany for $5.95/bdft. Good thing too, getting ready to start the Century Resorter.
Bob |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70924
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I'm not sure if it helps or not, but Glen-L has a list of lumber suppliers on their site sorted by location (state);
www.glen-l.com/resources/lumber-suppliers.html |
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Mark
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70941
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Mark, Bob. Picked up 85 board ft of Honduran this morning from a dealer 30 miles from my house. Should be enough for what I have in mind. 8 boards approx 12' long, 8" wide, 1 1/2" thick. Now I can have my son custom resaw them as I go along.
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70948
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Cal looks like you got enough there to build a small boat. Your lucky to have a son to help with the woodwork. I allways have to do all of mine myself. It is a nice wood to work with.
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70953
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Finally got around to drilling some "exploritory" holes in the floor and was pleasantly surprised. There is no floatation, only sealed voids. One section has maybe about an inch of water sloshing around, the rest of the spaces are dry. I'll shop-vac the water out of the one and dry it out. The stringers are rock solid.
I drilled the holes and put my digital camera in them and clicked away, same way I check my furnace ducts. This is the poop deck area, the top of the picture is actually the underside of the floor. |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70954
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Finally got around to drilling some inspection holes in the floor, amazing results. All the stringers are rock solid. There is no floatation foam anywhere only sealed voids. Only one of those areas had about 2 inches of water which I will suck out with the shop vac. I drilled the holes and stuck my digital camera down there and snapped away.
Keep in mind that the top of the picture is actually the underside of the floor. 
Here is the underside of the poop deck. 
The port mid section leading to the bow where the water was, I suspect from small screw holes that were from seating. 
I'm going to open up the aft section to check out the darker area in the far back side, have to use the multi tool saw blade because of the confined access under the motor well. The camera in the hole is the same way I check my furnace ducts in the fall. |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 1 month ago #70964
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The wood looks great Cal. Underside of the floor looks very good! I think you got a real winner there more time to focus on WHAT you want to do to/with it rather than what you HAVE to do to it.
 Bob |
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 3 weeks ago #71200
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Picked up some of the mahogany boards from the cabinet shop today, all resawn and sanded, dang the kid sure does a good job, chip off the old block.
The boat stands tall on the trailer making it hard to work on with my limited headroom. I really have no way of setting it up on dollys so I'm thinking of tacking some rollers on the trailer frame and removing the axle and springs, should lower it to a workable level while keeping it in the trailer crib. the Honduran mahogany 
trailer standing too tall to work on. 
wheel/rollers tacked in position on bottom of trailer frame. 
removed undercarriage/axle and springs. 
lowered to a reasonable working height and still mobile. 
My woodie all tucked away in the background 
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 3 weeks ago #71224
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great looking project, cal. and a very good idea with the casters. i may do that next spring instead of making a wooden cradle for the rocket.she is going to look good with a wooden topside. frog
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Re:Shell Lake Rebuild 12 years 3 weeks ago #71240
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Really like the caster idea for your trailer Cal. I know what a pain it is when you have low ceilings. I u sed to do alot of my boat work in my garage and that was not ideal. My shop/man cave. I now have 16' ceilings and that is nice. There are five owners who like to work on their boats and have shops, so we all chipped in and bought two rolling gantrys to hoist boats on and off trailers, take engines out and move things around. Makes for fun weekends as everyone is always checking out progress and lending a hand if need be. Very helpful! Wealso have some boat cradles on casters that we share as well. Helps to get the boats close to the floor and easier to get in and out of.
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