Off trailer with no water?

[vernonfarmer]

Is there an easy, safe way to take my 17' wooden boat off its trailer other than in the water? I'd like to do some work on the trailer including a conversion from rollers to bunks.

[LancerBoy]

Lift her up using chain hoists and beams from above. Use lifting ring (if it has one) at the bow and transom eyes. Or use slings around the hull.

This is just one option.

Andreas

[JoeCB]

seems I've heard of sliding the boat off of the trailer on to a half dozen or so old car tires. I would think that that should work OK. Start by tilting the trailer all the way up and gradually transfering the transom back onto the tires laying on the ground.

Joe B

[vernonfarmer]

Just want to make sure there is no undue stress in the wrong places by lifting from those three points: bow ring and transom rings. Wood hull, rib construction. Can it hang like that for a period of time or should the trailer be pulled out from under and the boat lowered onto a support...tires or whatever?

Thanks,
John

[Michael J. Seiber]

John, I had mine hanging from the lifting eye on the front deck and a stand built on the transom attached to the transom eyes. I had a problem with the front deck lifting eye. The lifting eye goes through the boat and attaches to the inner stem with two lags bolts. With the boat being old and the lags small you can guees what happened. The only reason it did not hit the floor is that only part of the rod can fit through the hole so the deck it self stopped it from hitting the floor. I couldn't believe there was no damage. From then on I kept it blocked up under the keel also. I replaced the lags with a little bigger ones and put epoxy in the holes before I put them in. Mike

[Phill Blank]

John, I would not rely on the eye-bolts only to support the weight for any length of time. Always safer to have some solid blocking of some sort that is stable under the hull.

Good Luck,

Phill

[thegammas]

Apologies to the regulars here. I hope by know you've gotten used to my long long winded posts.

I wanted to get my boat off the trailer to do some trailer work and some bottom work. Well, of course I have to over-engineer everything, so I took this relatively straightforward problem and devised the following solution.

My goal was to get the boat off (and later back on) the trailer, onto stands, by myself (if needed) and still have it in my garage. I didn't want to set it on the ground and roll it over as i didn't want to have to take the boat apart (windshield, motor, rails, etc). The stands had to be engineered such that I would be safe rolling around under the boat.

I built a set of stands and a "Wall Clamp". Yes, I bolted my boat to the wall using the bolt holes for the motor. With the transom stands positioned, I lowered the trailer bunks until the stands picked up the weight, leaving only the keel rollers in contact with the hull. The transom stands keep the hull stable side to side, the wall clamp keeps it from moving for and aft. I placed a level on the wall clamp which allowed me to see if the boat was attempting to rise as I pulled the trailer out (the clamp is hinged at both ends). I hooked the trailer winch to the trailer hitch on the truck and used the winch to pull the trailer out from under (much more control). When I had it about half way out I, added the three forward stands. I'd move the trailer out 10 inches or so, move the stands forward, pull the trailer out, move the stands, etc until the trailer was free. The center forward stand uses a scissors jack to raise and lower the boat. I'd raise the bow to free the forward stands of weight so that they could be moved forward, then drop the weight back on them. The Starboard forward stand also uses a scissor jack to allow for leveling the boat. The transom clamp can pivot, allowing me to raise and lower the bow without binding the wall clamp.

The process worked great - took about thirty minutes to unload the boat. once off, I leveled it by adjusting the forward stand that has the scissors jack. The wall clamp uses carriage bolts as the pivot points, which allows me to remove it for working around the boat. When I reload the hull, I'll reverse the process. The wall clamp will prevent the hull from moving aft as I push the trailer back under, this time with the truck.

Here are some pics.

The wall clamp - the other end is fastened to the wall studs and has a similar pivot arrangement.


The Transom stands. Made from all scrap wood. If need be I can lift the transom with a floor jack resting on the 6X6's. Thypically these would be under the transom, especially if the motor was on. But the area I want to address is right at the edge. When not being worked on, I support the transom with the floor jack. They are meant to be able to support the boat with my 100hp motor hanging on it.



The Forward Stands, also made from materials on hand. Note that they are adjustable in height, and the tops can swivel forward/back, and side to side for a tight flat fit against the hull




The Center stand is used to raise and lower the bow when loading and unloading, and as well to add extra support, especially if I get into the boat. The outboard stands can carry the full weight of the hull, so I can remove the center stand if needed.

Far out.

[vernonfarmer]

Peter, you are Superman! Excellent design and great pictures. Thanks for posting!

[thegammas]

My pleasure - there are numerous details to how the stands are constructed. I built my own because I couldnt find a set of stands that I was willing to pay for. One of the design features saved my boat from falling off the stands onto my wife's '67 beetle. If youre ever interested let me know. As you can see from above - I dont mind typing