O'day 23 Trailer: Support on keel?

[RIOday88]

I recently purchased an O'day 23 on the water and I need to take it out with my trailer very soon (few days).

The problem I have is that my current trailer is NOT custom built for this boat and since its in the water, I dont really have a way to measure the keel etc.. I received some measurement advice from other people on this forum, but it seems it will be difficult to match my trailer to these dimensions without really having the boat on the trailer.

Im tempted to ridgidly mount my bunks (Each are currently 2 feet from center) and raise them high enough (maybe 24 inches from bottom rail) so that the boat actually is supported by the bunks on the hull instead of supporting it by the keel.

Does anyone know if its ok to support the boat on the hull this way and leave the keel floating?

thanks in advance.
-Kurt

 

[Joe11688]

I recently purchased an O'day 23 on the water and I need to take it out with my trailer very soon (few days).

The problem I have is that my current trailer is NOT custom built for this boat and since its in the water, I don't really have a way to measure the keel etc.. I received some measurement advice from other people on this forum, but it seems it will be difficult to match my trailer to these dimensions without really having the boat on the trailer.

I'm tempted to ridgidly mount my bunks (Each are currently 2 feet from center) and raise them high enough (maybe 24 inches from bottom rail) so that the boat actually is supported by the bunks on the hull instead of supporting it by the keel.

Does anyone know if its ok to support the boat on the hull this way and leave the keel floating?

thanks in advance.
-Kurt

Kurt,
If you don't have too far to trailer this boat, you could probably get away with it as long as it's not too high. What you need to do is get it out of the water and get it home. Later on you could borrow four sailboat stands and place them under the stern, two on each side to be used in conjunction with a hydraulic jack under the bow close to the keel. This would allow you to make the bunk adjustments needed.

As for the keel support; your boat needs keel support on the trailer. I used two pressure treated planks which I sandwiched together and placed in the center of the trailer's cross members. These planks are held in place by two galvanized clamps and four 3/8" X 6" carriage bolts. I countersunk the bolt heads into the planks so that the keel does not hit them. The straps fit over the cross members and there are no holes involved in the trailer. The keel boards can be loosened and slid to one side of the trailer.
The brackets can be found at any local power company. They sometimes throw them away. They are used for cross arm mounted lightning arresters, URD Terminal connectors (Pot Heads) and fused cutouts.

At the ramp: You can bring a 2x4 and some zip ties with you. After you get the boat out of the water you could cut to fit some pieces of the 2x4 and place them against each bunk extension bracket to fit between the top of the trailer frame and under side of each bunk. Do this at each bracket and secure it with tape or zip ties. This is just a temporary reinforcement for the bunks. If you think your extension brackets under your bunks are good and solid, you may not need to do this. Some extension brackets are adjustable and there is always the chance that they could slip down while the boat is being towed home.

I really lucked out years ago when I bought my Long Aluminum tandem trailer at Walmsley Marine. They had the 24" extension brackets right in stock. When I went down to take my boat out of the water at our club ramp, I brought my bathroom scale, four sailboat stands, and my hydraulic jack. I was able to do the whole set up right on the spot. The tide was going out and I only needed to back down the ramp twice in order to move the boat into a position which was acceptable for the tongue weight. After that, came the bunk adjustments which I was able to do with the jacks and stands.
Whenever you work with heavy objects like boats, there is always a danger involved. Be careful!
Here's some pics.

 

[RIOday88]

thanks for the info. and pics!

what do you think about the idea of keeping the bunks low (not quite touching) while the trailer is in the water and resting the boat on its keel. Then, to keep the boat in that position, utilize ratchetted straps on each side. Once the boat is out of the water, raise the bunks to meet the boat?

 

[Indysailor]

My boat was stored that way for fifteen years, the trailer has no keel support. I hate it, and it worries me to have my keel hanging out there only supported by the hull resting on bunks, but it has been fine from the ramp to the yard. I put jack stands under the keel to support it. Next Summer, I'll be making a keel board...but I'm going to make it easily removable because without a keel board I also have easy access to the CB trunk for maintenance and repairs.

 

[Gudenuph]

When you think about it, the keel is unsupported when the boat is floating except for the insignificant weight of water it displaces. When sailing, the keel to hull join is further subjected to torsion loads when heeled and impact loads in pounding seas or groundings. On a well fitted cradle on the hard, the loads are static like a calm moorage. Blocking the keel, while reducing the jack stand loadings, can reverse the strains on the keel/hull join. I've seen a fin keel boat, with a flat run aft, and supported only on its keel, actually "oil can" the hull bottom. So with the weight well spread out on the bunks or stands, keel blocking just provides extra safety factor and psychological support.
FWIW, Geohan

 

[Joe11688]

thanks for the info. and pics!

what do you think about the idea of keeping the bunks low (not quite touching) while the trailer is in the water and resting the boat on its keel. Then, to keep the boat in that position, utilize ratchetted straps on each side. Once the boat is out of the water, raise the bunks to meet the boat?

Bunks need to support the hull from tipping over on the trailer. I think that it's more important to have those bunks set a little higher than lower when you pull the boat out of the water, even if it means that the bottom of the keel is 1" above the keel board. You don't want the boat leaning over on it's side after you pull it up the ramp.
You could probably get away with doing the full trailer set up at the ramp with two sailboat stands on the stern and a hydraulic jack under the bow.
You'd need to get the trailer's tongue weight first. After that, you could adjust the extension brackets. I was able to put a mechanical jack under the middle extension brackets on both sides of the trailer after I lowered the boat so that the full weight of the boat and keel was sitting on the keel boards. I jacked both of the brackets up and took measurements. After that, I tightened up the two brackets and I did the same to the front brackets which bent the bunks to conform to the shape of the hull. Then I did the rear brackets the same way.

I have a 23' trailer and my boat is 22', so I had to move my winch stanchion so that it was on the tongue, inside the frame. It looks a little strange, but that's where it needs to be. A longer trailer makes floating the boat on and off at the ramp easier. No extension tongue is needed and I never need to swamp my vehicle.