The yacht club I belong to doesn't have a conventional travel lift with straps It's basically a crane with hook setup. I want to dry sail it but need a way to lift it. The boats that currently use it are Olson 30's and have a rod with eye setup that goes through the deck to the keel. Has anyone devised a way to setup something like this for a swing keel boat? I have a V22.
Boat Lifting
- Thread starter Mac Daddy
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Depending on what part of the country you are in, that is a very common way of lifing a boat (crane). All you need (they probably have them) are a set of straps long and strong enough to carry the weight.
If they had a spreader setup it wouldn't be an issue. I could get the straps no problem. But a spreader setup would need to be custom built of steel and thats nothing I want to tackle or pay for. I need to come up with a way to pick it up by a single point like the olson 30's that are currently there are doing. They use a bracket attached to the keel bolts that they thread a rod into. I have a swing keel so theres no convienient bolts to mount anything to.
i don't think you can avoid using straps... but I don't think you need to build a steel spreader system either. Determine the lift points on your boat and I'll bet they're less than 10 feet apart. So simply hooking the straps to crane so they don't interfere with the rigging is your big challenge. Center of gravity should be right behind the mast.
You have spreaders - they are called bulkheads! If your boat collapses under its own weight when being lifted at the bulkheads, you probably don't want to be sailing it anyway.
When lifting from 1 point you form a triangle what would keep the straps from slipping on the bottom just the friction? How about on a wet hull? Also seems like it would be a three person job to operate the winch and keep the straps positioned until there is some weight on them. I'm not worried about the the boat collapsing just loosing it's balance. All the boat lifts I have seen have the straps perpendicular to the water.
"just do it" and plan for extra time
if you can't borrow some straps, buy some from costco or Harbor freight, they have little winch tightners and hooks and most handle 20,000 lbs. This is a simple job to do with a helper, and a few small lines for positioning. If you think spreaders are needed bring 2x4's and some duct tape and lay them across deck. Do your self a favor and take down the mast first.
if you can't borrow some straps, buy some from costco or Harbor freight, they have little winch tightners and hooks and most handle 20,000 lbs. This is a simple job to do with a helper, and a few small lines for positioning. If you think spreaders are needed bring 2x4's and some duct tape and lay them across deck. Do your self a favor and take down the mast first.
Visual aids
Photos of Solara, my old L25 being launched with straps from a crane. Also, why don't you hire a rigger for an hour or two to help you work out the details and to point out exactly what to buy. In the last photo you can see that they apparently used webbing extended by steel cables hooked onto the cranes hook. I don't know how much height you have to work with though.
Photos of Solara, my old L25 being launched with straps from a crane. Also, why don't you hire a rigger for an hour or two to help you work out the details and to point out exactly what to buy. In the last photo you can see that they apparently used webbing extended by steel cables hooked onto the cranes hook. I don't know how much height you have to work with though.
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There are several San Juan 22 sailors, at our club, that lift their boat with a padded 2 x 2 steel tube bar, with chain, that fits inside their open main hatch and lifts against the underside of the deck. They position the bar to balance the boat when lifting. Seems to work well, with no damage. Might just rip the deck off on other boats, though.
when you call the crane out tell them what your doing and they will provide the rigging for the job. if they dont have it or know how call someone else
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