Bridle Hoisting a Hunter 216?

[Lightnsail]

Ok, so thinking about a 216 and we use hoists at my yacht club to launch. I’d use a bridle attached to chainplates and rear cleats with backing plates. Wondering if anyone’s been doing this and for how long. I’m a little concerned that the composite material might get stress cracks from doing so. Thoughts?

 

[fred1diver]

Usually we use 2 slings under the boat to support the boat at our club

 

[Lightnsail]

Thanks. Not set up that way at my club, with the focus on speed, as we race a lot and many of us dry stored.

 

[Rick Webb]

Significant backing plates on the stern cleats and a spreader bar across the "V" that lifts the boat. Lifting wires that are not vertical multiply the force on the attachment point. A spreader bar keeps the boat from getting squeezed.

Are both the bridles going to a single point on the hoist or is there a bar longitudinally?

 

[Lightnsail]

To a single point.

 

[Rick Webb]

To a single point.

A lifting bar may make sense for y'alls operation.
I'll post a picture of the one I had made. It is for lifting our coach boats and are much heavier than your boat but gives you an idea.

A spreader bar does not have to be anything more complicated than a 4X4 with a couple of eye bolts at the same distance apart as your cleats or chainplates.

 

[Lightnsail]

Ok, so a spreader bar makes sense to spread the load between the chainplates. Do you do anything from the front to rear? Pics of your setup would be helpful, thanks!

 

[Rick Webb]

 

[Lightnsail]

So that runs bow to stern with two more going across the boat to attach where the shrouds meet the deck and the other attached to the two stern cleats?

 

[Rick Webb]

Yes, exactly

I was looking at pictures of the 216 and was wondering if instead of lifting from the stern cleats using the motor mount bolts to attach a lifting point maybe an easier option. Removing a bolt on each side and replacing them with lifting eyes or adding a plate that has a lifting point. Lots of options but hard to make a steadfast recommendation without being able to put your hand on the boat. That fixture was intended for forces in the horizontal plane whereas the cleats were in the horizontal.

One other thought I had in Hawaii we had fleets of Rhodes 19s and Cal 20s. They were hoisted in and out from eye nuts attached to the keel bolts the keel was way heavier than the rest of the boat and that worked very well. I have no idea what the keel looks like on the 216 but if there are decent attachment options lifting from that area may be worth considering if appropriate.

 

[Lightnsail]

Boat has a 500 pound swing keel, so no dice on the keel bolts.

 

[Rick Webb]

Thought there might be some structure there that you could lift from like a shaft that the swing keel pivots on or something similar to that idea. Just spit balling as I haven't seen the boat. If you can lift from the heaviest part of the boat it becomes simpler.

 

[dlochner]

At 1250 lbs the 216 is pretty light, spread out over a several points should not be an issue. A 900 lbs Flying Scot is picked from 2 bolts on the centerboard trunk. With 4 pick points the load would only be around 300 lbs each. The laminate with a good backing plate should be able handle that. The chainplates probably have more than 300 lbs of tension on them when sailing in a brisk breeze, so no problem there.

The bigger issue is getting the pick point correct so the boat doesn't roll to the side and is not excessively bow or stern heavy. Building a custom bridle is probably the best answer. In addition to picking at the balance point, it needs to be simple and easy to install. The more complicated it is, the less frequently you'll go sailing.