cradle for Hunter 270/260

[Bob 04 H260]

Jim Kelly and I finished the cradle for his 270 today. Jim was able to salvage alomost all the steel we used from an old non-folding cradle that was being scraped at our club. We have not tried the boat on it yet but there should be enough adjustment to play with it should be fine. It gets picked up tomorrow morning and delivered to the club, and should have a boat on it next week

I got a lot of help from Mike on this board who supplied us with the critical numbers to build this cradle. Thanks Mike for a job well done.

We included two extra support pads in the hope it could also be used for a 260 should I need to replace my center board uphaul or put some anti-fouling on.

Bob
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[Sublime]

The more pictures you can post of this the better! I need to be able to drop the centerboard on my 260 and am thinking a cradle is the best way to go.
Not sure how I'd get the boat on it though.

 

[Bob 04 H260]

Sublime, yes lifting the boat is a topic that has been discussed on all the trailer sailor boards at length.
We have a two small cranes (max. 10,000 lbs) at our club for free use of members, however you still need use of a hydraulic lift trailer to lift the cradle and move it around the yard. We have 3 private contractors with these trailers in our yard that will do that for a fee.
I don't think I'll ever have a shop like Mike has that allows lifting the boat off the trailer by the ceiling beams.
I think ultimately I would like to be able to lift the boat up a couple of feet myself while it is on the trailer in my own yard. It should be possible to build a frame that fits between the hull and bolts to the trailer frame and will lift the boat a couple of feet in order to drop the center board or paint the bottom.
There is a picture below of a frame I made for my last boat that bolted to the trailer frame and allowed me to move away from the crane and into the yard for painting etc. I called it a "tradle" .
Bob

 

[soling42]

Bob,
Good luck on the cradle. I was happy to post the figures for everyone here and it sounds like you're off to a good start.

I lift my 260 by jacking the trailer and boat off the ground, Blocking the bow and stern, then lowering the trailer. I off load all the weight I can before starting. If you need another 4-6" after it's blocked up just deflate the trailer tires too. You can get a foot or two of clearance which is enough to bottom paint or drop the CB but be very aware of the stress on the boat and limit the time it spends on blocks/jacks fore/aft to no more than 3 days. That timing's only a guess but it also motivates me to get the job done. I strap it to the ceiling and pull out my trailer because I can, but it'd be pretty easy to just leave the trailer under it too.

There are virtually no flat spots on load bearing zones on a 26/260 so brace accordingly to distribute the load. I've found that a nice green/wet deck board(sightly thinner than a regular 2x6) will bend between uprights to help support a curve like those in your pics above. I used regular 2x6 on the long spans of my trailer but found them too stiff in shorter spans and 2x8 just far too stiff for these egg shell thin hulls. Add carpet if you're in love with your boat.

A CB removal needs 14" of space between the bottom of the CB at the head and the trailer to drop the bracket and CB. Just did mine and it was far easier than I thought it would be. A 20" x 3/4" threaded rod to guide it back into place is the answer to bolt alignment hell. Finally seal the finished bolt head with 3m 5200 which is easily removed with a $10 harbor freight heat gun if you ever need to loosen it again.

Just got back from a week on the boat between sarasota and captiva. paradise for sure. Your coats tell a different tale for you guys Found gals of water in the bilge even after all the sealing but thats another story.

Cya, Mike

 

[Bob 04 H260]

Mike, I'm envious of your cruise, any pictures to share ?

Lots of good practical information on pulling the CB. As far as I know my line is the original from 04, I'm wondering how long these last ? It does seem to have a lot of tension on it. When I had the boat lifted in Marathon last spring I thought the board was all the way up but it was still hanging down a foot on the lift. What did you use for a new line, anything special or just doublebraid ?
Bob

 

[soling42]

Trying to get my pics out of my new phone, maybe in a few days. Got home to find an article in the newest sail mag all about where we spend our first sail every season in Boca Grande, Cayo Costa, Captiva, Sanibel and Mantanzas pass. Ssshhh, it's beautiful.

Changed my CB line with a higher quality line but not Spectra or anything too over done. It could've waited a couple more yrs although there was an oyster growing immediately next to the line that would have done it in soon. Also the main bolt was severely damaged by corrosion or a lightening strike before I'd owned the boat. I'd hate to think of it failing.

The CB is never fully retracted so don't fret, imagine the strain to get it fully horizontal. Ck the scum line on the CB pic above. They all droop some.

 

[Bob 04 H260]

Interesting about the bolt Mike. I did not realize the mast was grounded through the compression post and CB bracket. Do you think this could be caused by galvanic corrosion ? If your VHF antenna is on the top of the mast and you have a wired in battery charger the AC would be grounded through the braid on the coax cable I suppose.
I am thinking about the addition of a galvanic isolator in our AC ground wire so when we are in a marina we don't have any concerns. Up until now I assumed that if I tilted my motor up out of the water I would not have any electrical connection to any another boat in the marina.
Bob

 

[soling42]

No wired in batt charger on BonaFide. Yes, the mast meets the tabernacle which is welded to the compression post which presses into the SS plate and mounting bolt assy on the WB tank top/CB well. The damage on the bolt was below the threads on the CB bracket and was either corroded from being in a high salinity stagnate area up in the trunk or more likely from a lightening strike that exited there. Pretty sure the boat had been struck previous to our owning it and the bolt was SS but had a huge section missing.

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. My area is a lightening hot spot and our boat is in saltwater for 9mths a year. Either way good maintenance saved me an on-water "adventure story" so just have a consistent maintenance schedule, keep your OB tilted up and you'll be fine. This is a very simple boat and will serve its diligent owners well. Keeping it simple when you have an owner who loves to tinker (like we apparently do) is a tougher challenge.

Stay warm.
Mike

 

[BobSail]

Mike:

Your post #4 probably saved me from the centerboard overhaul in search of a solution to MWES (Mystical Water Entry Syndrome). Now that the boat is in storage, I can do like last year and forget about it until recommissioning. That worked in 2009. We didn't have a drop that year (with hard sailing), although it had started in earnest during 2008. Maybe it's just even years for boats ending in even HIN's. Enjoy your season!

 

[Sublime]

Are y'all repainting the centerboard when you do a bottom job or not?

 

[Bob 04 H260]

Jim Kelly's 270 was put on the cradle tonight, we had to put a block under the keel with the pads all the way down, otherwise everything was smooth, pictures of the event below, Bob

 

[soling42]

Mission accomplished. Wohoo.
Sublime, Id paint everything that u can when the boats on the hard.
Mike