I need to get the boat off my trailer but don't know how. Need to drop centerboard for a new line that broke when I loaded it onto the trailer. Any ideas? Thanks
Getting a 192 off a trailer
- Thread starter bullwinkle
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I have a few questions for you. Do you have a roller trailer or a flat bunk trailer? Four or five sailboat stands? Block and tackle? Fifteen or twenty wooden blocks? Hydraulic jack? Taking my O'Day 222 off my roller trailer was always a simple task with the aid of four boat stands, a rope from a tree to the transom of the boat with a block and tackle in between to tweak it a little, along with the 8X8"X 4' blocks. The towing vehicle mealy pulls the trailer out from under the boat until the keel is exposed behind the trailer. The keel is then blocked up. Four sailboat stands, two on each side near the stern keep the boat from tipping. Wood blocks are placed parallel to each other and criss-crossed under the stern, for safety reasons and extra support. If more height is needed in the bow portion of the hull, a hydraulic jack can be used to lift the bow from the trailer, and small blocks are placed under the keel to take up the gap and attain the height needed. Then the trailer can be pulled out completely. Two of the sailboat stands can be removed and placed about 6 or 8' forward of the rear stands. More blocks should be placed under the bow, in front of the keel in the same fashion as the ones on the stern. Sailboat stands aren't made to lift boats, but my Brownell SB-3 angled sailboat stands can lift my 222 with no problem. The stands can be raised evenly and more shoring can be added under the hull as the boat is raised. The keel shoring blocks can be removed and the centerboard can now be let down. In order to get the boat back on the trailer, you need to reverse this procedure, and the trailer is lined up to the bow, with out the towing vehicle. The winch is hooked to the bow eye, and the trailer is winched under the hull of the boat. If you have a flat bunk trailer, more jacking and blocking under the forward portion of the hull is involved, and it's a long slow process but doable. It goes without saying that doing something like this is very dangerous and it's a good idea to have someone with you who is familiar with rigging, a power company lineman perhaps. You may be able to just get half the boat off the trailer and be able to get at the exposed keel to let the centerboard down. Last spring, I removed the centerboard on my boat and painted the inside keel slot as well as the whole bottom of my boat by doing what I have just described. I enjoy doing my own work on my boat in my yard, and this is why I do it, plus I've saved a few bucks through the years. My newest project right now is re-doing all the wood inside the cabin of my boat. I removed every piece of wood in the cabin and I'm staining and varnishing. Every year I take on a new boat project. Good Luck!
Joe
Joe
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i replaced mine in a few minutes with a snorkel and mask. it may be easier than taking it off the trailer if your comfortable in the water.
It's always possible to do this job in the water, but I don't think that I could hold my breath long enough underwater to remove the cotter pin, and rigging pin from the pendant line shackle. Last spring I took my boat off the trailer and put it on stands because I wanted to check the pivot pin on my centerboard for wear and apply a better grade of bottom paint to the hull. Of course, one thing always leads to another when you start a project like this. For instance; a good opportunity to paint the board and keel slot, as well as check the centerboard pendant line and shackle. I found everything to be in great shape and it was a heck of a lot easier to apply bottom paint on my hull with the boat sitting on blocks and supported by stands. I'll probably never have to remove my centerboard again, unless something unforeseeable happens to it. You could call it preventative maintenance. Sure! It's a lot of work,--dangerous too, but I've done this so many times that it's become second nature. The project that I'm doing now has become more of a challenge, but I do a little each day and I'm confident that I'll be all finished by next week. Then I can cover her for the long winter's sleep, and take on more important tasks like, hanging around the house and do nothing.
Joe
Joe
Thanks for your input. I, also, would be unable to work underwater.Joe, your photos are great.I have a roller trailer that came with the boat.Your pics have given me another idea.If I were to lower the nose of the trailer , could I then place blocks on both sides of the stern with a 8 x 8 between the blocks to carry the weight of the boat, in the back section. Then, set up blocks each side of the boat just forward of the keel, raise the trailer nose until boat is at proper height and set another 8 x 8 on those blocks to support the boat and then slide trailer out from under.I would only have to elevate the boat about 4 inches .The forward block pillars would about 8 feet apart to clear the wheels as the trailer is partially removed. What do you think?
Bullwinkle,
I think that what you have described would work. My friend Norman did that with a Mac 19 that he once owned. Sailboat stands make a job like this much easier, but it can be done without boat stands. The important thing here, is to keep the boat from tipping over sideways. The blocks can take the weight with no problem. I use pieces of carpet between the hull and the blocks. I also use old power company cross arms for blocking. Another thing that can be done is to cut a few 4X4s or cross arms diagonally to make wedges, which can be used to fill small gaps between the blocks and the hull. My boat weighs about 2200 LBS, and blocks seemed to have no bad effect on the hull when I suspended it so that the keel was exposed. Two years ago when I did my first bottom painting on my boat, I suspended the boat a little higher on keel blocks and used about 6- 2X6s and 2x4s to prop under the gunwales to the ground, and then removed the four boat stands from under the hull. I wish that I had taken a picture of this. The reason for doing this was that I had bought a primer from Worst Marine that required that the bottom paint be applied while this stuff was still tacky, (so it said in small print.) I wish I had known about Super Ship Bottom Paint before I bought that stuff. So what I'm getting at is, that the keels can take the weight of these boats. I lifted the stern of my friend's O'Day 26 with four of my stands one day to get his trailer centered, and the hull began to flex a little. I guess it was too much weight to lift in that area of the hull, but the stands did lift that boat. I think that anything is possible as long as it's thought out and time is taken to do it safely. Good luck with that and please let me know how you make out.
Joe
I think that what you have described would work. My friend Norman did that with a Mac 19 that he once owned. Sailboat stands make a job like this much easier, but it can be done without boat stands. The important thing here, is to keep the boat from tipping over sideways. The blocks can take the weight with no problem. I use pieces of carpet between the hull and the blocks. I also use old power company cross arms for blocking. Another thing that can be done is to cut a few 4X4s or cross arms diagonally to make wedges, which can be used to fill small gaps between the blocks and the hull. My boat weighs about 2200 LBS, and blocks seemed to have no bad effect on the hull when I suspended it so that the keel was exposed. Two years ago when I did my first bottom painting on my boat, I suspended the boat a little higher on keel blocks and used about 6- 2X6s and 2x4s to prop under the gunwales to the ground, and then removed the four boat stands from under the hull. I wish that I had taken a picture of this. The reason for doing this was that I had bought a primer from Worst Marine that required that the bottom paint be applied while this stuff was still tacky, (so it said in small print.) I wish I had known about Super Ship Bottom Paint before I bought that stuff. So what I'm getting at is, that the keels can take the weight of these boats. I lifted the stern of my friend's O'Day 26 with four of my stands one day to get his trailer centered, and the hull began to flex a little. I guess it was too much weight to lift in that area of the hull, but the stands did lift that boat. I think that anything is possible as long as it's thought out and time is taken to do it safely. Good luck with that and please let me know how you make out.
Joe
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