OK my first post I am sure of many. I have 79 Mac Venture that has never seen salt. I am on Southeast Gulf Coast and first thing first. I must paint barrier and antifouling coats for the hull up to waterline. However,, all good on trailer but for the bunkers it sits on. For shipyard to raise it - ~$400. Nope. I considering jack it up with 4x4s, but unsure best points on the understructure. Of course then I must paint around those mount points as well. What a one man chore!
lifting mac25 off trailer for bottom painting
- Thread starter jonjbfx
- Start date
Here's an improved version of what I do.
Go to Home Depot and get one of those stands with a roller you would use with long wood on either a table or chop saw. Get two. Remove the roller and replace them with 12" plywood but make sure it swivels. Drill out the side where the lock is so you can insert bolts at various heights. Basically making your own boat stands.
Drop the nose of the trailer all the way down and put your jack stands on either side of the keel line just behind the bunks. Lift them to the boat. Now crank the nose up on the trailer so they lift the boat off the rear bunks. Go as high as your trailer jack will allow. Now you can either focus on the bunk area. If you want and there's room. Support the bow just ahead of the bunks and lower the trailer to lift that off the front bunks.
I forgot you said 25. Might have to make a third jack for the front so you can completely lift it off the bunks.
Go to Home Depot and get one of those stands with a roller you would use with long wood on either a table or chop saw. Get two. Remove the roller and replace them with 12" plywood but make sure it swivels. Drill out the side where the lock is so you can insert bolts at various heights. Basically making your own boat stands.
Drop the nose of the trailer all the way down and put your jack stands on either side of the keel line just behind the bunks. Lift them to the boat. Now crank the nose up on the trailer so they lift the boat off the rear bunks. Go as high as your trailer jack will allow. Now you can either focus on the bunk area. If you want and there's room. Support the bow just ahead of the bunks and lower the trailer to lift that off the front bunks.
I forgot you said 25. Might have to make a third jack for the front so you can completely lift it off the bunks.
Not only did I need to paint the boat bottom but I needed to do a lot of work on the trailer so I removed the boat from the trailer entirely. I welded up some C-channel in a V support to match the bow and stern as seen in the photos. I then proceeded, like Doc said, by lowering the trailer jack as far as it would go. Then I stacked cinder blocks in off-set sets of two to make a 16" square tower at each side. (Make sure the hollow part is vertical for strength and never use just a single stack.) I then placed the V-support on top of the cinder block and padded both the boat and the cinder blocks with wood. THen I raised the jack as far as it would go and did the same under the bow. This raised the boat above the trailer far enough to paint the bottom. I continued raising and lowering the jack and adding 2x6 spacers above the bunks until the boat was high enough to remove the trailer.
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These are great ideas. I look forward to making it work. You make it sound and look so simple. Several sailors tell me don't bother paint those parts and scrape them as needed. Really what is the point? Do it right or not at all. JB
I was able to get my boat off of the trailer by lowering the front as much as I could and then supporting the rear of the boat on pallets with a rubber pad to cushion the contact point. Once the rear was supported I jacked the front with a floor jack and supported it on auto jack stands that had a 8 X 8 across them. You could also leave the trailer under the boat for safety and also so you don't have to jack the front a bunch of times to get the trailer out from under the boat. My trailer was in good condition so I didn't want to get barrier and bottom paint on it. Like you said if you are going to do something do it right and not halfway.
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I can't imagine not prepping the part where the boat sits on the trailer. It may look ok in the slip but when your out heeling, people will see
On the other hand, the chance of getting the boat back on the trailer exactly the same each time would be slim. Thus the bunks may not always cover the painted area making it will look worse than if you hadn't painted at all.
Which gives me an interesting idea. You could paint the exposed area then launch the boat and retrieve it a few inches off then paint the newly exposed area. No, I don't think I would ever do it this way though.
You guys are funny. But got very useful advice. Doc, I am afraid I can't visualize the stands you speak of. Do you have an image you could post? Also without getting complicated, I can't weld .. So how simply can I shape supports to hull shape? I suppose that prevents boat from rolling onto me. I hate to damage a classic. U decide which I speak of..
Sumner made some nice wooden supports. Check out his website.
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/outside-39.html
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/outside-39.html
Get some 2x10's, hold one up to the transom at the waterline and trace the hull shape onto the board. I cutout 2 and screwed them together, then put on top of a 6x6. The back was easy, the forward support I just made a big wedge out of 2x10 for each side and attached it to a 6x6 like the rear one.
I apologize gents. I was using mobile app, and didn't see the great pictures. It all makes sense now.
Yes, blocks were just wide enough to clear widest part of trailer. I built an A-frame across the bow, put a wide piece of webbing under the boat and used a come-along to lift the boat high enough to slide the trailer out.
Yikes so many ways to approach. And material$ to get it done. My Mac is ~2k lbs, but guess the 4x4s I picked up for my plan, need to go back for an exchange. My salty neighbor will get a kick from this, but wife not so much. It will not fit under the shady dry house, so out to the elements I go for the show. Its gotta happen - I sure hate the wait for my first sail. Hell hurricane season has wind late in the summer, so all is good. All work and no play will pay off. My wife said she feels she lost her husband. And my reply is her 50th birthday present will be right and ready, so hang on. (I have a vision 
I did pretty much the same thing everyone else did, couple of weeks ago to drop the keel and replace the trailer bunkers.
Make sure you come back and post pictures when you do.Yikes so many ways to approach. And material$ to get it done. My Mac is ~2k lbs, but guess the 4x4s I picked up for my plan, need to go back for an exchange. My salty neighbor will get a kick from this, but wife not so much. It will not fit under the shady dry house, so out to the elements I go for the show. Its gotta happen - I sure hate the wait for my first sail. Hell hurricane season has wind late in the summer, so all is good. All work and no play will pay off. My wife said she feels she lost her husband. And my reply is her 50th birthday present will be right and ready, so hang on. (I have a vision
I know this is an old post but maybe some one else can use the info.
I have not tried this my self but have seen it done.
Just jack the boat trailer up about mid ship boat and all. Cut 2 2x4's to prop under the rub rail at a slight angel away from the boat. then lower the jack as needed to get a gap big enough to get your paint roller in where you need it. ( NOT YOUR HAND) just in case. trick from my old friend charlieJ!! his picture too.
I have not tried this my self but have seen it done.
Just jack the boat trailer up about mid ship boat and all. Cut 2 2x4's to prop under the rub rail at a slight angel away from the boat. then lower the jack as needed to get a gap big enough to get your paint roller in where you need it. ( NOT YOUR HAND) just in case. trick from my old friend charlieJ!! his picture too.
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Man I don't know what kind of rub rail he has but I sure would not even want to think about something like that on my 22....that's crazy!
