Plastic on Travel Lift Slings?

[duality]

while working on my boat i noticed that they do not use plastic on the slings of the travel lift. then i got to thinking that when they pulled my boat last they must not of used plastic. where the slings lifted (off the marks by the way) the bottom paint was scared. fortunatly i was going to repaint the vivid on the bottom, but next year i would like to skip if i could. so, would plastic have protected the bottom paint? should i demand plastic for launch?

thanks
mike

 

[Ray Bowles]

It's up to you.

When we needed our 1990 IP 38 hauled out for its yearly bottom paint and through hull check we just had the yard crew position the slings on the marks on the hull sides and lift it out.
When we ready to launch we supplied our own trash can bags and taped them on the straps ourselves. We also removed then ourselves
My thoughts based on my experences are:
1. Demanding anything from the yard crew usually adversely effects your position in the line of jobs to be done.
2. It is your job to specify exactly where you want the slings positioned.
That means you need to be there at the times the travellift is working
Our IP38 had the sling position marked on the hull sides thus answering this question.
3. The yard crew will ask you how you want the boat positioned on the stands in the yard. Bow up, bow down and clearances around hull accessories.
When we worked on our boat I found that making a friendly connection with the yard crew paid big gains in how we were recieved and helped by these overworked guys.
Ray

 

[Bad Obsession]

When I was in a Marina in Deltaville the yard used Wax paper over the slings to keep from dinging the bottom paint and getting your hull. It worked great and I have often thought about doing that when I haul out other places.

 

[zeehag]

plastic slings wont do the job they need to do --is the owner's responsibility to care for the hull of own boat , i have found, in most every yard i have used for my boats..... do what the previous writers have stated---waxed paper is good, plastic trash bags are excellent----goood luck.

 

[ggrizzard]

Helen, I just discovered for the first time in 35 yrs that what you say is apparently true, at least at Aquamarina in Daytona Fl. I had 'Intuition' hauled last week for a bottom job and after I was back at the home dock I noticed the large black marks on the hull.
I was back at the yard Friday and asked the manager why he didn't use plastic or wax paper and he shrugged. If this is the status of yard ops today, we better all get our own check list ready before we haul, repair and launch.

 

[PaulK]

Our yard delayed our launch by a good ten minutes while they got hold of the paper they use to cover the slings and the masking tape they use to attach it. Not sure if it's waxed paper or just construction paper, but the new bottom paint showed no marks.