RAISE H26 OFF THE TRAILER

[MANUEL MACIEIRA]

I own a 1994 h26. I would like to raise the boat off my trailer so I could remove the center board. " HOW HIGH DOES THE BOAT HAVE TO BE ABOVE THE TRAILER" ?..... MANNY S/V NATANI

 

[Marcel]

H-26 Centerboard Removal

If you raise the hull 12" above the bunks of the trailer the centerboard will drop out easily and also give you working room. The board is up in the trunk only about 9", but when you remove it you will also take down a large SS support. Be sure something or someone is there to catch the board when you take the top bolt out, it is heavy. It goes without saying that you have to be sure that your boat supports are bulletproof before anyone goes under the boat. Don't forget to tie some light line to the uphaul so you can feed it back up thru the mast base pulley. If you are changing the uphaul line I recommend a length of Spectra or Technora line as a replacement. Then, when you pull the board up tight on shore you do not get any noisy board movement like I used to get. Those lines stretch very little, so the board stays in place.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Safety

Again, I strongly recommend that you take the boat to a yard and lift it because if you are not very carful, you can hurt yourself as well as the boat. Here are some reasons.When you raise the boat, you could seperate the bonding of the tank to the hull by deflection or too much weight on the other bunk board. YOur support could slip and then someone will get hurt. Spend the extra money and have the boat lifted up. Then remove the centerboard. Before you do, make sure you have the right size socket and wrench to go on the screw that holds the braket in place. Make sure the cascade line is held in place so the center board cannot fall out by its own. You may want to consider replacing the cascade line. Use a messenger line attachted to the old line when pulling out as it is more difficult trying to feed a new line without the messenger line. When you screw back in, place some grease and make damn sure that it goes on smooth at first because if it does not, then back off and start again. You do not want to gald the screw into the bracket or it will cost you more. Make sure you clean around the screw and coveer it with 5200.I realize everyone wants to save a buck but it will not cost that much for a yard to haul the boat up. Not only is it safer but much faster.Crazy Dave Condon

 

[Marcel]

Safely removing centerboard

Dave brings up some good points as to safety when lifting a boat up from the trailer. If you are not completely confident in your ability to lift the boat safely, do not do it, especially if you have hoisting facilities nearby. Unfortunately, for those of us that live 300 miles away from the nearest marina that can put a sailboat up on stands, we have to make do. We lifted 2 H-26 boats in my backyard, a '94 for the centerboard uphaul line change, the '95 for bottom paint. On the bottom paint job we pulled the trailer out completely. Neither boat was damaged. As with anything else, you have to thoroughly plan your work and then follow the plan. Just keep in mind that if you screw up it can cost you thousands of dollars in damage or injury, but it can certainly be done safely if you are careful.

 

[MANUEL MACIEIRA]

THANKS TO ALL

THANKS TO ALL (MARCEL AND DAVE) FOR THE TECNICAL INFORMATION, AND THE SAFTY TIPS. MANNY..... S/V NATANI