Storage Cradle

[Virtue]

Hello there!
I'm looking for a plan to build a steel (or wood) boat cradle for our 1994 Beneteau 400. Anyone out there know where I can find one?

Thanks,
Janet

 

[Captn TJ]

Hello there! I'm looking for a plan to build a steel (or wood) boat cradle for our 1994 Beneteau 400. Anyone out there know where I can find one? Thanks, Janet

Might be easier to adapt an existing cradle to your boat - that's what we did with our B423. The yard had an old steel credal with with a little reinforcement worked out great. If you're building one I'd strongly recommend building it out of steel vs. wood. Too much flexing going on from winter winds. Again easiest solution might be to drive around the local yards - then with a welder and some scrap steel you could have a great solution.

 

[Claude L.-Auger]

Do you absolutely need a cradle ? If not if might be easier to set the boat on its keel and use 6 jackstands. At my club we don't have a travel lift so we need a cradle to be able to move the boats with a hydraulic trailer. I was in the same predicament you are. My solution was to call all marinas and club in a 50-mile radius to see if they had a boat like mine with the same keel configuration stored on a cradle. When I found one, I asked permission to go take pictures and measurements. It was then easy to make a drawing and with it, and the pictures and measurements have one made in a welding shop. Good luck

 

[Virtue]

Might be easier to adapt an existing cradle to your boat - that's what we did with our B423. The yard had an old steel credal with with a little reinforcement worked out great. If you're building one I'd strongly recommend building it out of steel vs. wood. Too much flexing going on from winter winds. Again easiest solution might be to drive around the local yards - then with a welder and some scrap steel you could have a great solution.

Thanks Captn TJ,
We have free access to welding supplies and labor- it's the plans we need. The other vessels in the area aren't sailboats, and a used cradle is not an option/not available. The other yards in Newfoundland are too far away from our home port of Wesleyville to make it feasible to look at bringing a used cradle back with us.
Janet

 

[Virtue]

Do you absolutely need a cradle ? If not if might be easier to set the boat on its keel and use 6 jackstands. At my club we don't have a travel lift so we need a cradle to be able to move the boats with a hydraulic trailer. I was in the same predicament you are. My solution was to call all marinas and club in a 50-mile radius to see if they had a boat like mine with the same keel configuration stored on a cradle. When I found one, I asked permission to go take pictures and measurements. It was then easy to make a drawing and with it, and the pictures and measurements have one made in a welding shop. Good luck

We get pretty rough winds here in Newfoundland, especially jutted into the North Atlantic as Wesleyville is. We intend to keep the mast up, and want to be sure nothing will move our prized possession over the winter. There are no other Beneteau 400s in Newfoundland that I know of. I've been looking online for pictures of other boats like ours on the hard that our welders could go by, but have found nothing yet.

 

[Beneteau 321]

i have seen a local marina lift a boat set it down on blocks ,jack stands,and in some cases
leave crane attached,then construct the steel cradle.