I was given a 1985 Hunter 25.5 last june. I'm a contractor. a few months prior i had done some work for a guy who lived on lake norman, a lake just north of charlotte nc. i notice the boat docked at his neighbors house, and could tell it had not been used in awhile. i asked the homeowner about it. he agreed that it looked neglected, but knew nothing else.
i finished the project in april, and thought nothing more of the boat. a few months later the homeowner texts me saying his neighbor is selling the boat and the price is zero. i had never met the neighbor. a few weeks later we met up and he signed over the title.
I wanted to get it to my house, where I could begin to restore it.
my plan was to store it at a friends dock until i could get a trailer for it. i figured how hard could that be?
turned out to be pretty hard. its the fin keel version, that drafts 4' 6". hunter also offered a shoal draft keel version in that same model. that would have been much easier.
i searched all over for a fin keel sailboat trailer. they are hard to come by. i guess most fin keelers dont have trailers? suppose they just haul out periodically?
after months of searching i gave up.
my new plan was to build a trailer. the trailer build didnt seem to complicated. i've done some welding. but figuring where to place the uprights, and at what height was a different story. even though my uprights would be adjustable in height to some degree, my fear was that they'd be off, and have to be cut and redone.
i finally settled on buying a used trailer and modifing it. this made me feel a little more optimistic about the outcome, but did nothing to solve my upright placement issue. i thought maybe if i could get a lines plan for the hull, i might be able to use it to loft full scale templates of hull sections.
but i abandoned this idea too, and my project evolved again.
now i was settled. i was going to start with a used trailer and build a wood frame on it, that i could then be build wood uprigths from. this would allow me to have the boat hoisted out, set on the trailer, then build the wood uprights to the hull. once completed, the hoist straps would be taken away, and i'd drive off. i'd later weld metal uprights one by one as i removed the wood uprights.
soo. to my knowledge, theres is no other trailerable load comparable to a fin keel sailboat. it bears most its weight on a single point. its like towing a 6000lb, 25 foot long, 9 foot wide irregularly shaped spinning top. its spooky just to look at, scary to tow, and terrifying to design. I was haunted by visions of it laying in the street.
i had to figure where to place the axles, and where to place the "keel cradle". weight distribution would be critical with it almost all bearing on a single point. technically, it should be 80% on the keel, with uprights only taking 20%.
another think complicating my trailer build was that theres only one travel lift on lake norman. they're always booked, and not crazy about their lift sitting idle. this forced me to do as much preliminary work as possible.
so the trailer is 21' x 6'. i printed the spec sheet on the hunter model, and used it to make a scaled version of my trailer, that I drew on a small piece of paper and then superimposed it over the hunter spec sheet, to figure where to place my axles and the keel cradle. i wanted the keel to sit directly over the axles.
after getting my axles moved, i then welded two 1/4" x 6" flat stock pieces directy to the frame, spaning three cross members. it was 54" long. i then drilled six holes in the two pieces and bolted treated 2 x 6s to them.
i drilled several holes in the top portion of the longitudinals of the trailer frame and bolted a 2" x 4" flat to it. i used it like a sill plate to build a 2" x 6" frame from. similar to building a deck.
i replaced the coupler and lights, and then scheduled the big lift.
it was lifted out and set on the keel cradle. the lift operator leveled it and left it to me. i used scrap wood to "deck" a few areas where i need my uprights to go or their braces. i used treated 2" x 4" for uprights and bracing, and pads i had made earlier.
the pads were made from 3/4" treated plywood with pieces of rubber door mat glued to it. the porous texture of the door mat top adhered perfectly with adhesive and the bottom of the door mat held fast to the hull. on the bottom side of the pad, i fastened two strips of scrap wood spaced just wider than a 2 x 4.
it worked well. I made it the 18 miles from the marina to my house and the boat is still standing now.
hopes this helps someone.
i finished the project in april, and thought nothing more of the boat. a few months later the homeowner texts me saying his neighbor is selling the boat and the price is zero. i had never met the neighbor. a few weeks later we met up and he signed over the title.
I wanted to get it to my house, where I could begin to restore it.
my plan was to store it at a friends dock until i could get a trailer for it. i figured how hard could that be?
turned out to be pretty hard. its the fin keel version, that drafts 4' 6". hunter also offered a shoal draft keel version in that same model. that would have been much easier.
i searched all over for a fin keel sailboat trailer. they are hard to come by. i guess most fin keelers dont have trailers? suppose they just haul out periodically?
after months of searching i gave up.
my new plan was to build a trailer. the trailer build didnt seem to complicated. i've done some welding. but figuring where to place the uprights, and at what height was a different story. even though my uprights would be adjustable in height to some degree, my fear was that they'd be off, and have to be cut and redone.
i finally settled on buying a used trailer and modifing it. this made me feel a little more optimistic about the outcome, but did nothing to solve my upright placement issue. i thought maybe if i could get a lines plan for the hull, i might be able to use it to loft full scale templates of hull sections.
but i abandoned this idea too, and my project evolved again.
now i was settled. i was going to start with a used trailer and build a wood frame on it, that i could then be build wood uprigths from. this would allow me to have the boat hoisted out, set on the trailer, then build the wood uprights to the hull. once completed, the hoist straps would be taken away, and i'd drive off. i'd later weld metal uprights one by one as i removed the wood uprights.
soo. to my knowledge, theres is no other trailerable load comparable to a fin keel sailboat. it bears most its weight on a single point. its like towing a 6000lb, 25 foot long, 9 foot wide irregularly shaped spinning top. its spooky just to look at, scary to tow, and terrifying to design. I was haunted by visions of it laying in the street.
i had to figure where to place the axles, and where to place the "keel cradle". weight distribution would be critical with it almost all bearing on a single point. technically, it should be 80% on the keel, with uprights only taking 20%.
another think complicating my trailer build was that theres only one travel lift on lake norman. they're always booked, and not crazy about their lift sitting idle. this forced me to do as much preliminary work as possible.
so the trailer is 21' x 6'. i printed the spec sheet on the hunter model, and used it to make a scaled version of my trailer, that I drew on a small piece of paper and then superimposed it over the hunter spec sheet, to figure where to place my axles and the keel cradle. i wanted the keel to sit directly over the axles.
after getting my axles moved, i then welded two 1/4" x 6" flat stock pieces directy to the frame, spaning three cross members. it was 54" long. i then drilled six holes in the two pieces and bolted treated 2 x 6s to them.
i drilled several holes in the top portion of the longitudinals of the trailer frame and bolted a 2" x 4" flat to it. i used it like a sill plate to build a 2" x 6" frame from. similar to building a deck.
i replaced the coupler and lights, and then scheduled the big lift.
it was lifted out and set on the keel cradle. the lift operator leveled it and left it to me. i used scrap wood to "deck" a few areas where i need my uprights to go or their braces. i used treated 2" x 4" for uprights and bracing, and pads i had made earlier.
the pads were made from 3/4" treated plywood with pieces of rubber door mat glued to it. the porous texture of the door mat top adhered perfectly with adhesive and the bottom of the door mat held fast to the hull. on the bottom side of the pad, i fastened two strips of scrap wood spaced just wider than a 2 x 4.
it worked well. I made it the 18 miles from the marina to my house and the boat is still standing now.
hopes this helps someone.
