Lifting a boat.

I have an 18' flat bottom boat sitting on a flat craddle about 6" off the floor. This is a stupid question, but how do I get it on a bunk trailor that is about 18" high? I have never used a trailor except at a boat launch with water to support the boat and then only a couple of times. It occured to me that if I just start cranking it onto the trailor I'm going to be creating a fulcrum point with a lot of weight hanging over the back which might not be a good thing. Also, I don't have room for a fork lift and the ceiling would not support tackle. Thanks for any help

 

If you don't have the trailer hooked up to a vehicle it will tilt up in the air as you crank the boat onto the trailer/crank the trailer under the boat, and will pretty much go under the whole boat before wanting to come back to level (which can be forestalled by holding the trailer tongue up). Sam

 

May sound silly but if you let the tyres down on your trailer it will reduce the angle that you are lifting at, of course pump the tyres up when you are finished. Or may may wish to take the wheels off your trailer, pull your boat on then jack the trailer up and replace the wheels afterwards. And as Sam said, unhook it from the vehicle.

Poida

 

I'd suggest finding the approximate for/aft center of gravity of the boat. Slide a beam under and jack evenly both sides til boat tilts downward (indicating which end is slightly heavier).
If the nose dropped, move the beam towards the nose and try again. The idea is to almost balance the boat, but to get the aft end to stay down.
Once you have raised the boat five inches (half the height of the difference between the current position and the bunks), the nose of the boat will be eighteen inches high.
Now back the trailer under the forward (18"+ high end of the boat), catching the boat over the bunks. Block the space under the rear of the trailer. Secure and tension the winch hook.
Lower the cross beam until you can slide it out.
Slide the crossbeam back a bit, to a point you know will favor the boat's nose being slightly heavier. Jack again until the boat is level.
Have a friend or two get inside the stern of the boat (or use weights), making sure they (it) can slightly lift the bow using weight alone.
Remove the block (s) supporting the rear end of the trailer. Carefully back the trailer up, very slowly, while someone winches the boat in.
This should get the boat to the point where it will mostly rest on the trailer.
If you have to, re-support the boat close to the stern and continue winching/backing up.
Common sense will tell you that once the weight on the trailer has increased beyond the point where you can lift the nose by weight in the boat, backing up will have to be coordinated with winching perfectly to avoid tipping over the beam support at the stern, so when placing that support make sure it can stand some end force, either by using some for/aft cribbing, preferably anchored to the ground or what's available, and/or tightly strapping it to the boat itself.

 

Thanks for your help everyone. Nice to find a site with helpful people. Have a good day. Patrick

 

Your boat weighs very little in the big picture of things. Call some healthy friends over, offer some free beer after they snatch the boat off the cradle and toss it on the trailer.

Winching a boat onto a trailer is a great way to yank the stem out of place or rip the bow eye out of the boat. Even light boats can exert enough friction between the bunks and other contact points to over stress a fitting. Forget about finding centers of balance and all that, just place a few fat friends down each side of the boat and lift, she'll be lighter then you think and everyone will brag about having the heavy end as they suck down free beers.

 

Patrick might be like me Par, doesn't have any friends. That's why I have to think of radical ideas like taking wheels off etc.

But seriously tho' I've always found that when a lot of people are involved the general intelligence is calculated by taking the lowest IQ of the group and divide it by the number of people involved and you have the general IQ of the group.

So half way through the operation someone will decide, "lets get a crow bar and lift here, oh, bad luck, hole in the hull, never mind, lets have a beer."

I find that doing the job yourself, using initiative, calm calculations and although it might take longer you have your boat moved in one piece.

You also have to consider if anyone gets injured helping you to move your boat they can take legal action against you. You may end up losing your house as well as your boat.

I've never liked the idea when turning your hull by inviting people around to help you do the job. Hire or buy scaffolding and lifting gear and do the job yourself. Nobody else but yourself knows the hours you have spent making the hull and then you have a pile of people around that are going to respect the hours you have put in.

"Let's give it a shove, heay watch out there she goes", CRUNCH!! and do you know what, they'll still want their BBQ and beer afterwards.

Poida

 

True enough, Poida.
Incidentally, the method I recommended would work on a good heavy boat (yes, there are plenty of 18 ft two ton boats). There's no strain on the bow eye to speak of, since all that's happening is take-up. I used to move massive objects all the time, and I believe that it's best to:

1) Take total command of all help. There's a self-elected smarty-pants in every crowd, and he'll kill you every time. The givaway to who the smarty-pants is it's usually the one who is missing a few fingers. It will dawn on you that he wouldn't be there in the first place if he wasn't on disability. Send him for pizza, in his car.

2) Realize that there's an easy way to do anything where lifting and moving are concerned. If something requires gut-busting effort, it must automatically be the wrong method. Never use more than a small effort.

3) Collect blocks and pieces of wood of all sizes. If you can find a Johnson bar (a heavy oak lever with two steel wheels and a tongue on the bottom), you will find you can do amazing feats of lifting. Short pipes of iron or steel are also handy. Carpet pieces are nice too.

4) Do everything slowly. The slower you go, the more controlled the task will be, and you'll have time to think about the next stage. Work out signals and tell helpers to shout clearly and instantly, using language already agreed upon.

5) People rarely get hurt when they work alone. The best job uses two people, a leader and a follower. I've seen crushed fingers and worse on numerous occasions, always when there are too many great ideas being advanced simultaneously. Better if there's no one within a hundred feet of the work, especially if they find lifting things exciting. Lifting and moving things should be really dull and boring work.

A.

 

I'm in agreeance with poina & alan w on that the smart lift is slow & easy on grunt, too much can go wrong with too many too willing helpers, if you want a bbq & beers invite them for some other purpose like to see the magnificent vessel on trailer- gunnel should be a good leaning height then for beers & conversation. Regards from Jeff.

 

Did you get your boat on the trailer? Sam

 

It went on surprisingly easy: Blocked and braced transom. Jacked it up a little ahead of center and backed the trailer under. Lowered jacks and moved them back and repeated. No heavy lifting by anyone other than a few "Guinness". It being Saint Patrick's Day!
Once again, thanks for the help.