Please Help - Turning Boat Over

[rico]

We are building a 20' aluminum boat. We have built it upside down as per
the plans but we need to turn it over now. We have some ideas and
suggestions but we are looking for anyone with some tricks or better ideas
that have gone smoothly. We did not anticipate it being this hard as this is
the first time we've done this as this is mostly a father and son project and
whatever ideas or suggestions which would make turning this boat go
smoothly would be really nice. I also have a small gallery up and continually
adding to it.

Thanks for reading.

[SheetWise]

How much room do you actually have there? Does it have to be flipped where it is -- or can it be "rolled"?

[Hunter25]

You can do it several ways, but the easiest and fastest way is to buy beer and invite some healthy friends over for a boat turning beer bash. Your boat is probably several hundred pounds at this stage, which is very reasonable to man handle. You could build a curved cradle attached to the sides and roll it over, but that is a lot more work then getting some friends over for a good drunk. 3 guys down each side, maybe four, lift, set it down, then roll it over and lift her onto the upright cradle.

[rico]

That is one of the options we are currently considering. We were wondering
if anyone has used a system of lifts or pulleys to do the same job.
Thanks for the input.
As for the first responder, we don't have too much space but if you are
looking at the boat from the bow, we will be turning it towards the right.
Thanks.

[rico]

Sheetwise, what do you mean by rolled?

[SheetWise]

Well ... to roll the boat 360 you would need to look at the minimum radius circle to encapulate it (R) and use the perimeter of R*2*pi to roll it. To turn it 180 use R*pi.

In either case, if you roll it you need a minimum amount of wiggle room *and* you may need to move it back to where it was to continue construction (potentially, a new problem). The other option is to lift before turning, or lift and turn simultaneously. If you're short on elbow room -- you may be limited to hiring a crane or buying a keg.

[Tim B]

Read the thread at:

http://forums.boatdesign.net/showthread.php?t=11409

This question has been succesfully answered already. If it's light enough, flip it with man-power, otherwise use two A-Frames, failing that, get a crane.

Tim B.

[rico]

Thanks for the info.