Boat - Trailer = ?? NEED QUICK ANSWER

Discussion in 'Fiberglass and Composite Boat Building' started by AuxiliaryComms, Jul 26, 2008.

  1. AuxiliaryComms
    Joined: Jan 2008
    Posts: 65
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    Location: Hayes, VA

    AuxiliaryComms Master work in progress

    I'm picking up a free boat sooner than I had anticipated. The boat is a 30ft Trojan from 1962. It is on a trailer right now but the guy needs the trailer back. I don't have the money to put it in a professional yard right now (I've got to use that money to buy/build a new trailer) so my yard is what I've got.

    I need know several things:

    1. Can I pull it off without cribbing and let it roll to its side (as controlled as possible) until I can get some stands or build a cradle under it?

    1.a. How much damage could this do if left for an extended period?

    2. How could I best go about building a cheap simple cribbing or cradle for it?

    3. I have one idea to construct a makeshift cradle by making some simple 4x4 A-Frames, two either side of the boat and running some heavy line between them and under the boat.


    Any ideas? I really hoped to have a bit mroe time for this.
     
  2. alan white
    Joined: Mar 2007
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    Location: maine

    alan white Senior Member

    Make a transfer to a delivery/launching trailer (Brownelle or similar) wherever you can float it for ten minutes. Then use jack stands or cradle to support it when it's off-loaded at your home.
    If it can't be floated for that long, take it to a Travellift and then transfer to a Brownelle trailer, then home to cradle or jack stands.
    Anything else will probably cost much more and involve your own liability.

    Alan
     
  3. AuxiliaryComms
    Joined: Jan 2008
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    Location: Hayes, VA

    AuxiliaryComms Master work in progress

    I can use the existing trailer to move it home, its just how to go about making a cradle for it and getting it onto the cradle that has me stumped.

    Will automotive jack stands work? If so, how many should I use and how should they be placed?

    If I got jack stands out-board first, how long would I have to get blocking under the keel before damage occured?
     
  4. alan white
    Joined: Mar 2007
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    Location: maine

    alan white Senior Member

    First of all, if it's on a Brownelle type trailer already, you didn't mention it, but let's say it is.
    Then you need boat jack stands, which you might buy used for $50.00 each, and you need at least four and preferably five. Or you can make your own cradle as long as it's narrower (by a couple of feet hopefully) than the trailer's inner dimensions.
    To make your own cradle for a boat that size, find a boat yard nearby and see how their cradles are constructed, even ask advice of the people there.

    If the boat is on a regular (not Brownelle or hydraulic lifting) boat trailer, you can forget about transferring the boat except by floating or Travellift to a Brownelle type trailer.
    When it's transferred from Travellift to cradle, the cradle itself can be transported by trailer. My advice is to use boat jack stands rather than a cradle for now. They are much easier to move around when working on a hull.
    Automotive jack stands are a waste of time. You'll also need some stout (at least 8x8) blocks to support the keel.
    The proper delivery trailer is fork-shaped as viewed from above. It uses hydraulic rams to raise and lower the boat. When it delivers the boat, the driver will set up the stands for you.

    Alan
     
  5. AuxiliaryComms
    Joined: Jan 2008
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    Location: Hayes, VA

    AuxiliaryComms Master work in progress

    Thanks for the advice Alan but unfortunately I'm short on money and time. The boat can't be floated right now as there's an opening drilled in the transom (and I couldn't afford anywhere anyway).

    I'm currently thinking of dropping the toungue as low as I can and putting jack stands (automotive I'm afraid) under the stern, then jacking the bow and moving the trailer as far forward as I can then moving everything around and moving it again until it's out from under it.
     
  6. alan white
    Joined: Mar 2007
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    Location: maine

    alan white Senior Member

    You are dealing with a lot of weight. If you can't afford to do it the easy way, I appreciate that, but no matter how you transfer the boat from trailer to hard ground, get yourself a pair of twenty foot or longer 2 x 8s, nail together to make an "L" section, and lash that across the deck by running the lashing (ratcheting webbing is good) under the boat so one side of the 20 ft "beam" sticks out to one side at least 8 ft..
    Then rope that end that's sticking out to a pickup truck or something heavy. You might have to add a vertical member to the truck. The idea is to prevent at all costs the possability that your boat goes over sideways.
    Obviously, other long beams would work.
    In any event, the other thing to avoid is shock, which might damage the boat.

    Alan
     
  7. Fanie
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Colonial "Sick Africa"

    Fanie Fanie

    Here's a picture of in on the hard... if this is what it looks like.

    This one's stood on jacks. I'd follow Allan's advice, you don't want more damage to the boat... or even worse drop it on yourself. These heavy boats are... well, heavy. You won't go wrong to overdo it.

    If you could get some palettes and plastic crates as well as the jacks... I'm so friggin scared one of them jacks give especially if not on a concrete floor.

    Note this one has also been supported down the centre line.

    Luck of the Irish getting a boat for free :D

    Good luck, just do it safely.
     

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  8. AuxiliaryComms
    Joined: Jan 2008
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    Location: Hayes, VA

    AuxiliaryComms Master work in progress

    Ha ha, getting it free was luck of a British Peasant, getting it off will be the luck of the Irish (which worries me because there are decidedly more British Peasants than Irish in my family).

    Alan, thanks for that tip, that will definitely help me out. I'm also going to attempt to get a couple of more days out of the guy if I can.

    Anyone of you in the area of Gloucester, VA with trucks who enjoy a bit of a challenge or are just looking for entertainment, PM me and I'll give you directions to the house, I could use all the help you can offer.

    Here are some photos of present situation (Flickr link).

    [​IMG]
     
  9. Fanie
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Colonial "Sick Africa"

    Fanie Fanie

    Jason, you don't need to have a complete trailer. The basics will do so the boat will have something to sit on. You can then later as part of the restoration process add axles and wheels and the likes. You have a sample there. All you need is some iron, a grinder, a welder and some anti-rust treatment for the iron.

    Straddle the new with the existing trailer and push it off... get your friends and neighbours (if you have any) to help :D Nothing 50 muscled Englishmen can't do. Buy beer, it grows muscles :D

    Do all English peasants get boats ? I'll come as a peasant and can be real British if I have to :D... old chap.
     
  10. AuxiliaryComms
    Joined: Jan 2008
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    Location: Hayes, VA

    AuxiliaryComms Master work in progress

    Well, I was talking about my ancestry, but there are a lot of boats in Enland, and with diesel prices going the way they are over there, I'm sure they'll be giving them out free soon enough.

    This one's in the US, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
     
  11. AuxiliaryComms
    Joined: Jan 2008
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    Location: Hayes, VA

    AuxiliaryComms Master work in progress

    Here's the plan as I see it at this point.

    Taking into consideration your advice, Alan, I'll lash the lever across the deck forward and secure it. I'll put the stern up on the jack stands I have to lift it off the trailer.

    To lift the bow, I'm thinking of lashing another beam across the foredeck. Then, I want to lash together 2 4x4's on either side and rest the beam on top of the V. when I jack up the bow I'll wedge the legs of the two a's so they are supporting the beam and tilting in towards the boat. then I will run line around the frames and under the boat.

    After that I should be able to get the trailer out and jack stands in place.

    Anyone got a good guess as to the weight of this thing?
     
  12. alan white
    Joined: Mar 2007
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    Location: maine

    alan white Senior Member

    Just another note, Jason. You can make this easy if you buy some block ice and make a ramp for both sets of tires, so that the tires end up on the block ice. Place two jack stands in the stern.
    Then run a very stout beam across the bow as mentioned, using some strong webbing and ratchet that tight. On each side put a post under the beam down to the ground, bracing out and forward and aft so posts can't tip.
    Walk away.
    Return next day (weather dependant).
    Remove trailer and shore up boat.

    Alan
     
  13. AuxiliaryComms
    Joined: Jan 2008
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    Location: Hayes, VA

    AuxiliaryComms Master work in progress

    I've learned that the boat is actually a 1972 Trojan Sea Raider and is only 25' which puts the weight at 4600 pounds without any fuel or anything else on board. I don't know if there is any fuel on but I know there is about 3-5 inches of water in the cabin that I will be siphoning out.
     
  14. Fanie
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Colonial "Sick Africa"

    Fanie Fanie

    Now Jason, that water inside, if you can apply it to the outside ot the hull, the boat would be afloat :D
     

  15. AuxiliaryComms
    Joined: Jan 2008
    Posts: 65
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    Location: Hayes, VA

    AuxiliaryComms Master work in progress

    By the time I'm done siphoning it out into the yard, it may well be floating.

    Right we've finished, I'm estimating we took out about 30 cubic feet of water, that's about 1200 pounds of weight. If there is no division between the forward bilges anf the aft bilges then I took out more like 60 ft^3. I think that may explain a lof of the jerking motions we got from the trailer.
     
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