Boat cradles..whats the deal?

[Connemara]

I think that was the sort of system used by Orams a year or so back when we had to pull the engine on Above the Fold in Auckland.

Probably wouldn't be suitable in southern Ontario, where most boats come out of the water in the fall and are stored on the unpaved (summer) parking space for six months. No concrete apron available, in most cases, so the system has to support the keel as well as preventing side-to-side and fore-aft motion. And it has to do so in repeated winter storms while supporting the additional weight of snow and ice.

Connemara

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

I’ve never needed to store a boat for any length of time but obviously the boat comes out for maintenance periodically. The yard I use has a “cradle of sorts that is simple, infinitely adjustable and strong enough to weather most conditions.

The image shows my boat in such a cradle. The props at the back and under the stem are to stop forward/aft movement. The beams up the sides are held against boat using substantial chains and bottle screws and the boat is very firmly contained. Sideways motion is almost impossible.

I guess though that in conditions of water inundation there is the chance that the fore and aft props could sink into the ground. Then I suppose it would come down to the boat’s design. Mine has a keel with a big enough footprint to limit the pressure on the props. Or it needs to be standing on a concrete apron.

[stormalong]

I sailed in Chicago for 20 years before going cruising. No boatyard ever had a separate bill for summer cradle storage. And most boatyards would transport a cradle for free or a very low price with a signed winter storage contract. The prior yard may charge a loading fee to put the cradle on the new yard's truck but that was it.

Who here has been charged a storage fee for their cradle?

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by stormalong

I sailed in Chicago for 20 years before going cruising. No boatyard ever had a separate bill for summer cradle storage. And most boatyards would transport a cradle for free or a very low price with a signed winter storage contract. The prior yard may charge a loading fee to put the cradle on the new yard's truck but that was it.

Who here has been charged a storage fee for their cradle?

Summer cradle storage fees are pretty common at every marina I've been at on the great lakes. its not much usually $100-$150 but over time adds up

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by stormalong

I sailed in Chicago for 20 years before going cruising. No boatyard ever had a separate bill for summer cradle storage. And most boatyards would transport a cradle for free or a very low price with a signed winter storage contract. The prior yard may charge a loading fee to put the cradle on the new yard's truck but that was it.

Who here has been charged a storage fee for their cradle?

Our club has a winter storage fee (boat and all) and a summer mooring fee but no separate cradle fee. At launch, we make a big pile of them in the corner of the yard and pull them out again for haulout. I think that's the case for most sailing clubs.

Marinas might have a different fee structure.

Connemara

[SuW]

Originally Posted by klaspat

I have a nice solid metal one in Iroquois I could sell you

Yes, we bought one from Robert in Iroquois that had previously had a bigger boat on it, cut it down and welded it to fit (we tack welded it, then paid a real welder to complete the job). 10 years later we are still happy with it. It's somewhat overbuilt but that's OK.

It is not a job for you if you do not have the tools or are not at least familiar with cutting up large chunks of metal.

Many boat storage yards have scrap cradles pushed off in the bushes. Someone buys a boat and moves it, or takes off for the South...You sometime see them on Kijiji for $300-$800 depending on size.

The limiting factor is transportation. If the OP is in Bayfield, Ontario, shipping a cradle from Eastern would be expensive. They are heavy and large in size, even the folding ones. In addition, then paying someone to adjust it might make it cheaper to buy a purpose-built new one. This is why they get left behind.

I don't know what a cradle for a Landfall would cost, but a friend had a quote for a Tayana 37 of about $4000.

[Dave9111]

Originally Posted by LauraleeG

We have a 38' Landfall C+C. ....
So whats the deal with cradles? If I buy used, what should I be looking for? How will I know the cradle will work? Are the pads adjustable? Are cradles specific to the boat or are they adjustable based on length?Does longer than needed matter?
Thanks!

Most cradles are built to fit the boat. JOWI makes or used to make adjustable, folding generic cradles. It looks like they may still be active.

JOWI Sailboat Support Systems

Here is a listing for a cradle on this forum:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-a-205141.html

I have modified one cradle and pretty much built another.

The first one I modified was for an Ericson 29. I dragged the cradle onto my flatbed trailer and took it home and cut and rewelded most of the supports. I have a forklift and have been doing welding for "fun" for 40+ years. So the welding was no big deal. The minimum requirement for welding a cradle is a flux core wire feed welder. You could almost get by with a 120 VAC plug in the wall model, but it would take a lot of time and you would be limited to using thinner structural members.

A better solution is a bigger flux core wire feed welder or a DC Stick Welder - 140 amps minimum. I have wire welders but prefer a DC stick welder for things like this. I used 6011 1/8" rod for most of it. 6011 is very forgiving and welds vertically just fine, it also penetrates like crazy for good welds on less than ideal steel.

The second one I did was for a Pearson 10M which is 33 ft long and about 12,000 lbs. I found a cradle for about $300 which was for a 40 ft boat but it appeared to be heavily built and not excessively rusty. I found it on Craigslist. The owner decided to take his boat to the Caribbean and didn't need the cradle.

But the cradle was built for a full keel sailboat. The Pearson 10M is anything but a full keel boat. So I picked up the cradle in Sandusky, OH and trailered it back to my house/shop and cut off all of the uprights with a cutting torch. I could have used a Portaband Saw, Reciprocating saw, or even a grinder with some cutting disks. I then cut up new uprights and welded them in place. I reused the pads and screws from the previous uprights. However, you can make pads pretty easily and the screw jacks that fit into the tubes are very much like scaffolding jack screws that are sold by Menards, etc.

I decided to document some of my work here:

MDwiki

I measured the boat when it was on stands. A plumb bob, and a couple of tape measures, and some masking tape to mark the hull pad locations etc can get some dimensions that are sufficiently accurate. Remember you need to make sure the lift straps can clear all of the pads or else you will have problems.

A few things to remember:
You need to be able to move the cradle and think about how you are going to do that. My cradle is close to 8 ft wide and about 16 ft long. I think it weighs about 1500 to 2000 lbs. I have a deckover tandem axle utility trailer so that worked. I think the marina loaded the cradle for me for free when I bought it. They just wanted it gone.

You need to think about how you are going to load and unload it. A forklift is super handy but you can move cradles on and off trailer with rollers, skid timbers (2x4s, 4x4s etc) come alongs, winches, etc. If you get creative you can also use a tractor and strap, chain, etc or another truck. Go slow. And be careful.

Also keep in mind that the maximum legal width to tow is 8 1/2 ft without a permit. You can probably get by with 9 ft, but at 10 ft you will be easily recognized as being overwidth. Whether or not you get pulled over is anyones guess. However, if you turn the cradle on its side and secure it, the maximum legal height in most areas is 13'6" so you could put a 10ft wide cradle on a 3' tall trailer on edge and still be legal. However securing it on edge is more work. And remember that low bridges do exist!

This cradle has a base of 8" channel iron. Its slightly overbuilt but if I had to do it from scratch, I would use either 8" channel iron again or 6" tall rectangular tubing for the base. I would not make it any smaller on the base dimensions. It looked really big when I was working on it, but it doesn't look that big under the boat. The cross members are 8" and 6" channel.

I've had this cradle now for 4 years and it has paid for itself. The marina was charging me $300 per year to "block the boat" using my stands. The price has since gone up. I think I have about $750 into that cradle including transport costs. Plus the stand is really solid and the marina guys love using it. Its very quick to load, doesn't flex around and easy to set since its very robust. I've since painted the cradle. It will outlast me.

If you are going to have a cradle built - you need a good plan. If you have a good plan and give it to a steel fabricator, they can easily give you a quote. Crappy plans lead to high costs and mistakes, and do overs.

If you have any questions or want a copy of the actual cad drawing. Just let me know.