Lifting a boat, sans Crane

[Boatguy30]

Timber 6 by six beams and the cradle. Cinder blocks and a jack. Lift it one block and a time. I did this first when I was 14 with my J/24 solo.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Timber 6 by six beams and the cradle. Cinder blocks and a jack. Lift it one block and a time. I did this first when I was 14 with my J/24 solo.

+1 IF there is a cradle

[Fiveslide]

Originally Posted by jeanathon

Boom truck. Sometimes you can get them as cheap as 100 an hour. Some of them will lift 20000 pounds.

It is the 4 hour minimum that all companies I have inquired with that gets me. It is already about a 1400 mile round trip to pick it up. Adding an $800 crane/truck bill, if it can't be avoided, will kill the deal.

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[Juniper]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Timber 6 by six beams and the cradle. Cinder blocks and a jack. Lift it one block and a time. I did this first when I was 14 with my J/24 solo.

+1

I've done the same, put the 6X6 s under, add some crude blocking for a cradle on one 6X6 on each end, use the third as your lifter, just jack it up slowly on corner to a time a few inches at a time,

Moving big things without heavy equipment was common years ago, it can still be done today.

[dannc]

You can buy a bottle or shop jack cheap. Just lift up one end of the boat and brace with timber or blocks then lift the other end and brace. A two ton jack is not much money.

I just finished reading a blog where a guy built a steel 48 foot trawler in his barn. To move the boat I think it was around 45,000 pounds, he used a 30 ton bottle jack to lift and brace the boat to get a trailer under the hull.

Later,
Dan

[Cheechako]

Talk a guy with a tow truck into lifting it? You have straps? A small tractor with bucket? lift one end up, get trailer under, lift other end and push it onto the trailer? Hmmmm

[nimblemotors]

What I did to put my cat hull on my trailer was put the rollers I used to haul it out of the water onto the trailer, and winched it onto the trailer with the hulls rolling on.
I made some braces to hold them upright, once it started getting on the trailer, there where side braces that kept it upright.

I'd like to see the boat, but if has a long short keel, then perhaps you can do something similiar, so the raising and lowering it is not needed. Did you say you have a cradle? Put some wheels on it and use the winch to roll it onto the trailer, make some ramps if needed, and whatever extra bracing to keep it upright.

[Fiveslide]

This is a sistership and likely how I will proceed if I make the purchase.

Thank you all for your ideas and helping me work out the options available to me.

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[Fiveslide]

here

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[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by dannc

You can buy a bottle or shop jack cheap. Just lift up one end of the boat and brace with timber or blocks then lift the other end and brace. A two ton jack is not much money.

I just finished reading a blog where a guy built a steel 48 foot trawler in his barn. To move the boat I think it was around 45,000 pounds, he used a 30 ton bottle jack to lift and brace the boat to get a trailer under the hull.

Later,
Dan

At some point, don't you end up having to skid the keel on the trailer?

I'm presuming you propose multiple blocking under the keel, removing them progressively as the trailer moves under?

I would personally hesitate to get under a boat that was sitting up on such blocking, but I realise a lot of people have done so and lived to tell the tale...

[jeanathon]

Originally Posted by Fiveslide

It is the 4 hour minimum that all companies I have inquired with that gets me. It is already about a 1400 mile round trip to pick it up. Adding an $800 crane/truck bill, if it can't be avoided, will kill the deal.

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I was going to build some gantries till I convinced a local boom operator to only do a 1 hr min. In exchange I agreed to let him search my yard with a metal detector.
I would feel sorry for those that don't live in the south, but you had a choice!

[robwilk37]

2800lbs is childs play. 4x4s and plywood - even osb - makes a solid cradle. bottle jacks at the corners, cradle scraps for blocking under the corners/jacks as you go up to trailer height. did it to move a 9 ton frp bare hull a couple years ago.

slow and steady wins the race...

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Fiveslide

I'm thinking about buying a boat, 23' long, 8' beam, about 2800 pounds. It has a short keel nearly the full LWL. I have a trailer and can cobble together a cradle for transport. However, a crauyne rental at each end of the trip will put the costs beyond what I'm willing to part with for the boat.

I'm trying to think of an inexpensive way to lift it a couple of feet, back my trailer under it and lower it. I'd like to build something myself.

Thoughts? Any of you have a system you have used/built?

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A bunch of strong guys, a bunch of ropes back and forth under the boat, and a bunch of beer...

[Zach]

If the keel is blocked up on something other than dirt, you don't need a crane.

Build a cradle under the boat. 2,800lbs could be a pair of 6x6's on the ground, a 4x4 corner posts and 2x6 crosses front and back. It doesn't take much to keep her upright, all the weight is in the bottom. Lift the cradle with a floor jack and lay runner boards under it. Lay 3 or 4 pieces of 2 inch black iron pipe under the cradle.

Back the trailer up to the cradle leaving 3 feet or so distance. Take the wheels off the trailer and block it up solid as low as your lowest floor jack will go. Roll the Cradle up to the trailer. Put your floor jack under the cradle and winch/roll the front of the 6x6's up onto a new piece of pipe. Winch/roll the boat ahead and get a second piece of pipe under the boat... Then get it over the axles, and block it up higher than the pipe.

Then... Jack the trailer back up, put the wheels on and drive away.

Around here there is a crane that is $400 an hour with a 1 hour minimum. Do some hunting around, but you'll want a cradle to set the boat onto the trailer either way. Just depends how much jacking and fussing you feel like doing.

Cheers,

Zach

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by Fiveslide

This is a sistership and likely how I will proceed if I make the purchase.

Thank you all for your ideas and helping me work out the options available to me.

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The system in your photo will work well and takes several jacking times to get it to the height you want it. You can have one jack aft and one forward under the keel. Make certain the 2xs are braced in fore and aft and on the outside port and starboard before you go under it. Once the jacks are removed from the keel then just back the trailer under.