trailer launching full keel boat?

[Buddy_Y]

I'm considering buying a small full-keel sailboat (a folkboat, draft 4', 5000 lbs) for low-key local yacht club on a lake. But I hit a snag. The club only has a launch ramp, no crane, so they launch only by trailer. But now I'm told (by the folkboat seller) that even if I find a trailer perfect for this boat (located 200 km away), you can't actually float a small full-keel boat off a trailer -- it has to be craned.

Is he right? If so, then (odd as it sounds), it seems the boat can't go in the yacht club's lake. They have no crane. (Heck, they're not even allowed to use their gin pole any more -- the insurance was too much.) I touched bases with a yacht club admin, and he doesn't know a work-around either. Any thoughts?

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Buddy_Y

But now I'm told (by the folkboat seller) that even if I find a trailer perfect for this boat (located 200 km away), you can't actually float a small full-keel boat off a trailer -- it has to be craned.

It depends on the ramp and the trailer. You need a deep ramp and a trailer that carries the boat low and has a long tongue extension. I had a 24' Morgan with a stub keel that drew 36" on a trailer.


Generally, ramps are standardized at 5' deep at the end of the ramp in typical boating-season water levels. Larger lakes (e.g. the Great Lakes) have somewhat deeper public ramps. Some private ramps can be deeper still, as are ramps serving rivers and reservoirs that have significant variation in water level.


Look at Triad sailboat trailers for an idea of what is possible.


With a large trailer it can be helpful to have a backhoe or farm tractor available to move the trailer in and out of the water. Several local marinas use them.

Is he right? If so, then (odd as it sounds), it seems the boat can't go in the yacht club's lake. They have no crane. (Heck, they're not even allowed to use their gin pole any more -- the insurance was too much.) I touched bases with a yacht club admin, and he doesn't know a work-around either. Any thoughts?

You could also pay someone with a hydraulic trailer to come launch it and haul it out.

[leecea]

You can find examples on YouTube, such as:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvl8QUrV4ro

But, as mentioned, it will depend on the ramp and the capability of your tow vehicle.

[Don C L]

Yeah, it can be done, and done safely. The video Leecea posted is a good example. I have seen boats like a Dana 24 on a trailer with an extender (a long bar that is added to the tongue) which is carried on the tralier with the boat. In fact there was one for sale in Baja posted here some years back and that was how they launched it down there as they trailered it around the peninsula. You'll need a good tow vehicle with good clearance to keep the exhaust out of the water for it too.

[Buddy_Y]

@Leeca: The cable launch idea is new to me. But in the Youtube vid, that's quite a long ramp -- I'm not sure the modest yacht club has something that long. Sounds like an excuse for me to go over there and eyeball it!


@Don: Notably, the one guy at the club who launches a boat anywhere near the same size does indeed do so with a trailer that has a tongue modified to be extra long. But his draft isn't quite as deep; and when I talked with him, he was leery about recommending that approach. Says it's borderline even with his boat.

[Enfant Du Vent]

Ahoy Buddy_Y:
I too am puzzled by the statement that you can't float a full keeled boat off a trailer.
As long as the trailer is heavy--or ballast added--it won't float but the boat will--once you get it into deep water.

Would you somehow be able to get the trailer into deep water? Even by dropping an anchor some ways out and then winching from your cockpit until the boat floated but the trailer didn't.

Personally I launched my full keel Douglas 32 off a cradle which had been pulled out of its shed and into deep water. The cradle was all wood, but ballasted so it didn't float. The "trick" was that the town had a dock which the front end loader could get on to pull me out of the shed.
Write back if you don't get better ideas from others, and I can go into all the weird details of my situation launching in Prince Edward Island.

[Don C L]

Probably a lot of these videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EZ8oMEBsPo

[Fore and Aft]

BuddyY another issue is what happens if you drop of the end of the concrete ramp? I have seen that before and there was a hell of a shaking of the boat on the trailer before it floated. Then there was a hell of a job getting the trailer back over the concrete lip.
If you are buying a Whitby folk boat they are awesome. We owned one in Kingston and had some great adventures in her.
Cheers

[denverd0n]

Like Jammer said, it depends on the ramp. Around here, at least, many do not go out far enough and deep enough to launch a full keel sailboat. Try to use one of those and -- like Fore and Aft mentioned -- your trailer falls off the end of the ramp. If the bottom is hard enough, and the drop-off is slight, that's not a big deal. Otherwise, it can be catastrophic.


Good luck.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Buddy_Y

I'm considering buying a small full-keel sailboat (a folkboat, draft 4', 5000 lbs) for low-key local yacht club on a lake. But I hit a snag. The club only has a launch ramp, no crane, so they launch only by trailer. But now I'm told (by the folkboat seller) that even if I find a trailer perfect for this boat (located 200 km away), you can't actually float a small full-keel boat off a trailer -- it has to be craned.

Is he right? If so, then (odd as it sounds), it seems the boat can't go in the yacht club's lake. They have no crane. (Heck, they're not even allowed to use their gin pole any more -- the insurance was too much.) I touched bases with a yacht club admin, and he doesn't know a work-around either. Any thoughts?

Generally he's right. Most ramps are not steep enough or the trailer tongue is not long enough. If the ramp was super steep you probably cant pull it out of the water when you return.
Not to mention many cement ramps just end with a drop off!
I actually had a Contessa 26 and trailer which is close to a folkboat.
You could try this method!

[Buddy_Y]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

If you are buying a Whitby folk boat they are awesome. We owned one in Kingston and had some great adventures in her.
Cheers

Yep, that's the model, although the owner is calling it by one of its other names. Boy, talk about a difficult boat to find info about online! Not much more beyond the basics of sailboatdata. The owner is a bit of an oddity: he brags about owning the boat for 28 years, but keeps muttering about how I won't be able to launch it and that I'll be disappointed in its speed. I put his inconsistency down to the fact that the one time we talked on the phone, he was pretty clearly pretty drunk.

[Buddy_Y]

Thanks for the advice, all! It's pretty clear that: a) It isn't hopeless; b) But, I really need to get a firm idea of the local yacht club's ramp in regards steepness, depth, and length.

[chrisr]

also, and thinking laterally : afaik some folkboats have deck stepped mast and some are keel stepped

are you planning to tow the boat far and if so, is mast stepped on deck ?

(even putting deck stepped mast up / down every weekend is going to be a fair job !)

cheers,

[Fore and Aft]

Chrisr it's a deck stepped mast on the Whitby folkboat.
Buddy I am not sure the boat is slow. She's tiller steered, low to the water and narrow. So even if the speedo says your going slow it still feels fast. We had some great sails around Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence seaway. Cheers

[Boatfreak]

Hi Buddy Y

I launched and recovered a 32ft Beneteau First 305 from a trailer for many years. The draft was 5ft 10 I think. This was slightly different to your case because it was tidal waters and we would position the trailer at low tide and wait.

The point i wanted to make is that recovery is much more difficult than launching. The boat floats in level to the water and then moves perpendicularly till the keel touches. It then rotates about the point of contact through the angle of the slip. In my case this was 7 degrees at a radius of 16ft. The bow of the boat moves a lot! I had the boat craned on to the trailer and then built a cradle around it, taking the rotation in account. For me it was easy as it took about three hours. For you it will happen quickly. You could arrange the flat of keel to be supported at the angle of the slip but that might make boat adopt an uncomfortable position ashore.

Have you considered hiring a mobile crane ?