Anyone taken a boat off a trailer on dry land ?

lanason

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Has anyone taken a 23-24 foot boat off a trailer and put it up on blocks in their back garden WITHOUT the use of a crane, and hence freed up the trailer and made the task of anti fouling much easier. Trailer bound hull jobs are a pain in the arse. Probably more importantly got the boat back on to the trailer with out dropping it, a la Predator 72 the other day.

Kelisha weights about 2-2.5 tonnes so not posible to manhandle without the help of all the 90 players in the 6 nations.

anyone done it ???
 
I found his post and looks like he "only" lifted it away from the trailer rather than actually taking the trailer right out /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

(but I stand to be corrected - again) /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
A good trolley jack. Plenty of wooden blocks from large timbers. Do not use bricks or concrete blocks (they crumble under load). Take it slowly. One end at a time, bit by bit. Use a pad underneath the jack and on the lifting arm
As Brendan says, find Majorcatastrophe's thread, but I would secure the props a bit better if I was going underneath.
 
Easy way is to jack up near the wheels and put say 4inch timbers under each wheel. Then lower the front of the trailer to the ground which will raise the rear of the boat up in the air. Support the rear end then raise the front up in the air and support the front of the boat. Lower the trailer a bit and it should come out. Tricky bit is supporting the front whilst you remove the trailer. I used a gantry type construction and have used an engine lift in the past.

Its all about the appliance of science!! Take some pictures and let us know how you go on.
 
saw 3 guys do it to a.foul a rib last summer.. with some wooden blocks about the same height as the lowest point of the hull on the trailer, they pulled to boat back offf the trailer a bit, sat it on the blocks, and then just pulled the trailer from underneath, and then blocked it off. And then just reversed the process,using the winch. Bit amazing, in fact to watch. Not sure quite how heavy a boat you can do that with, and I m not too sure Id care to risk it with mine-but seemed so simple you suspect there must be some clever knack to it.
Anyway, clearly they didnt need a crane or a jack-or anything at all in fact!
 
If it is just for antifouling, paint what you can now, then tie the back of the boat to a solid object and hitch the car to the trailer and pull forward just enough for the previously concealed areas to be revealed, just a couple of inches should do for any rollers. Bunks can be lowered one at a time after temporary propping with timber. Worked for me
 
I've jacked a 21 footer wooden boat, about 2.5 tons, up from the trailer and extracted the half-ton full-length iron keel. So I image it could be done given sufficient props and blocks.
The difficulty would be if the trailer wheels projected beyond the width of the hull. You would need to move the supports in turn as you moved the trailer along. I can imagine it would be possible with just a car jack, but very laborious, and would need repeated re-positioning of all the blocks.
 
Done it each year on previous boat, single handed with 2.5T bottle jack.

Jack up bow using wooden block between jack & boat, block off with timbers, same with stern.
Only position jack & timbers on the keel (strongest point), only lift bit at a time adding wooden blocks as you go.
It's suprising how high you will need to clear the trailer, as the weight comes off the trailer the trailer rises due to the suspension relaxing.
You will need to prop the hull side to side using timber props & wedges.

To withdraw the trailer the bow support will need to be moved several times to allow the trailer axles to pass, but this is easy.

If you only intend to antifoul the parts left covered by the trailer then the above method can be used without removing the trailer, just pull out enough to do the patches.

PS. Dont use trolly jack as this tends to pull horizontal as you lift, bottle jack gives straight vertical lift, make sure the bottle jack sits on a very stable base & is not extanded too far in use, only lift approx 4-6 inches a time, lifting the bottle jack closer as you go.
 
Typical - he must have made multiple posts - I only found the first one then. Saved by the Brendan again. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Plan is to try and take the boat out and, if we get the offer accepted on the house we are looking to buy, and then take the boat to the house and have a go at the trailer dismount. The trailer looks like this

th_KELISH_4.jpg


amd the boat sits on like this

th_DCP_1963.jpg


so lots of cross bars, rollers and wheels to negociate.
 
Used a pulley block at the rear of the trailer and rope from the bow winch eye back through the pulley block and then forward to the trailer winch to move the boat back off the trailer before now.

Pete

Pete
 
I’ve helped a friend do this with an 18ft boat so not quite in the same league as yours. One ‘trick’ not yet mentioned (unless I missed it) is once you have the boat supported, let the trailer tyres down to give you extra room. It saves having to jack the boat up too high.

I’ve not tried this but why not jack the trailer and boat up together, then support the boat before lowering the trailer? It will reduce the risk of damaging the boat since you won’t have to keep adjusting blocks/supports under the hull.

This chap here can lift stone blocks weighing up to 22000 lbs without any lifting equipment. If you could rock your trailer on its front and rear wheels alternatively you wouldn’t even need jacks! /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
Here is a photo of my gaffer on blocks and legs. Quite surprising how well she stood up just sat on here Keel.
As said above take it easy a bit at a time to transfer the weight from the trailer to the supports. She was quite light ( 2 ton) at this stage of her refit so that made it a lot easer.
scan0009.jpg
 
[ QUOTE ]
I’ve not tried this but why not jack the trailer and boat up together, then support the boat before lowering the trailer? It will reduce the risk of damaging the boat since you won’t have to keep adjusting blocks/supports under the hull.


[/ QUOTE ]

this is how I would do it - Kelisha will sit wider than the trailer anyway so you can put some heafty supports either side before wheeling trailer out.

However I am concerned that unless you are using a properly structure cradle or similar I wouldn't go anywhere near the thing once it's off the trailer by more than 6"! If it's only for antifouling then jack and support each side in turn and drop the support bed away from that side - let it dry throughly before returning it and mark it to ensure it's back where it started!
 
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