Boat lift out advice

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pouch

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We have owned our boat since last summer and have been working through lots of little jobs.

We are just about to lift out and I was looking for any suggestions:
The Boat is a Bilge Keel Snapdragon 747, the plan is to lift out thoroughly clean hull and copper coat. We also have a freshly rebuilt YSE engine to go in to replace our rather tired looking YSE engine.

Should I presume that the Boatyard will set the boat at a height to enable up to easily clean all parts of the hull, or should I request something specific?

The engines are the same, but I am planning to check and repair / replace as necessary the Stuffing box / stern gland / fuel lines / exhaust.

Any advice apreciated, we are very much looking forward to do this job ourselves, a part owner of the boat is a inboard applications engineer, so he will be the engine Guru.
The engine (Yanmar YSE 8) is heavy, but accessable, not sure yet how we will lift this out, I presume the boatyard engineers will hel lift engine out with crane at a cost?

We also plan to change the sea cocks for the toilet and sink, which are old Gate Valves, should we get the yard to do these, or will it be quite straight forward.

Thanks in advance
 
As she is a bilge keel she can stand on the hard by herself usually on a block of wood and will need no chocking - although you might find they put a support under the bow.
Not sure on the keel lengths but you'll probably be on the ground to do all the hull works - so a bit of cushioning may help for the longer jobs.
 
Coppercoat needs more than clean as preparation as you need to get back to the bare gel coat. If you mean just applying new antifouling then have the yard pressure clean and then follow the A/F manufacturers instructions. Crawling between the keels is a bit of a pain but otherwise straightforward.

The YSE8 is a heavy lump so safest to use the yard crane or fork lift. Makes sure everything is free to minimise crane time which is normally charged at minimum 1/2 hour. When the engine is out you will have the space to work on the other bits and clean and paint the whole area. Worth taking the shaft out as it is probably bronze and likely to be worn at stuffing box and cutless bearing. Replace if necessary with 316SS and new bearings.

Would be surprised if seacocks are gate valves - more likely ball valves. Straightforward to replace. Suggest you also replace the skin fittings. Use bronze skin fittings and DZR valves. Old skin fittings can be a pain to remove - easiest way is to use an angle grinder (carefully) to cut the outside flanges off and knock through.

Good luck.
 
Thanks for the advice.

I will ask to make sure there is enough clearance for me to get underneath and sort the Hull. I am expecting that we need to clean back to a gel coat, this will give the Hull a good check as well.

Thanks for the tips on Engine removal, I think a crane will be a requirement.

I will do some research on the Sea Cocks, and get them checked by the yard, not something I want to take a chance with.

Any suggestions on cleaning back to gel coat, other than its going to be bloody hard work :)
 
I'm not sure what an inboard applications engineer is but he should have no trouble with the seacocks. My old Trapper 300 had gate valves which I replaced with ball valves. There was no visible flange on the outside of the hull as it was countersunk and glassed over. If your's is the same don't go looking for it with an angle grinder.
 
I don't know anyone at the yard, so will ask what they can do to make sure I can get under the Bilge..
Last time I was swimming underneath (in wetsuit of course) it did look quite tight for space
 
If you are serious about Coppercoat then you need to have the hull blasted if it has the usual years of old AF on it. Big investment on an old boat. With antifoul now available for under £50 for a year's coating, difficult to justify the expense.
 
I've been doing almost exactly this (though putting the same engine back after a refurb rather than getting a new one). A bilge keeler should stand on its own in the yard. Seacocks are quite likely to be gate valves in an older boat, and quite likely in need of replacement (one of mine was completely non-functional, and the wheel of another snapped off in my hand). You might struggle to get them off the skin fittings; I ended up having to hacksaw the fittings apart and fit new ones. This is no big deal; I'm quite glad I fitted new everything as now I know where I stand. I also replaced the exhaust system (reusing the plastic waterlocks) and fuel system, including a new tank and a dual-filter manifold for quick changeover. Marine Power who did the engine refurb are also doing the shaft work (stern gland etc) - I probably could have done this but my co-owner (Dad :) ) is in charge of all engine work and he opted to pay M.P. for the whole job.

I lifted the engine (2GM20) out with the help of a friend and a few scaffold poles, since I only have weekends to work on the boat and the yard's forklift is only available during the week. I also wasn't confident that the fork driver would be able to offer the kind of fine control needed to edge the engine out from its very tight spot underneath the cockpit. Our contraption may have looked a bit redneck but it worked very well . Not sure I'd recommend everyone try that approach though - at least not unless they got their Pioneering badge in Scouts :-)

Pete
 
Changed really needed?

Hi I've got the slightly later YSM lump...
Not pretty but seems bombproof after a season's use.
You say your existing motor looks tired.. Do you know it's smokey/hard to start/thirsty/leaky/oil burning? (I won't say noisy, it's a Yam single!!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1inLxeYnnK8 This racket is normal-
If not, store your spare, launch and use the engine already fitted, no alignment, no snapped studs no cost, no swearing!
Next year you can swap, or (like many 'I bought it as a spare but never fitted it') sell it on Ebay..
Nick
 
The original YSE 8 is very rusty, was working fine, but is very smoky after a failure due to water in the fuel (rings I expect) also the YSE 12 is like new and cost me a favour & beer.

Cleaning the hull back is an unknown till we get her out really. I was not planning to have the hull blasted, just cleaned back by hand.

Its an expense to Coppercoat the bottom, and a hassel to change the engine, and change the gate valves, (1 is not working) but at least we will have a robust relaxed boat that will be good for years to come.

She doesn't owe us much and is a lovely boat.. Seems fair to look after her :)
 
lift out

my 747 sits on 5 points, short lengths of railway sleeper with 9x3 on top, 2 on each keel and 1 on skeg. there is no need to prop the bow, at this height there is plenty of room.
my toilet seacocks are blakes which i thought were standard, i pulled the bolts when i bought her and they were wasted and i think cost £50 to replace but worth it to keep proper seacocks.
when out check lower rudder bearing for wear as is a weak point, feel free to pm me if you have any problems.
 
dam747iam said:
i pulled the bolts when i bought her and they were wasted and i think cost £50 to replace but worth it to keep proper seacocks.
Click to expand...

On my 26 the only real issue on a survey after 36 years was wasted heads on the seacock bolts - some twerp had put brass bolts into bronze seacocks. New set of bolts fitted. The only other thing was replacing the U-bolts for the rigging - and this only because the were the originals and he thought they should be done. In fact they were just fine and I had trouble finding the right size to replace them.

Tough old boats.
 
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