Drums and boats...

[onesea]

Its not the first year I have seen it in the yard but I understood 40 gallon drums should not be used to support boats....

1) You never know if they have rusted from inside out or how rotten they really are,
2) It does not take to much of a dink to make them significantly weaker,

I know most of the weight is on the chocks under the keel but the drums are critical to keeping the boat upright...

What are the views of others..

 

[VicS]

Its not the first year I have seen it in the yard but I understood 40 gallon drums should not be used to support boats....

1) You never know if they have rusted from inside out or how rotten they really are,
2) It does not take to much of a dink to make them significantly weaker,

I know most of the weight is on the chocks under the keel but the drums are critical to keeping the boat upright...

What are the views of others..

The yard have used them extensively as temporary supports when loading/ off-loading launching trolleys.
One would pick a couple of good ones.

Very rarely, because we don't normally have that type of boat, they have been used similarly to the picture but never I would think supporting the whole weight Several good ones always found and set aside when required for that purpose.


If only people would store them lying down they'd not rust the tops and fill with water

 

[Poignard]

I used to lay up my boat in Clarence Marine Engineering Ltd's yard in Gosport and they always used drums to keep boats upright. It never worried me at the time but I can understand your concerns. However, the yard foreman at CME seemed to be very conscientious and I doubt he would have taken any risks with drums that were in bad condition.

 

[onesea]

Still not convinced its a good idea, I can understand how easy they are to use but unless it was shinny new. I guess I have seen to many "new" drums start leaking after 6 months in the marine environment.

 

[vyv_cox]

Not too impressed with the timbers either. The boat to the rear looks very precarious, one little push from astern and the whole lot would fall forward.

 

[NormanS]

Personally, having a boat with a keel, I always use a steel cradle. Provided it's a boat which sits on its keel, I would as soon use oil drums, as wooden shores. There doesn't need to be a lot of weight on the bilge supports, and oil drums have the advantage of being inherently stable, unlike shores. Obviously you only use drums in sound condition.

 

[sarabande]

oil drums are only fine for bearing load if the wall is free from dents and dings. Any distortion will cause the structure to fail "out of column" often without warning. They are designed to take weight inside the drum, and not on top of it.

A recent farm H&S talk by Cornish Insurance stressed that drums should be stored for preference in racks on their side, and a pallet of four drums could be used to support only more pallet on top of it.

Who'd want to risk resting a £100k boat on a £5 drum ?

 

[yoda]

Awful practice. Proper tri-pod props are not that expensive and are designed to take the loads. Anybody know the designed compression load for a used drum?

Yoda

 

[sarabande]

I've seen them stacked 4 high in an oil depot, so that is 3*(say)225 kg (oil and barrel together). Now those were good ones. What happens when the drum is empty, corroded, or has a dent or ding in one of the flat parts ?.

The consequences of that risk - so easily mitigated or avoided - are substantial and emotionally damaging.

 

[NormanS]

I've seen them stacked 4 high in an oil depot, so that is 3*(say)225 kg (oil and barrel together). Now those were good ones. What happens when the drum is empty, corroded, or has a dent or ding in one of the flat parts ?.

The consequences of that risk - so easily mitigated or avoided - are substantial and emotionally damaging.

You just use your eyes, and if they are suspect, obviously you don't use them, just as you wouldn't use a dodgy looking shore. How much weight are you going to put on bilge supports?

Me, I use a cradle. (That's meant to be a smile, but these smilies are so wee, that I can't tell which is which).