First time lifting.

[VicS]

That's the way I was thinking. I note the after sling is abaft the skeg not the keel. That would seem to cope with the engine weight better. The crane has sufficient height to achieve those angles.

The sling is forward of the skeg ( the rudder is beind it) and above the prop. It would have been pulled through with rope rigged in advance.

 

[VicS]

Unusual to have the sling that far aft. as already suggested the normal location is just in front of the keel which is also usually around the forward bulkhead and mast step then aft of the keels around the front of the engine.

As you are starting from the hard it is sensible to have the crane driver lift to check the fore and aft balance and reposition the slings to get it right if necessary. Then mark the lift points - you can buy the little stickers from most chandlers.

I think Tranona has a point, the stern sling looks too far back for a balanced lift, the bows look high compared to the stern.
I woukd normally expect the stern sling to be more forward and near the stern of the keel.
But ir might be that there was a particular reason the crane driver decided to have the slings in that position.
.

White Cloud was a regular winter visitor. It would have been lifted by the same crane operator and slinging crew on numerous previous occasions . I guess they knew what they were doing.

 

[Tranona]

White Cloud was a regular winter visitor. It would have been lifted by the same crane operator and slinging crew on numerous previous occasions . I guess they knew what they were doing.

Don't doubt it, but still unusual and not a suitable location for the OPs boat.

 

[yoda]

I have a bilge keeler never been lifted since delivered as a bare hull.

Where to put the slings? Major weight is aft (the engine), no anchor chain (but could be added).

I am nervous about her slipping.

The other concern is the underwater fittings. The engine cooling water intakes are well aft but there is the hole (blanked!) for the log and two depth transducers forward.

I've seen videos of boats slipping out of their slings and would like to avoid same. Is it best to use spreaders or bring the slings together at the point of attachment to the crane hook? The crane is a thirty five tonner (at 8 metres) and a very long extension.

Looking at the profile I think you will find that the fwd strops should go just fwd of the mast (and keel) and the aft strops between front and mid cockpit so that the sling is fwd of the prop and on the skeg. We tend to find that the fwd chains should be shortened by about 12 links and this results in a level lift. Given you can see the first lift with the boat out of the water it is key to get the boat lifted level even if you spent a little time getting it right. The nature of the hull form and keel arrangement is that slipping out of the strops is highly unlikely and if lifted level should certainly be nothing to worry about. You will easily see as the crane takes the weight if the boat is going to come up level. Having 4 people on deck holding the slings in position until the crane has the strain on them helps but you shouldn't lift of the ground until they are off the boat. Hope that helps.

Yoda

 

[Praxinoscope]

Looking at the profile I think you will find that the fwd strops should go just fwd of the mast (and keel) and the aft strops between front and mid cockpit so that the sling is fwd of the prop and on the skeg. We tend to find that the fwd chains should be shortened by about 12 links and this results in a level lift. Given you can see the first lift with the boat out of the water it is key to get the boat lifted level even if you spent a little time getting it right. The nature of the hull form and keel arrangement is that slipping out of the strops is highly unlikely and if lifted level should certainly be nothing to worry about. You will easily see as the crane takes the weight if the boat is going to come up level. Having 4 people on deck holding the slings in position until the crane has the strain on them helps but you shouldn't lift of the ground until they are off the boat. Hope that helps.

Yoda

Think you may have a bit of a typo, the aft sling should be fwd of the prop, but certainly not on the skeg which is behind the prop. Agree that the boat should be level when lifted.

 

[VicS]

Don't doubt it, but still unusual and not a suitable location for the OPs boat.

Maybe not but the reason for posting the picture was to show the use of long slings and "brothers" without spreader bars.

One thing you have to be careful of when lifting from the water is things like this, which wrecked one of the slings later the same day.

 

[Graham_Wright]

The engine is a BMC 1.5 litre and there are three large batteries just abaft it. There is currently nothing forward to balance this although I could load the anchor chain which would load the bow with 90 kgms.

Maybe the aft point could be just above the prop.

 

[Praxinoscope]

It’s unlikely you need anything frward to counterbalance the weight of the engine, you have between 5000 & 6000lbs of ballast in the keels, far heavier than your engine and forward of your engine, a few extra lbs of anchor etc. aren’t going to make any difference.
The crane driver will no doubt put the slings where he thinks is correct and just take up the weight and lift her by a few inches to check the balance, if he thinks it’s seriously out he’ll put her back down and adjust.
All boat lifts are nail biting, even when you have had the same crane, driver and boat for 20 years, in 30 years of being on the lifting crew at our club, where we lift between 35 - 40 boats at the start and end of each season usually in one day I have never seen a boat slip in the slings.

 

[yoda]

Think you may have a bit of a typo, the aft sling should be fwd of the prop, but certainly not on the skeg which is behind the prop. Agree that the boat should be level when lifted.

Yep, the skeg I was referring to is the protrusion through which the prop shaft tube goes and is ahead of the prop. Not the Rudder skeg.

Yoda

 

[jwilson]

I think Tranona has a point, the stern sling looks too far back for a balanced lift, the bows look high compared to the stern.
I woukd normally expect the stern sling to be more forward and near the stern of the keel.
But ir might be that there was a particular reason the crane driver decided to have the slings in that position.
It certainly is well worth marking your lifting points when the best position for the slings has been determined, I have marked the toe rail on my boat where the slings should settle.

The photo may just be right for that particular hull, but on most boats it would be very wrong, possibly resting on a propshaft. Such a high proportion of the hull weight is in the base of the keels that slings just fore and aft of them is almost always correct.

Strongly recommend a spreader bar, unless you have exceptionally long slings.

 

[Daydream believer]

................. The way that boat is being lifted is a recipe for disaster. It is how my boat was dropped by the yard at Wroxham causing a serious leak to the bilge keels . Because the hook point is so high there is nothing to stop the bow sling sliding forward. ( the front of my boat sloped a lot more & did not have a flat section as the one in the picture). If doing it that way I suggest a rope between the 2 slings at deck level to prevent them slipping apart. If that had been done on my boat the bow sling would not have gone forward. Alternatively, shorter sings would pull then together more. Any damage to the sides can normally be prevented with a couple of cushions- which is what we use at our club ( but we lift with a gantry)

 

[VicS]

The photo may just be right for that particular hull, but on most boats it would be very wrong, possibly resting on a propshaft. Such a high proportion of the hull weight is in the base of the keels that slings just fore and aft of them is almost always correct.

Strongly recommend a spreader bar, unless you have exceptionally long slings.

Several of the boats in the yard were routinely lifted like that ........ but it could only be done if a rope had been rigged in advance to pull the sling round the hull in the right place

Spreader bars were used for only one boat, At the owners insistence until he realised they were unnecessary.

The yard does not use a crane now. All boats are launched and recovered using "Hercules"

 

[VicS]

................. The way that boat is being lifted is a recipe for disaster. It is how my boat was dropped by the yard at Wroxham causing a serious leak to the bilge keels . Because the hook point is so high there is nothing to stop the bow sling sliding forward. ( the front of my boat sloped a lot more & did not have a flat section as the one in the picture). If doing it that way I suggest a rope between the 2 slings at deck level to prevent them slipping apart. If that had been done on my boat the bow sling would not have gone forward. Alternatively, shorter sings would pull then together more. Any damage to the sides can normally be prevented with a couple of cushions- which is what we use at our club ( but we lift with a gantry)

There one or two where that was done. The owners, the crane operator and the yard knew which they were

 

[Graham_Wright]

It’s unlikely you need anything frward to counterbalance the weight of the engine, you have between 5000 & 6000lbs of ballast in the keels, far heavier than your engine and forward of your engine, a few extra lbs of anchor etc. aren’t going to make any difference.
.

Very good point. I am starting to feel a little more relaxed!

A colleague fitted out the same hull but in his back garden. To load to the transport, required lifting right over his two storey house. He took out insurance to cover damage to the house (which he was not sure the crane drive had) but then the crane swing was in the unpredicted opposite direction over the house next door. Thankfully, all went well.

 

[VicS]

Here is a boat belonging to one our forum members being lifted on the same day as my other photos. (The rear sling is above the prop.)

 

[Daydream believer]

In our club we have a number of slings, each marked with their lengths. After the first lift the owner keeps a record of the lengths used so that next time his boat is nice & level. (Is supposed to !!!! most do but we do have muppets)

 

[Praxinoscope]

Most exhilliarating and probably scarey lift we had was when my boat was the opposite side of the club house to the harbour, we had the 100ton crane and the driver decided he could manage to shift her in one lift, and two of us were on board for the lift, (health & safety would have had a fit). We were at least 40-50’ off the ground at one point and could clearly see Cardigan Island 20 miles away.