Keelboat full width hull support cradles

[Seajet]

A chum is looking for a winter cradle for his Anderson 22 lift keeler; it needs to be high enough to let the keel down - draft 4'6" - ashore, for maintainence.

Obviously unlike a fixed keeler, the weight isn't taken on the keel, so the boat requires full width hull supports.

I've seen racing keelboats with trailers featuring such supports, are there such things as shore cradles with them please ?

The boat will be hoisted on & off, so no need for a trailer, but a relatively light weight cradle would be handy due to physical snags.

 

[Ingwe]

Yes most of the dry sailed boats over 30 feet have big versions of cradles like your talking about.

I think its something that probably has to be made for the individual boat. For my one the fabricators who made it took a mold of the hull where the fore and aft supports were going to fit, from that they shaped the two supports out of wood that they glassed and covered them (carpet will do on a small boat) and then fitted to the frame. I suspect you would be lucky to find one second hand that is the right size as it needs to match the hull contour, but you may be able to pick up a cheap cradle and just have new supports moulded for it.

To give some idea I think I paid about £2000 to have one made from scratch for a 32 foot boat, but if you were practical enough it's something that could be done DIY for a smaller boat.

 

[savageseadog]

You're wanting "Splashes" or "Poppets". Have to be made to fit and not an easy job so expensive to have done, DIY is the obvious way. Try to find some high density foam or rubber to put on the mating surface to spread the load.

 

[lw395]

It should be posible to get a pair of beams made up to go across acrow props.
Some scaffolding to keep it all aligned?
Or a few bits of industrial racking? Desion warehouse shelving?
Then you just need a shaped wooden support each end.
Don't use carpet for the padding, it traps rain and promotes osmosis!
Would it not be easier to have the drop keel out for maintenance?

 

[Seajet]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

We already have the design for wooden ply / pine sandwich trestles, which work well for a lot of A22 owners but this chap has a slight disability so we're trying to find an easy, relatively light solution; £2,000 would be fine if it does the job - but we are pondering DIY as well.

Dropping the keel is not something to do for fun, it's 950 lbs, requires adjusting the pitch angle of boat or keel ( when replacing my keel we used the club hoist which adjusts the boat pitch ) and the ballast bulb has a rounded bottom...

The maker's name of these cradles would be very handy please ?

 

[lpdsn]

I think its something that probably has to be made for the individual boat. For my one the fabricators who made it took a mold of the hull where the fore and aft supports were going to fit, from that they shaped the two supports out of wood that they glassed and covered them (carpet will do on a small boat) and then fitted to the frame. I suspect you would be lucky to find one second hand that is the right size as it needs to match the hull contour, but you may be able to pick up a cheap cradle and just have new supports moulded for it.

To give some idea I think I paid about £2000 to have one made from scratch for a 32 foot boat, but if you were practical enough it's something that could be done DIY for a smaller boat.

A mate made one for his racer to be dry sailed using pretty much the same technique. Templates were made of the hull to help design the wooden supports. Moulds were made, glassed to wooden supports which were glassed all over then bolted to a steel frame.

 

[Ingwe]

I don't think anyone particularly specialises in making them as its too low volume (I stand to be corrected if there is someone in the solent) its the type of thing any of the larger boatyard repair firms can do quite easily you just need somewhere that can do the moulding / glassing and also build the metal frame.