Westley Centaur coming out of the water question

[kevsbox]

Hi all
My Centaur is coming out of the water for the winter soon and I need to get some wood for her to sit on.
I am looking at railway sleepers at 100 x 200 x 2.4m. Now the specs for the Centaur same the Beam is 2.57 m.
So my question is are the sleepers just long enough for this as in this example photo.
Also how stable are Centaurs like this? Should I also have supports are the fore and aft?

 

[pete]

In your situation I would put them in line with the keels, with the keel weight in the centre or slightly to the inside of the sleeper. It's probably not necessary but you could also run 2 lighter timbers 3"x2" across the top and between the two sleepers in front and behind the keels. I would also chock under the rudder to stop rocking especially if the mast is left up.

 

[paris]

We just chock our bilge keeled boats with four timbers two on each keel, and one under the rudder

 

[Hermit]

I would put them like in your photo but they don't need to go all the way across (i.e. have 4 bits of shorter wood).

Don't put them in line with your keels - if not wide enough the wood could tip/break at the edges. Also have a slightly thicker set at the front of the keels to keep her slightly bows up to aid drainage off the deck. Make sure the wood is thick enough so you can clean and anti-foul under the bilge keels and also between them.

I am pretty sure the Centuar (but never had one, only a Griffon) will be solid as a rock on her keels but no harm to put a chock under the rudder and a post under the bow for a bit of added security.

 

[Refueler]

My SR25 is similar to the Centaur / Colvic 's ...............

Basically when I use railway sleepers - I cross them ..... first are laid in line with keels - then two or three are placed across transverse ...

But sleepers placed longitudinally on their own are fine.

If you are on hard ground - the picture you show is more than good enough .. the wood is only really to reduce damage to the keel foot by stones / jaggy stuff ... thin batten is good enough on hard concrete etc.

Ends : Its good to place a notched beam up against bow with a wedge pressed in ... similar at stern. The boat can take you walking about stem to stern without - but its good policy to add support just in case two of you need to be at bow ..

 

[Fimacca]

I found when I had a twin keeler - a bit of height helped with maintenance and access to under keel painting - unless you are short and swarthy !!

 

[Refueler]

My SR25 comes home today ... under that grass is hard ground .... well able to cope with the 4 ton.

But blocks and wood ready ...

 

[kevsbox]

Thanks all, good advise as always

 

[Refueler]

then wood boards placed longitudinally under keels

Note the blocks under rudder skeg ... next few days will put the bow support in ..

Your Centaur is basically same ....

 

[oldbloke]

I once saw 2 people go to the bow of a 23' hunter bilge keeler while it was on the hard to sort out the roller reefing.
They soon wished they had put a bow support in!. Fortunately it came down straight and no damage except brown underwear

 

[ashtead]

I don’t know if they still do this but years ago at Newport quay each year there was an annual lift out of boats on a suitable tide and many bilge keelers like our centaur 1393 at time were place on wooden railway sleepers . If you get a chance to visit Bembridge the aa Coombes chandlery used to have many centaur types stored in winter. Sail over and have a look or a quick trip to Gosport boatyard on the green ferry might show type of blocks used and be closer -maybe they have some spare . I would say those in picture look too small you need old railway sleepers as used nowadays by gardeners to support soil banks .

 

[Refueler]

I would say those in picture look too small you need old railway sleepers as used nowadays by gardeners to support soil banks .

If you are referring to the blocks under my SR25 - they are building blocks - not wood.

There is no need for any large sleepers or such unless you wish to work underneath the boat., In fact if no need to be under the boat - you can stand the boat on the ground - just using thin wood slats to protect the GRP keels foot.

 

[ashtead]

I was looking at what appears to be wooden beams in post#1 but having it on sleepers was just the way we did it I suspect as many old sleepers on Newport quay on IoW -it once had a railway which ran to Cowes . Maybe these sleepers weren’t that old but they helped raise height for anti fouling . In case of interest the mast was also taken down and kept on deck under a cradle and cover like a road canvas over top lashed down with pads on top of each stanchion . It was a pig to anti foul so yes blocks helped that even so I recall but maybe that’s just a standard bilge keeler world problem. I believe the storage rates were super cheap over winter . If the OP searches maybe the MMA which is for medina boat owners know more on topic.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

You dont need anything as massive as railway sleepers. Our yard just uses blocks of wood, indeed the major purpose of the would is to readily enable levelling using smaller blocks or wedges

The boat would dry out on a concrete drying grid (which hopefully will have been levelled) so apart from using wedges and timber to distribute the load the main benefit of blocks os to enable the underside of keels to be cleaned and antifouled

A prop at bows is best on a lightish boat but we never bothered on our Pentland

 

[B27]

Take care with bow and rudder supports, because if the keel supports settle into the ground, you may put a lot of weight on the rudder!

I would be careful with sleepers aligned along the keels, if they settle into the ground and twist over, the boat may fall off!
Even quite hard ground can move when wet with the pressure of a boat on it.

Encapsulated keels don't want point loads, but cast iron keels are Ok with smaller supports.

 

[Tillana]

We have a westerly centaur. I use four blocks which are cut from a softwood sleeper. I use wedges to allow for any unevenness in the yard. Never had a problem with boat moving and we sleep on it for weekends over the winter with two kids on board. Just make sure it's level so rainwater doesn't run into the stem locker!

 

[Refueler]

I read posts and think ... blimey - for nigh on 60yrs I've been with Bilge Keel and various forms of boats ... could I have been so wrong all those years ??

Think on it Ladies and Gents .... we cannot be sure of sea bed when we accept or set a mooring. The boat will happily settle .. lift ... settle ... lift each tide ... all without apparently worrying about the keels. Of course if the bed is found to be really bad - then we would move the boat to a better location if available .. in fact most clubs would not place mooring there.

We lift our boats and plonk them down on bits of wood or whatever for the winter .. lift and launch next season start.

My present BK boat has stood on 'garden grass' ground .... concrete base .... hardcore base .... tarmac .... all with same successful method ... blocks under keels of either sleepers or building blocks with levelling boards. Some times longitudinally .. most times transverse ... and NEVER had any slippage / movement of the boat even when one side has sunken in a touch ...

If you want to see extreme boat standing of a BK 'r .... how's about this :

That was after an ice wall over 5m high with wall of water came down river and lifted my boats up the bank. They had to stay that way for days until I could lift and sort. Damage ? Boats - zero ... pontoon / BBQ decking destroyed.

That's the same boat as shown coming home and stood on blocks couple of days ago.

 

[Iliade]

The only good reason I can see for putting wood under a centaur's keels is to prevent damage to the surface upon which the boat is sitting...

 

[ashtead]

Yes if warm weather ever arrived it might not do the quay tarmac much good -all I recall is all the bilge keelers sat on wooden blocks but clearly others do it differently . Maybe it’s what westerly advised so practice followed from Waterlooville outwards. I doubt the weather in Newport is ever as bad as post#17 but I gather floods might have been a recent issue on the South Island but never sighted icebergs up the medina.

 

[ProDave]

I once saw 2 people go to the bow of a 23' hunter bilge keeler while it was on the hard to sort out the roller reefing.
They soon wished they had put a bow support in!. Fortunately it came down straight and no damage except brown underwear

We use bow and stern props under ours for that reason.