Yacht Cradles - transportable

[KenMcCulloch]

There were two fin keepers on proper galvanised cradles that failed over Christmas in the strong winds. The yachts both had masts up. It took a big crane to sort it all out. One yacht snapped its keel off.
It is vitally important to have the correct cradle for your boat, especially if you are leaving the mast up. I priced a cradle up with Jacobs for my boat (44ft ketch) at close to £5k. I am sure can get cheaper but what happens when it all goes wrong?

Indded. I have heard reliable accounts of fatigue failures in cradles supporting boats with mast up in prolonged severe weather. The rig vibrates in the wind, the vibration and cyclic loading (thanks Vyv for explaining that to me) causes the metal cradle to crack and eventually brak where the stress is highest. Probably not a common occurence but my informant saw at least one instance of this kind of failure recently.

 

[jerrytug]

There were two fin keepers on proper galvanised cradles that failed over Christmas in the strong winds. The yachts both had masts up. It took a big crane to sort it all out. One yacht snapped its keel off.
It is vitally important to have the correct cradle for your boat, especially if you are leaving the mast up. I priced a cradle up with Jacobs for my boat (44ft ketch) at close to £5k. I am sure can get cheaper but what happens when it all goes wrong?

When it all goes wrong, you will wish you had used scaffolding!

 

[NormanS]

There were two fin keepers on proper galvanised cradles that failed over Christmas in the strong winds. The yachts both had masts up. It took a big crane to sort it all out. One yacht snapped its keel off.
It is vitally important to have the correct cradle for your boat, especially if you are leaving the mast up. I priced a cradle up with Jacobs for my boat (44ft ketch) at close to £5k. I am sure can get cheaper but what happens when it all goes wrong?

Yes, obviously the cradle has to be fit for purpose. What I was complaining about was the implied presumption that a DIY cradle was inferior to a bought one. In many cases, a home-made cradle is more substantial than a bought one. Mine is designed specifically for my boat, rather than just off-the-shelf.

 

[oldbilbo]

Acquired a robust, used, mid-range Jacob's cradle for £400.

Where? Here...

 

[redsnapper]

I have had a Jacobs cradle for the last 12 years for my sadler 34 and its excellent. It will fit into the back of a large van, but I think Jacobs make a trailer to mount it on to tow behind a car.

I think the main thing is that the boat is secure. My boat has weathered storms in the cradle that have seen other boats in lesser cradles fall over. You really don't want to be lying awak at night worrying when the wind gets up. Also, the cradle is easy to set up - no tools are required.

For the saving on your mooring fees, you could just hire a van for a day to move it.

No connection to Jacobs, just a satisfied customer.

Steve

 

[Talmine]

Tennamast

We've had a tennamast cradle for about 10 years. It's a system based on galvanised tube similar to, but bigger diameter and thicker walls than, scaffolding tube Whilst it can be a bit of of a Chinese puzzle putting it together for the first time it is infinitely variable and thus can grow or shrink as you change boats. We originally bought it to fit our 30 ft Albin Ballad and then when we moved on to a Biscay 36 Tennamast sold us some extra bits to change it from a 4 to a 6 leg cradle.
We used to carry all of the small bits in the boot of our VW Passat with the poles on the roof rack but after a bit of a scare on a sharp bend and a review of safe roof rack loads we started taking two trips for the poles or using a trailer.
We're taking our boat south for the foreseeable future so are thinking about selling it soon. What are people's views on the best place to advertise. eBay seems to have such a short window.

 

[oldbilbo]

....thinking about selling it soon. What are people's views on the best place to advertise. eBay seems to have such a short window.

You could consider a paid ad here, on the YBW proper For Sale Small Ads feature..... and put a link with consent in the free 'For Sale Under £400' section within the forums.

 

[claymore]

Just bought a tennamast cradle through ebay - really delighted with it.

 

[yoda]

For the last 5 years I have been responsible for laying up about 30 yachts and the right cradle is vital. Firstly it must be up to the job for both size of boat and the foot print of where you are going to be. Some cradles have long folding legs that stick out a long way and can prevent the yard getting the next boat as close as they would wish. The yard may also have their own views so worth considering this as well. In general you will find that for a boat of your size the Yacht Leg type cradle will need to be the 6 arm plus bow and stern prop size. They are great to work with except for the awful flat spanner provided, grind down to fit a couple of decent scanners.

Perhaps just as important is making sure the boat is well secured in the cradle, leaving a mast up requires significant effort to reduce wind age and vibration. Modern rolling forestays vibrate badly and this is a prime cause of boats moving in the cradle. It happened this year to me for the first time and the boat was a Rustler 36 which was the last boat I expected to move. The lesson we learnt, (it didn't fall just twisted a bit ) was that you must chock the keel to prevent it moving by nailing wood on the outside of the keel down onto the keel blocks. Also insisting that legs are lashed fore and aft to prevent movement is key, vibration has caused this to happen in some noticable cases elsewhere in plymouth. In summary I would get the best cradle you can (I would get a yacht leg one - no connection just a happy user) but then take time to strip off wind age, prevent vibration and to lash and batten the boat into the cradle. A halyard wrapped round the forestays is very effective at stopping vibration.

Yoda

 

[geem]

For the last 5 years I have been responsible for laying up about 30 yachts and the right cradle is vital. Firstly it must be up to the job for both size of boat and the foot print of where you are going to be. Some cradles have long folding legs that stick out a long way and can prevent the yard getting the next boat as close as they would wish. The yard may also have their own views so worth considering this as well. In general you will find that for a boat of your size the Yacht Leg type cradle will need to be the 6 arm plus bow and stern prop size. They are great to work with except for the awful flat spanner provided, grind down to fit a couple of decent scanners.

Perhaps just as important is making sure the boat is well secured in the cradle, leaving a mast up requires significant effort to reduce wind age and vibration. Modern rolling forestays vibrate badly and this is a prime cause of boats moving in the cradle. It happened this year to me for the first time and the boat was a Rustler 36 which was the last boat I expected to move. The lesson we learnt, (it didn't fall just twisted a bit ) was that you must chock the keel to prevent it moving by nailing wood on the outside of the keel down onto the keel blocks. Also insisting that legs are lashed fore and aft to prevent movement is key, vibration has caused this to happen in some noticable cases elsewhere in plymouth. In summary I would get the best cradle you can (I would get a yacht leg one - no connection just a happy user) but then take time to strip off wind age, prevent vibration and to lash and batten the boat into the cradle. A halyard wrapped round the forestays is very effective at stopping vibration.

I couldn't agree more, but would just add one thing. The use of acroprops needs careful consideration. With the saturated ground, these props can become loose unless you are fortunate to be sat on a concrete hard standing. Our local boatyard is gravel base so could cause props to move in soft ground/high winds. This is a major consideration in Caribbean hurricane prone boat yards. it tended to be the heavy rain that caused as much problem as the high winds. After Hurricane Ivan a number of yard rethought there propping arrangements.

 

[Sailfree]

Just looking at individual Yacht legs.

Anyone got an opinion of buying 8 of these self self supporting legs and tieing them together with scaffold poles. Just a thought!

 

[Tranona]

Just looking at individual Yacht legs.

Anyone got an opinion of buying 8 of these self self supporting legs and tieing them together with scaffold poles. Just a thought!

Dodgy! As others have suggested the key to a stable cradle is the central keel support. Our club will not allow cradles that do not have a trough for the keel. The weight is taken on the keel and the legs are to stop the boat from falling over or twisting on the keel. Yachtlegs will recommend the supports suitable for your boat.