Yacht legs :- pricing

[Dunx]

Im hoping this won’t be excluded under forum rules. We have a set of the fully adjustable large yachtlegs. They came with the boat and are unused. After having the bags with them in for 4 years in the garage I have finally opened them up ( I love corroded zips) to find there are no stand offs or feet. The Yachtlegs company don’t make them any more.
Frankly I don’t ever see us using them, even if I could get the parts, so was thinking of selling them. Has anyone got any idea how much they would have cost originally in order to price them for sale? Any old brochures etc?

 

[tyce]

Sending you a PM.

 

[doug748]

They were not cheap. In 1994 the adjustable, longest leg would have cost just over £1000. By the time they finished I bet this was £1500 maybe getting on towards 2 grand. This option would give a working length of around 9ft ie from the top of the leg to the base - with the adjustable leg set on the dot in the mid position.

Set against this you are missing bits which the new owner would need to sort. If you put them on our for sale at the max £400 they would sell in a flash. On a popular auction site I think you would get much more, £600? / £800 maybe a lot more if two people go for it - but it is always a lottery.

PS

You would have to be willing to take the fittings off your hull, tricky to sell otherwise.

.

 

[Dunx]

Gosh more than I thought, thanks. We haven’t the courage to use them !

 

[Kelpie]

They were retailing for over £2k before they stopped production.
I got a secondhand set for £800, and spent another £200 on the little hull fittings, as I couldn't persuade the seller to remove these from his boat.

They were worth every penny. I don't have any local haulout options so I needed them to do my antifouling and anodes every year. Much better than a cradle because they are actually bolted to the boat, and do not obstruct the hull with pads. If there was a way of making them fit my new boat I would have kept them.
It was also very reassuring to just have them onboard in case we ever ran aground on a falling tide, not that we ever used them that way, thank goodness.

 

[ryanroberts]

I paid an extra grand on my negotiated price to keep the telescopic yacht legs, which I haven't had the balls or opportunity to use in my first season but they seem proper handy. Already had the hull fittings, so seemed a waste not to take them.

 

[Poignard]

Does anyone use them in the UK nowadays? I can't remember ever seeing any in use here , except in boatyards.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Does anyone use them in the UK nowadays? I can't remember ever seeing any in use here , except in boatyards.

I have a pair in my garage. They came with the boat, and though they were probably very useful when she lived in the muddy east and on a drying mooring in Milford Haven, I haven't found a use for them in Scotland yet. Maybe on the Solway sometime.

I think the estimates of value are possibly a wee bit optimistic. Without the stand-offs or feet they are no use.

 

[Kelpie]

It wouldn't be rocket science to make up replacement standoff brackets and feet. The standoffs take virtually no load, they just hold the leg at a slight angle from the hull. In use they are often not even touching the hull, depending upon the angle at which you come down.
The feet obviously do take a load but it's simply a flat plate with a short tube on top, and a couple of lugs to tie on the fore and aft lines. Maybe £50 worth of welding or if you sourced flanged tubular fittings you could bolt them together.

It's interesting that not many people use them. I suppose I was a bit unusual having to rely on them due to lack of facilities.

 

[ryanroberts]

The boat came from the channel islands, where they seem a tad handy. Also having managed to touch bottom and end up at quite a jaunty angle at anchor in Poole on a spring.. I can see their utility for preventing tea spills and general laughing / pointing even when not fully dried out.

 

[JumbleDuck]

It wouldn't be rocket science to make up replacement standoff brackets and feet.

True, but if you are going that far would you pay a thousand quid for four bits of aluminium tube?

 

[Kelpie]

True, but if you are going that far would you pay a thousand quid for four bits of aluminium tube?

The adjustment mechanism is fairly clever, I don't know if I would DIY that. And the spigot, if that's the right word, that locates in to the bracket needs to be bomb proof.
I did consider going the DIY route but chickened out. Perhaps if I'd had a set of legs to copy I might have given it more thought.

 

[JumbleDuck]

The adjustment mechanism is fairly clever, I don't know if I would DIY that. And the spigot, if that's the right word, that locates in to the bracket needs to be bomb proof.
I did consider going the DIY route but chickened out. Perhaps if I'd had a set of legs to copy I might have given it more thought.

On the other hand, would the adjustment mechanism be needed if the legs were being built for one particular boat? Most legs I have seen have been non-adjustable. I agree that the connector is clever.

 

[stevie69p]

I had a pair that came with previous boat (LM27). I used them once on a beach on Bute for a mid season scrub, but in my normal cruising grounds, I wouldn't normally have had a use for them. Certainly very handy if you cruise in places that dry. They were very easy to deploy and once adjusted for the first time, that was it really.

 

[Travelling Westerly]

Does anyone use them in the UK nowadays? I can't remember ever seeing any in use here , except in boatyards.

I have a set of the adjustable ones, but never had the balls to use them. Would love to use them but just not man enough - shame

 

[Laminar Flow]

Does anyone use them in the UK nowadays? I can't remember ever seeing any in use here , except in boatyards.

Built my own, including bayonet style attachment to hull for less than 100.-. We use them lots. Have a ladder rungs on one side and they split in the centre for easy storage.

 

[Laminar Flow]

It was also very reassuring to just have them onboard in case we ever ran aground on a falling tide, not that we ever used them that way, thank goodness.

Well, we have when we ran out of water in the Aulne river. That way you can pretend it was 'tentional.

As far as DYI is concerned: the actual loads on each leg are remarkably low; a couple of people walking side to side will let her drop from one foot onto the other.

I got all worried calculating potential loads: storm force winds, drying out on an incline, all tanks full on one side only, the local football team visiting and congregating to port and all at once ... you get the picture. Then I saw a pic of a large trawler of at least 100 t+ dried out on what appeared to be a couple 4x4s and decided to get a grip on myself: 2.75" heavy walled alum. pipe and never a worry.

 

[Plum]

View attachment 111518

Built my own, including bayonet style attachment to hull for less than 100.-. We use them lots. Have a ladder rungs on one side and they split in the centre for easy storage.

Interesting, thanks, would appreciate info on your leg dimensions (material, diameter, wall thickness etc) and your bayonet design.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[Kelpie]

On the other hand, would the adjustment mechanism be needed if the legs were being built for one particular boat? Most legs I have seen have been non-adjustable. I agree that the connector is clever.

I made a lot of use of the adjustment. We completely stripped back and repainted the topsides with the boat on legs. In order to get good access, we would intentionally tip the boat further over to one side and then remove the 'uphill' leg completely. Which was a bit scary, but a few shore lines winched tight gave us peace of mind.

I suppose non adjustable let's would be ok if the ground was level, but I didn't fancy taking the chance. I also had no way of setting the length before I used them for the first time, so having c.600mm of adjustment available was a big relief.

 

[Laminar Flow]

Interesting, thanks, would appreciate info on your leg dimensions (material, diameter, wall thickness etc) and your bayonet design.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

Our boat weighs 8.5t.
I used 2 3/4" heavy walled alum. pipe; wall thickness is 3/8". The legs are 7' long and joined in the middle with a sleeve near enough the inside diametre with a min of 2.5 the diametre overlap per side. Use a pin or bolt to hold the halves together.

Add steps to suit on one side, if desired. I used 15mm stainless threaded rod, holes drilled all the way through the tube with nuts to hold in place. Cover with water hose for comfort, washer and acorn nut on the end so you don't slip off the end with your foot.

The hull fitting is made from solid alum. bar, drilled and machined ( read belt sander) to shape. It is held on by 4x M10 SS bolts with a 3/4" ply backing set in epoxy on the inside of the hull. The top pin is a 1" SS bolt with the head removed and a kerf (recess) machined (read angle grinder) into the end. The pin is held in place by a u-shaped piece bent of 4mm rod that fits through the holes in the fitting and catches the recess in the pin.

The pads are two layers of 3/4" ply, 8x8" and simply screwed to a short length of angle bar.

Aluminum can be easily worked with common wood working tools.

View attachment 111532