Getting my 21' off the trailer for painting

[steel]

I'm planning to make a frame kind of thing out of metal with slings to get my Santana 21' off the trailer so I can paint the cast flip down keel and the bottom. Sounds like a plan? It'll cost me about $500 to make it but it will work really well when it is finished! It will disassemble and I can lay the pieces along the sides of the trailer.

I know people jack boats off their trailers but that seems like it would be risky, time consuming and hard to do. My boat is really light and the hull is quite thin. I would have to make a V shape for the bow and then figure out how to get the 3 cross members of the trailer past it when I pull it out.

Any thoughts?

[tommays]

Boats like the J22 ,J24 and J80 have a lift point so you can do it safe with a single point hoist the boat seems to weigh about 1700 pounds ?



The sling thing requires caution as they can slip if done wrong

[Hartley18]

Originally Posted by steel

I'm planning to make a frame kind of thing out of metal with slings to get my Santana 21' off the trailer so I can paint the cast flip down keel and the bottom. Sounds like a plan? It'll cost me about $500 to make it but it will work really well when it is finished! It will disassemble and I can lay the pieces along the sides of the trailer.

That's the usual way to do what you want to do - but you can generally hire a portable frame ready-made with all the slings and winches attached. which is far safer than what you propose.

Contact your local club or Class Association. They are sure to know of one.

[mitiempo]

Years ago I painted the bottom of an O'Day 20 in my parents backyard. I first slid the boat gently off the trailer onto the grass. Ran a rope to a block attached to a telephone pole and my brother tied the end to his trailer hitch. Slowly rolled boat onto its side, painted bottom and centerboard and rolled back and finished the other side. Total cost zero. You just have to be imaginative.

[Hartley18]

Originally Posted by mitiempo

Years ago I painted the bottom of an O'Day 20 in my parents backyard. I first slid the boat gently off the trailer onto the grass. Ran a rope to a block attached to a telephone pole and my brother tied the end to his trailer hitch. Slowly rolled boat onto its side, painted bottom and centerboard and rolled back and finished the other side. Total cost zero. You just have to be imaginative.

Brian, I was going to write that - it's SOP with Hartley TSs even though the Hartley YC do have a sling for hire to those who want something a little easier and somewhat less risky.

I don't know how strongly built Santana's are - and a sling hoist will work for all trailerable boats and allow you to do all your painting in one hit - so I didn't mention it.. I'm glad you did.

[WDS123]

One can make a tough wooden cradle using 4x4s, plywood, bolts, and super heavy duty caste wheels (McMaster)

OP is correct that jack stands can deform hulls. If you make a cradle for you S21- you'll want to provide wide support forward directly under the main bulkhead. The aft support should be just aft if the trunk opening. The supports need to follow shape of hull at those points - requires a very high skill level of carpentry.

Under no circumstances would I rig up a contraption to hoist the boat in my driveway or backyard. D A N G E R O U S - ask yourself, would you hoist a car 10 ft in the air using a home made hoist ?

Use the cradle at your local boat yard - the one that charges you $25 for a hoist and let's you work on your boat out back all winter

[steel]

I think it will be really safe. There will be two door frame type frames with legs on the bottom made out of 3" square tubing with 11GA wall. There will be one for each end. They'll be 12' high and the legs will be 3.5' on each side on the bottoms.

Two possible problems: One is that the slings could slip off as was said. I could attach a rope from the bow sling to the stern sling along the bottom to prevent the bow sling from slipping off. The other problem is that I'll be using 4 cheap $17 harbor freight winches which are known to often be defective. I'll stand on top of the boat with the wenches on each end of the slings and walk around to the 4 corners to get it up little by little. If I'm on top of the boat and one end breaks and comes down I think I'll be safe. When I'm done getting it up I'll secure the slings with chains or something so the weight isn't on the winches. I can also jack up the keel to take most of the load off the slings once it is up.

Thanks for all the tips! I should be starting this project soon and I can post some pictures when it is done.

[mitiempo]

One bonus with my method, outlined above, is that there were not any slings to paint around.

[Hartley18]

Originally Posted by mitiempo

One bonus with my method, outlined above, is that there were not any slings to paint around.

..and you get to use the backyard for something other than watching grass grow.

[OtterGreen]

some guy had an catalina and made what i will call a stand, it was barely off the ground and enabled him to rotate so that the hull was skyward. pretty neat if you know what your doing.