three inch worry

catfish26 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-29-2009

Dear all,
I managed to shift the stern of my Catalina 18 by three inches off center during the course of painting its bottom. Something in the way that I lifted her off of the trailer bunks using boat jacks and setting her back down was asymmetric resulting in the three inch shift.

I had removed the V-shaped guide boards from the trailer (at the keel) during painting but now find that I cannot mount one of these.

Is this a problem that must be corrected before I trailer her 200 miles on Sunday? or is this much-to-do about nothng?

Please help,
Thanks
Catfish

saildork · #2 (**permalink**) 05-29-2009

Catfish, I did the same thing with my C22. You could probably leave it as is and just be sure to have it well tied down to the trailer (as is should be anyway) before you trailer it to your destination.

If you do want to re-center it, you can do this fairly simply by raising it at the transom just slightly off the bunk boards. Be sure the winch strap is tight. Push the stern back in the direction that will center it. You will probably be able to move it at least enough to replace the one guide board. If that fails, try jacking it up forward of the keel, just slightly, and push the bow one way to move the stern the other. (You should still have the stern jacked up slightly at this point.)

I did this with my C22 and managed to get it pretty close to centered. The boat didn't kick out the 4x4 that rested on the bottle jack. Everything just shifted a little, and because the boat was only slightly above the bunks, it didn't have far to fall.

It helps if you have a second person there to help with this, just for safety. Good luck. Let us know how it works out.

saildork · #3 (**permalink**) 05-30-2009

To clarify my previous post: If you get to the point where you are raising the bow end to try to shift the boat, try it first without the stern jacked up. Also, perhaps I should have asked this question first..How exactly is the trailer configured? Does it have bunks like the C22 trailers, rollers, or what? If you launch without re-attaching the one guide board, do you risk gouging out the bottom of the boat with any exposed metal on the trailer?

catfish26 · #4 (**permalink**) 05-30-2009

yes its just bunks. I can mount the board reversed to avoid gouging on the metal. Im going to try your suggestions today to try to get it recentered. If I fail, then we'll go with the board reversed.
Thanks,
Catfish