Storing a boat upside down!!!

I saw last night a friend of a friend's boat. The thing about it is that he stores it upside down!. He has this pully system hooked up where he has like a railroad tie in the ground with a pully on top of it. This is maybee 20' off the back of where he parks the boat on the trailer. He hooks a metal cable to the bow eye and has a engine hoist pully mounted on the side of the railroad tie that locks it into place once its upside down. This is a 19' center console. It was pretty cool. He made it to store his boat like that during the off season but its so easy that he flips it like that a few times a season. It takes him like 15 min to turn it eather way. There is 2 more huge railroad ties that the back corners of the boat rest on that are a lot lower than the taller one with the pully. The shorter ones are almost directly behind the trailer and there is a chain and hook on each one of the lower ones that he hooks to the winch eye's on the back of the boat to steady it as its flipping. I got to get some pictures of this! it was dark out when i saw it. I met this guy because i was asking my friend if he could help me flip my boat over at the end of this season so i can repair and paint the bottom during the winter. He said come check this out, called the guy and we went over there. I think its a pretty good way to store the boat when not in use. The only thing is that he has to drain the precision blend tank inside the motor housing before he flips it like that. He has it set up so that if pumps the oil back to the external oil tank. Then he takes the oil tank out of the boat and that is what takes the most time.

Re: Storing a boat upside down!!!

interesting, but i would hate for the cable to break.

Re: Storing a boat upside down!!!

That was my thought also. I got to get some pictures of this. My digital camera takes video as well maybee in a couple of days ill do that as well. I Saw it whyle it was upside down and the motor looks funny like that. I thought that L/U fluid would leak out. Apparently not. I guess he dosent have to worry about covering it. I dont know if it is something i would want though. I just want to flip it to work on the bottom not all the time. Though i bet water drains out really well like that. He set it up for an older boat he had and he was trying to dry the foam out like that. That was a few years ago and he has a different boat now and stores it like that so that it stays dry.

Re: Storing a boat upside down!!!

The only thing I would be concerned about is the deck to hull joint, if it's just overlapped and screwed, then water can leak in behind the rub rail and pool the in upside down deck. If it's a rolled edge with no deck or liner, then it's not an issue.

Re: Storing a boat upside down!!!

im not sure about that. I know what you are talking about though. I had water coming in there just from hitting wake. If i get into redoing a few more boats like thashdaddy, and I hope too, i will do something like that so that I can get at the hulls easier to repair/paint. He is a pretty smart guy though so im sure he got it so that its not hurting anything. I think next summer im going to try to restore a couple of boats. Im moving verry slowly on the one im working on now but its only because i dont have that much time. Next summer i hope to only have 1 job and that will allow me the time. I like working on my boat about the same as I like using it. I know that seams weird but I guess im a weird person.

Re: Storing a boat upside down!!!

1- If oil leaks out of the lower unit while it's upside down, water will leak in when it's in the water right side up. The lower unit will seal no matter what position it's in.

2- Water will not drain out of the outboard's cooling system & block if it's upside down. It will drain better if left straight up. But by the time he gets it flipped there won't be any water in it anyway.

3- Why would someone do that? Too many railroad ties laying around?

Re: Storing a boat upside down!!!

So is he flipping it over long ways or rolling it over side ways?
Is the boat still on the trailer?
And how does he control it when it passes the over-center point?
I imagine he removes the gas tank as well?

Re: Storing a boat upside down!!!

Dhadley said:

1-

3- Why would someone do that? Too many railroad ties laying around?

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Same reason we keep canoes upside down. No need for a cover, or bilge pump. Okay, I don't know. Though we don't do it, we have pondered storing boats on top of each other, by picking up a boat and trailer, and backing another one under it. Things like this happen when you have gantries and winches to play with.

Re: Storing a boat upside down!!!

Dhadley said:

1
3- Why would someone do that? Too many railroad ties laying around?

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Well, it would make for easy touch up and repair of the bottom!

Re: Storing a boat upside down!!!

drewmitch44 said:

I like working on my boat about the same as I like using it. I know that seams weird but I guess im a weird person.

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Not weird at all. Normal, in my book.