Jacking the boat off the trailer good/bad idea?

[brokemerc]

I have some work to do on my trailer, no place close where I can drop the boat in the water, at least where it wouldn't get stolen, and the marina won't just put my boat in storage for a day or so and will charge me for a month minumum.. My question is this. Will I do any damage to the hull if I cut say a six by six block and put the same V angle as the hull,, put the block of wood under the very aft of the boat and jack it up a few inches.. Will this work?? My only fear is damage to the fiberglass.. I just need to pull the brackets and bunk boards and replace all bolts and hardware.. It would be much more enjoyable to do in my warehouse where it's nice and warm.. Thanks for any ideas.. Boat is a bayliner capri, 3.0, alpha 1, 1854 f/s

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Jacking the boat off the trailer good/bad idea?

Getting Boat Off Trailer

you don't need stands.

1/you can lower the tongue to the ground. i would get some 6x6 or old railroad crossties cut the +- 12 inches, now block up the transom.

2/ Raise the tongue of the trailer the back of trailer will drop away from trailer. this is the tricky part. between the cross braces of the trailer block the keel lower trailer, boat will be suspended on the blocks.

(you can now work on trailer or boat, or continue to remove trailer completely.)

3/ pull forward, lift bow again, and reblock i a different place. repeat until trailer is out from under the boat.

4/ to reload, just reverse the procedure.

if you were just working on the bunks, or painting the bottom. you could just do the first 2 steps.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Jacking the boat off the trailer good/bad idea?

Personally, I skip using my trailer tongue jack.

I just have a 12 ton hydraulic bottle jack with a 24 inch lift. I jack up the stern until it's off the trailer then place blocks on jack stands under the back 2 corners. I then place the jack under the keel in the middle of the trailer, and lift the boat off the trailer.

Then I can do whatever to the hull, working around the trailer.

If I want it all the way off, I just pull the trailer out partway, put a jack stand with a block where the jack is, lower the boat, move the jack back or forward to clear the next part of the trailer (axle, etc) until the trailer is all the way out.

You have to be careful that at no point does the weight of the boat tip it forward or sideways off the jacks.. watch your center of gravity. It's easy for me since with a sterndrive my boat is weighted towards the stern anyway (Baby's got back).

If I leave it for more than a couple hours I use five jack stands... two under the transom corners, two on the mid part of the hull, and one under the keel near the bow. Make sure the stands aren't going to slide out sideways or sink into soft ground.

Erik

 

[OhWellcraft]

Re: Jacking the boat off the trailer good/bad idea?

Just a quick thought, you mentioned you are working in a warehouse. What kind of beams/joists is the roof? could you block up the stern and sling the front and pull the trailer right out or is the framing too high? A good 3-4" wide tow strap would work well and spread the load out nicely.

 

[brokemerc]

Re: Jacking the boat off the trailer good/bad idea?

Thanks for all the input.. The roof beams probably would support it but I'd hate to be wrong... Like I said I just need to get the weight off the trailer so that I can swap out the bunk boards and hardware... Thanks Again..

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Jacking the boat off the trailer good/bad idea?

i've done dozens the way it told you.

 

[oops!]

Re: Jacking the boat off the trailer good/bad idea?

any idea here will work......including yours....

doing the trlr is fast and easy......

i took my boat to the launch...dropped it in the water.....tied it to the dock

trailered it to a parking spot and did the repair in three hours right beside my boat. ...........it was warmer out then....

cheers
oops

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: Jacking the boat off the trailer good/bad idea?

I'm not sure I understood the way you wanted to do it, but I'm thinking you could simply jack up the back of the trailer with the boat on it, put the block (or blocks, 2 would be much more stable) in place, then lower it until the boat rests on the block and the trailer drops away from it... you'll have to do that on the bow too though.

 

[scoutabout]

Re: Jacking the boat off the trailer good/bad idea?

Don't suppose your warehouse has a resident fork lift? That's the way lots of marinas lift boats off trailers. (With well-padded forks and lifting from the rear of course!

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Jacking the boat off the trailer good/bad idea?

When I went to pickup this 15ft tri hull challenger bass boat from my brother's co worker. The co worker wasn't going to let the trailer go with the boat, so I had a trailer that I brought with me. By the time we got there to retrieve the boat he had a tractor with a front end loader hooked to the eyes on the transom with a chain and connected it to the bucket (of coarse).

He drug the boat back off the trailer with the tractor until the bow was at the end/back of the trailer, we jacked up the bow to get it up off the trailer (we used a 4x4 on the jack), then the co worker pulled the trailer out from under the boat. The trailer was hooked to a vehicle during all of this by the way.

My brother backed my trailer up under the boat, we lowered the bow of the boat down on the back of the trailer. With the aid of the tractor (still hooked to the transom), and me pulling the boat up on the trailer with the winch we were ready to go within minutes.

Now I have a potentially better trailer for the boat. I plan on taking the trailer that the boat is on now and making it into a utility trailer. I might end up swapping it again in the same fashion as I mentioned earlier, I haven't decided yet.

 

[brokemerc]

Re: Jacking the boat off the trailer good/bad idea?

Thanks for all the ideas.. I ended up taking 6x6's 14 inches long, I cut the V in in to match the hull.. Took those and glued and screwed it to the center of a 2x12x20 and went around the exterior with 2/2's to hold it all together incase the 6x6's split. I made two of these, even put marine carpet on the V.. We'll see how it all works this weekend,, if the boat ends up on the floor i'll send a picture (just hope i'm not under it).. Thanks again..