Picking a boat up

[john crowe]

I have an 1978 18 foot glass master. i need to remove the boat from the trailer for a couple days to get some welding/repaint work done on the trailer. this would also allow me to paint the underside of the boat. quetion i have is...i own several (3) automotive engine hoists. Could I use these connected to the transom/tow loops on the back and the one on the front to lift the boat and suspend it for a short time? The inside of the boat is stripped of any interior, however the outdrive and the engine are still in the boat. a stern model 400 and an OMC 3.0.

comments?

 

[MikDee]

Re: Picking a boat up

I've lifted mine from the rear ski loops, and the front anchor loop, but it was lighter with a 70hp outboard, I'd say jack it up in the back with a hydraulic jack, and a block of wood between the jack, & hull, somewhere inline with the inside stringers on each side, then put it on jack stands with wood against the hull to protect it from damage.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Picking a boat up

lower tongue of trailer to the ground, block transom. raise tongue, block keel, move trailer out as far as you can then reblock keel so on and so on. till trailer is out.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Picking a boat up

Yes the 3 good engine hoists "should" hold it. Your boat probably weighs in the neighborhood of 2000-2100 lbs..... that would be 700 lbs per hoist (which is quite a bit for an engine hoist).

I would suggest do the lift AND have blocks placed under the hull to remove the stress from the hoist. Those hoists are hydraulic and o-rings and seals fail (always just when you need them).

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Picking a boat up

I would check the hooks and how they attach pretty carefully, I've had a few pull out on me when just winching the boat onto a trailer. They tend not to use stainless hardware on the inside and the reinforcement plates can be rusted away too. If all is good as far as loop attachment, and the engine cranes are up to the task, it should work, but I would do like is described above and block the boat up and remove the trailer. It's easier on both the boat and the equipment. Also, engine cranes are known to tip easy, if one was to tip, the others may follow. I would do as tashasdaddy describes, it's worked for me many times over.
Myself, I lower the tongue, block the rear and use a pair of straps and agantry crane to lift the bow, the gantry crane saves me the repeated blocking and jacking up front to clear all the trailer cross members.

 

[drewpster]

Re: Picking a boat up

I have used four engine hoists to lift my tri-hull. I used straps under the hull front and back and avoided the bow and tow eyes for fear of them pulling out. It worked fine. The trick is getting the trailer over the hoist legs as it rolls out. I was by myself so I used bricks to fill in between the hoist legs. I raised the boat high enough to clear, jacked up each side of the trailer and placed bricks under the wheels and simply rolled it across the bricks until it was out. Worked fine. Going back in was much easier with some help. We simply muscled the trailer over the hoist legs and rolled it back in.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Picking a boat up

The brick idea is a good idea but I like my gantry crane, it's 14' tall and 16' wide when up and assembled and it can lift at least 6,000 lbs or so I guess. I had one boat completely suspended from it one time, I was stripping it out and needed the the twin crane for another project, so I hung a larger chain fall on the one gantry crane and did a two strap deal with a pair of straps attached to each end to keep them from sliding towards each other, it worked fine, but I wouldn't try it with a good boat, that one was junk either way, if it slipped and fell, it didn't matter. I just wanted the good trailer out from under it and didn't want to have to reload it later from blocks, I set it down on a flat bed to take to the dump. (For that boat, if I would have had a way to drop it hard without damaging my straps or my floor, I would have, it's cheaper to dump one in pieces).

I had a boat the other day with the bow hook pulled out, there was an inner plate made of heavy steel that rusted away and the loop just pulled out, the plate was all crumbled away, the rear hooks were loose too from a rotted transom. That too was a junk boat and I simply j hooked the hull and slid that one off with a loader to get the trailer clear, that was a smaller boat and the loader did a real number on it, it fit in three barrels when I was done.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Picking a boat up

I had to transfer a larger boat to a trailer today and came up with a good idea for supporting the bow, I took a 14' piece of I beam and bolted on two 4x4's in a v pattern to cradle the bow area, I then sat both ends on tall jack stands. It allowed me to back right under the boat. I then simply lowered the tongue to catch the rear of the boat, and jacked the tongue up to allow me to remove the bolted on V blocks and slide out the beam. It took longer to make up the beam than it did to get the boat on the trailer. I didn't need I beam, but its what I had, I could have even used a 4x4, but I like the security of steel.
I didn't need the gantry crane but that or simply jacking the trailer or running up on boards would also have worked to make contact with the boat.