Lifting Boat Off Trailer

[davel501]

I need to do some fiberglass repair because a branch got between the bunks and the hull and figured I would do a good waxing while I was at it so started looking for ways to lift a boat off of a trailer. The common setup involves 3 keel jacks to move back and forth around the trailer supports and 4 stabilizing jacks, 2 in the back and 2 in the front. It costs about $550 for that setup and probably involves a lot of work.

Then I saw this: http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=59042&familyName=JD+Boat+Lift+System+

It is supposed to work with a boat up to 5000lbs. It costs $900 but looks so much easier. Anybody use either method before and have some feedback?

 

[RumDiet]

The Jamestown system looks too good to be true - I've never seen boat jacks that can actually lift + the BW they lift is a lot lighter than our boats.
would you really feel comfortable under your 242 supported by a 2" metal bar???
I have my marina take the boat off the trailer for me - costs a couple of bucks - but if something goes wrong, I have somebody to go to.

 

[davel501]

Yeah, that's kind of where I am at. The jack manufacturer makes that sound like an unsupported use as well. Seems like the cheaper route with the 3 keel jacks and 4 support jacks is better here.

 

[fairpilot]

Defiantly find a place to haul out and block it. I would think it would be less than those other options

 

[10-8]

I like how the JD system works and looking at the size of the channel iron, I would have no problem working under it. Knowing how product attorneys and insurance works, I am sure that the actual tested failure weight was at least double the advertised maximum. (how many of us over 220# have used a ladder?). That being said, $900 seems pricey for the parts involved. I would think you cold build a similar system for much less using threaded collars and jack stands.

 

[Ronnie]

I wouldn't invest that kind of money for tools that I may only use once especially if a local marina would do it for up to half the price and maybe as part of the service to repair the damaged gel coat. If you have insurance it may be worth the call to see if the damage is covered. When the engine mounts failed in my waverunner last year my insurer covered it and the related storage cost and I was only out my deductible.

 

[davel501]

My use cases for the jacks would be the current repairs that I need to do as well as future cleaning. It is a pain acid washing the bottom of the boat on the trailer. It would save me a lot of time and injury there and make it easy to wax completely from the keel up.

 

[Bruce]

Has anyone tried attaching straps to the bow and stern tie down points and lifting the boat?

I know this is done with some brands of new boats that are shipped without trailers. I once saw a shipment of Yamaha's but I can not remember if they were on trailers on the semi or not.

Or a safer option could be to place wide straps in front of and behind the bunks and lift from the trailer with straps under the boat. But this also blocks access to some of the hull.

How to lift it would be the harder question. An automotive lift might have enough elevation to be used over the top of the boat with straps hanging from it.

A sky track would be a near perfect solution but how many of us have those?

I have an 11' high deck that I could park under and lift the boat from. It just needs to come up enough to come off of the trailer then you can drive the trailer away.

Or you could build a structure to lift the boat. I am thinking four 6x6s for legs and 4 2x12s for verticals. You could build that for way less than the fancy jack solutions above.

Why not build your wife a pergola that doubles as your boat lift?



But whatever you do, please be careful. A 4000 pound boat on your chest would likely be fatal.

 

[Gym]

Depressing at least.

 

[davel501]

Has anyone tried attaching straps to the bow and stern tie down points and lifting the boat?

I know this is done with some brands of new boats that are shipped without trailers. I once saw a shipment of Yamaha's but I can not remember if they were on trailers on the semi or not.

Or a safer option could be to place wide straps in front of and behind the bunks and lift from the trailer with straps under the boat. But this also blocks access to some of the hull.

How to lift it would be the harder question. An automotive lift might have enough elevation to be used over the top of the boat with straps hanging from it.

A sky track would be a near perfect solution but how many of us have those?

I have an 11' high deck that I could park under and lift the boat from. It just needs to come up enough to come off of the trailer then you can drive the trailer away.

Or you could build a structure to lift the boat. I am thinking four 6x6s for legs and 4 2x12s for verticals. You could build that for way less than the fancy jack solutions above.

Why not build your wife a pergola that doubles as your boat lift?



But whatever you do, please be careful. A 4000 pound boat on your chest would likely be fatal.

The one thing to be careful of with our boats is that you have to lift them without the straps pulling in on the sides or it will damage the gunwales. This is the solution that will work for the overhead lift but it costs 2-4x as much: http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Lunmar-Steel-Mount-3-000-lb-Capacity-Boat-Sling-Lift&i=96407

I agree on the safety part. Heck, even dropping the boat on the blacktop might be enough for a heart attack.

I am thinking the safest solution is the cheapest solution. It sounds like the only way I would get convenience and safety would be to spend over $1000. Thinking safety will have to be enough for use 2-3 times per year.

 

[KXCam22]

Why not jack up the trailer, block up the boat and the lower the trailer. There are lots of boats on blocks around so it must not be that hard to do. On my old I/O they lifted it up by the bow ans stern hooks to do some fg repair. Cam.

 

[davel501]

Found some more videos on this. Here is what I was thinking but with keel jacks instead of bottle jacks:

This looks like the scary way to do it:

Excerpted from the video description:

Any of you "boat purists" who don't like how I did this, you can suck it.

 

[Bruce]

Both of my brothers worked at a marina where lots of boats were stored on foam blocks. When you wanted to use your boat, you called ahead and they would launch it for you. They had a few roller trailers for different sizes of boats. They would back the trailer up to the rear block and start rolling the boat off of the trailer adding blocks of foam as they went. It might be worthwhile to consider swapping for a roller trailer.

 

[KXCam22]

That video #1 is excellent. I have envisioned doing this a couple of times and that is exactly how you would do it with a bunk trailer. Cam.

 

[Phelps of Homer]

I have a few boats and wanted to work on the bottoms myself. I invested in a system similar to brownell from scaffold mart. It looks similar but is galvanized. I had an extra pair of stern jacks so I use 4 stern jacks and the front lift to get my 21 foot Penn Yan cuddy off the trailer. I also block it similar to the first video above. The system works well. I can do it by myself.

I did replace the front bar with a 2x4 bar of steel to be on the safe side and bolted it to the jacks. I also chain the back jacks to each other so they don't slip out.

It was a lot of money but well worth it. An overhead lift would be nice but I it would have had to be too beefy to lift the Penn Yan. The system was less than $1000 with the extra jacks and metal.