The Curious Sailor: Time to Pick it Up!

So now that I've acquired a sailboat, learned to step the mast, admired it up close, admired from it from afar, I guess it's time to fix it... Ughh.

I haven't really formulated a step by step repair process mainly, because I really had no idea where to start.

Since the boat was in such a severe state of disrepair I figured I would approach the overall job by prioritizing each task from hardest to easiest. Hopefully, this strategy would keep me from getting discouraged along the way. I could celebrate major accomplishments early in the process and remain motivated right down to the minute that I get to launch her.

The funny thing about taking on a major project is that our initial excitement can sometimes lead us to under estimate the level of effort and time that is actually required to complete the job. It's somewhat of a phenomena to me. When I first got the boat I somehow convinced myself -and those who asked me- that I would be sailing in a few weeks. By nature I'm optimistic but in this case I can honestly say that I would have to attribute this overly optimistic -perhaps naive- thought to a moment of temporary insanity.

O.K. first step, the boat has to be removed from the trailer and this scares me a little. No, if we're going to maintain honesty here, this task actually scared me a lot! Stepping the mast scared me a little.

The boat needs to be high enough to allow me to lower and remove the keel without interference from the trailer or ground for that matter. Now, keep in mind that removing the keel in itself is yet another harrowing process. Simply because it's a 400 lb hunk of cast iron and not easily supported by an automotive jack. The keel however, wasn't really my concern right now. I just needed to figure out how to lift a 1200 Lb boat so I could at least start thinking about how to remove the keel.

I've seen boats up on jacks and blocks before but never really gave much thought as to how they got there. Obviously boat yards and marinas have heavy duty cranes, lifts, and straps. Lifting a boat with this equipment is most likely a seamless process at a boat yard but I'm in my front yard and I don't have access to any of this stuff.

So how was heavy lifting done before modern day equipment was invented?

In the old days the ancients used crude wooden pulleys, cranks, ropes, manpower, and beasts of burden (horses, oxen, etc...). They applied common sense techniques to move, lift, and place objects of weight wherever they wanted to. I started thinking about the Pyramids. Would aliens visit and help me lift this 1200 lb boat? No.

What about the Coliseum... Could I recruit a battalion of Roman soldiers that were not out conquering at the moment to get this job done for me? No.

Should I hire a crane company to come out and charge me twice as much as what I paid for the boat? No!

I had to find a better way.

Still thinking about the ancients- I convinced myself that I could move mountains too! I figured I could be the man-power and I already have a beast of burden (Daisy, my lab-pit mix) so all I really needed were the ropes and pulleys.

Well, it turns out Daisy wanted no part of this. She's never really serious about work anyway and always wants to turn everything into a game so I was short one beast of burden. I still had the one man-power though and I found some ropes and pulleys. Maybe I could still make this work.

If anyone reading this ever finds themselves in the position to where they need to lift a boat, please don't follow a word I just said (unless you have a beast of burden that's serious about getting the job done).

Believe it or not, lifting mass of great proportions is actually very simple if done correctly and safely. No ropes, pulleys, or beasts are required. In fact, very little man-power is needed other than positioning some cinder blocks and turning the crank of the trailer jack.

I found this cool little procedure on Aurora Marine's website and decided to add it for reference and illustrative purposes. I could not follow this process exactly as shown because it's only geared toward raising the boat just high enough to clean and/or paint the bottom. They recommend leaving the trailer in place for safety but I had to move it completely out of the way. So, while I had to endure a few more steps than what's depicted below it still captures the essence of how I blocked a boat for the first time.

Here's how it works....

This procedure is proven safe for boats up to 40 ft. providing that you follow the instructions and make sure that the ground is firm and level, that your trailer and equipment is sound and the blocks and wooden planks and shims are in good conditions. You may have to modify this procedure slightly or adjust your boat on the trailer depending on the style of your boat, for example pontoon, catamaran or monohull. This procedure is NOT recommended for sailboats with a fixed keel.    EQUIPMENT REQUIRED: 1. Hydraulic Bottle Jack of a capacity that meets or exceeds the weight of your boat. 2. 9 to 12 cinder blocks or wooden blocks 8" x 8" x 16" 3. 2” x 8” planks cut to 16” length pieces. You will need a minimum 3 pieces, but more may be required.  4. Wooden shims as required

CAUTION: This is a safe procedure when done correctly and with care. If you do not feel confident in your abilities or equipment to handle heavy weights, do not lift your boat in this way, get professional help.

These illustrations are not to scale.

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED: 1. Hydraulic Bottle Jack of a capacity that meets or exceeds the weight of your boat. 2. 9 to 12 cinder blocks or wooden blocks 8" x 8" x 16" 3. 2” x 8” planks cut to 16” length pieces. You will need a minimum 3 pieces, but more may be required.  4. Wooden shims as required

These illustrations are not to scale.

 1. Place the boat and trailer on a firm, level surface[Diag.1]

 2. Lower the tongue of the trailer to the ground to elevate the transom [Diag.2]. You may need a friend to help keep the tongue down.

 3. Block the transom using cinder or wooden blocks [Diag.3]. Make sure that there is a 2”x8”x16" wooden plank between the boat and the blocks to prevent damage to the boat. If the blocks and wood to not fit between the ground and the boat, you may have to use additional pieces of 2”x8”x16" wooden plank to compensate for the difference. If the bottom of your boat is angled, use scrap lumber shims as required between the blocks and the hull.

 4. Place a hydraulic bottle jack under the tongue of the trailer and raise the front of the trailer [Diag.4]. When the jack extends as high as possible, you may have to place blocks and wooden plates under the keel (at the forward bulkhead location), to support the boat. Then lower the jack and use wooden plates under the jack to give you additional height. Continue jacking up the trailer. This procedure may have to be repeated several time to gain the necessary height.

 5. Continue raising the front of the trailer until the boat is level or slightly bow high. Place blocks with a 2”x8”x16" wooden plank on top, under the keel at the forward bulkhead to support the boat [Diag.5]. Start lowering the jack until the weight of the boat is supported on the three columns of blocks and plates. Make sure that the boat is well supported on each column and is stable.

 6. Lower the bottle jack. Extend the trailer jack to support the tongue and remove the bottle jack [Diag.6]. The boat should be well supported and stable on all three columns and the bunks of the trailer should be about 6 to 8 inches lower than the bottom of the boat.

7. Do not remove the trailer. It will act as a safety device to catch the boat in the event that it slips off the blocks or if one of the blocks breaks or the ground becomes infirm and the blocks sink.

8. Do not proceed to work on the boat until it is well supported and stable.

9. To reseat the boat on the trailer, reverse the above procedure.

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Voila! It's as simple as that. The boat was off the trailer...

Once the boat was in the air I had to walk the trailer out little by little until each of the cross members of the trailer reached the blocks that were supporting the bow of the boat. At that point, I would set three additional blocks behind the cross member to support the boat. Remove the three blocks that were in front of the cross member and walk the trailer out until the next member reached the forward blocks again. This was the most tedious part of this process and I ended up using 12 blocks.

You will also notice from the picture below that I did not use three blocks to support the bow of the boat. The additional blocks came in handy as steps that I now use to get in and out of the boat.