TOPIC: Finally built my boat platform

After months of putting it off,I got the back " stern-stand " completed. Give it a test slide today. Worked good for just me pushing it by hand. Now got to figure one to catch the front part of the boat. It seemed solid on the stand when I had the boat half way off the trailer. I want the stand to work for both boats.

Neat idea Jim! I'd like to know more about why, what and how you're doing it.

Frank

Well- It looks good and sturdy!

Are you removing the boat to work on the trailer? I use cradles under mine when I'm working on them-


I put mine on wheels so I can move it around.

As for getting the bow off- Do you have anything overhead to lift it with, or do you have or have access to an engine hoist? You can easily pick the bow up with one of them, pull the trailer out, then drop it back down again.

Otherwise, you can use the floor jack you've got to lift the boat off the trailer, drop it down onto a stand or block, and gradually move the trailer out from under it... You usually have to lift it past each cross member on the trailer. It takes some time, and is a pain, but it works!

-Andrew

I'm sorry ,Frank. I need to learn to give more info .I'm going to paint my trailer and finally redo the winch stand.My idea is to have it to where the boat can stay in the basement while I'm doing this.If I can, I'm going to take the boat off the trailer tomorrow and get started.

Andgott wrote:

Well- It looks good and sturdy!

Are you removing the boat to work on the trailer? I use cradles under mine when I'm working on them-

I put mine on wheels so I can move it around.

As for getting the bow off- Do you have anything overhead to lift it with, or do you have or have access to an engine hoist? You can easily pick the bow up with one of them, pull the trailer out, then drop it back down again.

Otherwise, you can use the floor jack you've got to lift the boat off the trailer, drop it down onto a stand or block, and gradually move the trailer out from under it... You usually have to lift it past each cross member on the trailer. It takes some time, and is a pain, but it works!

-Andrew

I have a engine hoist. I'm thinking about the same thing, Andrew.Thought I'd make a stand for the front tomorrow.

Your cradle looks great,Andrew. Thought also about a couple jack stands with two 2x10s 6' long laying flat going from side to side.Do you think it'd be a hull cracker?

Same idea as this-


Except lifting the whole boat, not the cap... Straps run to the bow eye should work perfectly. I plan to do this when I flip my Lake N Sea hull...

-Andrew

Andgott wrote:

Same idea as this-

Except lifting the whole boat, not the cap... Straps run to the bow eye should work perfectly. I plan to do this when I flip my Lake N Sea hull...

-Andrew

I will try that. I have a rope a guy with the power co. give me and it's stout. I don't think it will mar the sides if I go though the bow eye and also the front cleats.

I put new rollers on the crestliner's trailer this past summer and they work great!! The aristocraft's trailer needs some real bad, but I'm going to have a hard time finding those and if I do it's going to be rough getting the old ones off without cutting the axle pins.

Way back when I had a garage I used to crank the boat the whole way to the rafters. God I miss my garage.

jim great stand,but a word of caution from a lesson i learned the hard way,lol,make sure you wedge the stern so it doesnt rock,i didnt on the sunray and when i leaned out of the boat to reach for a tool beside the boat i almost rolled it over,i thought that it might rock,but didnt think it would roll,lol.

as for the front of the hull i jacked up the boat stacked some cement blocks on each side then layed 2 treated land scape timbers across it to hold the boat it worked well,in the back of the 1st pic you can kind of see some of the rack i built to hold the stern,my garage floor is wood so i screwed it to the floor so the boat could not move.john in this pic you can se i also supported the center of the keel with bloocks ,with wood on top of them

Thanks for the tip, John. Any other time,I would like some rock & roll out here in the country lol.I found some scrap door casing that worked good for wedges.I was trying to do it without the use of my cherry picker cause the bow light was too close to the garage door and I couldn't get the end of the lift high enough to pick the bow up. I got it off easy enough. I just used the two rear rollers on the trailer and a jack under the rear roller frame to lift the bow up to the second stand's height. Both stands are 24" off the floor. I think they will work for the aristo as well with some extra side shims to keep her from rocky rollin'

Good job Jim, looks like your plan came together nicely. It's kind of "un-nerving" pulling off stuff like that, huh!?

(Visions of my boat crashing against the concrete floor kept popping into my head, THAT would be a nightmare!)

Job well done.

Thanks guys, yes Mark, when It was perched on the last two trailer rollers, I was having visions of a busted bow on the floor.lol You can bet I kept the trailer wheels scotched . I built the last stand while the boat was on the last two rollers of the trailer so I could measure it. But it really worked well especially for just one person doing it.

Although shipping cost or travel distances will be too great for most, we do have a few extra boat dollies which we fabricated from 2" X 4" steel tubing, in the shape of an "I" (capital letter i) when viewed from the air (plan view). A castered large wheel was welded to each of the four ends of the "I", and trailer bunk brackets (adjustable side to side, and up and down) are nut and bolted to the "I", for use with carpeted 2 X 4 bunk boards. When not needed, they can be placed on their sides, or ends, requiring a relatively small storage space (a way to secure them from falling over, if bumped into, is certainly required though). These are about 45 minutes northeast of Atlanta.

Regards,
Joe
www/fergusonpoolemarine.com
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