Lifting Slings

[Larry Wright]

I am purchasing a 22 ft cruiser. I have access to the yacht club jib crane single hook boat hoist of 3900 pound capacity. C-Dory does not offer a lifting sling that attaches to the existing boat hardware and does not seem to want to get involved due to liability. Does anyone have a simple detachable lifting sling design that you have actually used.

Thanks for any suggestions - Larry Wright

[Les Lampman]

Hi Larry,

Do I take you to mean that you intend to lift the whole boat with the existing hardware on the boat; that you're just looking for a sling that will accomplish that task?

If so, I would suggest that you're relying an awfully lot on things that weren't designed to do that job; the cleats themselves, the 1/4" hardware, the deck structure, etc.

If you're looking for hardware to do the job I've seen several set-ups that would work. I'd replace the bow cleat with a lifting eye cleat that incorporates a tiebar to a fitting on the stem (an off-the-shelf item). I'd have a custom set of through hull fittings made for the rear cockpit placed as far back and as far outboard as possible. I haven't done this with a C-Dory but I have with the Arima boats; we had a 1/4" piece of ply the same size as the bottom plate placed in the hull mold so that the stainless bottom plate would be flush with the hull bottom once fitted. The threaded stainless rod came up through the bottom of the boat and herky (technical term) lifting eyes were threaded onto those.

You'll need to make sure your crane (or sling) has spreader bars; I wouldn't rely on the hull to take the kind of compression it would be subjected to without them. The stern would probably deal with the lateral loads with a tall sling but I'd be concerned about the longitudinal loads from the bow to the stern. You're basically trying to fold the boat in half and the C-Dory boats aren't built like sailboats to take those forces.

Good luck with your endeavor.

[kasnmart]

are boat slings only designed for sail boats?
is there a setup for the webbing that goes under the boat hull that would be appropriate for the c-dory hull?
The spacer bars make sense. but I worry about the web slings slipping, and how to find the right center of gravity for the hull.
Don't they pull other boats out by slings?
Les, I can't picture what you are describing- do you happen to have any pics? The "folding the boat in half" part sounds scary.

[C-Hawk]

We use the hoist and slings all the time where I store the boat. We use the spreader bar with two slings, one each fore and aft. Have had no problems.
I believe what Larry is talking about is a 3-point pick to lift the boat with straps- not slings.

[Chuck S]

I never even lifted my old Thistle sailboat with the deck hardware! This boat had a factory bridle which attached to the chainplates and a special ring attached to a hull stringer aft. My J/24 had a lifting point attached to the keel bolts. These are very secure attachment points, unlike deck cleats.

Our club has a travel lift with a pair of slings. What they require is the boat owner mark the sling points on the hull so the slings can be properly positioned. Lead keel sailboats will have much different balance points than heavy outboard engined motorboats, so keeping the boat in the slings is important.

Slinging a C-Dory should be straight forward, assuming you're runing the slings under the hull (not to deck hardware). A straight crane (vs. travel lift) will need a "cage" or spreader bars somewhere above the hull so the straps just lift and not squeeze the hull side to side.

-- Chuck

[Pat Anderson]

I think the answer to kasnmart was in a couple of posts, but the slings they are going to use are perfectly fine if they get some experienced person to show them where the balance points are and how to operate the sucker. I have seen it (its the sling at Shilshole for the people who store their boats there) and I think they are going to try it out for the first time today...

What the first poster (a year ago?) was talking about was attaching hooks and straps to hardware on the boat, such as cleats and eyes, not supporting it with two slings under the hull. If you can picture that, the "folding in half" comment makes perfect sense. Kasnmark on the other hand are doing the old "you're in good hands" like the old Allstate ad, cradling underneath.

Still, we are VERY interested to hear about their first experience at the Shilshole sling! The guys at Skyline always joke "Don't worry, we never drop more than one of these things a day" which would be funny if weren't my boat perching precariously up in the air...