Idea for bottom paint blocks while on trailer

[matt_unique]

[matt_unique]

This is an older thread but with Napoleon back in the yard for the winter I would still love to find a jacking solution. I was able to jack the stern off the trailer last year (can see from my photo's) but I'm still searching for a way to lift it straight up with jacks or something (without angling the trailer) such that I could paint the very bottom in the spring.

Have any Tomcat owners experimented with this since our last discussions?

Thanks

--Matt

[BrentB]

Yardarm has jacks
http://www.yardarm.com/marine_products/boat_handling_jacks.htm

I have davit lifts and use their dollies with the wheels removed and replaced with wood blocks. Built to last forever

http://www.yardarm.com/marine_products/mj_boat_dolly_syste
m.htm

http://picasaweb.google.com/salbrent/1994Parker2320EC#5400251775589554418

Maybe this will work for you

[Doryman]

Brent, great resource for boat supports on the hard! Thanks. But aren't you just substituting the problem of how to paint around the davit pads for the problem of how to paint around the bunk pads?

Warren

[BrentB]

Hi Warren

yes, it is just my 2 cents worth and sharing some ideas and not a solution. The dolly stands are movable and also come apart so in my case, redoing the bottom paint can be done onsite.

[C-Pelican]

I do it just like ffheap, and yes, to the wax paper also.

I was worried about doing it but now that I did it I believe it is very easy to do and quite a money saver.

[matt_unique]

[matt_unique]

Looks like a great product but the cost for a set of 4 stands is $5640 plus shipping...

[Sea Wolf]

Can you just paint it on the trailer, sans bunks, then just jack one side at a time up away from the bunks and paint the omitted area? Not as clean as having it free on three or four jack pad areas, but less expensive, to be sure. I think you're doing something like that now, more or less, but in a fore-aft rather than an athwartships operation.

I paint my 22 on the roller trailer, then move it back 20" or so using the winch reversed through a pulley anchored to the front axle on one side and multiplied 2:1 through a bridle dead ended from the axle on the other side, through the bow fitting and back to the other side to the winch hook. Paint the omitted areas, then pull it aback up snug. (This is for other CD owners of mono-hulls reading this thread.)

Joe.

[BrentB]

They are made to be used by boat dealers, service centers and showrooms. It saves time and money but I understand it is expensive item for personal use. I thought the stands were pricey until I installed and adjustable them then said great buy. I posted it as a fyi b/c I use their stands. They are made locally and the owner gave us tour for 2 hours the first time we visited when we just wanted to see them first before purchasing and the boat dealer next door uses both items in their showroom
What is the weight of each lift b/c the stands are very heavy and I can only move one at a time

[ffheap]

Hi Folks,

Sorry I missed this thread earlier.

I paint the bottom of my boat, a 22' 1983 Angler every year while it sits on the trailer.

I first block up the trailer. I then jack up the side of the boat placing the jack and a wooden block at the chine and put a 2 by 4 under the boat on top of the bunkboard. I sand and then paint using a small roller. I then jack up and move the 2 by 4 and do that part. I continue until the whole boat bottom is done. I recommend putting wax paper between the painted bottom and the bunkboards because the painted bottom will stick to the bunkboards.

When you prepare the bottom and paint the bottom, wear old clothes, gloves, mask or respirator, safety glasses and hat. The stuff you are working with is not very healthy.

Fred

[thataway]

I took my Caracal cat (18 feet) to the shipyard to have the bottom epoxied and painted. (got to the point where I can no longer do this type of work, without considerable pain the next week or so). They could not figure out how to get it off the trailer, so I had to launch it, and use the travel lift ($$$)--but after it was on the stands, they actually supported the entire boat's weight on the wing deck. I don't know if this would be OK with the C Dory, but I suspect that if you spread out the load it would be fine.

In looking at other ways of doing a cat on a trailer, we considered, what I have been doing on my mono hull on the lift (made for the Tom Cat)., I put 4 x 4 blocks on the lift, and then bring the boat up, with the 4 x 4 taking all of the load. Paint, then re-launch and move the boat. You could do the same thing with a good steep launching ramp, using 4" blocks under each hull, or one hull at a time.

If I had to paint the bottom of my Tom Cat, I would jack the boat aft using the motor brackte--and leave the weight on the aft bracket and a couple of points on the the hull aft. Then I would see what happens if you took the foreward weight on the wing deck. There are two options, one is to lift the boat straight up. The other is to tilt the boat, so you have 4" blocks on each side. That will allow a roller to get under the hull, and apply paint easily.

[matt_unique]

Well gentlemen I'm back at it!

This year when I pulled her for the season I made a point to leave about 8" of the stern off the trailer so I have good lifting points. I have twin jacks to lift each side simultaneously. I did a quick test lift and found the key was cribbing the trailer at the bow (where load will be applied as the stern lifts) and to crib the jacks as high as possible against the sponsons. If you have a 7" lift range and have to use say 3" to make contact you basically loose all lift opportunity - you have to somehow crib the boat, reset the jack cribbing, then start again. For my test lift I used two stands placed under the wing deck right at the stern.

For my attempt tomorrow I will not have the boat stands. I'm going to first connect the trailer to my truck, support the trailer forward near the bow (where load will be transferred as it lifts), then try to make jack contact with the hull under the aft portion of the sponsors as close as possible (minimizing the lost lift range potential just making contact).

If this arrangement does not provide sufficient height to put wood between the sponsons and the trailer I will be forced to revert to boat stands under the wing deck. (It's a hassle for me to get boats stands and I never liked the idea of having the wing deck hold load - though I'm less concerned with this if they are placed right at the stern of the wing deck).

I'll report how it all goes. Last year I just painted the bottom sans the 6" rectangular area directly at the bottom of the sponsons. I might say "Uncle" to the notion of lifting a Tomcat at home if this does not work. Considering trailer flex, shifting weight off the trailer tires, etc. means the vessel must be lifted quite a bit to get even 3" of separation from the trailer.


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[rogerbum]

[drjohn71a]

Hi guys,

For twelve years I had an old 31 foot house boat on a cathedral hull - kind of like a catamaran with a hull in between.

I used ablative bottom paint, CSC micron, if I'm remembering right...

Each Spring, I'd jack up one side using wide boards to spread the load. Usually, three or four small jacks with 2x6s and maybe 12x12 pads on one side, just to the center of the bottom edge. Then paint the edge, then drop it (softly) onto the rubber bunk pads with vaseline, foil, waxed paper or Saran Wrap if any fiberglass repairs. Of course the waxed paper was the easiest to remove. I'd let one side dry a week or so before dropping it and going to the other side.

Still tough to paint that middle under side!

The TomCat 255 is much more heavily built than that old houseboat so I don't think a gentle lifting process would hurt it at all.

btw, I was watching a PBS show about remote beaches in the Baja area and guess what the local police were using on the water... one of the original TomCats with the sloped windshield!

John

John