Idea for bottom paint blocks while on trailer

Well I gave it a go today. I used 4 boat stands placed aft on the 3.5" sections of flat surface on each side of the sponsons. I removed the "heads" of the boat stands and just used the stand structure with pieces of pressure treated 2X6 wood (about 10" in length) and thin pieces of stainless steel between stand and hull.

The stand height measured 31" off the ground. I lowered the front of the trailer down, inserted the stands/wood/steel, then used a bottle jack to lift the trailer. When I reached the end of the lifting span for the jack, I would crib the trailer, then add cribbing under the jack and repeat. I raised the front of the trailer 31 inches off the ground.

I added three pictures in my album on page 2. You can see from the pictures I had a decent clearance under 2/3's of the hull aft. Unfortunately I was not able to get sufficient clearance to prop wood between the hull and trailer such that when I lowered it down it would raise the bow. I was attempting to put wood between the trailer and hull so that I could access the bottom of the knife edge forward.

It was a lot of back breaking work and took several hours. The limited lifting range of the bottle jack and the necessary double cribbing (under trailer and under jack) is what is so time consuming.

I will have to get the boat lifted off the trailer with a crane at a yard and put on blocks to get the work done. Ah well...it was successful in terms of lifting the rear 2/3's off enough for a paint brush but not high enough to do anything forward.
 
I know this doesn't apply to the TomCats, but just wanted to share what we did to put on the barrier coat on our CD22.

We first wrapped the trailer with plastic using the plastic that is used to wrap pallets full of boxes. We then lowered the front of the trailer all the way down. We then placed a couple large stumps, with flat boards on top, under each aft corner of the boat. We then lifted up the front of the trailer which brought the boat off the bunks. At this point we lowered the bunks down one notch.

This allowed 3-4 inches clearance above the bunks. Once everything dry's -- then we'll lower the boat back on the trailer and complete the barrier coat in the aft corners of the hull.

It has worked great -- safe, easy, "still on/above trailer", and only needed to use the trailer jack.

This probably has been covered in another post, but just thought I'd help save some else some time.

Have a nice day.
 
I would have been nervous about the jack stands...not chained together. Interesting lift. I stll think that using a set of jacks under the Armstrong bracket still has merit. Maybe lifting both under the bracket and the wing deck, with a large block --and bocking the hull as you go.

The V and flat bottom boats are easy to lift and block, because you have surfaces other than are over the bunks to lift on.
 
recommendations for a specific paint - My boat lives on a trailer and will be in salt water 4-5 times a year - longest trip would be about 10 days
I just finished removing a full barnacle beard having left the boat for 10 weeks in Wilmington \ the surface is scratched from the scraping so I would either repaint the hull it do it with anti-fouling stuff -
Is this a 2 step process - epoxy seal & paint
Thanks
Hank
 
Maybe I'm missing something here, but I have a fairly simple question: why are we trying to lift the boats so high in the air, when we could just as easiy move the bunks out of the way?

On my trailer, the bunks are mounted to the trailer frame with a single bolt. That way, they can pivot as the boat is launched and retrieved. Seems to me that all we need to do is to take the weight of the boat off the fore or aft sets of bunks (namely, lift the boat the slightest amount, block it in place (maybe even attach cross strapping between the trailer and the transom eye bolts with a little slack to prevent gross sidewise movement), and pull the bolts that attach the bunks to the trailer.

Then, you can paint the bottom, replace the carpeting, remount the bunks, and lower the boat. Next, go to the other end, and do the same. Other than the security of having the bunk in place in case you manage to drop the boat off it's blocks, what's the point of going for so much separation?

I know that nuts and bolts can be hard to separate, but if that's a problem, just saw the nut off, replace the nut and bolt, and put them on your annual maintenance list.
 
Almas Only":11vuncn6 said:
Maybe I'm missing something here, but I have a fairly simple question: why are we trying to lift the boats so high in the air, when we could just as easiy move the bunks out of the way?
Click to expand...

Ha ha - the mono hull owners must think we're nuts having such difficulty jacking a boat off the trailer :D

I have lifted monohulls off trailers, but with a Cat sitting flat on bunks, and a hesitation to lift using the wing deck, it creates a unique challenge. There is very little real estate where you can get a "bite" on the hull with a stand or anything else. I figured the only place I could possibly grab the hull was on the small flat areas on the outside of the sponsons. Also, the forward portion of the bunks have a slight V to them making it that much harder to get any wood under there. My goal was to create an angle from the stern, prop wood as close to the bow as possible, then set her down to elevate the boat area for bottom touch up. The shape of the forward portions of the bunks, combined with the relatively limited angle/gap created by the lift, made this impossible.

If I could directly jack the stern with boat lifts, without utilizing the trailer angling method, I would be able to get sufficient height.

Bob is exactly correct of course in that I should have chained the stands together.
 
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
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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. :teeth :thup
 
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
 
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
 
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.
 
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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matt_unique":z1fmdpn8 said:
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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Click to expand...

Matt,
Once you get the boat blocked, have you considered deflating the tires of the trailer a good bit? With a compressor, they're easy to refill and that would get you at least a couple of inches.
 
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
 
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