Boat Hoist

A forum about Trailering, Launching and Retrieving the Telstar.
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simonhayes
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Boat Hoist

Post by simonhayes »

I have moved my boat to a dry storage area that provides boat hoists to enable trailer sailers to launch and recover directly vs having to dunk the trailer on a launch ramp . Most of the boat were using a harness that connected to 4 padeyes on the upper deck to lift their boats (these went back to a single lifting eye on the hoist). This included Corsair Trimarans as well as a lot of of racing mono hulls.

I would love to be able to do that same - launch and recover using a boat hoist - but I was thinking about how I would design a cradle/harness to do the same for the Telstar. The challenge is the weight and the design of the T28 does not lend itself well to this. There is a section in the manual about using a standard boat yard travel lift but that does not quite apply to this situation as there is only a single lift point for vs two separate lift straps for most boatyard lifts.

If anyone has an experience of doing this or thoughts about it - I would interested to hear.

thanks

Simon
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Re: Boat Hoist

Post by Ron »

Simon -

My other hobby is restoring and/or building cars. I've lifted a number of bodies off of their frames, and then put them back on, using a home-built gantry crane with 2 or 4 straps - depending on the car body involved. The trick is in the length of the 2 or 4 straps and then using a weight distributing I-beam on top, where you can position the single lifting point on the beam so that the front and back are nearly equal. Un-equal would get the load to hang skewed. I think you can probably put something together to handle this 4500 pound load, with 2 heavy duty lifting straps just forward and aft of the folding aka's. The most I've ever done was perhaps 2,000 pounds but the procedure should work if you used suitable equipment.

You can see the gantry in the photo below. Its top beam is a double 2x8 which should be able to handle around 2,000 pounds. You wouldn't need this because you'd be using their crane. Depending on the front vs back weight of the boat, the I-beam would probably have to be around 4 feet long with various lifting points. This could be a little too work intensive for your application.
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Ron Marcuse
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Re: Boat Hoist

Post by simonhayes »

Thanks Ron - useful input.

I was thinking along the same lines - 2 long straps just forward and aft of the arms - but am not sure how an i-beam would work given there is a mast in the way. I also would need to be able to get it set up pretty quickly and keep the whole set up on the boat. I was thinking if you had long straps that all connected to a bridle say 15 or 20 feet up, that would reduce the angles of the straps and perhaps the need for an i-beam. I need to do some measurements to see if that is feasible.
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Re: Boat Hoist

Post by Ron »

Simon -

The back of the boat is substantially heavier than the front. Lifting using 2 long straps coming together at one point will cause the stern to hang a lot lower than the bow. A beam would let you lift both end equally - The straps would attach to the ends of the beam (perhaps 5 feet long), and the crane to a point on the beam where the weight is distributed fairly equally - most likely close to the heavier end. You might be able to get away with using a much longer strap for the front, but that could put the lifting point pretty high over the deck.

It would work, but I don't think it's a practical solution considering your other requirements.

Wouldn't the upright mast interfere with either version of this procedure? Do you have a photo of the crane or other machine that does the actual lifting at the marina.
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Re: Boat Hoist

Post by Gene »

I think the I beam would be at least feasible, providing the mast is down... This would be similar to a boat lift and could compensate for the substantial weight difference fore and aft as Ron has pointed out. If its worth the effort... I don't know?
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Re: Boat Hoist

Post by simonhayes »

This would be with the mast up as it would be a "day sailing" solution.

Most other boats in the lot (including a lot of Corsairs) have 4 built in lift points on the topside of the boat . A bridle of 4 straps joined to a single metal ring connects them to the crane hook. This ring is centered on the boat, above the boom and aft of the mast when lifting so can be done with the mast up.

My sense was to do the same for the T28 but using slings which would loop under the boat forward and aft of the amas respectively, instead of lift points ( I don't think we could build in lift points in the topside without a lot of extra engineering ) . If the slings were long enough and the same length - the crane hook should be aft of the mast and above the boom. I am not sure how much the boat would tilt/pivot due to the relative weight distribution of the boat, but you could theoretically reduce that by adjusting the relative length of the straps to get the hook to be above the center of gravity.

Is anyone in touch with Tony ? Be great to get his thoughts on this..

- Simon
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Re: Boat Hoist

Post by Ron »

I recall that Tony had stated that you could lift the boat by the main hull with the ama's out, OR by the two extended ama's only. He supposedly supported a few of the boats with blocks under the ama's and nothing in the middle. With that in mind, you may be able to lift the open boat by putting short hd straps under the aka's close to the big inboard hinge pins, then connect a sling to these 4 points. I don't think you can get slings in there when folded, and the folding shelf could be destroyed by inboard pressure. When I secure the closed boat to the lift for the summer, I slide the 3 inch straps between the folded shelf and the main hull to avoid this potential problem. The two 3,000 pound straps are for hurricane protection. I also strap the lift beams to the 4 pilings.

How about replacing the 4 inboard hinge pins with custom ones with an eye at the top of each? This area is pretty substantial and should be able to take the weight, folded or open? This could work.

Does the marina have a big forklift that would fit under all 4 aka's? I've seen some pretty big boats lifted this way. My 3,000+ pound cat boat has been on a forklift, but I added extra stringers under the cabin sole to take the pressure.
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Re: Boat Hoist

Post by simonhayes »

Thanks again Ron. I recall Tony talking about that as well . That had me musing about using the akas and/or pins. I like the idea about having 4 short straps to hook under the aka just inboard of the pins - need to look at this some more. Replacing the pins with ones with eyes on the top is a compelling idea but not sure the pins are designed to take load in the vertical direction .

Again - this is where a 5 minute chat with Tony would be invaluable. Did I see that he is still working sometimes ?

- Simon
Ex-Telstar 28 Owner
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