minuteman62-64
Lieutenant
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2011
- Messages
- 1,350
At least I think it is another approach - haven't seen any similar. I wanted to raise my boat off the trailer to do some work on the bunks/rollers/etc.
I had a bunch of 2 ft. cut-offs from the ends of 3/4 plywood sheets plus some odds-n-ends lying around and wanted to use what was on hand. Made four stands to give me the ability (I think, haven't tried it yet) to "walk" the boat all the way off the trailer. The main part of each stand is a column of the 3/4 plywood fastened with pocket screws (gave me a chance to us my new Kreig pocket screw jig) and glue. The column heights were sized to fit my boat/trailer. The stands for the rear of the boat have pivoting platforms on top to accommodate the varying angle of the hull as the boat is manuvered off the trailer. The front stand(s) (without the pivot) can either go under the keel, or, when I figure out what to use for a beam, outboard of the trailer wheels supporting a beam with the keel resting on the beam. Since I?ll be storing them outside, all painted with oil based Rustoleum.
Load tested before use by putting one under the trailer tongue (175 lb. weight). No problem. Then, jacked my truck up as far as I could, and put one stand under the rear bumper. Couldn?t get the wheels all the way off the road, but had a good weight supported by the stand.
Attached photos show the four stands alone and then in action. The square pieces of plywood are ?shims? to accommodate differences in the height being supported. I also made some cardboard ?shims? to pad against the hull and for fine-tuning the height. The rear (pivoted) supports are shown supporting the rear of my boat while the front was supported at the keel by one of the front supports. Another photo shows the supports, sans pivots, supporting the rear of the trailer/boat together, with the front supported by the tongue jack.
I didn?t do any calcs on the load capacity of these stands, so I can?t attest to their feasibility for all applications. My boat trailer combo is 1200 lbs. max ? so this methodology would work for you guys with the lighter, alloy rigs. If you?ve got one of those 6000 lb. packages, however, I?d do some more research.
Weak point is probably the 1/2" all-thread used for the pivots on the rear supports. If I had problems with these I was thinking moving up to 5/8? all-thread or ?? water pipe or maybe even graded bolts. However, the ?? all-thread worked perfectly ? no bending.
I had a bunch of 2 ft. cut-offs from the ends of 3/4 plywood sheets plus some odds-n-ends lying around and wanted to use what was on hand. Made four stands to give me the ability (I think, haven't tried it yet) to "walk" the boat all the way off the trailer. The main part of each stand is a column of the 3/4 plywood fastened with pocket screws (gave me a chance to us my new Kreig pocket screw jig) and glue. The column heights were sized to fit my boat/trailer. The stands for the rear of the boat have pivoting platforms on top to accommodate the varying angle of the hull as the boat is manuvered off the trailer. The front stand(s) (without the pivot) can either go under the keel, or, when I figure out what to use for a beam, outboard of the trailer wheels supporting a beam with the keel resting on the beam. Since I?ll be storing them outside, all painted with oil based Rustoleum.
Load tested before use by putting one under the trailer tongue (175 lb. weight). No problem. Then, jacked my truck up as far as I could, and put one stand under the rear bumper. Couldn?t get the wheels all the way off the road, but had a good weight supported by the stand.
Attached photos show the four stands alone and then in action. The square pieces of plywood are ?shims? to accommodate differences in the height being supported. I also made some cardboard ?shims? to pad against the hull and for fine-tuning the height. The rear (pivoted) supports are shown supporting the rear of my boat while the front was supported at the keel by one of the front supports. Another photo shows the supports, sans pivots, supporting the rear of the trailer/boat together, with the front supported by the tongue jack.
I didn?t do any calcs on the load capacity of these stands, so I can?t attest to their feasibility for all applications. My boat trailer combo is 1200 lbs. max ? so this methodology would work for you guys with the lighter, alloy rigs. If you?ve got one of those 6000 lb. packages, however, I?d do some more research.
Weak point is probably the 1/2" all-thread used for the pivots on the rear supports. If I had problems with these I was thinking moving up to 5/8? all-thread or ?? water pipe or maybe even graded bolts. However, the ?? all-thread worked perfectly ? no bending.
