turning over

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roger
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turning over

Post by roger »

I am very lucky down here in zummerzet. When I need to turn the boat over to do work on her I am able to call on the lorry drivers across the road to help me gently turn her over and not scratch the new varnish. But occasionally I find myself without burly men to help and have to ask Angie to "just hold it like that for a mo" while I try to wriggle duvets into the right place and try to gently turn her over(the boat that is). It normally ends up ok but on occasions a horrible slip with closed eyes thinking what have I done. Luckily no damage yet.

So how does one single handedly turn a boat without that horrible moment when its your back or the boat? The back normally loses out as you dont want to damage your pride and joy after all that hard work.
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Pat
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Re: turning over

Post by Pat »

Plenty of tyres to roll gunwhales onto then then, as you do, "hold it there" "don't let the bottom slip" "grab that side"......etc etc. How about a hoist?

Otherwise have a family birthday celebration and oh, by the way could you just...

or just call a committee meeting? :D
roger
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Re: turning over

Post by roger »

Pat wrote:Plenty of tyres to roll gunwhales onto then then, as you do, "hold it there" "don't let the bottom slip" "grab that side"......etc etc. How about a hoist?

Otherwise have a family birthday celebration and oh, by the way could you just...

or just call a committee meeting? :D
Pat after one of those committee meetings it may not be wise to try to turn the boat over
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jpa_wfsc
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Re: turning over

Post by jpa_wfsc »

I have used jib sheet fairleads, jammers, and a longish piece of rope secured to 'somewhere over there'. You adjust the rope in the cleat until the hull can just go over-centre. The rope stops one possible degree of movement, so you can walk around the hull to the other side staying in contact and preventing the twisting motion, and then release the cleat pay out the line to allow the hull to roll down onto the soft ground/matress/tyres. Fairleads should be strong enough for this - unless its a very pre-owned Merlin Rocket which do seem to be able to let go at the wrong time!!

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Rupert
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Re: turning over

Post by Rupert »

Holding a boat on the balance point while walking round the back of it is one of my least favorite passtimes, it has to be said. I have put ropes round beams in the past, spread sail bags out and all sorts of things. I think in 20 years of turning boats over by myself I've only dropped a finished one once, but I've hurt my back/arms on several occasions.
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Keith66
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Re: turning over

Post by Keith66 »

Last boat i turned over was a 28ft Saunders launch, one sling attached to a deck beam frd & aft with the bight of the sling under the boat, one chain block lifts one side & rolls the boat into the sling. Half hour single handed with the boat never more than six inches of the floor, few tyres to stop scraping on the concrete, same way with a dinghy. Top tip, your roof beams must be up to it or it could all go very pete tong!
JimC
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Re: turning over

Post by JimC »

Much string and slings tends to be my solution. However as my vintage boat is at least half the weight of most of yours I do have it easy, although the flipside is that the consequences of a drop onto the right/wrong point could be devastating...
Nessa
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Re: turning over

Post by Nessa »

this is a perpetual problem for me. I'm ok if neighbours are around, so we can do a joint manhandle, but otherwise I struggle. We rolled the simoun around on the grass the other day, but I wouldn't want to do this with a precious woodie.

My worst move ever was to attempt to spin the Menace by taking a line from the forestay fitting up over a beam in the garage roof then cleating off. I then went to the stern to spin the boat, but there was a nasty noise and a bang......reinforcing the bow so I could fit a new forestay fitting was a real pain....
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roger
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Re: turning over

Post by roger »

Nessa wrote:this is a perpetual problem for me. I'm ok if neighbours are around, so we can do a joint manhandle, but otherwise I struggle. We rolled the simoun around on the grass the other day, but I wouldn't want to do this with a precious woodie.

My worst move ever was to attempt to spin the Menace by taking a line from the forestay fitting up over a beam in the garage roof then cleating off. I then went to the stern to spin the boat, but there was a nasty noise and a bang......reinforcing the bow so I could fit a new forestay fitting was a real pain....
Better it happened then than on the launch day.

Unfortunately I dont have any beams that I would trust to do more than hold the roof up.
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alan williams
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Re: turning over

Post by alan williams »

Hi
A friend of mine, who's an inventor developed a simple frame system for turning cars over for garages. He also built a system for turning his Fireball over single handed. The really good thing about the design was that it clamped on to the bow and on to the stern, rotated and then locked and became a very stable structure. This enabled you to work under the boat as well as have the uppermost side at a very comfortable height for sanding painting etc or have the boat in a vertical position. It's draw back was that you need a fair amount of space due to it's size (double garage),.
Cheers Al
Last edited by alan williams on Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Graham T
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Re: turning over

Post by Graham T »

We renewed the kids mattresses the other week - as I was about to take the old ones to the dump I had an inspiration and took them to the workshop instead. They are great for boat rolling as the boat sinks into them enough on the gunwhale to steady itself whilst you walk round the transom. For heavy boats like the Osprey though I would still seek another pair of hands. I did buy two of Aldis finest electric hoists with the idea of rigging a boat rolling sling arrangement sometime but have yet to get around to it....
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Nessa
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Re: turning over

Post by Nessa »

I would love a system that would enable me to work in a boat with it on its side - it would make working in the cockpit or on the floor so much easier.
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Ancient Geek
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Re: turning over

Post by Ancient Geek »

I'd say just do it on the lawn in my Dinghy Days I would use my mother my ma and I could carry a Merlin Rocket From its trailer and deposit on the lawn then life under a gunwale and and she'd steady it on its side whilst I lowered it eith on to its decks or bottom and then we'd lify it either onto the trailer or into the garage, must have done that every twoo weeks for ten years and mother never even complained, a slim lightly built woman too.
Simples.
JimC
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Re: turning over

Post by JimC »

Nessa wrote:I would love a system that would enable me to work in a boat with it on its side - it would make working in the cockpit or on the floor so much easier.
String! I have a few now rather ratty sheets of insulation foam which sit on the floor and lean up against the wall, and the boat partly rests on them and partly hangs from the ceiling...
Nigel
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Re: turning over

Post by Nigel »

Take it sailing on a windy day. Always works for me!
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