Cat haul without travel lift

[Fluffflinger]

Simple question but would probably make more sense if I gave a bit of background info.

I"m a Brit currently boat shopping in Florida, plan is to sail in the Carribean 6months on 6 months off (need to return to earn some cruising cash) or maybe a year at a time.

I would prefer a boat that needed some work as I'd like to add value or if you like limit my capital loss when I eventually sell and I have found a couple that fit the bill.

I am fortunate to have family resident in NE Florida and within waling distance they have a boatyard but no facility to haul a 35 ft cruising cat, they have good storage facilities and services if needed and low cost storage in a secure compound. Sadly travel lift and slip not wide enough. However within another 800yds there is a public boat ramp that would be perfect, wide concrete slip.

I have a wild notion that I might build (yes I am that kinda guy) a trailer and haul the boat half a mile to the above mentioned compound.

I am sure I once saw a piece online about a guy in some far flung place haul a cat on a jerry built trailer to repair some hull damage.

Crazy idea possibly but the economics and practicalities of having the boat close to my families home would quickly out way any upfront costs.

Any positive suggestions would be appreciated.

[onestepcsy37]

multi's that are too big for a travellift are taken out by crane. I saw a perfectly executed operation at westland marina in titusvile florida where they brought in a crane, put slings around a prout 45, picked it up, and deposited on jackstands in the yard. didn't even break a dish.

I suppose it would be possible to pick it up on a trailer, but not easy. to begin with you would need to engineer a trailer that would either allow the cat to sit on it's hulls on the trailer or would be high enough to pick the cat up from under it's main body - maybe hydraulic jacks? then there is road transport. in most states there is a width limit for road use - I think it's 10 feet in florida. so you would have to get a company to haul it for you, with state permits for the special haul, or possibly you could get the permits yourself. don't forget to take the mast down; you'll probably have to clear power lines.

might be cheaper/easier to have the boat yard rent a crane, at your expense of course....

[HappyMdRSailor]

First... You didn't tell us the size of the cat!

Low 30's and below??? I'll bet you could build a trailer... Bigger??? probably not...

If you're only moving it a couple hundred yards, maybe the crane is financially better....

A couple of flat bed trailers with welded cross beams would be the cheapest option instead of building from scratch, but most tandem axle flatbeds are 5k lbs max....

[Austin]

We have launched and retrieved our 50' cat using a trailer. It is not easy, but can be done. The flatbed trailer sat between the hulls with blocking support under the bridgedeck. The supports were high enough that it kept the rudders and deadwood safely above the pavement. In our case we had a very shallow ramp that had originally been used by seaplanes. You had to use a dolly on the flatbed fifth wheel, and a cable to the loader that backed the trailer down the ramp. The boat was moved around in the shop where it was built on this flatbed trailer, so everything was already in place for us.

All of that said, I would recommend securing a crane and using it to pick the boat and set it on the hard at the boatyard.

[Dulcesuenos]

Ahh arent there yards with travel lift/ cat haulout facilities all around Jacksonville? St Augustine Yacht sales has one, though I would Never get any glass work or mechanical work done there. I would trust their haul out though np.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

multi's that are too big for a travellift are taken out by crane. I saw a perfectly executed operation at westland marina in titusvile florida where they brought in a crane, put slings around a prout 45, picked it up, and deposited on jackstands in the yard. didn't even break a dish.

I suppose it would be possible to pick it up on a trailer, but not easy. to begin with you would need to engineer a trailer that would either allow the cat to sit on it's hulls on the trailer or would be high enough to pick the cat up from under it's main body - maybe hydraulic jacks? then there is road transport. in most states there is a width limit for road use - I think it's 10 feet in florida. so you would have to get a company to haul it for you, with state permits for the special haul, or possibly you could get the permits yourself. don't forget to take the mast down; you'll probably have to clear power lines.

might be cheaper/easier to have the boat yard rent a crane, at your expense of course....

Sounds like you're at Fernandina Beach. Tiger Point.

[Austin]

Here is a picture so you can see how we used a flatbed trailer to launch and retrieve our cat.

[Fluffflinger]

In reverse order.

Vasco, you are correct my family live 200yards from Tiger Point in Old Town Fernandina.

Dulcheuenos, I'm aware there are haul out facilities in other areas but I would lose the frequent checks my family can make on the boat whilst I'm in England and the cost of accommodation for an extended period whilst working on the boat adds costs I'm eager to avoid.

Austin, my only concern about the public ramp is that it is not steep but not the shallowest of gradients.

Happy Mdrsailor, 35ft approx as mentioned in my original post. Crane is possible but the access in my location wouldn't be easy.

Onestepcsy37, the road run is a matter of a few hundred yards and I would like a solution that is repeatable on a regular basis. It is a very quiet backwater not on a through road.

Thanked for your help thus far keep them coming.

The easy solution is simply to haul and store further away but if I can avoid it I can save bundles.

[nimblemotors]

I hauled out my 34ft cat using diy rollers and a winch on my bronco.
Chocked the wheels on the bronco and winched it up the ramp.
But then I didn't have to move it very far, dismantled it right there and hauled each hull about 10 miles in a trailer I made. Nice feature of a wharram-style cat. One might make a simple trailer with wheels under each hull and a long tube. Your problem is going over the roadway with a wide load,
that must be done with the proper equipment to be done legally.

btw, I had the crane guy come out to estimate cost, if I recall it was like $800/hr including travel time to/from, estimate was 2 hours,
but the portable crane weighed a huge amount, and I didn't want to chance damage to the marina parking lot, the area near the water was pretty iffy concrete.

[Sand crab]

$800 an hour? I'm in construction and have rented, paid for and coordinated crane rental many times and have never paid even a third of that. A 35 cat is probably only about 6 tons more or less so you really only need a boom truck.
If you find the right guy and coordinate the haulout so it is mutually convenient the rate can be pretty low. A construction type extendable forklift could also handle it if it's not any heaver. I know it's Montana but these are the rates I pay.
http://www.montanacraneservice.com/p...ice%20List.pdf

[nimblemotors]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

$800 an hour? I'm in construction and have rented, paid for and coordinated crane rental many times and have never paid even a third of that. A 35 cat is probably only about 6 tons more or less so you really only need a boom truck.
If you find the right guy and coordinate the haulout so it is mutually convenient the rate can be pretty low. A construction type extendable forklift could also handle it if it's not any heaver. I know it's Montana but these are the rates I pay.
http://www.montanacraneservice.com/p...ice%20List.pdf

If the OP can just get his boat to Montana, he can get cheaper crane rates...
In my case, the crane could not get next to the water because of the poor ground surface, it needed a longer boom and bigger crane.

[smj]

When we hauled our Seawind 1000 by crane it ended up being $400 out and $400 in.

[Boatguy30]

I plan to launch my 34' cat next year off a launch ramp here in St augustine? I reckon you need to wait for the tide to come up with the trailer blocked or on a chain lead from the truck.

will let you know how it works out. Will also be doing it with very little or no gear onboard.

[bobconnie]

Down here in the Bayou Country almost everything is pulled out of the water either by crane or old style rail setups, There maybe a Normal Yacht lift in New Orleans, but not down here!! Theres lots of big boom trucks and cranes up and down the bayou used for boats! Never heard of high prices for a lift at a yard like some of yall are talking about !! But then I don't have a Cat !!

[Rapanui]

My friend and i had identical 32 ft cats and launched and recovered each every year moving a few hundred yards. Origionally we floated the boat on but this was problematical, so we converted to drying the boat on the slip and jacking up under the cross beams, the method used in the factory by Fountaine Pajot. Upside is the trailer lasts longer, the trailer is much narrower than the boat so stows and is easily moved empty and the process is safer, downside is you need at least a 1 m tide.
The trailer was two truck front axles and there were 3 sturdy wood cross beams covered in carpet and supported on scaffold adjustable feet. Hydraulic pillar jacks under the wood crossbeams were used to raise the boat and truck ratchet straps were used to stop the boat moving fore and aft and athwartships on the trailer. In uk 10+ tonne boats are regularly moved on 2 single wheel truck axles. Scaffold tube, adjustable scaffold feet and various scaffold clamps are perfect for quickly producing a strong well braced trolley. We could jack up, move and block off our cats in 2 hours each. Have done this for over 10 years.
Depending on the layout of your local slipway, you might get away using a narrow slipway that will take the trailer wheels, withe th boat overhanging each side.