Weighs a ton - hard to get at

[Cherp]

Hello Sailors,

Twice this year I have been in a situation where I needed to offer up a heavy piece of machinery to a higher fitting. The first time was lifting a rebuilt autopilot drive to its fitting, which of course was in a very awkward place. The second was trying to offer a heavy anchor winch motor/box to the drive shaft for the winch gypsy, which is above deck. In both cases forearms like a gorilla would have been useful, but I don't have them. In both cases, the hull of the yacht the "floor" was of irregular shape. With the pilot I managed to use lots of pieces of wood and some wedges to finally get it to the spot where it connected, but I could not manage that with the anchor winch drives. No amount of different shaped and sized bits of wood would provide a flattish floor in the anchor locker because of its compound angles. Is there some sort of tool people use for these situations - like a jack with tripod feed that you can lengthen or shorten? Or is it just a case of plug on until your forearms break or you make the connection?

[Sojourner]

There are lots of jack equipment and parts online, including various tripods. But for truly irregular spaces, would it be possible to take some 2x2s and basically frame in your tripod or quadripod (??) in the space custom fit, no matter how tight, and then use some blocks and tackle? Just thinking on it that's what I'd try to do....

[Kenomac]

We used the passerelle halyard along with block and tackle to install a 900 pound generator. Lifted off the dock and placed below, only two people required and no heavy lifting.

[atoll]

in ship building they will weld on temporary tangs above the item to be fitted then cut them off after ,this could be done with pads temporairally glassed /sika flex/epoxied in place to create strong points.

an example of this would be using double sided sticky/foam tape to hold together a template and board for machining with a trim router to produce an exact copy.

increadibly strong bond between the 2 parts when pressed together,but easily prised apart once finished.

[jimbunyard]

Without a clearer idea of your situation (a picture would be nice), it's hard to say what to do, other than remarking on the idiasyncracies of such dilemmas...

If you have room and based solely on your description, can you take two 2 X 4s, cut to wedge between the locker sides, and put a piece of 3/4 plywood on top of them to provide a base to work from? If you measured closely enough, you could leave just enough room to need only a pry bar to lever the drive up to the winch...

If you have a source of compressed air, there are also pneumatic bladders that are available to lift weights, though that might be overkill in this situation.

[Lepke]

Rather than buy a jack, why not hire a young muscled stud to do the lifting? You just do the fastening. That's what I do sometimes, now that I'm old.

[deblen]

The small scissors jack provided with modern cars is useful at times./Len

[Wotname]

Exhaust jack and air compressor but really, hire the muscle if you can. Should be cheap if you can find a 15 year old one .

[sailormed]

Another possibility is to look for a big airtight bag that you inflate with a pump. Place the heavy equipment on the bag and control the upward movement to direct it to the required position.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by deblen

The small scissors jack provided with modern cars is useful at times./Len

I’ve done this on a few occasions. Scissor jacks are compact and light.

That said, there’s no universal solution. You design one to fit the circumstances and challenges. I do keep a collection of dimensional lumber in odd assorted lengths to build “scaffolding” to support a heavy piece of machinery and even my feet or butt at times.

I’m my experience spending a few minutes designing a solution to make a task easier, safer, and more comfortable pays for itself in time and effort in the long run.

[ggray]

Basketball and a hand pump

[sailor_ed]

Big fenders or mooring bouys.

[Kenomac]

We replaced a windlass motor a few months ago, sometimes in cramped spaces, you just need to grin and bear it. No amount of advice of the kind you’re getting on this forum is going to get that motor in place along with you in the anchor well. Push up hard on the motor with one bolt ready to hand tighten and use it to support the motor after you get a few turns on it.

[Dymaxion]

Couple of stacked inner tubes with a sheet of ply on top? Pump up slowly with cheapo 12v compressor while guiding the item into place...
Yup, a picture would help

[jimbunyard]

If the motor is through bolted onto the gypsy, a couple of appropriately-sized threaded rods could be used to pull the motor up from the deck and the other opposing bolts used to secure the motor and then remove and replace the rods with bolts.

If the bolts screw from underneath into blind holes this approach is obviously not possible, but you could use the same technique by removing the gypsy, use threaded rods to pull the motor up into place, wedge the motor into place against the underside of the deck, and then offer up (or is that offer down?) the gypsy to the motor...

Or you could just grin and bear it, and hope you don't damage yourself, your boat or the winch or the gypsy by doing it the 'manly' way.