Cruising/ leaving boat on hard/ no cradle?!

[thruska]

Originally Posted by LauraleeG

Hi
We are moving boat in stages down south. I cannot believe we are the first people to have the problem of leaving the boat in the hard over winter in a new marina... but you don’t have your cradle!!
What do people do?
I have called around to a few marinas... they don’t “ rent” cradles in the port colborne , Ontario Marina. They also don’t do jack stands ( not that that is a good portion anyway) ....
So.... what do people do when they need to leave the boat on the hard in a strange marina and they don’t have a cradle?
Thanks!
Laura

Never ever heard of boatyard not having a pile of brownells stands.
Build a cradle out of repurposed material. Not that complicated. . How big is your boat . Ive seen numerous trailers converted to mobile cradles.
Just start thinking out of the box.!
Ive built custom sailboat cradle on repurposed farmers corn wagon for a friend .
More recently, built cradle on fifth wheel gooseneck trailer .set bost on centered trailer , temporarily ste brownel stands, built cradle around that boat out of repurposed trimaran cradle from a barn built trimaran.
If you wantpics i can provide for some ideas for you .
I towed the boat n trailer to a finally acquired property. No more boatyard rent . Pays for trailer and crib x times over .
Think erector set like when you were a kid at Christmas time 👍🏼
Good luck!

[DHLyman]

Originally Posted by LauraleeG

Hi
We are moving boat in stages down south. I cannot believe we are the first people to have the problem of leaving the boat in the hard over winter in a new marina... but you don’t have your cradle!!
What do people do?
I have called around to a few marinas... they don’t “ rent” cradles in the port colborne , Ontario Marina. They also don’t do jack stands ( not that that is a good portion anyway) ....
So.... what do people do when they need to leave the boat on the hard in a strange marina and they don’t have a cradle?
Thanks!
Laura

Jack stands. What do you have for a boat? That’s the first thing anyone needs to know.

[JordanH]

Originally Posted by LauraleeG

Thanks for all the feedback. After calling around we have the problem sorted. In my neck of the woods... southern Ontario most sailboats are on cradles in boat yards and very very few on jack stands.
Agree about port colborne and winds... so now we are going to Buffalo Canoe Club who are the staging ground guys for the Erie Canal! We might not get that far though... don’t want to rush through the north channel.... so we might put her up in port Dover!

The north channel is so nice, we almost left our boat there as a permanent home. Nicest sailing I've done. I particularly like Baie Fine. Definitely don't rush that.


We didn't stop at Port Dover as it was a long way out of our way to cut back north around Long Point.


As for staying in Buffalo... I have no idea what the rules are for that, but I would make sure you can leave a boat in the USA for a long period of time without being dinged on taxes for "importing" the boat.


For the rest... yes... I know jack stands are common place, as are blocking boats or digging trenches etc. In Ontario, those are almost unheard of. Steel cradles are the norm and many places won't let you in without one.


LauraleeG, I'm curious to know if you found any Canadian marina that accepted jackstands for wintering here.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by JordanH

The north channel is so nice, we almost left our boat there as a permanent home. Nicest sailing I've done. I particularly like Baie Fine. Definitely don't rush that. ...

Ditto on the NC comments. Don't rush. Are you planning to carry on down Georgian Bay? Another wonderful cruising ground, although busier than the NC.

Originally Posted by JordanH

For the rest... yes... I know jack stands are common place, as are blocking boats or digging trenches etc. In Ontario, those are almost unheard of. Steel cradles are the norm and many places won't let you in without one.

LauraleeG, I'm curious to know if you found any Canadian marina that accepted jackstands for wintering here.

Cradles are more common in Ontario. But jackstands are far from unusual. My current boat sat on stands in Thunder Bay for years. And then when we moved to Lake Ontario we sat in a combination of cradle and stands, with a number of boats in stands-only. I've never heard of a marina banning jackstands here in Ontario, but I've only stayed at a few.

I'm currently on the east coast (Newfoundland), and jackstands are commonplace. More boats use them than cradles.

As I said earlier, jackstands are not generally less stable than cradles. And for boats with longish flat keels, I think they can be better. It's easier to position them perfectly vs lowering a boat down into a fixed cradle.

But I'm very glad to hear you solved your challenge LauraleeG. I'm sure you're going to have a grand cruising adventure once the water turns soft again.

[Stmurray62]

Tiger point Marina on Amelia Island has & uses cradles. Tiger point is in city of Fernandina Beach, FL

[dfelsent]

I’ve seen this in Scotland.

[Seadaddler]

I have stored my boat on the hard many years up north for the winter and 99%
of the boats are on jack stands 6 or7 with chain to them for extra support and now been in Florida a for over 10 years always see boats for long storage on the
hard all have jack stands and that is normal way of doing things.
Cradles are made special for each different boat and that would work if going back to same yard for many years.
Nick

[Montanan]

Insurance for the Lay-up period: Make sure your boat is covered during the off-season and when on the hard. Even when a boat isn’t in the water, there is still the risk of property damage. For example, if a major storm hits and a tree falls on your boat, you may be exposed if you are without insurance coverage.

[LauraleeG]

Originally Posted by DHLyman

Jack stands. What do you have for a boat? That’s the first thing anyone needs to know.

C+C 38 Landfall

[LauraleeG]

Originally Posted by JordanH

The north channel is so nice, we almost left our boat there as a permanent home. Nicest sailing I've done. I particularly like Baie Fine. Definitely don't rush that.


We didn't stop at Port Dover as it was a long way out of our way to cut back north around Long Point.


As for staying in Buffalo... I have no idea what the rules are for that, but I would make sure you can leave a boat in the USA for a long period of time without being dinged on taxes for "importing" the boat.


For the rest... yes... I know jack stands are common place, as are blocking boats or digging trenches etc. In Ontario, those are almost unheard of. Steel cradles are the norm and many places won't let you in without one.


LauraleeG, I'm curious to know if you found any Canadian marina that accepted jackstands for wintering here.

Yes... Port Dover Marina uses Bridge Yachts... they do a jack stand/ reinforcement with chains combo.

[LauraleeG]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Ditto on the NC comments. Don't rush. Are you planning to carry on down Georgian Bay? Another wonderful cruising ground, although busier than the NC.



Cradles are more common in Ontario. But jackstands are far from unusual. My current boat sat on stands in Thunder Bay for years. And then when we moved to Lake Ontario we sat in a combination of cradle and stands, with a number of boats in stands-only. I've never heard of a marina banning jackstands here in Ontario, but I've only stayed at a few.

I'm currently on the east coast (Newfoundland), and jackstands are commonplace. More boats use them than cradles.

As I said earlier, jackstands are not generally less stable than cradles. And for boats with longish flat keels, I think they can be better. It's easier to position them perfectly vs lowering a boat down into a fixed cradle.

But I'm very glad to hear you solved your challenge LauraleeG. I'm sure you're going to have a grand cruising adventure once the water turns soft again.

Yep! We sailed her from Midland Ontario to Bayfield Ontario and did Georgian Bay then... we had to cut that trip shorter than we wanted too because we had a very badly leaking prop shaft whenever the motor was running... boat was sinking!! One bailed, the other sailed. Good times!!

[LauraleeG]

Originally Posted by Montanan

Insurance for the Lay-up period: Make sure your boat is covered during the off-season and when on the hard. Even when a boat isn’t in the water, there is still the risk of property damage. For example, if a major storm hits and a tree falls on your boat, you may be exposed if you are without insurance coverage.

Noted! Thanks

[LauraleeG]

Originally Posted by JordanH

The north channel is so nice, we almost left our boat there as a permanent home. Nicest sailing I've done. I particularly like Baie Fine. Definitely don't rush that.


We didn't stop at Port Dover as it was a long way out of our way to cut back north around Long Point.


As for staying in Buffalo... I have no idea what the rules are for that, but I would make sure you can leave a boat in the USA for a long period of time without being dinged on taxes for "importing" the boat.


For the rest... yes... I know jack stands are common place, as are blocking boats or digging trenches etc. In Ontario, those are almost unheard of. Steel cradles are the norm and many places won't let you in without one.


LauraleeG, I'm curious to know if you found any Canadian marina that accepted jackstands for wintering here.

Re: Buffalo canoe club.... it’s in Ontario, despite the name...

[Fantazia]

Originally Posted by LauraleeG

Insurance issues aside.... I am not the first person who has done this!
What do people do when they want to leave their boat on the hard.... wherever they are!!!
They don’t ship their cradle to the BVIs or Grenada or wherever...

There are some yards who do absolutely supply a complete support system for a boat on the hard.

If you are in the Caribbean for example a really solid yard is NORTHSOUND at the northern end of Antigua. These guys are really good and I left my 55' catamaran there for a northern cyclone season with the blessing of my insurance company.

After being guyed to a 1m thick concrete slab, theseyguys keep the yard spotless.

Most damage in cyclones is done by other boats or loose junk flying around the yard.
John W

[flyingnut40]

[QUOTE=LauraleeG; we had a very badly leaking prop shaft whenever the motor was running... boat was sinking!! One bailed, the other sailed. Good times!![/QUOTE]

Did you think to tighten up the packing on the prop shaft?
That must have been a pain..... ;-(