Engine Room Removal Hoist

[Charlie]

Here is my thought. My engine is placed under the cockpit. The access is behind the companion way steps. It is possible to remove the engine without taking apart any cabinetry. But it would be real nice to have something like what I am going to attempt to describe. I would like to find some thick wall square Aluminum tubing. On each side I would like to bolt on a traveler track and car. The tubing would have to be in two pieces with a splice in the traveler that would it to act as a single length of traveler. The tube would be permanently affixed to the cabin top of my engine room and the second piece would be long enough to allow me to set my engine down at the base of the companion way. Perhaps an A frame or tripod would support the other side of the tube. The traveller cars would be used to move the engine in a horizontal plane and the blocks on the traveler cars would be used to raise and lower the engine. I would like to have a block and tackle to control the raising and lowers of the engine. Perhaps 8 or 12 to 1. Is it correct that a five hundred pound engine lifted with a 12 to 1 tackle would only require about 42 pounds of effort?

Is there already something like this so I don't have to reinvent the wheel?

When I'm not using the hoist I can keep a nice big work light on it and light my engine room up like the sun.

Any comments or ideas?

[sailorchic34]

Your looking for a trolley hoist. Most I know about use an I Beam, though two C channels mounted back to back might work. I seem to remember one using a C channel upside down, but can't remember the manufacturer. Rather then a block and tackle use a gear operated hoist which gives better / easier lifting and control. A 1000#gear operated chain fall hoist is pretty inexpensive

Issues would be support for the track/beam. Not sure your ceiling / deck would be strong enough for a 750 LB dynamic load. Or rather the lovely backing plates to keep the bolts from pulling thru the deck. Perhaps the ceiling track could be partly supported from the keel or bulkhead with maybe an A frame support at one end

[S/V Alchemy]

Funny you should mention this:

The world encompassed: From flipping lids to downing hatches

I'm facing the same questions.





The concern for me is bracing it at the bottom to avoid "sway". I will be shortly talking to a welder about using disassembled pieces of boat cradle I can bolt together. Ideally, I need something I can assemble in place.

[delmarrey]

Not a sailboat but same basic principle. I lifted a pair of 427 Crusaders with this setup. But my last motor I just a long boomed forktruck.

[S/V Alchemy]

Did you cut the I-beam length to fit pretty closely the width of the cabin to avoid side-to-side wobble? This is my challenge...to cross-brace properly so the thing doesn't sway and topple to the sides.

[NoTies]

You've got a boom so use it. I've hauled many sailboat engines out this was.
Back up the topping lift and main halyard directly above the lift point and tension against the mainsheet, prevent from slipping forward by tying back to the outhaul. Secure the boom from sideways movement by lashing down to the toerails on either side. If necessary make up temporary extensions to the engine bed so engine can be slid forward (more important when refitting). Lift using chain block and haul into cockpit using sheet winch and snatchblock

[delmarrey]

When I did my last motor I built a temporary engine support and slid the old motor upon to it, then lifted the motor straight up thru the hatch with the forktruck. Another good reason to install adjustment plates under the motor mounts.

Then while putting the new motor in, it was lowered down onto the support and then pulled back onto the engine woods.


.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

Your looking for a trolley hoist. Most I know about use an I Beam, though two C channels mounted back to back might work. I seem to remember one using a C channel upside down, but can't remember the manufacturer. Rather then a block and tackle use a gear operated hoist which gives better / easier lifting and control. A 1000#gear operated chain fall hoist is pretty inexpensive

Issues would be support for the track/beam. Not sure your ceiling / deck would be strong enough for a 750 LB dynamic load. Or rather the lovely backing plates to keep the bolts from pulling thru the deck. Perhaps the ceiling track could be partly supported from the keel or bulkhead with maybe an A frame support at one end

Sailor Chic:
I am thinking of something like that. The total length would have to be near 10'. I might be able to add an A frame at 3' to decrease the length on the girder(word choice?) that needed to be carried. Bolting it to the cabin top would keep it in column from side to side and not be expected to hold the entire vertical load.

I have made a rough sketch https://picasaweb.google.com/1100267...49528697341202 The Ideas presented here are great but don't work unless there is access from above which I don't have.

[Mark Zarley]

Delmarrey has the easiest and safest solution. Sliding the engine to wherever it needs to be to hoist it out. As you can see the simple engine support is a continuation of the bed that the eng is mounted on. No worries about side support or height issues, looks like it could be made out of scrap. Worried about floor support , spread the load with longer rails. Then lift it out with a hoist that is designed for hoisting only.

[delmarrey]

Charlie, your link is not functional.

Originally Posted by Charlie

The Ideas presented here are great but don't work unless there is access from above which I don't have.

Is this a center cockpit?

These boat motors are not very heavy. You could put the mount I showed on a blanket and slide it around in the solon or whatever to get it to an exit.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Here is my thought. My engine is placed under the cockpit. The access is behind the companion way steps. It is possible to remove the engine without taking apart any cabinetry. But it would be real nice to have something like what I am going to attempt to describe. I would like to find some thick wall square Aluminum tubing. On each side I would like to bolt on a traveler track and car. The tubing would have to be in two pieces with a splice in the traveler that would it to act as a single length of traveler. The tube would be permanently affixed to the cabin top of my engine room and the second piece would be long enough to allow me to set my engine down at the base of the companion way. Perhaps an A frame or tripod would support the other side of the tube. The traveller cars would be used to move the engine in a horizontal plane and the blocks on the traveler cars would be used to raise and lower the engine. I would like to have a block and tackle to control the raising and lowers of the engine. Perhaps 8 or 12 to 1. Is it correct that a five hundred pound engine lifted with a 12 to 1 tackle would only require about 42 pounds of effort?

Is there already something like this so I don't have to reinvent the wheel?

When I'm not using the hoist I can keep a nice big work light on it and light my engine room up like the sun.

Any comments or ideas?

I removed my four hundred twenty five pound Westerbeke diesel pretty much by myself:
THE BIANKA LOG BLOG: Removing a Westerbeke diesel engine
A piece of Lexan to protect the cabin floor, a 1 ton chain hoist, 3 inch gas pipe with end caps, various blocks of wood (to rest the engine on) and a couple of crowbars and two 18 inch pieces of chain was all I really used. Job turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by NoTies

You've got a boom so use it. I've hauled many sailboat engines out this was.
Back up the topping lift and main halyard directly above the lift point and tension against the mainsheet, prevent from slipping forward by tying back to the outhaul. Secure the boom from sideways movement by lashing down to the toerails on either side. If necessary make up temporary extensions to the engine bed so engine can be slid forward (more important when refitting). Lift using chain block and haul into cockpit using sheet winch and snatchblock

I did the same thing to fix an oil leak on My Volvo MD2020 (300 lbs more or less).
Main halyard to the engine, outhaul line attached to same spot to a snatch block on boom end and led back to a winch.
Boom allows horizontal movement.
I just hung the engine in the cockpit to do the work, then dropped it right back in place.

Piece of cake.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by mbianka

I removed my four hundred twenty five pound Westerbeke diesel pretty much by myself:
THE BIANKA LOG BLOG: Removing a Westerbeke diesel engine
A piece of Lexan to protect the cabin floor, a 1 ton chain hoist, 3 inch gas pipe with end caps, various blocks of wood (to rest the engine on) and a couple of crowbars and two 18 inch pieces of chain was all I really used. Job turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

I didn't think you could slide the motor forward like you did Bianca thanks for writing it up in your blog. The detail was excellent. It all makes good sense now and the idea of installing a trolley hoist is not as attractive.

Originally Posted by delmarrey

Charlie, your link is not functional.



Is this a center cockpit?

These boat motors are not very heavy. You could put the mount I showed on a blanket and slide it around in the solon or whatever to get it to an exit.

Del this is not a center cockpit boat. It is an aft cockpit boat with the engine underneath the cockpit in what Bianca refers to as a tunnel. I will send you a pic via email the link works for me. I'll check and see if the web album is Locke.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by Charlie

I didn't think you could slide the motor forward like you did Bianca thanks for writing it up in your blog. The detail was excellent. It all makes good sense now and the idea of installing a trolley hoist is not as attractive.

Thanks I'm glad it was of help. The crowbars and blocks of wood really move things along. They help to lift it off the stringer brackets and move it forward.

[AJA]

Thanks so much for that blog link. VERY helpful.