If I wanted to lift or lower a PDR straight out of the water , what is the best way of doing it ?.
Rob J.

4 blokes - one on each corner?

Seriously, in what sort of circumstances are you relating too? From the info that Boatmik has supplied the OZ PDR's are not that heavy so a couple of people could pick one up without to much trouble.

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I've actually picked mine up myself , and struggled across the road with it !.
With the mast and sail and all the rest , it would be too heavy , and awkward to lift by myself.
But if I wanted to lift and lower it straight up , where would I take the lift?.
A sling would have some compressive force , so I assume it would have to be located with care.
Or , could I build in lift points ?.
I'm just wondering if it is "doable" , and how .
Rob J.

Howdy Rob,

I'm still a bit mystified about what you are trying to do.

If I have to pick one of the hulls up by myself I put it on its side and standing next to the bottom put my hand in the centrecase (near the back of the case) and lift it up on its side.

If getting it out of the water I'd just slide it out upright - though if over rocks I might think a bit different!

If getting it into a ute I'd put one end up on the tray, go to the other end and lift and push it in.

To get the hull onto roofracks singlehanded might be a little bit more tricky as it doesnt have the length of a canoe where you can put one end up on the back rack then slide it forward. Though on your covered ute you could put the bow up on the back of the canopy then walk to the other end of the boat and push it up.

If needing to singlehand lift onto roofracks fitted to a saloon - so you can't get the nose onto the racks from the front or back ... I'd make up a bar to go between the two roofracks down one side. Then you can drop the nose onto the bar and go to the other end of the PDR to lift and manouver the wee beestie onto the main racks.

If I lived a couple of hundred metres from the water I'd make a simple wooden trolley to cart it on.

Or is there something else you are trying to resolve?

MIK

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Boat Plans
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MIK , I have the PDR stuffed in a passageway in the shed.
Its very difficult to get it in and out from there , and I get some serious grumbles from the "other half".
Its a big shed , but the floor space is all taken.
If I could hang it up just inside the wide side door , so that I could lift and lower it myself , then I could work on it outside.
The other alternative is to leave it outside , but I don't want to do that till its finished , at least.
But just thinking of the alternatives , I realised I just didn't really know how it should be lifted.
I'm hoping to get back on to working on it later today.
Rob J.

I'm not sure of the weights of a PDR and I'm sure it's quite a bit heavier than a Mouseboat, but this is how I store my son's Mouseboat.

Two boards suspended from the roof with rope - carpet over the boards of course, don't want to muck up that paint job

Get the thing over my head - very easy with the Mouseboat, wouldn't even try with Redback, a PDR would be safely in between the two. Tuck one end on top of a board which now supports it while you fit the other board under the other end.

Because the PDR is a bit heavier than the mouseboat, hang the boards at arm's length - you won't be able to lift it much higher methinks and to be honest, you're unlikely to have the ceiling height to get it any higher.

I carry Redback around on my shoulder and, like I say, she's way heavier than a PDR is going to be (even though she is shorter). I've tossed her in and dragged her out of a river where the top of the bank was the same height as the gunwales. I manhandle her on and off the trailer on my own (she rides upside down). All of this is possible, just a lot more fun than if you have help. Just take a deep breath and call her a few names that you wouldn't paint on her transom.

Richard

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In actual fact Richard , the shed , an old pear and apple storage barn , is about 4 times the height of the door , above the door.
I could put the mast in , raise the whole thing , and still have room !.
Not that I want to do that , but it gives an idea of how much room I have , off the floor.
What I was thinking is to have a pulley setup that I can pull from further in the barn to raise or lower , then just lift it up to get it out the door.
My "work area" is just outside the door anyway.
But the boards sounds a good idea , I don't think the PDR would have a problem with that !.
Rob J.

Howdy Rob,

I've got it now - ie I understand.

You can use ropes around the boat no probs - just keep them in the area supported by the sidedecks. Once you have the foredeck on permanently you can put the slings anywhere.

A number of the US PDR people sit the boat on its transom and lean the bottom up against the wall. Takes up a 1ft x 4ft space on the floor then.

If the floor gets wet I'd sit the transom on a 2 x 4 or similar.

MIK

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Rob,
I've got a lifting arrangement in my shed (3.6m headroom) which I installed to remove the roofrack/ladderrack assembly off my ex-telstra van. It's now doing duty removing the steel canopy off my ute and one day in the future will lift my boat in progress. It consists of four of those el-cheapo block and tackle arrangements from a discount store and a few awning pulleys to get all the ropes to a single point. It's more than adequate for this, you could probably rig up a simple arrangement of awning pulleys and some silver rope to hoist the boat up for storage.

Mick

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