Thread: A boat cradle or what ?.

Greg Larkin has posted photos to me of his cradle , its very impressive , but I'd like to be able to slide HS's trailer out from under her , and back in again.
Hopefully Greg could post his photos here , to generate conversation.
Regards Rob J.

Here's the cradle that I did for my H28 while I rebuild it. The wheels are rated for 2.5T each so 10T capacity and the cradle itself is well and truly overbuilt. It did flex in the middle, as I expected, but I'd set a couple of pieces of pine under the middle girder to act as a skid in case it flexed all the way to the concrete. In hindsite a couple of steel rod rollers would have been better. I dragged it into the shed using a turfer hooked on to a tree behind the shed after taking a panel off of the back wall.

This is more of a long term solution than what you are after Rob but it may help with ideas.

I wonder if you could make a frame and set up something with slings from poles like mine, so not attached to the shed, with the idea that you could back the trailer in, lift Grey Seal with the slings then pull the trailer out and prop her on some stands. I'll see if I can do a sketch and post it.

Not sure what you might think of this but it shouldn't cost more than a couple a hundred $$ of steel to set up. This shouldn't require any particularly heavy sections, four uprights spaced wide enough to let the trailer between them and only as far apart lengthwise as you need to get the hull to sit balanced in the slings. A cross section between each post stiff enough to stop them crushing under the weight of the hull when lifted and some diagonal bracing on the sides to keep it all upright. The front cross section may need to be detachable rather than welded so that it doesn't need to be higher than the cabin for clearance.

Mount a couple of decent trailer winches with straps to lift the hull, maybe one each side for an even lift but probably not necessary.

Back the trailer in, lower the front jockey wheel to lift the tail end up in the air a bit and hook the back strap under the hull and take up the tension.

Wind up the front of the trailer to full height and put the front strap under and take up the tension, lower the front of the trailer and you may even already be high enough to pull the trailer out cleanly without having to wind the straps in more.

Place your stands in underneath and let her off the straps.

Greg , after your post , I got to thinking , and came to a similar conclusion to you.
But I'm thinking of using a winch on each corner of the cradle , using webbing .
She is sitting on rollers on the trailer , so it would be easy to get under her.
Regards and thanks Rob J.