Boat supports

[richardc]

Can anyone advise re the correct size for individual galvanised boat supports for winter storage ? They seem to be available in a variety of sizes , the smaller one are about 600 to 900 mm the medium ones 900 to 1400mm . I'm guessing the medium which would allow a bit extra for the keel support but the boat is fairly new to me so not sure. Also would four be adequate or do indeed six ? If anyone knows of some second hand ones that would be helpful also . Thanks Richard

[pengwyn]

Hi Richard,

not sure what kind of boat you have. If you are a lucky owner of an LM27 (or LM24), a thick plank under the long keel will carry most of the weight, if placed between the (prefereably absolutely flat and smooth (no stones, no holes) ground and the long (and relatively wide, up to approx 30cm +x ) keel. In that case, support is only required to prevent from tilting, no significant static load has to be carried by the support. 4 support structures are sufficient, placed where the hull is relatively "horizontal" (approx one meter left and right from the keel and not to close to bow or stern). this could be achieved by welding some sort of tripod from scrap metal. such a construction should include height adjustement (which you also might find in scaffolds from the construction business) and a baseplate, having the surface of two hands and beeing rubber coated to avoid pinching the hull. The tripods (or whatever principle you prefer) should be fixed to each other and to the thick plank (steel rods, bolts, etc.) to avoid slipping and leaving the intended position. Dont make the tripods too high and reserve some space for adjustements (a lm 27 on its keel is quite close to the floor ;-) - 80-90 cm draught, minus approx. 20 cm geometry of the hull, minusapprox. 25cm adjustable height and baseplate! calculations should be done according to measuremets and/or reliable drawings of the hull (don't blame me, if any spontaneous welded structures do not fit - my LM is curently 90km away - no way to do some quick measurements. hope this helps anyway.
if you have a differnet LM --- things are completely different due to keel, saildrive etc..

regards
& happy sailing in 2017

Pen Gwyn

[pengwyn]

Hi All

due to plans to move to another marina without all the cars and stands I can rely on now, I might be urged to reactivate my foldable winter stand for my LM27. the stand is quite rigid and approx. 2,5 meters in lenght and 2 meters wide having 4 adjustable legs (and if disassebled it fits in the trunk of a car). actually the LM will sit on a thick plank on its keel, so the stand is (irrespectively weighing a few hundred kilos) just to prevent the boat from tilting. anyway. Now I have a question: - instead of placing the stand and the 4 supporting plates "somewhere" under the hull - probably someone knows the 'officialy recommended (strong ?) positions' do do so (that could probably also be interesteing to richard, allowing to design a winter stand that fits 95% to his specific boat, instead of having to construct a lot of (heavy) options to allow a unnecessary wide range of adjustements.

thanks a lot


Pen Gwyn

[oceandancer]

Hi All,
Further to the above I have never regretted fitting my boat with legs (see pics below). As mentioned above, due to the weight of the ballast (1.8tonnes) and the width of the keel, very little is required to hold the boat upright. I have in the past beached my boat in prep for lifting and it stood perfectly upright on its keel with no weight on either beaching leg despite two people walking around the deck!

Support points for legs are quite easily fitted using thick hardwood pads inside and out through bolted on either side with a hole in the middle for the leg attachment. I have two sets of legs. One wooden set is 2inches shorter than the overall height from gunnel to keel to act as beaching legs. The other set is made from ordinary galvanised scaffold poles with a folding plate on the lower end and is all I need for winter storage, although I usually also employ wooden shores as I invariably store with the mast up. The scaffold poles attach by means of a standard scaffold clip to which a fixing bolt has been welded. My leg attachments have an internal plate to which a nut is welded making it easy to screw in the attaching bolts or scaffold clip.  Either set of legs is easily transported IN the car and both are stored in the roof of my garage when not in use. Using legs attached to the gunnel allows you to easily polish or paint the topsides.

Mick



Beaching legs - these need blocks as they are fixed length.





Scaffold legs - variable length so no blocks are needed.