Boat Stands

[erieSeas]

Hello Everybody!

I'm the new owner of a '74 DS II and I've already spent hours reading all of the incredible information here.

Anyhow, I'd like to get my new boat off it's trailer this winter in my garage so I can do a little work on both the trailer and the boat. The boat has some slight deformations from the trailer supports and I'd like to both improve the trailer's support area and see if I can't do something about the deformations. Also I'd like to do some basic cleaning and polishing of the entire hull. I was thinking that rather than spending a fortune on boat stands, I could modify some car jack stands to do the job. Anyone have any experience with something like that or have any opinion about supporting a DS II off of a trailer?

[GreenLake]

I imagine you want to work on the underside of the hull?

Get 2-3 friends and launch your boat onto a carpet. Then roll her over onto some old tires. Make a support from a stack of concrete blocks and/or pieces of lumber. Just two columns that stand on their own and can be "assembled" by stacking pieces. While your friends lift one end of the boat, you add a layer to each stack in turn, until you have reached the height you like.

If I remember correctly, you can start your stacks at about 1-2 tires high. Whatever height the boat can be tipped on to, in other words.

I never bothered to take a picture, but that's how I supported my DS while I refinished the hull. I think we just had old tires and lumber. Perhaps some styrofoam blocks (but those tend to crush over time).

Best place to do this is a two-car garage, but with enough people you can tip her up, move her over, and then lower her onto the stacks in place.

[Baysailer]

Greenlake's right the best move you can make if you're planning any heavy hull work is to flip it. You can rest it on some wide saw horses, especially since you have a DSII so no coamings to remove first. Look in the users photo section under DS180, he has pic's on how he used a cherry picker (engine hoist) to flip his DS. It's old but I recall when he did it he said it was just him and his wife.

Good luck
Fred B

[erieSeas]

Thanks guys! I really like your idea greenlake, seems be the lowest cost safe route to go. I'll post some photos when I get to that point.