Careening my Daysailer????

[hectoretc]

Greetings all,
I mentioned previously that #1- I recently acquired a DS2 that had been salvaged (or did I mention that part) and am working to again get it sea (or lake) worthy for next season, and #2- I am a complete novice at this stuff, and so all of it is somewhat new and scary to me.
I'm hearing enough NOOB (new owner, old boat) stories that I'm realizing its much better to eliminate as many surprises as possible in advance.
One thing I'm pretty sure I want to do before getting it into the water the first time is to insure the centerboard is well attached to the up/down haul lines. It seems like something better discovered while out of the water, but my trailer (as is probably normal) doesn't provide for any access at all to the centerboard (I assume there is one in there...)
I don't really have a sling or bracing system to hold the boat securely while I work above/below it, so I'm aiming toward lowering it from the trailer to the ground, and then tipping (careening?) it onto its side so that I can access the centerboard, and then remove it and check the line connections.
I just have this really tough time picturing myself pulling the boat over by the halyard? Is this really how you careen this boat? I'd considered removing the mast, running a pair of web slings under the boat from the port side (fore and aft), then back over the top to the port side, anchoring the bottom strap ends, and using my truck to gently pull on "over the top" straps to roll it onto its port side. Is the mast really strong enough to lay the boat over on its side by pulling on the halyard?
Are there better/worse options for this task?
Thanks all,

[jeadstx]

When I sailed the Texas 200 back in June, my centerboard jammed on the second day. We sailed that day without the centerboard, but since it was a down wind run it wasn't a problem. When we reached camp that day I knew the boat had to be careened to free up the board. I had never careened a boat before, even tho I knew how to do it I still wasn't confident I would do it right. I asked help from other sailors in the fleet who knew what they were doing. We emptied all our equipment and supplies out of the boat first. Then they took the main halyard and pulled the boat over rather easy. Someone held the mast down. I was told if I were alone it would be good to hold the mast down with something heavy like an anchor. Once on its' side we had to pry the centerboard out. The CB trunk was impacted with thick black mud, crushed oyster shells, and seagrass from our previous nights camp on a spoil island. The lines were in good shape, so after cleaning the board and trunk good, the boat was righted.

John

[ChrisB]

Careening is by far the easiest method of getting the boat on its side for accessing the CB. The jib halyard (and mast) will more than handle the load. I would recommend some fenders, old tires, or something similar so you are not putting the weight of the boat on the very edge of the hull/deck joint. I once careened my boat (by myself) while it was still in the water so I could remove a clump of milfoil that was wrapped around the CB. Once you get the boat up on its side, it takes very little effort to hold it there. If you were going to need access for a longer period (such as sanding and painting the hull, I would recommend you get 3 or 4 helpers and turn the boat upside down and support it bow and stern on sawhorses, concrete blocks, etc.

Chris

[ctenidae]

THey are easy to careen. Your sling idea would work, except that once you got it over, it would fall on teh cuddy roof, and you won't be pleased with the likely results. If you flip her all the way over, be sure you support fore and aft well- but don't let it sit on the cuddy roof.

I had mine turtled in the garage, and when we flipped it over it was me and my (petite) wife. We did a version of your sling idea, with me lifting the edge of teh boat while my wife belayed the guide rope. Once it was past vertical I took over teh roape and lowered it slowly. At least, I lowered it slowly until it had enough angle to out lever me and started to lift me towards teh roof. I let go of the rope, adn with a big WHOOMP it rolled onto its front, no harm, no foul. Take home lesson, no real need to be gentle rolling her back over, as long as there's nothing in the way (small cars, small animals, small children, buildings, etc).

I've careened mine several times since then, to adjust the centerboard, clear off barnacles, and run new halyards. It seems like it should be harder than it is, but it's not.

[GreenLake]

Is the mast really strong enough to lay the boat over on its side by pulling on the halyard?

It better be. The load on the mast in that scenario is precisely that of a gust pushing the boat over. You don't want to lose the mast everytime you capsize, so, yes the mast is definitely intended to withstand those loads.

In fact, when sailing, it has to hold the weight of a crew on the rail, hiking out. Usually, when you careen your boat, you don't make life extra difficult by adding weights on the high side.

I'd considered removing the mast, running a pair of web slings under the boat...

If you have a garage with exposed beams you can use a variation of this method. You make two loops of rope, one forward, one aft. Before tying each rope, you thead it through a pulley.

The pulleys you pull up with a winch or block and tackle until your boat lifts off the trailer or whatever support you have. You remove the trailer and the boat now hangs in the two slings.

At this point, one person can easily rotate the boat (with the rope slings running through the pulleys). Just make sure that you placed the knots so that the ropes can run freely depending on the direction you intend to turn the boat.

When done with turning, lower the pulleys gently to lower the boat.

I found this idea in an older forum post or web document about ten years ago and built myself a system like that. It works really well (as long as there's enough room in the garage to get the boat inside. ). One person can control the rotation.

For the pulleys I used the mainsheet blocks. Rated at 500lbs each, a pair of them is strong enough to handle the DS (around 600 lbs). I used mainsheet and jibsheet for the rope slings.

For raising the boat, I built my own block and tackle, but if I had to do this again, I'd look for a cheap pair of winches.