yard launch & bottom repair

[K.C. Walker]

Well, I yard launched my boat today to start work on the bottom. After my core project I knew that I needed to repair some cracks and blisters. I was surprised at how easy the yard lunch is. My wife and I handled it with ease. Tipping the boat up was also a snap. It makes it so easy to work on the bottom to have it tipped up like this. Now if the weather will cooperate! Here are some photos of the day's activities. I kept looking over my shoulder and noticed my wife, Diana, with her camera. http://www.walkerguitars.com/photos/day ... dlaunched/

The blisters repaired pretty quickly because I fortunately had only 20 or so. I knew I had some cracks and some of them had been left for a long time. Those did some damage by hydrolysis so I ground them out. The long stripe that I had to grind out was a series of cracks that were on the opposite side from where the stringer was on the inside. The stringer had rotted out and caused all kinds of trouble, probably some of it was freeze damage.

Anyway, yard launching and tipping the boat up is definitely not something to be intimidated by.

KC

[algonquin]

Nice photos ! That really makes your boat much easier to work on. Thanks for sharing. Brad

[GreenLake]

Nice suit!

[K.C. Walker]

Nice suit!

Yes, it's off the shelf, but I still think it makes me look pretty distinguished.

KC

[mkwmson]

I have a question about the "yard launch". Last Saturday, as I prepared to load up my DS1 onto my trailer, I noticed one of the bunks on the trailer was broken (2x4). So I did a temp fix, loaded the boat, and went home.

Now I have to get the boat off the trailer to fix it. I have two questions. First, can I just rest the boat on the keel/bottom and do I need to support the outer edges of the hull or can I just let it heel over til it comes to rest. If so, is there a danger of it "oil canning". Second, why did you leave the mast stepped, it seems to me (I am new to sailing, so please educate me) that might cause some damage?

Mike

[mkwmson]

Also, one other thing. Before I replace all the wooden (2x4) bunks on my trailer, is there a better product (i.e. rollers, etc.) that I can use. If so, where would I find them?

Mike

[K.C. Walker]

There is no problem with letting the boat sit in the grass(no rocks of course). It will mostly sit on the keel which is the strongest part and it will only heal just a tad. I raised the mast after yard launching. One uses the mast to tip the boat up on its side. It really takes very little effort to pull the boat up on its gunwale by using the main halyard.

KC

[K.C. Walker]

Pressure-treated should be as good as it gets. Just make sure that the boat is supported mostly by the keel. Either bunks or rollers should be fine. The outer bunks are just for stability don't support the boat in a flat area that has no reinforcement.

KC

[mkwmson]

Thanks for the help. I will be fixing the trailer shortly in order to get back in the water as soon as possible.

Mike