Boat Stands

[msballin]

Getting ready to bring her home for the winter to store on the side of my house (grass). Have heard of supporting with concrete blocks/wood or boat stands.

Been looking for boat stands to purchase and have been finding them in the $100 range. Does this sound about right and if so how many should I need?

Anyone living on or near Long Island who may know of anyone selling used stands, I'd appreciate the referral. Thanks.

Mike

 

[rondds]

I bought mine direct from these guys when I had my Crownline (way back in the fall of 2002). Dont recall what I paid ...

http://www.brownellboattrailers.com/

Not sure if they'll still sell direct to the consumer but if YES, than I'm sure it's cheaper than West Marine.

BTW, these babies were awesome. I bought two for the aft section and one low one for the bow along the keel. I only bought that one b/c I took the boat off the trailer for storage in a garage and it was eay to jack it up by spinning the screw.

 

[Larry]

On a 34' I would never support the weight of the boat on the stands without the keel obsorbing the the bulk of the weight. When a boat is "blocked" up on the hard the boat idealy should be supported fore and aft on wood blocks on the keel to hold the weight of the boat and the stands should do little more then keep the boat from falling side to side. On a 34' boat you can get away with 2 stands for the rear outboard sides, but idealy I would use 4 with the 2nd. set midship outboard.

 

[rondds]

On a 34' I would never support the weight of the boat on the stands without the keel obsorbing the the bulk of the weight. When a boat is "blocked" up on the hard the boat idealy should be supported fore and aft on wood blocks on the keel to hold the weight of the boat and the stands should do little more then keep the boat from falling side to side. On a 34' boat you can get away with 2 stands for the rear outboard sides, but idealy I would use 4 with the 2nd. set midship outboard.

Agreed 100%. That is how good yards will block boats. Mine has 3 sets of wood blocks - one aft, one under the engines (I have straight drives) and one forward, all supporting the keel. There are two stands aft and another two about 2/3 of the way to the bow. Technically, the two forward ones SHOULD be chained together (they don't do that at my place) and all stands not sitting on concrete should be on plywood so they dont sink into the earth.

My Crownline (26') was in a garage on a concrete slab. But the keel was supported aft and forward on blocks I only used the short stand to lift the bow in the painstaking process of getting the trailer out from under the boat.

 

[Larry]

Ron,

Good point about the chain, although few yards will do this.

 

[msballin]

Thanks for the advice. If I can't get the stands, it has been suggested that 30-36 concrete blocks will be sufficient. I'm sure the hauler knows what he's doing. Just looking for confirmation from you out there since this my first go around with this.

Thanks as always.

Mike

 

[rondds]

Mike
When I was a kid, there were no boat stands. It was concrete blocks and wood. But for lateral support forward on this boat...

... they rigged something like this for the forward lateral supports. It worked great to support this 18000lb boat for the 9 winters we had it on the hard in Brooklyn.

 

[fwebster]

Jack stands are adjustible to allow you to handle any settling that occurs while the boat is blocked up. This is a one time expense.....6 stands x $100ea. = $600. Don't cut corners; properly protect your boat.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Jack stands are adjustible to allow you to handle any settling that occurs while the boat is blocked up. This is a one time expense.....6 stands x $100ea. = $600. Don't cut corners; properly protect your boat.

Agreed and definitely use plywood under the stands if you are on grass.

 

[wish2fish]

Jack stands are adjustible to allow you to handle any settling that occurs while the boat is blocked up. This is a one time expense.....6 stands x $100ea. = $600. Don't cut corners; properly protect your boat.

sounds like sage advice considering your supporting your 100K boat!

I might remind you of this thread.
Boat Fell Over Today!

 

[Stray Cat]

This is what the marina uses where I store mine on concrete...

http://www.hostarmarine.com/stand_shop/stands/stand-pb.htm

 

[papogator24]

How do you guys put the boat on the stand from the trailer?

 

[Stray Cat]

How do you guys put the boat on the stand from the trailer?

This is what the marina uses where I keep my boat.

http://www.hostarmarine.com/yard_trailers/gsy/gs3600y.html

The unit they have uses a hydraulic tail and pneumatic axles (air springs) to conform to the hull. The center sections (cross members) swing away to clear the cribbing once the stands are in place.

They back the trailer in the water, and scoop my boat out in less than 2 minutes.

 

[AKBASSKING]

How do you guys put the boat on the stand from the trailer?

I would second this question. I want to strip and paint the bottom. My 300DB is on a trailer. Is there a "safe" way to tranfer it to stands when a lift is not avaiable?:huh:

 

[rondds]

How do you guys put the boat on the stand from the trailer?

Painstakingly slow process. But here's what I used to do...
1. Jack up one side of the trailer with a 6 ton bottle jack, one side at a time, place a boat stand in the corresponding corner, and lower that side. Go to the other side and repeat. All the while, have wood blocks positioned under the aftmost part of the keel. After the trailer is lowered on the other side, and the boat is now supported aft by the boat stands, use thin pieces of wood cut as large wedges and tap them under the keel and above the large wood block. Now the entire rear of the boat is OFF the trailer.
2. Go as far forward as you can and jack the bow of the boat up. I used a short wide V-top jack stand for this purpose. Once the bow is up off the trailer, roll the trailer until the first obstruction comes up to that forward stand. That's either going to be a cross member or an axle. Now block the boat up behind that cross member/axle high enough to be able to remove the v-top jack without the boat settling back onto the bunks/rollers. I bought a second v-top for this purpose. Easier than moving blocks and stacking them to the right height.
3. Once you lower the boat onto the new blocks, you can pull the v-top stand out and roll the trailer a bit more forward til your blocks now obstruct the next crossmember or axle.
4. Position the now availabel v-top stand behind that axle/crossmember, jack the bow up again until the boat is off the blocks, remove the blocks, roll the trailer until the NEXT axle/crossmember hits the newly positioned stand and REPEAT starting with step 2 above.

The more axles and the longer the trailer is, the longer this process takes. I strongly recommend buying the second v-top stand. You're saving so much money by not paying for winter storage, put some of it back into the proper equipment. I suppose a bottle jack COULD be used to jack the bow up but I would be extremely worried that the pressure point on the keel would be too small and the gel coat, or worse, the fiberglass, would crack. Remember, you want to spread the forces of the weight of the boat over as LARGE a surface area as possible (the snowshoe effect).

Tom, with your tri-axle, this could take a while. With my rig below, I think I had two or three crossmembers and two axles and it took almost an hour, a LOT of crawling and 600mg of motrin as premedication.