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boat with keel on trailer?

"sue sanchez" wrote in message
om...
There's an 18 foot sailboat I am interested in buying but it has a
fixed keel of about 3.5 feet. I've only had boats with a swing keel.

Can a boat with a fixed keel like this be LAUNCHED from the trailer or
does it require a crane to sling it into and out of the water?

I could have a trailer built for this boat.

Thank in advance for your kind help.

sue

Lots of boats...like the Catalina 18 can be launched from a trailer, but
they usually have a 'shoal' keel maybe 2.5 feet draft.
Might be doable if the launch ramp is long & deep & you have a tongue
extension for the trailer.
Try to find out if the boat manufacturer has an owners group. They are
usually the best source of info for any particular boat.

Generally fixed keel boats are not trailerable.

Of course anything's possible if you've got one zillion dollars.

"sue sanchez" wrote in message
om...
There's an 18 foot sailboat I am interested in buying but it has a
fixed keel of about 3.5 feet. I've only had boats with a swing keel.

Can a boat with a fixed keel like this be LAUNCHED from the trailer or
does it require a crane to sling it into and out of the water?

I could have a trailer built for this boat.

Thank in advance for your kind help.

sue

sue sanchez wrote:
There's an 18 foot sailboat I am interested in buying but it has a
fixed keel of about 3.5 feet. I've only had boats with a swing keel.

Can a boat with a fixed keel like this be LAUNCHED from the trailer or
does it require a crane to sling it into and out of the water?

Yes!!! @ 18 ft it's still not a "big" boat but might be a little
heavier than the average trailer sailer of the same size.

You will need to have a normal trailer changed a bit; to support if
properly, maybe some guides to ensure the keel ends up where you intend
& some fold down side pipes that will give you 4 pipes to float between
till the trailer comes up under her......any good steel fabrication
place can do it & probably make some good suggestions also.

When you say the keel is 3.5 feet; is that the total draft?? Because
you'll probably need to unhook the trailer for launch & retrieve, using
a length of chain between the whatever & trailer also with most pleasure
boat launching ramps you will probably have to play the high tides so
you don't drop off the end of the ramp chasing enough depth.

I could have a trailer built for this boat.

I would suggest you get a secondhand one modified first, trailer & mods
shouldn't cost much then you haven't spent big dollars only to find it's
all too much trouble. However in my view, if you can organise it, it's
certainly worth it, no marine growth/antifoul, haulout fees or worry on
wind stormy nights & you can take it home with you to tinker with.

A passing thought:
Has anyone else noticed that Krause & Gould seem to have not started
"off topic" political threads in our NG the last day or so??? Hmmm this
is a great improvement it's as if we just pressed the button & flushed
hui & gui (although gui would still be spruiking spam underwater:-)).
All our NG needs now is for the return of some of the old great
knowledgeable posters that they chased away with their OT political
nonsense.

K

Thank in advance for your kind help.

sue

Once I owned a 22 or 23 ft. fixed keel Hunter Sailboat on a trailer. It did
have a "wing" keel which lowered the height somewhat. It was a "float on"
and "float off" launch. I needed a deep launch, too. As I recall, the
trailer had an extendible tongue, which helped a lot. Trailering was no big
deal since it was a small boat and I pulled it with a suburban.
--
RichG manager, Carolina Skiff Owners Group on MSN
http://groups.msn.com/CarolinaSkiffOwners
..

"sue sanchez" wrote in message
om...
There's an 18 foot sailboat I am interested in buying but it has a
fixed keel of about 3.5 feet. I've only had boats with a swing keel.

Can a boat with a fixed keel like this be LAUNCHED from the trailer or
does it require a crane to sling it into and out of the water?

I could have a trailer built for this boat.

Thank in advance for your kind help.

sue

K. Smith wrote:

sue sanchez wrote:

There's an 18 foot sailboat I am interested in buying but it has a
fixed keel of about 3.5 feet. I've only had boats with a swing keel.

Can a boat with a fixed keel like this be LAUNCHED from the trailer or
does it require a crane to sling it into and out of the water?

Yes!!! @ 18 ft it's still not a "big" boat but might be a little
heavier than the average trailer sailer of the same size.

You will need to have a normal trailer changed a bit; to support if
properly, maybe some guides to ensure the keel ends up where you intend
& some fold down side pipes that will give you 4 pipes to float between
till the trailer comes up under her......any good steel fabrication
place can do it & probably make some good suggestions also.

When you say the keel is 3.5 feet; is that the total draft?? Because
you'll probably need to unhook the trailer for launch & retrieve, using
a length of chain between the whatever & trailer also with most pleasure
boat launching ramps you will probably have to play the high tides so
you don't drop off the end of the ramp chasing enough depth.

I could have a trailer built for this boat.

I would suggest you get a secondhand one modified first, trailer &
mods shouldn't cost much then you haven't spent big dollars only to find
it's all too much trouble. However in my view, if you can organise it,
it's certainly worth it, no marine growth/antifoul, haulout fees or
worry on wind stormy nights & you can take it home with you to tinker with.

A passing thought:
Has anyone else noticed that Krause & Gould seem to have not started
"off topic" political threads in our NG the last day or so??? Hmmm this
is a great improvement it's as if we just pressed the button & flushed
hui & gui (although gui would still be spruiking spam underwater:-)).
All our NG needs now is for the return of some of the old great
knowledgeable posters that they chased away with their OT political
nonsense.

sue

I have a 6600 lb 29 foot Tylercraft bilge keeler I launch from a
trailer and retrieve with the help of my mate.

It draws only 2'-10". I feel it sails well, but that is not the point.

I use an old house trailer flat bed to haul it around. It has not
got a drop axle, which means that at the wheels, it needs about
4'-6". A drop axle trailer would save at least a foot, possibly two,
given the construction, and would be a better plan, but it's the
expense, y'know.

My biggest problem is traction. I need a 4 wheel drive vehicle. As
it is now, every time I haul out, I need to enlist a bystander to
hook on and pull my old chevvy cargo van up the ramp. A drop off at
the end of the ramp is not as big a cramp as you might think, since
only part of the weight is on the trailer by the time I get it onto
the good surface. I loose traction as the boat gets about 3/4 out of
the water. Perhaps I need to increase the tongue weight to help
out, but that isn't easy, since I need and have a 12' tongue
extension to keep water from getting into the truck's gas tank. It
is a rusty old truck, and I wouldn't mind getting it wet, except for
the gas filler. Also, submerging the exhaust reduces power
available, and is hell on a catalytic converter.

I have seen star keelboats that look like they need about 5' on
drop axle trailers launched and retrieved on a good ramp, with a
good truck. Those racers are religious about waxy bottoms, et al,
and so if there is a will, there is a way.

But the bother is so great if conditions are not perfect, that I do
it only about once a year. I am lucky to have a private mooring. A
slip and winter storage costs enough that it is economical to keep
a cottage and pay tax, rather than rent plus the landlord's tax. The
cottage and beach is nice on it's own though, so I feel that the
money is better spent that way than renting and, it will be
recovered when I sell the cottage. If I rent a mooring, I could turn
it into a business, but I don't want the hassle.

It is wonderful to not have to pay slip fees and storage. The boat
sits in my yard and I can get at it easily enough that my big
problem now is guilt. I don't like doing the work, I enjoy the
sailing more than painting the bottom, etc.

If you want to trail and move the boat often, you will want as fine
a trailer as you can get. You want a drop axle, full brakes, many
tires, removeable lamping, guide posts, tongue extension, etc. It is
key to the experience.

A good method of raising and lowering the mast then becomes
essential, too. I have a tabernacle and use a bipod made from the
boom and spinnaker pole. They are the same length, so it works out
easy. It is stable enough to do on the water, even if it's a little
rough. It is definitely the only way to go, I know, I have done it
every way imaginable.

I wonder if floatation bags on the trailer might help? They could be
sucked up tight inside the frame with a vacuum cleaner.

Terry K

As I see it Sue...if you plan on dry sailing (.i.e. rig & launch each time
you sail) go with a crank up keel.
If you launch & retrieve once or twice a year and keep the boat on a
mooring..the keelboat would give you more floor room in the cabin and will
probably sail better.

I chose the easy to launch version.
http://sailquest.com/market/models/spipe.htm

Harry Krause wrote:
K. Smith wrote:

sue sanchez wrote:

There's an 18 foot sailboat I am interested in buying but it has a
fixed keel of about 3.5 feet. I've only had boats with a swing keel.

Can a boat with a fixed keel like this be LAUNCHED from the trailer or
does it require a crane to sling it into and out of the water?

Yes!!! @ 18 ft it's still not a "big" boat but might be a little
heavier than the average trailer sailer of the same size.

You will need to have a normal trailer changed a bit; to support if
properly, maybe some guides to ensure the keel ends up where you intend
& some fold down side pipes that will give you 4 pipes to float between
till the trailer comes up under her......any good steel fabrication
place can do it & probably make some good suggestions also.

When you say the keel is 3.5 feet; is that the total draft?? Because
you'll probably need to unhook the trailer for launch & retrieve, using
a length of chain between the whatever & trailer also with most pleasure
boat launching ramps you will probably have to play the high tides so
you don't drop off the end of the ramp chasing enough depth.

Really? I'd certainly want to examine potential launch ramps befure
suggesting a boat with a 3.5' draft could be launched and retrieved from
a trailer without going through a hell of a lot of trouble. You'd need a
damned steep ramp to find that much water at the back of a trailer
designed for an 18' boat, especially if you don't want to soak the back
wheels of the tow vehicle. Plus, the paved area under water of most of
the ramps I've seen stops at a certain point, and you might find the
wheels of that trailer off the psved area and in the mud. If that
happens, there will be hell to pay to get that boat on the trailer and
out of the water.

You are nothing but a non boat owning lying idiot:-) Till recently in
this NG you had no clue that boat trailer winches had more than one gear
ratio:-) Now you seek to tell us about what "you" would do, a joke surely.

An 18 ft boat even with a 3.5 ft draft should be easy to set up as
trailerable, at least by competent boat people & you are neither:-)

K

A passing thought:
Has anyone else noticed that Krause & Gould seem to have not started
"off topic" political threads in our NG the last day or so???

Yawn.

Hmmm this

is a great improvement it's as if we just pressed the button & flushed
hui & gui (although gui would still be spruiking spam underwater:-)).
All our NG needs now is for the return of some of the old great
knowledgeable posters that they chased away with their OT political
nonsense.

At least a half dozen of the best posters who ever appeared here left
because of your craziness and said so.

Hope I can add you to that list of departed soon, like you all proven
liars & spammers:-)

K

There's an 18 foot sailboat I am interested in buying but it has a
fixed keel of about 3.5 feet. I've only had boats with a swing keel.

Can a boat with a fixed keel like this be LAUNCHED from the trailer or
does it require a crane to sling it into and out of the water?

Here is an idea....

Lets say your trailer has a retangular frame outline....8 foot wide by 20 feet
long.

And the frame is at the same level as the axle, which for normal size tires
will be about a foot.....now of course if you use smaller diameter tires or
dont have an axle you can probable get the frame down to 6 inches from the
ground...

Now, excluding the area for the tires and a "channel" down the center for the
keel, you have about 100 square feet left to work with at the four corners of
the trailer.

Now, build flotation chambers onto the frame bottom, making them about a foot
tall. If you have your trailer made, the welder can just well angle iron to
form the edges of the flotation chambers. Then bolt on plywood to the sides,
tops, and bottoms.

Make these chambers were they can flood quickly and easily when needed.

Lets assume the boat is already in the water, but some distance from the ramp.

Back the trailer into the water. Unattach it from the tow vehicle. The chambers
are air filled and trailer now has about a 1.5 foot draft.

Float the trailer over to the sailboat. Flood the chambers. The trailer is
designed so that it still has a couple hundred pounds of flotation even when
completely flooded (ie some foam here and there), so you can stand on it if
need be.

The trailer is designed so that when its flooded, it is at the right depth and
orientation that the sailboat can "sail" right up on it.

Float the boat onto the submerged yet floating trailer. Strap/secure her tight
to the trailer. Pump out the flotation chambers. Use high volume, low head
pressure pumps to do this quickly.

When its pumped out, the trailer will have a draft of 2 feet, or less if you
optimise the design.

Those 4 chambers that are 1 foot tall will float over 6000 pounds! (100 square
feet times 1 foot tall = 100 cubic feet, times 60 lbs per cubic foot = 6000
lbs).

Drive the boat/trailer back to the ramp, reattach to tow vehicle, and pull outa
the water...

Yeah, it would proably be dangerous and a pain in the ass if done wrong, but if
designed the right way, it should be a pretty workable solution.

It would also come in handy where not only is the ramp draft to shallow, but
the general launching area is as well, in which case you use this trailer to
get the boat out to deeper water.....

Heck, you could even forgo the trailer part...in some areas around here we have
docks, but even at the end of em its too shallow to keep all but the lowest
draft boats. But the decently deep water is usually only a few hundred feet to
a quarter mile further out.

So make what I described, except now it can be wider and longer (to make it
more stable. And it doesnt have wheels. Its really a floodable barge now. Now
you can keep your boat at the end of the dock even though its pretty shallow
there!

just an idea

take care

Blll