Humour me......

[jckm2000]

Hypothetically, could one drag a 42ft narrowboat up a concrete slipway on wooden rollers with a 1954 Austin K9 4x4 truck fitted with a meaty winch, shot blast, black it then shove it back in again with a big tyre on the front of said truck or am I being a FOOL to even think about such an ill conceived plan?

Edited February 1, 2016 by DHutch
language

[b0atman]

whats the angle of ramp ?

[RLWP]

Subject to lots of conditions, yes

 

Richard

[bizzard]

Hypothetically, could one drag a 42ft narrowboat up a concrete slipway on wooden rollers with a 1954 Austin K9 4x4 truck fitted with a meaty winch, shot blast, black it then shove it back in again with a big tyre on the front of said truck or am I being a twat to even think about such an ill conceived plan?

I don't see why not. The steepness of the slipway might be the deciding factor though.

[Paul C]

At a boatyard local to us, they do this - but using a decent 4x4 (Land Rover) and for boats under approx. 30ft in length. For larger boats, they have a dry dock. Yes its possible, yes it would scale up, but the risk of something going wrong is probably more once you're into the unknown, and I'd love to see the insurance claim if/when it does.

[RLWP]

It shouldn't be too dangerous. The boat isn't being lifted. The important risks I can see (AND I AM NOT AN EXPERT) would be submerging the stern during the transition up and down the ramp, and the towing rope/chain

 

Beyond that, biggest danger would be wrecking the truck

 

What is the fascination with grit blasting?

 

Richard

[Alan de Enfield]

You may find that once the boat 'hits' the slipway, that you actually winch the truck 'down the slipway' rather than 'winch the boat up the slipway'

 

You could always fit some ground anchors to the rear of the truck.

[jckm2000]

Thanks for the replies. The reason I'm toying with the idea is that the boat is very rusty, especially above W/L, it's currently moored in a free mooring spot that I don't want to lose, doing the work locally (a couple of hundred yards) would minimise the risk of losing the spot. Grit blasting to save time and will allow me to epoxy the hull......

[RLWP]

You could always fit some ground anchors to the rear of the truck.

 

What are the chances of two half trucks when it goes wrong

 

Richard

[bottle]

..doing the work locally (a couple of hundred yards) would minimise the risk of losing the spot.

 

No, it would only mean that you would see the boat taking 'your spot', how do you propose to stop someone taking the spot.

[Mac of Cygnet]

it's currently moored in a free mooring spot that I don't want to lose,

 

Does anyone else not understand this? The OP is in Cambridge - perhaps things are arranged differently there.

[Polishicebreaker]

You still won't be able to get underneath the boat though, unless you have some rather large jacks and a death wish...

[Alan de Enfield]

You still won't be able to get underneath the boat though, unless you have some rather large jacks and a death wish...

 

Why would he want to ?

[Polishicebreaker]

Paint it, weld up the pits, inspection ?

Or just for some shade

[Alan de Enfield]

Paint it,

weld up the pits,

inspection ?

Or just for some shade

 

Unlikely

Possible

Possible

Unlikely

[BEngo]

I reckon this is a goer, provided the ramp is not too steep. Ideally it will be 1:15 or less. Steel rollers would be better than wooden ones as they will give less and make the pull easier. Some basic physics on the slope and the weight of the boat will tell you what the minimum pull will be. An 11 kW winch will shift 30 tons on a trolley up 1:15 rails at 10 m/minute. You need to watch the stern immersion carefully, particularly if fitted with Lister-type cooling air holes in the sides.

 

Jacking a boat up to get under it is easy, if it's on the level, but requires a toe jack to get started some decent jacks for the main lift and some sleepers to rest the boat on. Go up a bit at a time, one end at a time, from alternate ends, and pack it in stages. Done regularly in Braunston to get a boat off the trolley in the shed. Down is just the reverse operation.

 

N

 

 

Edited to add the winch bit.

Edited April 1, 2014 by BEngo

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Hi ya,

When I dragged my 41ft by 11ft Wide Beam out the water,& up a steepish ramp, I used a 1T Dumper Truck, Chained to a Small Tractor Connected to a Trailer that a Friend and I made one week by cutting the chassis off of an old Scraped Cement lorry that I bolted some RSJs and timber to so the boat would sit on it ok. it took about 2 days for us to do,but was easy.I then drove the Tractor, My mate drove the Dumper both in crawl, until we were up the ramp,then the Tractor was fine.

 

This ment we never hogged the Ramp,or Pixxed anyone off, & could move it about if we had to while I was doing a few jobs,or if it took longer than expected.And had full and comfortable access to the complete Hull.

There is a cpl of pictures in the ' Boats ' Section of the Gallery of it Sat on the Trailer.

Edited April 1, 2014 by Paul's Nulife4-2

[David Mack]

When I did this some years ago (with a 57ft boat) I hired a tirfor winch and machine skates from HSS.

 

With the other end of the tirfor attached to the yard gatepost (which was a big steel I section sunk into the ground), it came up the slip like a dream.

 

I also hired a couple of toe jacks to jack the boat up (one end at a time).

[Paul C]

It shouldn't be too dangerous. The boat isn't being lifted. The important risks I can see (AND I AM NOT AN EXPERT) would be submerging the stern during the transition up and down the ramp, and the towing rope/chain

 

Beyond that, biggest danger would be wrecking the truck

 

What is the fascination with grit blasting?

 

Richard

 

Yeah when I said risk, I didn't mean dangerous things, but the risk of finding out that the boat is just too heavy for the winch and it not coming out; or a winch wire snapping and the boat going back into the water (quite quickly); or the winch mounts or the chassis giving way etc. Realistically the winching vehicle would need to anchor to something very secure, the tyres would slip on a 1 ton pull etc.

[FadeToScarlet]

Does anyone else not understand this? The OP is in Cambridge - perhaps things are arranged differently there.

There is a section of waterside land whose ownership has been disputed for the past 25 years or so, and so has about 50 boats moored for free on it. Because there's no regulations, if you leave and someone pinches "your" spot, that's it, no recourse of action.

 

I'd be far more inclined to offer lots of folding beer tokens to someone with a similar length boat to moor in the space whilst you're away- I can think of three or four people who'd do it, will tell you when I see you.