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leebitts
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USA
122 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/13/2008 : 22:00:21

I just pulled my boat out of the water for the first time. I'm interested to share my thoughts and ideas but solicit ideas from anyone having done this more than I. I have a float on trailer. Last spring I had a tough time getting the boat off the trailer so had a 10 ft extension made for my trailer. On Sunday, it became clear that that was not enough, so I had a second 10 foot extension made. The combined extensions allowed me to get the trailer plenty deep enough into the water (next Spring will be really easy). While I could easily float the boat into the trailer, I had trouble getting the keel to be properly lined up so that it sat on the bottom support. My trailer has kind of a "V" slot for the keel to slide into, but on a few of the pulls out, the keel was not sitting in the bottom track, but beside it. The ramp that I use has two docks outside of the ramp. Initially, I bring the boat in and tie it to one side, then drive the trailer down the ramp. With 4 people each holding lines at the 4 points (bow port, bow starboard, stern port, stern starboard) we would attempt to get the boat into the track. When we were finally done, the boat was about 1 foot further aft than it was last year. Any idea how to make this easier? Also, when taking down the mast, I loosened the mid and aft shrouds and removed the forward lowers, loosened the back stay, attached a line to a jib halyard and ran it around a cleat at the bow, then aft to a primary winch, popped the fore stay and lowered the mast (total of 4 people) while at the bottom I popped the bolt out of the mast step. Probably the hardest part of this process was trying to keep the mast from twisting so that the pin was not straight to get out.
Thanks in advance for your insight on this

Charlie Perry

LeeBitts
1981 Capri 25 Hull # 142
Sailing in NH and Maine

Edited by - on

joearcht
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USA
241 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2008 : 08:39:48

I don't have alot of experiance with my Capri yet, but I've launched and retrieved many other 25' boats in all kinds of conditions. First, my trailer does not have any extensions, so the procedure is to back the trailer down to the waters edge, chock the wheels, disconnect the trailer, pull the vehicle back up the ramp, attach a tow rope or chain to the trailer then lower it down the ramp until the hull supports are just below the surface of the water. Exact depth will be determined by your support design. Pull the boat on the trailer and snug it up to the bow chock (does your trailer have a bow chock?). Pull trailer back up the ramp, then chock and reverse the launch procedure to reconnect the trailer and vehicle. It's not a quick job, but it works pretty smooth and can adapt to most ramp conditions. Note that the boat needs to be "balanced" on the trailer, this usually means that the fore and aft positioning will be limited. If your trailer has not been tuned for the Capri, you should have it done so by someone with experiance in setting up trailers for sailboats. I'm not knowledgable enough in this area to advise you further in that regard. As far as raising the mast goes, I did it once by myself, not sure I would attempt it again. The procedure is a known technique and if you search the internet you can probably find better information on it. Basically, you are creating a lever arm perpendicular to the mast then using a winch to lever the mast into station. Of course the forward shrouds have to be released but the main strouds should be attached and relaxed, they help stablilize the mast when elevated. I used my spinnaker pole for the lever, however, I would not use it again. The compression stresses on it were extreme and I don't think it was good for the pole. I would recommend you obtain some other stout pole to use instead, like a 4x4 timber. Anyway, I attached the spinnaker pole to the mast fitting and slid the fitting to the bottom of the mast. I attached a jib halyard to the other end of the pole, then attached the winch strap from the boat trailer to the same end of the pole. You set the pole vertical (perpendicular to the mast). What you have now is a large triangular rig with the mast attached to the mast base plate and laying horizontal on the boat and the spinnaker pole pointed vertically (like the mast will be). My boat has a mast crutch at the stern that the previous Owner made to prop the mast up as high as you can reach, this certainly helps the procedure and get the mast off the boat easier.
When you crank on the winch the whole rig will rotate into station. The inital stress on the rig is quite high, but begins to lessen as the mast comes into position. Like I said this is a documented procedure developed by someone in Sweden I think, however, it certainly has risk and even though I did it alone once I would avoid doing it again unless absolutely necessary. A couple of people supporting the mast as it went up while you cranked the winch would be a good safety practice I think, otherwise, if something lets go expect to damage your stern rail at the very least. Good luck next time.

Edited by - on

SailCO26
Captain

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USA
457 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2008 : 10:26:28

Extension:
I've got an extension that's made from square AL tubing about 22' long. There are 2 sections that fit one inside the other, and bolt to the trailer at either end for transport. This has always been sufficient for my local ramp, but if necessary the 2 sections can be extended and re-bolted in the middle to make it about 40+' long. Back the trailer almost to the waterline, chock it, then disconnect the tow vehicle and put the extension in. Unchock, back her down. Reverse on the way out, tho at this point I'll usually pull to the top of the ramp with the extension. If it's an unusually long or steep ramp, I'll re-chock just above the waterline and remove the extension for the pull up.

There are several people where I am that dry-sail their boat (and launch every Wed night for racing) that use the strap method Joe refers to, and it seems to work just fine for them.

Recovery:
My trailer also has the "V slot" keel guides (as well as guides above the keel channel). I've never had an issue with the keel not settling into the channel correctly - do you not have guides forward of the "V slot"?

I've got a 2-axle trailer, and have the center of gravity for the boat pretty close to right between the axles. The best way to figure out where the CG is would be to look at the CP25 "Lifting Harness Arrangement" docs in the CP25 Architectural Drawings (http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/manbro/Capri25ArchDrawings.pdf). That CG should be just ahead of the center point of the 2 axles, or just barely ahead of the middle of a single axle. You're looking to have just a bit of weight on the tongue of the trailer. Unfortunately I can't give you an exact number, I just watch the amount of drop on the hitch when I hook it up and estimate the weight - not too much, not too little. I'm actually probably a bit light on the tongue, as when I use the extension I need a body on the trailer tongue going up/down the ramp to hold the tongue wheel on the ground (it's a fairly steep ramp, but I think I could use a little more weight forward).

We use 2, sometimes 3, people to recover. Our ramp has the dock in the middle of 2 ramps. Park the boat/trailer on the lee side of the dock, and walk on to (or off of) the trailer using bow/stern lines. To get the boat closer, pull the lines. To get the boat farther away, let the wind take it out. Trailer pads are about 4-6" underwater, about what they are below the waterline. If I'm lucky I can get the bow eye connected and winched up w/o getting wet (water gets cold here quick!), about 50% of the time.

Mast step/un-step:
Ideally, you'd have a gin-pole (crane) available!

Or, you can search this site or the 'net and get a lot of descriptions for what Joe's referring to. There's a TON of variations on the theme, and it's basically just redirection of force. Very similar in principle to how the spreaders on your mast work.

However, the stick on the CP25 really isnt that big/heavy. Here's what I do:
1. Attach a mast crutch to the stern pulpit, inside the cockpit (just behind the rudder post). My mast crutch is nothing more than an 8' 2x4 with a V-notch cut into one end, and I use bungee cords to the rail.
2. Loosen the aft lowers, remove the fwd lowers, and just slightly loosen the shrouds.
3. Attach the jib or spin halyard to the trailer winch (or thru a block on the bow and back to your biggest winch) and tension to remove pressure on the forestay.
4. Disconnect forestay, easy mast down using the halyard. Have 1 or 2 people walk along with the mast, and guide it into the top of the crutch (at this point it will be most of the way down).
5. Stand next to the crutch and lower the mast the rest of the way down.
6. Remove hinge pin (you may have to twist mast side/side), slide fwd so the base is over the fwd pulpit and pad/tie it off fore and aft.

Easy $.

Edited by - on

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