Trailer removal and Blocking-up the hull

Some maintenance to center-board and trailer needed to be done - The centerboard was rusted into it's case and the trailer rollers and side pads were not letting the boat slide off as they should.

So the Teria had to be blocked up and have the trailer removed to work on these issues.

The Investigator forum had some good posts - It can be done at home in the driveway and another boat was done in a fully kitted out automotive shed with lifting slings - Gantries etc. Some owners enlisted a bunch of mates to hold the hull up to get it off the trailer. My method leaned more towards the at home method with modifications and the added benefit of a shed structure around it.

Teria was towed to my boat building shed out in the country. It houses my home-built Wylo 2 yacht hull , for full story see wyloyard. Over the last few years i extended the shed roof area, the west extension was originally  intended as the yachts' woodworking-spar workshop but now it was just right for use as a trailer boat repair shed.

In the wylo yard shed extension

The trailer removal began by lowering the front of the trailer to the ground.

This raises the stern up high and a 44 gallon drum with old car tyre and tarp padding was pushed under the transom.

Next i secured the hull  with strong ropes. This was to prevent Teria's  hull toppling over sideways. The ropes went through the u-bolt chainplates on deck. Two ropes went horizontally to shed posts to prevent side tipping. Two very strong ropes went up subvertically to the shed roof and could, in theory, hold the entire hull up in the unlikely scenario of the support stands failing or tipping out while i was under the hull.

More secure ropes were setup down aft to prevent the hull moving foward as the trailer was extracted..

Then the front of the trailer was jacked up again. This made the transom press down on the drum aft and the boat started to lift off the trailer. I did the lift-off because because need as much height under the keel as possible in order to remove the centerboard later, also the trailer was badly fitted and the hull was resting too heavily on the side pads, almost stuck there. 

Keel lifts off aft rollers

Hull lifts off aft side pads

The safety ropes were re-tightened to remove slack caused by the lift. 

To pull the trailer out, a come along winch was setup between the Ute towbar and trailer ball. 

As the trailer moved foward a car stand and car jack went under the aft keel. Hardwood blocks are used to protect the fibre-glass keel and to support or raise jacks and stands.

Hardwood side legs could now be fitted under the gunwales to further prevent the hull falling over.  (Allot of secondhand hardwoods from old wrecked houses up here. Bought my railway sleepers a long time ago from Queensland railways yards)

As the front of the keel emerged, the car jack was moved forward and a second car stand went under the front end of the keel. The two cars stands are placed so the centerboard case slot is exposed between them. The boat was jacked up level, stands adjusted to height and trailer pulled out for maintenance in my case.

NB. In boats with good trailers, a safer way to go is to leave the trailer in place to help hold up the fore-keel and stabilize the boat. Blocks should go under the back end of trailer, its brakes on and wheels chocked.

Rex inspects the job

I put a steel workhorse under the fore keel to further support the boat.With side legs and support ropes adjusted i was confident to go under the 900 kg hull without worry.