Transferring boat from trailer to blocks

[Rlbol]

What is the easiest and safest way to transfer my 23 cc from the trailer to blocks? I have never done this before. What is the best material to use for the blocks? I do not have a Crain or fork left. Thank you

[Mikem8560]

I did it once what I did was back up to a free and tie the boat to it eith a jack lifting the rear behind the trailor and a jack forward I'd moved the trailor foward a bit till I had to move the forward jack around a crossmember and lifted the boat some and moved the trailor a little mine blocking the rear of the boat as the trailor came out safe ? But I was young and dumb

[6buoys]

back the boat to where you want it and unhook lower the trailer down in the front as far as you can . that will raise the back . next block the back as close as you can using cement blocks or wood blocking . then raise the front that will sit back on blocks . then you can start pulling trailer out .as you move foward block keel as you go . sometimes a jack is needed under keel to lift a little to make it easier. just take time and be carefull and you will get it.

[tgilchrist01]

I found some boat jacks on CL a couple of years ago and like to paint the bottom without reaching around and crawling under the trailer. I followed the directions you see on this site, lower the front of the boat, block the back, lift the front etc. It was a tedious process jacking up the bow and shifting the trailer forward a couple feet and then re-jacking to get the trailer out from under the boat. I set up the cross bar in the picture so I can slide the trailer out in one move. I use a come along to pull the trailer out slowly. To pull the trailer back in I use the winch on the trailer.

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by Rlbol

What is the easiest and safest way to transfer my 23 cc from the trailer to blocks? I have never done this before. What is the best material to use for the blocks? I do not have a Crain or fork left. Thank you

Don't need a crane, just a little ingenuity! Your best bet for supporting hull is to try to find/borrow/rent some boat stands or big jackstands. I was able to borrow some from Don Herman. Next best would be 8x8 timbers. You can also built up a pyramid support using 2x4's pretty cheap. Check out photo below of these that the boatyard used where I had my boat soda blasted.

Be VERY careful with concrete blocks . . . they're very weak especially if not oriented correctly (with webs facing up)!

Here are a couple of slide shows I put together when I removed and reloaded my boat from/on trailer to paint the bottom. I have a roller trailer with nearly frictionless rollers that made it easy, so it'll be harder with a bunk trailer, but this might be a good time to install some plastic skids to reduce friction. I have a pulley with a snap hook on winch line that normally snaps to the bow eye. I just pulled the winch line way out, attached the end of it to the truck hitch, and then snapped the hook to the trailer. I lowered the nose wheel on trailer all the way, cranked winch to pull trailer out a bit, then put boat stands under transom and cranked the nose wheel back up. Then I just cranked the winch to pull the trailer out from under the boat (after making sure boat was tied to some fence posts!) I put a big jack stand under keel about 1/3 of way back from front of boat. (I had painted the areas where I was putting supports while boat was still on trailer!) It helps to have a big floor jack that will lift up a couple feet when doing this. Kept getting invalid file in trying to attach slideshows, so here are some direct links to my photo bucket folder:
http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=7f2fa4fb.pbw
http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=5c0b90a9.pbw