I am wondering how people get access to the bottom of a boat for
repair. If the boat is light, we can simply turn it upside down. But if
the boat is around 1,000-lb, I doubt that we can turn it upside down
just by manpower. Unfortunately, in a home environment, we don't have
the heavey equipment to turn a boat upside down. How do people get
around with this problem?

Is there a way to safely and easily turn a boat upside down for
repairing the bottom of the hull using manpower and some kind of
home-made jigs?

Can we repair the bottom of the boat while the boat is still on the
trailer? This is probably OK for a small area. But what's about the
damage area is large?

I am trying to figure out what I can and cannot do with a boat that has
large damage on the bottom of the hull. If this is not possible to
repair the bottom of the hull in a home environment, I will have to
stay clear of boats that have large damage in the bottom.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jay Chan

Hi

It is possible to build a cradle around the hull to turn it if it is
only that weight, but you better stay clear if you don't design the
cradle perfectly safe. anyway if your boat are fiber glass, I suggest,
you look into how to make a sheet to fit exact and around the edge of
where the dameage are, if you before this angled the remaining edges in
the hole the right amount, you can from inside use that patch to mold a
new surface that in glasfiber or Epoxy and glasfiber then patch the
hole from inside.
So maby your repair don't ask you to roll the boat.

If the keel breaks it's a problem.

But if the keel is sound, boats can usually be safely supported on blocks
under the keel, with the hull braced along the sides to it stays level.
Take a look around any fishing port or boat yard.

If you are on salt water the boat can be left high and dry at low tide.

If you are on dry land the boat can be jacked up with bottle jacks and
blocks put under the keel. You can get a boat off it's trailer that way.

Boatyards tend to use a frame from which belts are slipped under
the hull to raise it, and pull the trailer out from underneath.

Another method is to hire a crane. Yacht clubs often have or rent a crane
for a day to lift the member's boats out of the water at the end of the
season.

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If you build a cradle to support the boat you can work on the hull. We
do it in the boatyard all the time.

It is possible to build a cradle around the hull to
turn it if it is only that weight, but you better
stay clear if you don't design the cradle perfectly
safe.

Now that you have pointed this out. I surely have a feeling that
rolling over a 1,000-lb boat is not such a good idea in a home
environment. I should repair it with it sitting upright on dry land.

anyway if your boat are fiber glass, I suggest,
you look into how to make a sheet to fit exact
and around the edge of where the dameage are,
if you before this angled the remaining edges in
the hole the right amount, you can from inside
use that patch to mold a new surface that in
glasfiber or Epoxy and glasfiber then patch the
hole from inside.

Sound like a plan. Thanks.

By the way, the boat is probably something like 700-lb instead of
1,000-lb as what I had mentioned. Regardless, this is too heavy for me
and my friend to roll it over using manpower alone.

Jay Chan

If the keel breaks it's a problem.

Thanks for pointing out one type of damages that I should not attempt
to fix. I will stay clear of boats that have broken keel.

Any other damage in a fiberglass boat that is too severe for repair?

But if the keel is sound, boats can usually be safely
supported on blocks under the keel, with the hull braced
along the sides to it stays level. Take a look around
any fishing port or boat yard.

Good to know this. I think I kind of know the braces that you are
referring to.

If you are on dry land the boat can be jacked up with
bottle jacks and blocks put under the keel. You can
get a boat off it's trailer that way.

This is the part that I don't quite understand. The boat is still on a
trailer. How do we move it from the trailer to the wood blocks where we
can jack the boat up? Do you mean constructing the wood brace right
under the boat with the trailer still in place, and then jack up the
brace (in other words, don't move the trailer)?

Thanks in advance for any following-up message.

Jay Chan

If you build a cradle to support the boat you can work
on the hull. We do it in the boatyard all the time.

I assume the cradle is a wood brace that supports the boat hull, and is
not something that we use to roll over a boat.

This means I should visit a boatyard to see exactly how a cradle/brace
is constructed.

Thanks.

Jay Chan

How to roll over a boat:

1. rent two half ton chain hoists.
2. hang hoists above boat
3. attach blocks with very large throat/shives to hoists.
4. buy nylon hold down trucking straps.
5. pass straps around boat and thru block.
6. lift boat
7. roll over

It's a one man job.

Jaykc.. please exchouse that don't know all the english words , but
what I tried to show is the way I done such repair several times , ----
emagine you could find a simular boat and the owner was a nice guy .
Then you find the same area of his boat and simply make a small mold
covering the hole in your boat, so when you repair the hole you cast
the form from a simular boat. The important thing is to make that flat
mold in say two layers of glasfiber and resin , treadhis boat with the
right slip solvent -- usealy some water soluted agent that often is
plain carpenter glue and plenty of wax, before you start taking the
mold.
Such patch are easy temp. glued over the hole and as long as you dried
out the edges and angled them the right amount ,make the build up
repair cover the edge well , then such repair can be made so the boat
is as good as new --- but no cut corners everything need to be
perfectly clean and dry and the small cracks that will show just need
to be filled with a 2 compoment epoxy filler.

Jaykc.. please exchouse that don't know all the english words , but
what I tried to show is the way I done such repair several times , ----
emagine you could find a simular boat and the owner was a nice guy .
Then you find the same area of his boat and simply make a small mold
covering the hole in your boat, so when you repair the hole you cast
the form from a simular boat. The important thing is to make that flat
mold in say two layers of glasfiber and resin , treadhis boat with the
right slip solvent -- usealy some water soluted agent that often is
plain carpenter glue and plenty of wax, before you start taking the
mold.

Thanks for the idea of making a copy of the damaged area from the same
boat model. This sounds good as long as I can find the same boat model.
If not, I will have to make a mold from my boat, fine tune the mold,
and form a patch using the mold.

Jay Chan