Keel dents

[W Wagner]

There is not an obvious place to ask this so I dropped it here. My problem is “belowâ€

[Larry Ludwig]

The key to the cradle is that the weight is supported by the keel itself... it rests on the STAND on it's own keel. This is the reason we make lead slugs for J boats so it's easier on them when travelling (and launching and everytthing else) and sitting on the stand, they don't have the weight working on them even sitting still in the house.

Where the cradle contacts the rest of the boat should have as little weight on it as is possible.. so if the boat rests on it's keel, the cradle only keeps it vertical in a perfect world.

[s vernon]

The cradle can be a sort of wedge shape - narrower at the back - at the bottom of the keel to keep the boat from sliding aft.

The standard cradle, which does support, the keel does not have this feature so the boat can slide aft.

One of my old bought-used boats had a cradle that consisted of a forward rounded vee and a couple of fore/aft 2 x 2's sitting on a base along the keel. The keel wedges between the 2 x 2's. The vee really is not needed and should not touch the boat. The 2x's do all the supporting. Soft cheap rug on the base and 2x's.

One thing about this cradel is that the base is wide to keep the boat from tipping over, but the ability to tip and even spin in a hgh shifty wind while staying strapped in the cradle is a good feature in a cradle. Someday I will make a better cradle based on this concept but with a strap, a narrow base and sides to protect the boat when it tips and spins.

Scott

[W Wagner]

I didn’t say this before but the cradle is the one from the plans in the manual that just about everyone uses, so I am sure it works and it is just me not fixing it correctly. I set it up so the entire load is on the keel and made pads on the sides that just keep the boat upright like Larry suggested. The problem I see is that the center of gravity of the boat is up on the angled leading edge of the keel so no matter what you do the boat will always slide back along that angle unless the hull is sitting on the cradles and not the keel, which puts you at a severe risk for dents in the hull. I am going to widen the bottom of the aft cradle a bit so it won’t pinch the keel and see what happens. I have a feeling I am either going to have to make a cable that will go from the stand to the backstay eye or a stop for the rudder to but up against to keep the boat from sliding backwards. Those are the only ways I can see that I can plop my boat into the cradle and not have to think, has my boat slipped back and is it getting damaged while I transport it or while it sits in storage.

Thanks for the input! I am finding that everything about these boats, especially the logistics, is deceivingly complicated.


EC12 fixer-upper OZM0110 sail number 826

[greerdr]

You can add closed cell foam to support the lowest part of the keel-tipped forward.

R.C.Greer