How do you get your boat off of the trailer (on land)?

[SaltLife]

Hey guys,

I have my first boat - a 2008 Challenger 180. Only had it about a month. I crawled under the trailer today and noticed that the bunk supports are pretty rusted and need to be replaced.

My question is - how do you get your boat off of the trailer so you can make trailer repairs?

Any help will be much appreciated~!!

~SL~

 

[Coastiejoe]

But all the stuff you need for the fix. Drop the boat at your local ramp and fix the trailer while the boat is tied up to the dock.

 

[SaltLife]

Thanks CoastieJoe ~ that's not a bad idea except I'm willing to bet that I will need either some air-powered or electric tools (drill, etc,) to get the old rusted bolts out.... I would really hate to get the boat out somewhere and not be able to get my trailer finished -- I don't know what I would do then?

I have a feeling it might take me a full day with the correct tools at my availability.... I had thought about your idea though!
I'm just wondering what anyone else on the board has done...

Thanks,
~SL~

 

[MLars]

When I did mine I used car jacks to raise it up, then just shimmied the trailer out by using 2 jacks up front to get around the axle. Take a look at my speedster restore thread from last year to get an idea.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

When I did mine I used car jacks to raise it up, then just shimmied the trailer out by using 2 jacks up front to get around the axle. Take a look at my speedster restore thread from last year to get an idea.

yip, I was just about to type, "there was this guy that just put his up on jacks in a thread somewhere"

or,,, borrow a friends trailer, take it to the ramp, swap the boat to trailer #2... fix yours over the weekend, swap it back next week.

I don't like the idea of major trailer repair while the boat waits in the water, one "goof" and your screwed. I've re-done bunks while the ski sat, but not brackets, some brackets (rust) can be incredibly stubborn, and require one or more trips to hardware store to resolve issues.

 

[rcnut]

Overhead cranes work great if you have access to one.

 

[SaltLife]

That's pretty sweet rcnut, but I don't have access to a crane... Wish I did~!

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

I used an engine hoist and my wall-mounted winch. This was to lift my 14.5' challenger, which weighs roughly 1200lbs. This was really scary as I'm not sure what the beam that I had the winch attached to could handle, but it worked for the minute or so I had it suspended. For a min there, the boat was floating in mid air while I hoisted the rolling cradle I built for it. Couldn't have done my project on the trailer as I had to cut the pump tunnel out for the mod I was doing.

 

[ORION '95 Speedster]

Remove all the straps that secure the boat to the trailer, back up really fast and slam on the brakes.

 

[MikeM8560]

When I did mine I used car jacks to raise it up, then just shimmied the trailer out by using 2 jacks up front to get around the axle. Take a look at my speedster restore thread from last year to get an idea.

I

iii I once did this once did this but I also but backed up to a tree and tied the boat to it so it didn't move with the trailer


I did the same once removing a boat but I also

 

[Coastiejoe]

Build a two piece cradle. Back up to a tree or vehicle and secure the boat to it. Pull away enough to get the stern off the trailer. Slide the back half of the cradle you built under the stern. Keep pulling away, stern will lower onto the cradle. Pull away and put the front half of the cradle under the boat. I suggest installing Teflon slides on the bunks if you don't have them already. SO MUCH easy to launch and retrieve boats and skis.

 

[ht_addict]

Not my ski... This what a friend of mine did last year when he had to replace rusted cross pieces on his trailer (probably not practical for a Challenger).

My wife told me it was back in the tree when she stopped by a few days ago... waiting to hear the story this time