Moving a cradle - methods?

[Abier]

Hello,
I've finally got my boat transport in order. I have a steel cradle that will sit on a flatbed trailer. The boat is in the water now, so a yard will pull the boat and place it on the cradle/trailer. My problem is getting it off the trailer when I get home, as in my back yard. Does anyone have suggestions as to how I can pull or slide the boat/cradle off the trailer? Trailer bed height is 24", boat is 4500 lbs, cradle is about 800 lbs (guess).

My current plan is to dig a couple of sloped trenches that the trailer wheels will go into, allowing the tail end of the trailer to touch the ground. Then I would use come-alongs to pull the cradle off. I've thought about using steel pipe rollers under the cradle to help it move, is this a good idea? (I'd have the other end winched off so as to not lose control or have it move too fast).

Does this sound crazy dangerous? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Andy

[TritonSean]

I have seen pipe rollers used this way to good effect.

We moved a 6,000 lb boat this way off a flatbed by hooking up a come along to a nearby large boulder
worked like a charm !

[Rachel]

CharlieJ from this forum picked up and moved his Meridian (25'/5500#) on a cradle and flatbed. I have photos of it, and I just called him to ask if he minded if I posted them, and he said to go ahead. So here we go, with some notes:

Here is how the boat looked when they arrived to pick it up.

As you can see, they removed the wheels from the trailer (down to the hubs). I think the truck is up on the ramps to improve the angle.

They controlled the height of the trailer with a hydraulic jack.

They attached some small wheels to the bottom of the cradle (which was homemade as well) and used them until the cradle got onto the trailer, then removed them.

They used a chain fall to pull the cradle up onto the trailer

You can see where the chain fall was attached here.

Loaded up and ready to tie down, tarp, and roll!

When they got to the other end of the transport (home), they unloaded her onto a grassy area and then they used pipes laid under the cradle and the chain fall attached to a tree and pulled the whole shebang off the flatbed trailer. I'll see if I have any interesting photos of that maneuver.

[Rachel]

Here are a few photos from the unloading on the "home" end, although they don't show the roller/pipes in action (also, I added one "pre-load" photo to the post above just now).

By the way, CharlieJ is currently cruising down the US East Coast, so that's why he's not posting himself.

Arrived home, all bundled up (ports and hatches were missing).

In position to unload.

Setting up.

Pulling her off.

[Abier]

Hmmm. I posted a "thank you" for the pics but it has gone into cyberspace.

Anyway, WOW! Thanks for the pictures! I feel much more comfortable doing this now. My only problem now is that I have no anchor point from which I can pull the cradle. No trees or boulders close by. The boat will back up to an old garage (kind of rickity), but maybe I can make an attachment point to the concrete slab. I'll investigate this evening.

Thanks again!

[Surveyor]

I do not have pictures but I have done something similar.

For an anchor point you can set a fence post in the ground at an angle away from the load. If the ground is soft set two and chain the top of the closest post to the bottom (ground level) of the farthest. Anchor your load at ground level to the closest, it should hold if you are rolling it off.

If the building is in the way, pull the load off onto three 10" pvc utility pipes, the thick sewer/water kind. You can slide a heavy load on top of those pipes sideways very easily. If you drop the cradle at the corner of the building, you should be able to slide (not roll) the cradle sideways behind the building on top of those pipes. Then just jack it up, remove the pipes and get to work.

If the cradle does not already have them, you will need to rig/weld a way to jack it up and allow relief to remove the jacks somehow.

I have moved sheds, boat cradles with boats in them and a 32' RV on pipes like I described.

[Carl-A259]

One thing to very aware of is how you are going to get the boat back on the trailer. I'll share what I did. I rolled the cradle off the trailer on 1"pipe. I had a couple of old bent trailer axles with tires on them . When the end of the cradle cleared the trailer I slid one of the old trailer axles under it and tied it to the cradle with a short piece of chain then continued to roll the cradle off and slid the other axle under the opposite end of the cradle, tied it off and I was done. did it by myself. When it's time to reload it's a one man operation to use a come-a-long and put it back on the trailer. Barring this you could block the cradle up when it comes off the trailer and then pull the trailer forward and block the front keeping the cradle at the proper height to load back on the trailer.

[One Way David]

I'm not experienced in moving boats but have moved a fair amound of heavy machinery. Lets look at first things first.

1. Where do you want the boat/cradle in relation to whete the haul rig can access? If the trailer can get to where the boat/cradle will sit and pull out, I'd recomment jacking it up on cribbing and drive the trailer out. Then Jack the boat/cradle down. This can also be a better way even if you have to drag/roll the boat/cradle to another site.

2. If you have the equipment to dig down for ramps to simulate a loading platform, use it to pull the boat off the trailer. Come-a-longs should be the last resort unless uou have an endless supply of valium. They are very slow and require NUMEROUS re-settings to move a short distance. Your main tackle would probably be a better choice.

3. I have and have seen huge pieces of machinery moved with the pipe technique. Be very cautious doing this down ramps and use redundant safety lines.

4. If working on anything other than concrete, watch out. Gravel, asphalt, sod and any other variation can shift, sink, buckle, swamp... Even if it looks dry, use care. I have seen tractors sink in mud holes that had dust 2' down but water below that.

5. Put a lot of thought into it if you use ramps to come down off the trailer. What may look balanced can easily end up laying on its side on the ground beside the ramps.

All that said, it can be done. Just put thought into what you want to do beforehand. And post pictures of what you do.

Dave, having had experience with each of the above unintended consequences.

[David VanDenburgh]

If the building is in the way, pull the load off onto three 10" pvc utility pipes, the thick sewer/water kind. You can slide a heavy load on top of those pipes sideways very easily. If you drop the cradle at the corner of the building, you should be able to slide (not roll) the cradle sideways behind the building on top of those pipes. Then just jack it up, remove the pipes and get to work.

I'm curious about the PVC utility pipe idea. Your experience is that these things are tough enough for something like an Alberg 30?

Thanks,

[Surveyor]

If the building is in the way, pull the load off onto three 10" pvc utility pipes, the thick sewer/water kind. You can slide a heavy load on top of those pipes sideways very easily. If you drop the cradle at the corner of the building, you should be able to slide (not roll) the cradle sideways behind the building on top of those pipes. Then just jack it up, remove the pipes and get to work.

I'm curious about the PVC utility pipe idea. Your experience is that these things are tough enough for something like an Alberg 30?

Thanks,

Sorry for the late reply. I just saw your question.

Utility pipes are very tough and are designed to handle extreme loads under ground. As long as the weight is distributed evenly over 3 pipes they will not break. Of course they do have limits but it is way over 3000 pounds.