getting the boat to pond

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Do people have a view on best way to transport boats to pond? I tend to carry my 5 foot paddle steamer through the park and then use webbing slings to launch with, but now that I am fitting a removable keel to the boat after it comes out of the car, and need tsomething to sit it on to do that, I am trying to work out if there is a more elegant solution to this. I know that some people use Hannibal Lecter style trolleys to push boats about in, but as a relative novice, I am as usual open to all ideas!

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

I’ve always used webbing type slings but that is with boats that do not have a removable keel. I do have a single yacht though with a removable keel and that sits on a cradle with a couple of webbing straps across it for the yacht to sit on while the keel is fitted. Something like a folding stool but with two straps rather than the full width seat.

Folding camping stool.

I guess you could even buy a comping stool and simply cut a hole in the middle for the keel to pass through.

You could fit the keel while the model is on this then lift the model out of the stand and into the water with a couple of webbing slings.

 

 

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Useful advice as ever – I had been about to try to adapt a milk crate, but this looks amuch simpler option. depending on sizes, I may need two small stools or one with a hole cut in it as you say.  keel is very short but boat is quite long.

 

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Alasdair.

We seem to be talking of two different things here. First is getting it from the car to the pond, and then sitting it on something when you get there…OR are you asking about carriage of the boat in the car, and then to the waters edge?

A box is the best thing to carry boats in from house to water side. It protects them and makes them easy to carry, especially with straps and handles. To fit your keel, then a sling arrangement is what I have seen, or you could have an adaptation of the box to serve this purpose?

Ashley

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Yes Ashley I wandered from one subject to the other. there I can carry the boat about OK, but was just wondering if, rather than contrive something to sit it on while fitting a keel, I might be better doing that on a launching trolley.  Think I just carry it and launch it with straps after fitting keel on a stool of some kind, as Richard suggests. The issue of a box is a bit more complicated. As the boat is 4 and a half foot long and (being a paddle steamer) also quite beamy/oddly shaped, the box would have to be sizeable, though I have made the mast removable, which helps. I did invest a couple of years back in a synthetic material box made by a firm in Liverpool, but it is so unwieldy I am not sure it is an improvement on simply carrying the model in and out of the car. I will post a photo, but at five foot long it is not great.  I could build a wooden box, but that would I suspect be no simple task to get into the car!

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

photo gives an idea of the issue with the box I mentioned! The model here is a very old wooden model of Duchess of Fife which I reconditioned. She has a few design faults (including a leak) so she is not likely to sail again for a good while.  Hoping to get my new model of PS Glen Rosa on pond trials soon though!

 

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Fair enough, a box might be a bit big, however it might be a worthwhile investment depending on how or where you store your boats. Mine are all in the workshop, and it’s easy to simply slide boxes on and off the racking. I know what you mean about the box adding to the space the boat occupies. Currently 4 big ones at home do not have boxes, and neither do the flying boats, although they sit nicely on brackets in the ceiling.

A simple folding frame would do for fitting the keel. Make your own with strip wood, canvas strapping and steel threaded rod.

Ashley

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