Flipping the Boat Over

Saturday, December 16, 2006. Finally, the day has come to flip the boat and I was able to witness the "mechanical genius" (my Dad) at work. We flipped a C21 with just 2 people and using simple hardware.

The boat is now rolled out into the driveway. My Dad is fastening a strap which is pulled by a come-along on the opposite side (around a tree).

In the foreground is a 2x4 which is going to be used to raise the come-along strap up off the hull as we turn it over.

Another rope is simply wrapped around another tree on the near side and will be slowly released once the boat reaches the tipping point.

We raised the boat by lifting the 2x4, since this was a lever it was actually quite easy. We used another 2x4 and a c-clamp to hold the boat in position while the come-along is tightened.

Here we are removing the slack in the line, once the slack is removed we'll lift the boat some more and repeat.

The boat is now resting perfectly on its side, a pretty amazing sight. The boat cannot fall in either direction because of the ropes locking it in place from two directions.

This is a view of the boat from my perspective as I slowly let more line out the boat turned over.

The boat is held now for the final bit, a few more feet of rope to release and it will be flipped.

The plan has come together! The C21 has been flipped.

The jig has been removed from the hull, here is my Dad at the stern ahead of the motorwell.

Here I am inside the bow, this boat is deep!

It took some doing, but we eventually moved the boat over to the driveway, using 2x4's as skid plates. I essentially did leg presses with the bow while my Dad put scooted the first cradle in position. We also used a jack to help raise the boat up to get the cradles in their exact positions.

The 12' 2x4's from the flipping "lever" are now used to lock the cradles together.

The boat is now re-entering the garage.

Almost there

Back in the garage resting comfortably on the cradles.

My Dad thought this would be a funny picture.