i550class.org

...successfully.

OK, here's the short story: I joined a club. They have floating docks. There are one or two Flying Scotts (19 feet LOA and approx 850 pounds) drysailing on the floating docks. I want to do the same with the i550. Only: the i550 has a bulb.

So in the next few posts I'll explain. But any feedback would be APPRECIATED!

here is a Flying Scott on the dock.

here are some more shots/ideas:



then a friend suggested longer rollers that tilt to the water to ease getting it out of the drink

an early thought on installing some 5 foot rollers that tilt to the water

after some more thought, some newer drawings

and finally a little bit more planning including some shots at dimensions and material

so whadaya think? Am I doomed to unmitigated failure? I am not an engineer.....

and oh....I have a 1,400 pound capacity winch arriving next week and some additional rollers. ALso there are some unattached bunks on the dock that I can shove in to secure the boat and get it off the rollers. You can see the bunks in on of my earlier ideas...this (below) is when I was still thinking singe roller on the edge of the dock

Like it.
Some observations:
You'll still need a centerline roller at the dock's edge to get the first few feet of the bow started. Until the boat reaches past the rollers where the pivot pin is, the roller ramp tails will want to skew out of the way. (You may need a sort of U-shaped brace at the end of the roller ramps to tie them together while still letting the bulb pass).

Like the boat pictured, consider elevating your hoist and using a bow eye near the knuckle to reduce the tendency of the line to pull the boat downward, grinding it into the rollers/bunks during the first half of the pull.

Verboten to cut a chunk out of the dock for the bulb?

I'm a little bothered by the hole "drag the boat up over all these obstacles" idea, knowing that an i550 has pretty thin skin. I wonder if you made something almost like a trailer frame or a 2-bunk build cradle, in wood, that acted like a sled that you shoved into the water, and pulled the boat/sled assembly up so the sled did the skidding? Maybe too complicated to undertake with each launching...

Hi TF, It may be worthwhile to google/investigate 'personal water craft floating dock'. The floating dock will give you a ramp to lift the boat up to the floating dock where you bunks are located. The quick search that i did showed a few possibilities that weren't too expensive. This is just a thought, might not work if the PWC floating portion is in the way of other sailboats.

Thanks guys, I appreciate it!

@ Chad, A friend suggested a sort of "gin pole," a board with a roller on top to stand up on end, like 5 - 6 feet of 2x6, to keep the angle high, at least initially. (see pic)



Chunk out of the dock is a no-go

I am thinking some galvanized or aluminum strapping across the tail ends of the rollers to keep the devils in alignment

@ Tim K - I got quotes on some plastic docking solutions, and they were cost prohibitive...one was 4,975 installed! Um...thanks for the quote, but no thanks

I'm not only stupid, I'm cheap! Two lethal arrangements for boat ownership!

You could use a set of fixed, progressively-higher bunks that would pick the hull up - the sketch isn't correct because the roller-bunks would need to project over the water so that the bulb would clear the dock edge.

Not a bad idea, thanks Warren!

My major concern with this is point-loading the bottom more heavily due to fewer rollers making contact with the hull at any single moment in time, whereas with the straight rollers, presumably they'll all be in contact (if the thing works as planned). I'm headed to Home Cheepo in a few minutes to look at sheet metal solutions to keeping the rollers ends at a constant distance between them, as suggested by Chad.

things get more complicated each day!

Tim, just thinking about all of this. You may want a set of bunks, shorter in length inside the others to get her started. The hull is very narrow forward and the inside ones would help getting her up and rested on the outside bunks. Might even hinge them so they could angle down into the water to catch the hull.

Thanks Jon, I see what you mean. Luckily there are those portable bunks already down there and I figure on using them to alleviate some of the initial pressure. KInd of sorry I bought the rollers to tell you the truth, but I'll give 'em a try.

One thing that will help by and large...there is a carbon fiber pole that comes out of the bow that I can use as an advantage when it comes to lifting the front of the boat while it's still in the water.

BTW, congrats on ringing up i550 class forum post number 5,000 !!! I'll figure out a prize to send you! Need any lead?

The rollers may prove to be the ticket, I've moved my boat around on the carpeted bunks on the trailer, not a easy task. Likely she will roll better then slide. Launching probably more of a issue then retrieval as you'll have a winch to assist with that. Fun times, always something to figure out, get what you think will work then redo it later to make it better. BTW I loved the rolled cockpit sides you did and Josh incorporated into Charlene, very comfortable compared to what I did on the Twist. If I was to ever rebuild that would be one change on the short list of improvements to do.

I wasn't even paying attention to the forum post counts. I can always find use for some extra lead.

OK, as Chad suggested, I made some sort of contraption to keep the ends from splaying out. It's not elegant, but it was inexpensive and easy...a bunch of cheap galvanized framing brackets screwed together. i have to clean it up a bit and loc-tite the screws.



I think this may actually work! (until I am actually doing it and see that it's a failure)

-- Mr. Optimism

oh and one nice thing about the rollers, the wheels have a lot of play in them, so if they need to deviate a few degrees to accommodate the angle of the hull, they will...not sure if that's an intentional design feature or just poorly made

Right idea, but I think a U cut out of a double layer of stout ply will be stiffer and gentler to your bulb. I don't think you want any corners sticking inward of those rollers. I think you should be wary of off-angle approaches, caused by cross winds and such- a design that doesn't self center or that requires perfect alignment is also going to mangle your bulb.

And I think you're right about the bow- you can just grab it and lift it pretty easily, even more so with the big lever extended.

Make something out of wood? Are you CRAZY???

OK, you are quite correct. For the short term I may just wrap it in something soft.

wood....they still use that stuff?

HEY! I cannot find a drawing. Does anyone know how much rocker the boats have from stem to stern? (see diagram) I'm coming up with about 7.5 inches, but that's based on an informal measurement.



I need to know how high to put 2 more rollers, forward of this thing.





THANKS!! --TF

Drawing B1 (Rocker Profile) shows the base of the stem 6 3/8 above baseline and the base of the transom 7 15/16 above baseline. The lowest point of keel is 11/16 above baseline, so your 7 1/2 is in the ballpark. If you average the end elevations and subtract the minimum keel elevation from the baseline you get more like 6 1/2 inches, which is not going to be the same thing as drawing a new baseline with equal stem and transom elevations, but it is probably close enough for shipbuilders.

Thanks for all your advice on this, folks. Worked like a charm and one less thing to do on my spring chekhov list !

Looks GREAT! The club in the background looks like a nice club too!

Thanks, it's a modest club and (thank goodness) a far cry from AYC. But I'm probably one of the "younger" members and I am approaching retirement age!

We need some darn youths.