Crème Brulée was lucky--hope everybody weathered the storm

[Capt Hook]

Roberto,

Thank you.

I thought the chains were meant to keep the jack stands from sinking into the mud.

I see they're intended to have the jack stands sink evenly into the mud.

[Jim Walsh]

I see they're intended to have the jack stands sink evenly into the mud.

[fmueller]

Hey Joe,

I'm guessing you probably DID have plywood squares under the tubes of your poppets?

But I've seen some of these in boatyards that are not much larger than the tubes of the stand itself. Load bearing goes up geometrically - so for instance even a 6" x6" pad which is what you generally see, has just 25% load bearing compared to a 12" x12" pad.

I'm wondering if a 3/4" 4"x8" sheet of plywood cut into 1' squares (one sheet will yield 32) might be just as effective (and certainly less costly and permanent) as pouring a pad at your location. Or 2x12s cut into 1' lengths. In an earlier part of my career I did lots of outdoor sound system work and the stage guys (licensed riggers actually) who put the steel up for some of the truly massive outdoor stages I worked on had incredible piles of pads and lumber, of all sizes, that would as a matter of course go under the metal scaffold foot plates on open ground. And we would get rain as often as not - and the ground would get plenty soggy, yet these temporary structures would be fine, even with our tons of speaker systems hung from the towers on chain motors.

Brownell has pretty interesting info on their stands ...

http://boatstands.com/proper-use/

http://boatstands.com/boat-stand-selector/

my 2 cents / glad the boat is ok

cheers

Fred

[Joe Myerson]

Hi Fred,
Yes, the boat-hauler always put small squares under the feet. Obviously they weren’t adequate. I’ Have to get to Cataumet after this snowstorm to check it out for myself.

—Joe

[John Stone]

Joe
When I positioned the Far Reach on a gravel pad in my back yard for 6.5 long years I used a single piece of large 3/4” ply under the cross bars between the tripod legs of each boat stand to maximize the spread load. I never had a problem. When we move the boat to the boat yard prior to launch the boat yard put small squares under the bottom of each leg. IMO the small squares under each leg is fine on pavement but inadequate on gravel.

I chained the boat stands together as described above by Roberto but also chained them fore and aft.

[Cathy Monaghan]

Lynne and I are discussing whether we need to put compacted gravel or a concrete pad under the boat. Apparently what happened was that the ground got so sodden that the jack stands just sank into the mud.
--Joe

Joe:

I would recommend against gravel. Too much "give" and tendency to have things "slip and slide". I strongly recommend a concrete slab. In Miami, building code for a concrete slab requires 6". I framed and excavated for 8" with a 30' x 15' size slab.

S/V Bali Ha'i is on a trailer with lift off jack stands. If she were on jack stands positioned on the ground I would think you be a lot more comfortable with a concrete slab (angled to allow water run-off). If you go with a concrete slab I strongly recommend installing large threaded eyebolts with large steel plates into the ground before pouring the concrete.

This "cyclone bomb" may have been an unusual event but S/V Creme Bruree is your baby.

You must place a piece of plywood, at least 5/8” thick and at least 8” square (bigger would be better) beneath the foot of each leg of each jackstand and there should be a chain run between each opposing jackstand. There should be large blocks of would beneath the keel, not just one long piece of wood. There should be gaps between the blocks to allow the chains for the jackstands to pass through. The plywood helps spread the weight and prevents the jackstands from sinking into the ground. The chains prevent the jackstands from moving away from the boat. Oh, and don’t tie tarps down to the jackstands either, that’s another way to send your boat toppling over.

Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[Keith]

Hi Joe,

Glad all turned out for the best. Moon Dance is at Pecks in Cotuit and it survived the 93 mph gust with only the cover coming loose on the stern quarter. I got it secured on Sunday for round 2 which hit on Tuesday.Now I hear round 3 is coming this week. Come on spring!!!!! Hoping to launch the first week in May.

Keith