How to get my Capri upside down?

blubalou

New Member
I need to get my newly acquired, previously kept in the water, Capri upside down so I can strip the bottom paint. My trailer can be tilted, so my plan was to try to slide the boat off the traler, stand it on end long enough to spin it around then lower back on to the trailer topside down.

Another idea is to get some 4 x 4s, slide the boat off the trailer bottom down, then roll it over having the 4 x 4s run the length of the boat to keep it off the ground (to keep from damaging any parts above the deck.)

Of course I'm planning this maneuver with the help of several strong guys.

Can anyone forsee certain doom in attempting to carry out either of these two maneuvers? Am I asking to irrevocably damage my boat and / or hurt people?

Has anyone worked on their hull before and can provide a better solution?

Advice much appreciated!
 
Re - Flipping

I don't know what others have down with the Capri, but when I've done this before I worked the boat off the trailer onto stands and left it right-side up. It's a pain to lay on your back and work, but I'm not sure the deck is made to support the weight. Of course, you have to move your supports also to get the entire bottom done. If other have done it successfully flipped over, then that's good news. It'd sure be easier that way.
 
I think the most important thing is to think about the entire movement in your head before you do it.

Who easily does your boat slide off your trailer? Mine does not slide easily at all, but then again I don't have a tilting trailer. I suppose if I had a few guys to help I could get it to slide off. I would put one or two people on each side lifting up to take the weight off the bunks and ease the boat off.

However, think carefully about what will happen as you do this. Eventually the weight distribution will be such that the boat will rock and the stern will hit the ground. Be prepared for this, and think about where the pressure points will be on the boat when this happens and try to reduce them.

Once the stern is on the ground, you probably won't be able to slide the boat on the ground (and you won't want to). I'd start pulling the trailer at this point (while continuing to push the boat).

Next, think about what the bow will do as it falls off the last supporting mechanism (my trailer does not have a roller on the end, so my bow would crash down hard on the iron of the trailer). Again, prepare for what will happen.

Once you get the boat on the ground, I think standing it on end would be very hard and dangerous. I would attach the mast and rock the boat onto its side. I think here some cushioning support would definately be very helpful to avoid damage to the side. Once on the side, I would use 2x4's to support the boat and take off the mast. Then I would gradually lower it down.

I have no idea is the structural integrity of the boat is such that this can all be done without damage, but this is what I would try.

I would also use and old mattress underneath the boat once it is turned upside down, and additional soft supports, such as rolled up blankets, tucked in the sides to reducess stress.

My number one concern, however, is regarding the mast support once the boat is upside down! It would surely cause damage, or be damaged, if the boat rests on it. I would take it off before fully rolling the boat over.

OK, those are my ideas. Not a recommendation, mind you, but just ideas.
 
Thanks Paul!

Thanks Paul, this is all good stuff. I've been thinking a lot about it. Standing the boat on its stern, making it 14' tall, does seem dangerous. Just trying to get it off its end and coming back down seems like a potential disaster with both boat and people getting hurt.

And yes, the mast support is my biggest concern as far as topside parts getting damaged.

Also still looking for advice from anyone that has done this before.
 
I have not done this before...but. I would say that if you can determine how to properly support the boat upside down then it would make the work of re-doing the hull 100% easier.

I would not consider standing it up on the stern.

The boat, without the mast or anything else except for the hull should weigh less than 300Lbs (give or take a few).

If you had 6 people (3 on each side) lifting it by the gunnels would theoretically only be 50 Lbs. per person. I can lift (momentarily) the bow or one of the sides, myself.

Things to keep in mind. be carful of having the boat supported entirely by the gunwales.


Here's my first whack at it.

- Get an old mattress (maybe 2) and lay them down on the ground at the rear of the trailer. slide them as far under the trailer as you can.

Take the Mast support off.

- have the 6 people lift/slide the boat back being sure that the bow does not slip between the bunks and hit the cross members of the trailer. If you have carpeted bunks try to wet the tops down by lifting the boat a little and sprying a hose on them. This will help with the sliding bit.

- lay the stern down on the mattress

- while the front four hold the bow up, have one of the others slowly/carefiully drive the trailer out from under the boat

-lay the boat entirely down on the mattress

- with another mattress to land on, roll the boat onto it's side. have some of the peolple balance it while others work around to help slowly lower it.

Now it is upside down on a mattress. If you can, I would leave it right there to do the work. You might want to add some cushionin on either side onf the mast support position.

If you need to put it up on something, I would say that the transom should be used at either side to support the rear and other supports near the shroud connectors for th efront.

If you had soemthing to support from above, you could use a sling like what others on this forum use to lift there boats into the water to lift it off of the trailer. These slings (do a search on sling or lift) attach to the transom mount for the hiking strap and to each of the shroud connectors.


Good luck and let us know what worked.

These are my thought s and I you will need to determine the best way to approach this.
 
The old upside down trick

Yes, take off the mast. But if you use lots of mattresses, foam blocks, etc, so the mast step doesn't press on the ground you don't have to remove it. But that's the key, lots of cushioning. And a crowd of big guys to help, the kind whose knuckles drag on the ground...
 
I own a Chysler 22 sailboat and since it weighs 3000 lbs I always leave it on the trailer when I apply bottom paint.

I first jackup each wheel and place eight inch blocks under them. This allows more crawl space. I then scrape, sand and paint the bottom except under the bunks. Laying on your back while sanding and painting is not all that bad.

After the paint dries, I raise one side off its bunk and sand and paint where the bunk rests. I then do the same thing on the other side.
 
Gunwales will support weight

In reply to my own post.....

I called FastLane, a Capri 14.2 dealer in San Diego. I was looking for a contact at Catalina to tell me if the boat's hull would support its weight on the gunwales so I could roll it over by walking it up on its side, then lowering it down on its top. The salesperson I talked with said they do that all the time at the dealership. And in fact, Catalina will ship the Capris stacked on each other with one bottom down, then a mattress (or other similar pad) then the next one topside down stacked on the mattress.

Thanks for everyone's input! I plan to get the help of several strong fellas, lower it onto one mattress, then roll it over onto another mattress to do the work. I may get some old tires to brace the corners to make sure its stays in place on the mattress.

BTW, called one more boatyard just to ask what it would cost to have them do it. The quote was $980!!! All labor. Definitely gonna do this one myself.
 
Yes. You can turn your 14.2 over.

I did just that three weeks ago.
I padded one side heavily-with rolled up sleeping bags, sleeping bag pads, rolled up rugs, lots of duct tape!

Added more padding on the driveway. 5 of us lifted it and set it briefly on its side while continuing to turn it completely over; then, without ever setting it completely down, I quickly laid boards across the trailer, unhooked most of the sleeping bag padding, all the while the other 4 were holding the boat, and then I directed it being laid back on the trailer (now upside down), getting underneath, making sure there were gaps in the boards at the appropriate place so as not to break anything on the deck.

I've since finished my resanding, primed it, painted on two finishing coats, "resined" the gunwales so that I could put on the new rubrail (it's awesome) with all of the riveting required, and have also pulled the old centerboard gasket and am replacing that.

Within the week I hope to have my four neighbors over again. All of the padding will be on the ground, as we lift, set lightly on its side on the ground, then roll all the way over right side up, lift it again and set it back on the trailer. There's a little duct tape left to be scraped off the seats.

All in all, it's much easier, more thorough, and allows better painting than the previous sessions I spent on my back!
 
Maybe a little late

I just had my 14.2 off the trailer and in the garage for a while sanding and painting. The best way I found to get it off the trailer and back on was to use my front lawn. I moved the trailer on to the front lawn, hosed down the whole bottom of the boat and the grass, undo the tie downs and pushed it as far back on the trailer as possible, put a pad between the bow and the trailer. I had a buddy hold on to one side to steady the boat, then I lifted the tounge of the trailer up over my head and the trailer rolled forward and boat slid off on to the soft wet lawn. We then lifted the boat up in to saw horses( three; one under the bow, two under the stern, all of them padded). I didn't have any problem with the deck supporting the weight of the boat. Oh and to the guy who said that fusion paint from krylon holds up well........it doesn't.
 
My first instict was to say take her out single handed on a windy day after having a few beers;) I repaired some scratches to the gel coat on the bottom of mine and had to turn her over. I did it in my garage. I backed the trailer in. I used atwo rope and pulley tackles similar to the (boom vang). I hooked one to the bow fitting and attached the other to an overhead beam. On the back of the boat, I used a large loop of rope(going around the hull and deck) and hooked this to another tackle. I raide each end up and then moved the trailer outide. Then I got my wife to help me and we just slowly rolled the boat over sliding it around the loop at the back until it was upside down. Then I lowered the deck onto a couple of saw horses and did my hull repair. Does this make sense to anybody?
 

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