New laser and custom Laser Launch Dolly

[Climbing Bum]

Just bought my first Laser (1981 $750) I know next to nothing about sailing. Some of the old posts on here were very helpful to me so wanted to share my experience.

--I'm able to get the boat onto and off my 4 runner by myself which was a big concern. I'm in decent shape and this is hard but do able.
--I already started scraping up the hull by not having a launch Dolly. I regret that so I built what is shown below.
--While I could lift the boat onto my car I couldn't move it by myself. The smaller Dolly is so I can move it down a narrow alleyway while on its side.
--The boat leaks even in no wind I assume it's the auto bailer based on my inspection but wonder if it could leak through the drain plug which is very old. Going to silicone some stuff and I'll update once I seal all leaks.
--Those Dollys can be made for $40 each with parts from Home Depot. Which is nice if you're cheap like me.

 

[torrid]

I've seen lots of creative home-built dollies over the years, and yours is one. They are often functional but not very durable. The key is a new Dyyamic dolly would cost almost as much as you paid for your boat, while yours was forty bucks. I say sail your boat, have fun, and keep up with your dolly maintenance.

 

[Jason Rucker]

The boat leaks even in no wind I assume it's the auto bailer based on my inspection but wonder if it could leak through the drain plug which is very old. Going to silicone some stuff and I'll update once I seal all leaks.

The soapy water air pressure test is good for finding leaks. I use dish soap, apply to hull, us a hand pump (not a compressor!!) like for air mattress to put air through the bung hole. There could be a crack in the dagger board well toward the bottom.

 

[woodreau]

I just blew Into the bung hole with my mouth after I soaped up my boat. Taped the breathe hole under the hiking strap at the forward part of the cockpit. Then blew into the bung hole and then stopped up the hole with playdoh.

this is the crack I found in my bailer hole and how I patched it with flex seal. It’s held up over a few sails.

Old Laser help requested?

I just picked up a 1973 Laser and was looking for some information. It appears to be in good shape, but I'm not sure I know what I should be looking for to check for hidden damage that needs to be addressed before I put it in the water. The hull appears to be intact. and the foils appear to be...

sailingforums.com

Old Laser help requested?

I just picked up a 1973 Laser and was looking for some information. It appears to be in good shape, but I'm not sure I know what I should be looking for to check for hidden damage that needs to be addressed before I put it in the water. The hull appears to be intact. and the foils appear to be...

sailingforums.com

how do you transport with the dollies do you use both of them or are you only using just one if the smaller one is to transport sideways? I’m looking at building one from pvc piping but I havent pulled the trigger yet. For now it’s my son and myself transporting the boat 200ft from the parking lot to the beach to rig the boat and launch and in reverse derigging and dragging it back to the parking lot.... we tried using the boat ramp once and a lot of motorboat people got upset when our laser tied up the boat ramp trying to get it back onto the trailer.

this is the pvc dolly im looking to build

sunfish pvc dolly & handle [plans]

several years ago, I blogged about the Sunfish PVC dolly that I built for moving around my Sunfish. I later drew up plans for building the dolly, and posted them here for free! I have since then b…

my2fish.wordpress.com

 

[Climbing Bum]

Went out Saturday and didn't find any water in the boat after hours of sailing, so looks like I got lucky with the issue just being localized to where the bailer plug (plastic piece missing the nut) is inserted. I saw that they sell brass replacements so if it starts leaking again I may fix it properly.

The small dolly I built to transport it while on it's side didn't work very well for me. The boat slid around too much and the dolly wanted to turn when I hit any bumps and as the surface was very rough and nothing to keep the axle perpendicular to the boat.

The larger dolly worked good enough for me, but it also wanted to turn a bit. I wrapped a ratchet strap around the bottom of the dolly and top of the boat to hold in place, but the big difference was the longer moment. After that I set up all my rigging then pushed off, undid the straps once the boat was in the water and set the dolly + strap off to the side (This was easy since the dolly is small enough to be easily placed out of the way. Both dolly's would work better with a long 2x4 attached, a pole (maybe broom stick) or similar apparatus to guide straight and keep the axle perpendicular to the boat. I may try that if I get desperate, but I don't have a lot of storage space and would also find it harder to stash near the ramp, so I'm trying to stay small and simple.

The double rails from the PVC dolly you linked to look like they'd be nicer on the hull of the boat and solve the rotating issue, but the boat could still slide forward if pushing on boat and not dolly/handle. I'm also skeptical about the strength of PVC and would consider something like 2" ABS if you were going to go that route.