I'm takking off for a few days; maybe you'll have some good answers for me later

[Ed Harrow]

I. Checking shape: Based upon several inputs from Rodger - I'm thinking of building tripods at bow and stern to run wire (good string?) over with weights attached to the ends (to ensure constant tension, seems a good idea?).

To what should I measure? I'm thinking stanchion bases would be a good idea, easy to reference. Other suggestions?

My buddy Russ has a suggestion re ballast removal that seems workable. Rather than build a framework like Dave did for Sarah, Russ suggests using, in effect, eyebolts down thru keel into the ballast (in place of the originals). To these I'd attach two suitable (?) eye beams, and jack them, as well as another jack at each end.

I'm also thinking that if required, chains could be run under the ballast from side to side to aid in lifting the boat if required.

So, please cogitate on that while I'm gone, and have some good (but for heaven's sake I don't want a consensus, LOL) ideas, suggestions, etc.

Lastly, please keep an eye on that Misc crowd and keep them in line. ;)

Ed

[Concordia..41]

If the engine and enough of the interior is out of the way you can put a line from the stem or center of the breast hook to the center of the horn timber and take mesurements to the shelf at the deck beams. If you have enough room under the cockpit you can run two lines, one high and one low and use a level on the two lines to get the boat level. I also use a line and plumb bob at the bow and stern to level the boat.

I have found that every Trumpy I have looked at has a hog. This is mainly due to the fuel and water tanks in the stern. They are also bad to have a twist in the keel.

Only have four more keel bolts to cut. A lot harder to do than I thought they would be. May or may not get them cut today. Had to order more saw blades and they will not be in until about noon.

Dave

[Ed Harrow]

Geez, a week, only one input, there's been some causalties I gather, maybe back to lurkerdom is best...

[Donn]

Originally posted by Ed Harrow:
Geez, a week, only one input, there's been some causalties I gather, maybe back to lurkerdom is best...Shoot, Ed...I read the question, but wouldn't even know how to research such questions. I think I'd ask the pervs in the building/repair section first...then I'd go to a local shipwright and ask him.

My boat just don't have the same things (like ballast) as yours. :D

[Thad]

Sorry Ed -- you didn't like my plan so what can I say. For jacking, jack from under the ballast with Hydraulic jacks, going around and adjusting the jackstands as she rises (some might be going down while others go up as she pivots, rocking fore and aft up the steps). Support the keel between liftings with serious timbers. I still recommend my rolling ballast cradle. Altogether too straightforward and low tech.

[Ed Harrow]

Thad, very clever, to be certain, but your's truely hasn't enough room within Our Lady, me thinks, to get the ballast out of the way if I use your technique. (Of course I might not be able to get it where I want it in any case.)

[Dave Fleming]

Ed, you are in this for the long haul, correct?
Clever use of time and materials is the hallmark of a good shipwright. Doing things on a shoestring does not mean cutting corners. It means using your resources the best way possible, all the time.
I see that in the way Concordia is doing their project.
If two old men and one young squirt could move a 10,000 lb slab of Cast Iron dumped in the dirt about 60 round the corner feet from where it was supposed to be dumped with nothing more than stout planks, pieces of pipe a Duff-Norton and a Willys Jeep and then setting it up on the building blocks why your Ballast Keel should be no problem and all.
Pick some brains here on the Forums, quite a few clever people are around here.
If ya gotta enlarge your shed well that's what ya gotta do. You are going to be working in it for some time and it better suit the job or be flexible in meeting your needs or.....
NOT wishing to be a Curmudgeon but addressing the situation as I see it, if ya folla?

PAX
dave

[Dave Fleming]

Thad, why not describe your ideas for a Ballast Keel cradle for the rest of us?
I am sure more than one Forumite would be interested.

[rodcross]

I visited a shed where a guy was rebuilding an old sardine carrier. His philosophy was to follow the shear. True that and all that follows will be true.

It seemed wrong to me, at the time, because it was a top-down approach rather than bottom-up. Over time it begins to make sense to me. Not completely...Don't get me wrong, but there's something to be said for suspending the boat, rather than supporting it.

Just a thought to add to your quandry.

[Thad]

I lost all my digital pictures a few weeks ago so I can't show them. The idea was to move the ballast out of the way and be able to get it back, without anyone getting hurt. My picture was an ancient cart wheel -- actually about a quarter of a wheel -- with the ballast in the center. The "wheel" was made with 3/4 plywood and 2x6s. The plywood was cutout to fit around the ballast fore and aft of the CG almost three feet apart. The casting is heavier at the top than at the bottom so if the "wheel" were a true circle section weight would take over as it rolls and be unmanageable; the arc has to get longer to keep the CG over the ground contact. I just stood over the cut out panels and drew arcs that would do the job, leaving flat sections for stops at the ends. The radius was in the order of 2 1/2 feet. Then the 2x6s were screwed to the plywood, both sides, verticle and horizontal, with the ballast cutout. With these "wheels" placed under the ballast 3/4 inch holes were drilled in the "wheels" and 3/4 inch threaded rod was run through, nuts and washers on both sides of both wheels, 4 of these bracings. Then the ballast was lowered to rest in the cradle and rolled away. We were working on crushed stone and inserter 4x4s between the threaded rods to drive our vehicle through it's quarter turnout of the way while we replaced the keel.