Repairing damage to keels, how to lift a Tiki 38' above high tide?

[Norm van't Hoff]

Hi all,

My Tiki 38' recently had an excursion onto a reef after breaking her moorings while I was away. Fortunately, there's only minor damage to the bottoms of the keels, so the repairs don't look too difficult, however, I'm in an area without slipways, so my challenge is getting her high and dry enough to do the work.

Tidal range is 1.0 to 1.5m at the time I have to do the repairs. I can get her onto a beach, but I'll have to lift her up higher to dry out the keels and do the repairs, so here's my question;

Can anyone offer advice about the best way to jack her up? I'm thinking I'll have to move around the boat jacking a bit, inserting a block, then moving on to the next point, blocking her up a bit at a time... but I'm also wondering if it would be possible, if I spread the load with a heavy board, to lift both bows/sterns at once by jacking under the forward/aft cross beam?

I'm also wondering if the hull sections fore and aft of the keels can support the weight of the boat, or if I should always bear most of the load on the keels & skegs?

If anybody's got any advice, it would be most appreciated...

Thanks folks,
Norm

[Björn]

I used a lifting cart to raise the hull up higher, then put wood under the keel, raised abit higher and put wood again under it...

IF you are straight under the keel I think temporarily for lifting you do not have to be under the bulkheads, if you leave it for longer it is probably better.

IF you cannot us a lifting cart you could a strong long piece of wood (100 mm diameter) and use it as a leaver with a few people on it and then again raise cm by cm.

Good luck!

[Norm van't Hoff]

Many thanks Bjorn

[Brett Parker]

HI There

I think only jack her from the keels, not the skeg or any other part of the hull. You don't want to do any damage to any other part of the boat. I have settled her onto a beach at high tide, waited for the tide to go out then dug under the keel to get a bottle jack in place then jacked her up and slowly built wooden towers for her to sit but I have also settled her down on ackrows under the front beam and the rear beam right next to the hulls and she was quite happy with this. But with all of this you really want to be gentle with your boat and use heaps of padding under the jack or ackrow. I use bits of old tyre-spread the load. The ackrows were great because they allowed clear access to the full length of the keel which was handy. I have and epoxy and silica flour(ground up sand) shoe on the bottom of my keel and its proved very usefull!!!I have also used the long post and a lever to raise up one side of the keel too. You need a few helpers.

If there was a tractor around or digger that could drag you up the beach to do your work.... Preferably on some boards. Kelp on the board is slippery.

Its all good when you get off lightly from these little accidents;)

[Norm van't Hoff]

Many thanks Brett, 

Great advice, thank you, and you're right, I'm very grateful she only got some 'scratches'. 

Norm 

[Brett Parker]

Interesting product. Think you would need more like twelve. These could be bloody useful for long term cruising where you can end up in no mans land and you have to wing it yourself!

[Norm van't Hoff]

Beacon Hill Ben said:

Would it be possible/usefull to roll your Tiki further up the beach, to where it stays dry most/all of the time? There are these heavy duty inflatable beach rollers, you would need six of them (buy/borrow), and you would use a tractor or 4WD car to slowly pull your Tiki further up the beach. Then you can lift her up as the other suggested. See http://www.harboursidechandlery.com.au/catalog/trem-boat-roller-500...  If you get these in place (partially inflated) just before your keels fall dry, then pump them up and you have a beach car!

Where in the world are you? Australia? I'll come and help.

[Norm van't Hoff]

Hi Ben, 

I'd love to roll the boat up the beach but finding inflatable rollers here would be impossible, and there are no tractors or 4WD's either. I'm in a remote location, Raja Ampat, a group of islands off the North-West tip of Western Papua New Guinea. But thanks for the input. 

All the best, 

Norm 

[Brett Parker]

Are there people? A really big group of people could drag/ lift your boat up above high water. Maybe put on some free beer or contact the local church???/ or could you sail to an area where a bit  of gear might be available????

[Jeremy Walker]

Log rollers and planks made slippery will do the trick if you use a come-along/Turfer and a bunch of people with some muscle.....I recall moving an Oro (46ft) a fair distance from the water this way

[Norm van't Hoff]

Great ideas, thanks everyone.

I'm about to embark on a local voyage of discovery, hoping to locate a location nearby to dry her out. Any of the above could turn out to be solutions and I received another tip today... If you place banana trunks, sideways like rollers, over heavy boards, the slippery sap they ooze allows a boat to be dragged easily up the boards... 

It would certainly be much more convenient if I can drag her up above the tides. Once I'm organised, I'll post pics of the process. Thanks again fellas, 

Norm 

[Norm van't Hoff]

For anybody with similar issues, in the end, we put her on wooden blocks and tyres, on a beach, during big tides, then we worked between the tides, on the keels, with fast drying epoxy. Results are good enough (I think ;-) 

[Brett Parker]

Be interested to hear how you have found the local people in this area....