Can a T21 be assembled single-handed?

[Michael Cook]

I'm reconsidering my T26 build as I think about the issue of assembly for launch.

I love the T21 design, and wonder if that would be easier to assembly by myself? I don't want to do some fancy telescoping trailer and I'm thinking about dollies... 

Or should I go with a Hitia 17 and be certain I can do it all myself?

[Jeff Cohen]

Have you looked at this ongoing YouTube series..?  Might answer your question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up-czGPiHp8

Jeff

[Paul Norfolk]

friendshipsloop . said:

Have you looked at this ongoing YouTube series..?  Might answer your question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up-czGPiHp8

Jeff

[Paul Norfolk]

Hello Jeff,

Thank you for the link, I will check it out...

Regards Paul.

[Michael Cook]

Thanks, Jeff. Yes, I think I have literally seen every video about Tiki 21's and Hitia 17's I can find. I  have seen two guys launch the T21 using dollies to maneuver the hulls and to actually launch it. Young guys of course.  Just wondering if there are any actual owners who launch single-handed.

friendshipsloop . said:

Have you looked at this ongoing YouTube series..?  Might answer your question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up-czGPiHp8

Jeff

[Bo]

Hi,

I have assembled and launched a Tiki 21 single-handed - using a telescoping trailer. It took about four hours to assemble and launch and same for retrieval and disassembly. The hardest part is raising the mast but I used a gin pole and tackle to make that possible.

I think you could do the same with dollies. Will you be assemble on a tidal beach? Or will you use a boat ramp? I think that movement once assembled is the biggest factor if you are not using a telescoping trailer.

Bo

[Brad Ingram]

Hey Michael, 

I launch my 21 solo all of the time. It takes me about an hour and a half to rig up, and a little more if I lace the rear trampoline on.The mast is easy to raise (both my Tiki rig mast and 29' Nacra race rig). I built a cheap and easy telescoping trailer setup. That being said, if you have a flatbed trailer and some solid dollies, then rigging by yourself would be super easy. Just roll the sub 200 pound hulls off, space them, lash the beams on, step mast, roll it to launch, and back it in with a vehicle. The same can be said for a 26, as a lot of folks launch theirs this way, but the hulls are over 400 pounds each. The 17 is nice, but you may as well buy a beach cat for that price and style of sailing. The 21 is the ULTIMATE BEACH CAT! They are lightweight tanks. 

[Michael Cook]

I so appreciate the responses! I’m in Massachusetts, so most of the places I would launch would be boat ramps. With all the privatization of beaches I doubt there are many I could launch a boat off of. There are tons of marinas and the option always exists of paying boatyard folks to help me launch, particularly if I’m only launching for the season, and I suspect that wouldn’t be very expensive. As for adapting a trailer, I have no welding skills, but could conceivably learn and rent the equipment. Another skill I have yet to master is backing up a trailer so there’s that as well! The simplest launch I’ve seen  was for an T8m that was backed into the water with a temporary beam, slid apart and assembled in the shallows. Brad, you’re an inspiration! The Hitia would be easier, but who wants easier?

[Jeff Cohen]

Michael, I'm right here in Eastern Connecticut if you want to chat.  I had a telescoping trailer built and the local welder who made it could certainly make one for you too from the same plans (less measuring and figuring so it would be substantially cheaper to build I should think). The only bits that required welding were the actual telescoping tubes and the v-section cradles attached to them.  All of that simply U-Bolts to the trailer and lots of trailers will handle the custom bits.  Here's a link to my video about the trailer: https://youtu.be/xD4xjS6nRoc  I have launched at boat ramps with no problem and it would work at a beach as well with my 18-foot tongue extension tube.  At my local marina, I prefer to have them launch me either with the hi-lo or in the slings as it can get stressful at local ramps (hate stress).  It does take about 4-hours to assemble the boat on the trailer with one helper (unskilled at the task).  I really just need someone to hold the other side of the beams and deck sections and of course, help me expand the trailer to full width (I suppose I could do it alone more slowly).  A helpful feature of the trailer are registration bolts that bring the hulls into perfect square alignment so that inserting the crossbeams is simple and repeatable.  Another really helpful addition is using ratchet straps instead of lashings. The ratchets save hours of painful tightening of the frappings and works great albeit with the downside that you have to look at the ratchets all season.  You could use the ratchet straps to initially tighten and align and then put the lashings in place as a hybrid approach.  That would still be better than trying to do that from scratch with the lashings as they seldom get tight enough on the first round of tightening.  My mast is an 18-foot aluminum tube and one person can easily hoist this alone.  My boat has a unique tabernacle at the foot of the mast that makes this easier with a hinge pin and housing to keep the mast centered.  I have a temporary head-stay that takes up the slack through a cam cleat as I hoist the mast as a safety and then frees my hands to insert the second retaining bolt once it's been raised. Hope this helps.  Come on down and help me launch in May and I'll show you how it works, tee hee!  You can even come sailing!