Lifting a Woody with a crane? (advice needed please)

[Jerome FR – W447]

Hi all,
I must change my trailer, and the sailing club near the house doesn’t have a ramp to access the water but 2 cranes with winches to put dinghies at the water.

My Wayfarer is a full wood model,
and I don’t want to take any risk to damage the hull when lifting it.

From your experience,
where are the best places for positioning the straps?
I assume under the varanguas (I’m not sure that is the right word in English / “varangues ” in french, are the solid pieces in wood, they are going from left to right at the bottom/sides of the hull), but which ones?
Do you have any advice to share?
Or do I make long pieces of wood and protections to put between the hull and straps to avoid lifting the boat on flexible wood parts?

Or lifting a woody by the crane is definitely a bad idea, too risky?
I will appreciate any advice you could share.
Jérôme

[Bob Harland]

Hi Jérôme, a crane lifting the boat with straps should be ok.
The straps can wrap under the boat and up the sides , but one problem could be the straps compressing the hull – ideally the straps will have stretchers to hold them apart.
I would position the straps at 1/3 and 2/3 along the length of the boat.

The wider and more cushioned the straps the better – the sort of thing used to lift a yacht would be fine for a Wayfarer.

Hope that helps

[Jerome FR – W447]

Thank you, Bob.
It helps a lot!
The stretchers to hold them apart from the hull is an excellent idea.
Cheers

[AUTHOR]

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