We are the proud new owners of a 41ft wooden motor cruiser built in 1974 that has been heavily neglected for 3 years and needs some serious love.
We have been told that the common sling slips squish the hull... is this true?
Alternatively there is the cradle .....
What to do???
We are in Newy. We have the option of both but have heard the sling is not good for the old wooden boats but the cradle is without professional help nearby.
Never tried to lift an old timber boat with slings but we own a 75 year old converted cray boat and if we don't support the aft 4 ft that she overhangs behind the slip cradle, then she sags enough to crack the paint in a day or two!!
I would be worried about where the point loading of the slings was on the hull, if you could guarantee the were on full bulkheads then it might be OK.
I assume she is long keel?
Lived and travelled lots of Oz in 70 years but when i googled newy australia and went to maps what came up was newcastle.
If newcastle then the only place i know of is Gonsalves at Palm Beach. They have gun shipwrights and a 4 boat rail slip.
Not close to newcastle though.
if she is well built and in excellent condition you may get away with a travel lift but if not you may create a problem the safe option is the slip i'm not just saying this because i own a slip i regularly use travel lifts for boats that dont suit our slip
Even without seeing it, no matter how sturdy yours is, no timber boat of mine would go into a sling, not even if it had afull flush dech.
You could up spending tens of thousands of dollars in structural repairs.
And it isn't the fault of the yard or operator.
It's bad enough that a timber boat has to sit on its keel with NO WATER SUPPORTING the hull.
Don't sling it.
Thanks for all the advice. Yes we will cradle slip it for sure.
Looking forward to the celebratory well earned beers once it's back in the water.
