Cradle Modifications

Unfortunately with a new boat, you just never know how it fits on the cradle, until the crane drops the boat onto it. The cradle that came with the boat was huge. There are 4 other Bayfield 29s in the club, and mine is by far the largest cradle, in fact much larger. Several people asked me the day of lift out how the boat was supposed to fit in it, and comments like, "I don't think its going to fit", made for a little nerve racking first lift out. Luckily the boat fit into it really well, the only problem was that the legs and pads were stuck in one position and weren't adjustable. Which means, there would be no way of removing them to strip, epoxy, and repaint the area under the pads. So unfortunately I had to modify the cradle. The pictures speak for themselves.

I had to weld washers to the top of a pipe that fits into the leg. Do some grinding here and there. Some drilling, new wood blocks, new carpet, etc... $150.00 worth of parts just so the pads can be adjustable. By the way, apparently your not supposed to weld galvanized metal. But having never welded before, I didn't know. I pulled my mig welder out of its box for the first time, quickly read the manual, one page, and welded up a galvanized washer to a 2 1/2" rusted steel pipe. I knew enough to grind the rust and the top coat off of the washer first, but that was it. Do not try this at home. And yes, I have had the welder for months. Another item purchased for a life I didn't have at the time, and looks like I might not have time now, for a long time...

Then the one leg had been crushed a little, and the inside pipe wouldn't come out, so I had to come up with a different way to mount that one. Just a royal pain in the but, and 5 hacksaw blades worn out. Do you have any idea how much metal you have to saw to wear out 5 hacksaw blades. Too much..

Before

After

And now the pads move to get under them. The way they should have been in the first place. Once I get the cradle back to the house next year, I will do a little more work and make it that much better, but it was hard to get it just right with the boat in the way. Hey Herc, could you hold this up for a minute....