Custom Aluminum Towboats

As it turns out, we ended up being buried with work, and more coming in daily, so we haven't been able to get around to rolling the boat over. We have, however, kicked out 13 winches so far in the last month or so, with 5 more just about to be finished up, so there are going to be a lot more towing options available. A couple friends really helped get the boat rolling, so special thanks to Maxim de Jong and Brad Hill. At least these guys never laughed at my idea, or told me it couldn't be done. For those who said it wouldn't work and sent me the big list of reasons why, thanks for the input. Of course it's always easier to find a reason not to do something than it is to make it work. Here's what we ended up with...

The photo below left shows a 33 foot long piece of 4" diameter schedule 40 pipe suspended from the stern end by an overhead crane, and the bow by a platform on our forklift. 3 slings are wrapped around the pipe once then cradled under the boat. The pipe was raised and you can see Stuart rotating the pipe from up on the forklift. Note the use of the cheater bar. We welded on handles, but they were to short to overcome the torque required to roll the boat, which basically really wanted to stay wherever you left it.

The photo above right shows the boat almost half way over.

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Here the boat has gone over center with no tendency to want to roll the rest of the way over.

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The boat was raised, rolled in place, and set back down. Now we can back chip the welds made from inside the boat, then put a cover pass from the outside, add the strakes, and flip the boat rightside up again and set it on the trailer. That will have to wait till after Demo Daze....

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