Lifting 24' Pontoon Off the Trailer

[Jomama]

I have a 24' 89 Tracker Party Barge and need to get it off the trailer to fix a few things. I would take it to the lake but its 30 miles away and I don't want to get there and find out I don't have the tools I need.

My toons do not have eye hooks, so lifting it with 2 fork trucks at both ends is out of the question. I have a fork truck and could lift up in the area between the deck and toons… will this hurt anything? Especially using only 1 fork truck in the middle?

How would you guys handle this? Thanks in advance.

[Grumpy]

Unless you think that the repaors are going to take more than a few hours, I would take all of the tools I could possibly need and go to the lake.

Grumpy

[Jomama]

The thing is I bought the boat from an older gentleman who had some issues getting it on the trailer.

He rammed into one of the post and bent it about 60 degrees downward… so if I break/crack the steel bending it back, I want to have my welder handy.

Also, he pulled it out of the water once with the toon sitting on the opposite post and punctured the toon, bending down the brackets the loading boards sit on. So I have to pry the (4) brackets out to replace the boards. It just does not sit right on the trailer now.

I am replacing the rear loading boards and setting the post(s) back into position. The (4) posts currently have (4) boards going vertically and I want to connect the posts with boards going horizontally for loading purposes.

[roadrunner]

You should be able to get some jacks and blocking and jack the pontoon up and pull the trailer out fix it and back it back under the pontoon.

[steemer1]

Jack up the trailor with boat on it and then put supports under the boat and drop the trailor out from underneath it. You wont be able to pull the trailor out from under it but it will allow you to work on the trailor and under the boat. use a couple of floor jacks under it with wood blocks until you get it to the height you need it then drop the trailor.

[270Coastal]

Take it to the lake, and rent a slip from a Marina and take the trailor back home.

[Jomama]

That's great advice! I wish I would have thought of that solution. Oh, wait that would mean 120 miles of driving... hmmm. Hence, the original question regarding the fork truck.

[roadrunner]

do you have enough room to bring the tow motor in the front of the boat without hitting the trailer tongue and lift the front of the boat up. put a 6x6 under the pontoons and block it past the wheels then go to the back and lift it up and pull the trailer out. you can block the back of the pontoon the same as the front. If you do not have enough room you maybe you could borrow a boom and strap to lift the front and block it.

[Jomama]

The tongue of the trailer sticks out too far to approach it directly from the front.

I’m thinking I will lift from the sides (using the fork truck) in the front and block it up on the cross-members between the toons and then do the same for the back. This will allow me to get it blocked up and pull my trailer out from under the boat. But, will it hurt/bend the frame since the toons will be suspended without any support? Maybe use jacks under those blocks to let it down on blocks/supports under the toons?

No one has replied with my theory of picking up on it from the middle… of course lifting more toward the rear considering the weight of the outboard.

Would this approach be feasible? Or, which approach is likely to cause any damage or the least damage?

[Lee]

The following board usually has people that can answer any type question or point you right. The link is to Boats. Once there you can navigate to the trailer page.


http://www.wmi.org/bassfish/bassboard/boats_motors/index.html