I’m intrigued… Let’s read the press release, shall we?

Removing a trailer from beneath a boat no longer requires backbreaking labor.  Brownell Boat Stands‘ new Manual Boat Lifting System is the safest, fastest and most affordable way to take out the trailer, allowing owners to paint, repair or store the craft.

Boat owners simply assemble the system, lift the vessel and pull out the trailer.  The craft is then ready to be lowered onto stands or worked on.

The Manual Boat Lifting System can lift boats up to 20′ or 5,000 lbs. and can accommodate trailers up to 96" wide.  The system has a lifting range of 19-37" and weighs 190 lbs.  Featuring a heavy-duty construction, the built-to-last system is proudly made in the US.

Each Manual Boat Lifting System includes two adjustable stern stands, a steel lifting beam, two adapters to fit most hull shapes and two boat lifting stands.  It’s available from leading marine supply retailers for about $699.  Owners can contact Brownell Boat Stands for more information.

Brownell Boat Stands offers an extensive line of high-quality boat stands, jack systems, staging stands and related equipment.  It’s been the choice of yards, marinas and dealers since 1954.

People don’t always appreciate what I mean when I tell them the C-Dory has a flat bottom. Maybe this will help.

See, it’s actually flat, starting only about a third of the way aft from the bow. That’s why Two Lucky Fish planes so easily at 12 knots or so, but it’s also why she pounds so hard in a 2-foot chop.

Anyhoo, the fine folks at Seaview East Boatyard in Ballard have done a great job. The old antifouling bottom paint was applied four years ago, and the boat has been in saltwater for almost all of that time. It was definitely time for new paint.

I mentioned the trim tabs earlier, but take a look at the paint on the transom. Black = paint. White = gelcoat where the paint has ablated away completely. The pressure-washing certainly removed a bit more paint, but even so: This paint was done!

It’s tough to get good pictures of the bottom, because it’s mostly a dark surface in shadow. But this gives you an idea what it looked liked, after the pressure-washing. This is taken from beneath the bow, port-side, looking aft. The really nasty scrape and its twin on the starboard side are where the hull makes contact with the trailer bunks when retrieving on a ramp. I’m going to radius the bunks and add some slippery synthetic surface in hopes of mitigating this. (I’m open to suggestions about this, by the way.)

But beyond the scrapes, look at the rest; what a mess. No, it’s not nearly as bad as some boats you see tied up at marinas, but nevertheless, this is just…ugly.

But Not Anymore.

(more…)

Our neighbors at the FJM Security up in Lynnwood, WA, have a clever product designed for vehicle with typical 2″ trailer hitch receivers.

This looks like a great product for folks who need to leave a set of keys with a vehicle. It’s not impregnable, certainly, but I like the fact that the weather-resistant covers helps the HitchSafe “hide in plain sight”.

I can imagine lots of outdoor recreation scenarios—hiking, fishing, kayaking, surfing—where this could be a valuable tool, but would this be useful for boaters? I’m just not sure. How often, in a boating context, do you leave your tow vehicle someplace WITHOUT the trailer attached?

Tell us how you imagine using this in the comments!

Oh, and in case you’re having trouble visualizing how this unit is secured into your 2″ trailer hitch receiver, here’s the video: