My f32 taking a forklift to it's limits.

Bobbo · Post by **Bobbo** » Sun May 06, 2012 10:31 am

I apologize for some of the language at the end. A fellow boater was upset because his season didn't exactly get off to a smooth start.

http://youtu.be/ujiPCz_9-wg

Fishblues · Post by **Fishblues** » Sun May 06, 2012 8:41 pm

That is crazy!!! My F32 went in today on a regular old trailer, thank God.

jefflaw35 · Post by **jefflaw35** » Sun May 06, 2012 9:37 pm

that was pretty nuts!! good video !

captainmaniac · Post by **captainmaniac** » Sun May 06, 2012 9:57 pm

That scares me (almost as much as when Torcan's boat was 40' in the air!). Please, please, please..... find a facility that uses the right equipment and go there for storage and handling!!!! It's a boat, not a bundle of 2x4s at Home Depot.

Even if we ignore the possibility of being dropped or the forklift tipping over, the forks are not contoured to fit the shape of the boat's bottom, so weight distribution could easily damage or snap a stringer or rib, or break one loose from the hull bottom. Heck - if he blows one of those front tires, he will dump the boat! Think of it this way -- you hit a pot hole with your car, usually no big deal. You hit enough, you may need an alignment, or the whole frame could be buggered. Lifting a boat the size and weight of yours with such inadequate equipment will bugger the whole structure over time.

Plus, from what I am seeing in the video, if your trim tabs were in the down position it looks like the forklift would have crushed or at least bent them, or destroyed the hydraulic cylinders.

jefflaw35 · Post by **jefflaw35** » Sun May 06, 2012 10:01 pm

captainmaniac wrote:That scares me (almost as much as when Torcan's boat was 40' in the air!). Please, please, please..... find a facility that uses the right equipment and go there for storage and handling!!!! It's a boat, not a bundle of 2x4s at Home Depot.

Even if we ignore the possibility of being dropped or the forklift tipping over, the forks are not contoured to fit the shape of the boat's bottom, so weight distribution could easily damage or snap a stringer or rib, or break one loose from the hull bottom. Heck - if he blows one of those front tires, he will dump the boat! Think of it this way -- you hit a pot hole with your car, usually no big deal. You hit enough, you may need an alignment, or the whole frame could be buggered. Lifting a boat the size and weight of yours with such inadequate equipment will bugger the whole structure over time.

Plus, from what I am seeing in the video, if your trim tabs were in the down position it looks like the forklift would have crushed or at least bent them, or destroyed the hydraulic cylinders.

+1

Torcan · Post by **Torcan** » Sun May 06, 2012 10:44 pm

That was more scary than my flying boat. Teetering at one point when the boat was lifting off the back makes me wonder what kind of stresses are put onto the hull at the tip of the forks.
Glad to see she made it in safely, enjoy your summer!

I tend to disagree with some who think a travelift is better than the way we do it. As long as the slings are put on properly, it doesn't matter if it is 3 feet off the ground, or 100 feet. A drop is a drop, and I am sure that both situations would render either boat damaged beyond repair. Mind you, the 100 will be smashed, as the 3 foot drop will just be cracked all to hell. Still damaged beyond repair.
Both will end up in the scrap yard. IMHO

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Sun May 06, 2012 10:47 pm

The travel lift is not as scary , But there is no way you could put that many boats over in one day with one.

jefflaw35 · Post by **jefflaw35** » Sun May 06, 2012 10:52 pm

I will agree to that P-Paul!!!

Torcan · Post by **Torcan** » Sun May 06, 2012 10:56 pm

prowlersfish wrote:The travel lift is not as scary ,

I think that is really the only arguement between using a travelift and the Booms.

But the Forklift, I see a bump and a teeter forward bow down, that is scary

Stripermann2 · Post by **Stripermann2** » Mon May 07, 2012 7:40 am

The dealer and marina we got our boat from in Florida used fork lifts on our boat... and bigger boats all the time. But the fork lifts had a bit longer booms.

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Mon May 07, 2012 8:01 am

Watched a forklift operator ruin a 30' Edgewater center console boat one day at a local marina. He couldn't get the forks of as he put it on a trailer, so he tied off the front and slid the forks out with the ips dragging along the hull with the entire weight on the You could see the hull flexing as the tips slid along, and you could hear popping as they were cracking internal bulkheads, etc. His boss told him to keep going, and they finished and hauled it off for storage - no notice to the customer.