TIME from Trailer to Sail

[SURV69]

It takes me about 2-3 hours from the time my boat leaves the trailer to the time I can leave the dock.

This does not include the time to put up the mast(by myself), which is done before I put the boat in.

I'm curious to know how little time others take and how they are setup to accomplish a shorter time-period.

[James V]

1 to 6 hrs for me. I keep mine at a boat storage right next to the water and I store mast up. I have to sechudle when they can splash it. Most of the times I am not through doing the preps on the boat (loading, cleaning, ect....) when they splash it. One of these days I will have my act together and leave right away.

on edit - no problem with dock space. If they can't splash the boat for me the day I want it, They do it the day before.

[SPC Paul]

It usually takes me about 45 minutes to an hour from the time I pull into the parking lot of the launch until I sail away. I pretty much do everything myself, except raising the mast. I have yet to purchase a mast raising system so I have to have help with that. My boat is rather bare-bones, so there's not really much to do.

First, I walk around the boat, removing all my tie-downs holding the shrouds, the anchor, outboard, and mast. Then I climb up and route my main halyard and topping lift. I also install the windex and masthead VHF antenna at this time. Next, the mast goes up. After the mast is secured, I run my genoa sheets and roller furler line. Then I attach the boom and feed my sail slugs into the track. (I keep the mainsail flaked and tied down to the boom to save time) I also keep the mainsheet attached to the boom so I only have to connect the one end, and I don't have to mess around with feeding the line thru the blocks every time. Last, I attach the dockline to the bow cleat. (The stern dockline does double duty holding the mast down for trailering, so it's already in place.)

After backing the boat into the water and tying it off to the dock, the rest of the gear (cooler, fishing poles, extra clothes, the dog, etc) is transferred to the boat as the ballast is filling. Then it's time to cast off.

Jared

[Moe]

From the time the boat slides off the trailer, we've got about 10 minutes max at the local lake ramps. Enough to tie up to the dock, park the truck and trailer, and walk back to the boat. By the time you get back, there will be someone backed down your ramp waiting for you to lower the motor, start, cast off, and get out of the way so they can finish backing in. Prep is supposed to be done in the prep lane before you get to the ramp.

--
Moe

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

I can't see what could take that long. My family would go nuts if it took longer than a hour from when we arrive at the parking lot until we are under way.

It takes about 45 minutes from the time we hit the parking lot to the time we launch. This includes all mast raising and other prep. I'd estimate about 75% of the tasks are done by me and the rest by my wife or one of the boys.

Once the boat is in the water, by the time I get back from parking my wife will have the final little things done if we elected to skip some and and often has the motor down warming up. Figure another 5 minutes at the dock and we are away.

I would say we have a very extensive list to do including canvas setup (both dodger and bimini), safety gear, etc. When we first got the boat we averaged 30 min.

I have a two column checklist, one for my wife, one for me. Each person does the items in bold on the checklist

Here is my full check list, launching and loading, both for going out with or without the mast. There's also some misc procedures in the list and a packing list at the end.

http://www.ddunn.org/Boat%20Procedures.pdf

It's slightly dated as for instance we now slack our lifelines so we don't have to do the spreader dance. With the slack lines the spreaders just lower down on top of the lines. Even so we still have the same printed copies we use in the boat.

On one trip this year we launched via sling with the mast so all the setup had to be done while the boat was floating at the dock. It still only took 30 minutes from when we started until we left the dock. Took about the same time to get everything down so we could pull the boat out. I had about 10 minutes work after the boat was on the trailer to get it ready for the road.

Two other trips this year have been without the mast. Prep either way is 10 minutes from when we pull up to leaving the dock even with all our extra stuff we have to setup.

[delevi]

About an hour-1 1/2 for me. Of course, if I'm launching at my marina, the boat is rigged, so it's straight from the parking lot to the ramp, about 10 minutes.

[David Mellon]

I keep The Yam in my side yard, so I'm able to have things ready to go at all times. Once at the parking lot for whatever ramp I have pulled her to, it takes me 35 minutes to be ready to launch. I leave the mast raising system in place while sailing, so I save some wrench time there. The rudder pins are now easy to remove without tools. I keep the jenny on a roller furler with the sheets neatly strapped in place. The main is on the boom in the cabin, still use wrenches to install the boom, that will change. The main sheet tackle goes on without tools. I used to wrestle the spreaders around the safety lines, which always took a lot of time. Now I have them on pins and I remove one for storage. I turn the mast to one side and take off the lower spreader. I have control over each line now, there was a learning curve. I have found that most of my wasted time comes from climbing up and down because I have forgotten a wrench or something, so practice has shaved a lot of setup time. Because of washout time, preping for the trip home takes 50 minutes. None of this takes into account the wait time for washout lanes and dock space.

[Nevadacitybob]

Saturday we had ZIM sailing away from the dock 1/2 hr after entering the parking lot on a day my wife didn't really want to go out, but it usually takes a bit longer. I carry the engine in my truck because I don't trust the motor mount, but other than that my routine is about the same as SPC Paul. My wife helps with the mast (no system, all muscle) unties the standing rigging and hanks on the genny. I pull the tiedown, attach the engine and rudder, lift the mast, pin the forestay, attach the boom, topping lift and main, hang the fenders and dock lines and we hit the water. I usualy start the engine, she lowers the rudder and off she goes to clear the dock while I park the trailer.

[Abby Normal]

First time we sailed my M25, it took about 30 to 45 minutes to rig everything in the dry storage yard (raising mast, assembling boom, fitting the sails and sheets, installing the rudder). I think we were under sail in about 15 minutes after loading it in.

After that sail, I left the rigging in place, main furled with a cover, and towed it back to dry storage.

Next time, we launched, went over to a dock to hank on the jib and get everything else ready- maybe 45 minutes to get under sail after waiting in line at the ramp, and doing as much prep as we could on the hard.

After trying to hit the trailer twice with the limited forward visibility, we elected to go for a slip.

Now after un-locking the motor and companionway, doing my pre-sail inspection, hanking on the jib, doing a test-raise of the sails, I'm motoring out in 15 minutes.

[Divecoz]

2 to 3 hours ? Might I ask ? Just what all are you needing to do before you leave the dock ?
Is this a public dock ?
IMHO and most others here, I would gather to guess,say it should take only a few minutes from launch till gone from the dock.
Everything that can be dome should be done in the parking lot . I for one cannot imagie what it would be like to be waiting to use the ramp and the dock behind someone who needs most the day to get his boat on the water.
All that said , maybe you left out a lot of important info.
docks are never full.
Ramp is almost always empty
You only launch on Wed. mornings

[Nevadacitybob]

and realized the question was time between leaving the trailer to sail off.

???????

Divecos hit it, I would be keel hauled or worse for tying up the dock for more than 5-10 minutes. The posted limit is 15 minutes of dock time at our launch ramp with 6 lanes (1 dock for six lanes of launching boats). The idea is to hit the water ready to go. We can't lower and secure the rudder till ZIM is wet, so the "off trailer to sail away" routine consists of dropping the rudder and fireing up the engine. If we do launch on a Wed morning or at night and have the place to ourselves, we will tie up while I park the trailer, but normally there is no dilly-dallying about the launch area allowed. So, let me revise my previous answer of 40 minutes (30 is our best "lot to sail" to date) to 5 minutes or less.

[Catigale]

I take 45 minutes from pull up to dock parking lot to sailing away with car parked, ready to sail typically. When I have left dock in 1/2 that time, I havent prepped everything on the boat the way it should be, so that time is in the semantics of 'sail away ready' I guess.

No mast raiser - I dont think the spreaders are a big deal on the at least, I just dance them under, 5 seconds per side. Put your body on the boat side when you do this so you dont go kerplunk onto asphalt....

[Divecoz]

Just so you know > Nevadacitybob is right on the mark When yu back onto the ramp you should be ready to go! I believe most of us here could if time allowed , write a pretty interesting book about launch ramps and sometimes more like this guy and these guys too

[johnnyonspot]

It usually takes me about an hour from the time I enter the parking lot to the time I am casting off. Boat is a 1983 Mac 25. Everything is loaded onto the boat as it sits on the trailer, incl. coolers, luggage, everything. mast is put up and rigged, sails attached and tied down to boom or rail, boat is backed in, car and trailer parked, walk back to dock, get in, start motor, cast off and back away.

[richandlori]

1) from mast up storage facility...10 minutes

2) full tow/step of mast...35 minutes

3) if I drop the mast like I did in MDR...2hrs

For those with kids/family...send them away so you can concentrate and not have them in your way!