Taking Them Home: Boat storage in Maine

Many boaters in Maine have the boat hauled and transported to their home for winter storage.  An "18-wheeler" with a hydraulic trailer is used to transport the boat.  If the keel configuration and tide level permit, the boat can be hauled and launched from the trailer on a ramp, as in the case of a friend's Cape Dory 31 shown here.  Otherwise it can be hauled and placed on the trailer by a Travelift.

After a 20 mile road trip, the boat is backed into the yard at home.   

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The trailer is a fork with two heavy rails that go around the keel.  Beams are placed across below the keel,  and the boat is lifted with hydraulic rams on the axles and pad struts

Leveling the boat.  the driver is sitting between the rails to see better.

Once on a gravel pad, the boat is leveled  using the hydraulic controls, which control the height of the struts and the trailer rails.   It is then blocked with jackstands before the beams are removed and the trailer pulled out from under the boat.

Erecting the frame for the cover

After the boat is blocked on the pad, the, truck leaves, and boat gear is stowedin the garage, the frame for the cover is erected.

The frame is nearly completed.

This is a Fairclough Cover, which comes with a frame.  This company specializes in making winter boat covers.  Some owners build their own frames and make a cover from various materials.

The canvas cover is spread over the frame.

The cover is now complete and the boat ready for the winter.  The ladder goes to a "door" in the cover

Some boats are taken quite a distance.  Another friend takes his wooden 35' sloop home from Rockland, ME. to central NH (~100mi), where he can keep it in a large barn.