Hey Shep,
My first cradle was not very strong - the this second version is much better. I'm sure it is over built. The wheels were the tricky part. Figure each wheel needs to be able to support 750+ pounds. These particular wheels ended up failing over time. I later bought big heavy duty ones that did just fine. You can see I used 2x6's and created cross beams to support the weight. The supports are bolted through.
Getting it off and on the trailer was very scary at first. Now - I can do it in ~45 minutes. Very simple.
If you look at the front of the shop - you will see big eye bolts drilled through and over the top of the door.
Next a heavy duty towing hold down strap as a sling under the boat. My building is relatively new (10 years). I would not do the same on an old structure.
I added another eye bolt and used a line from my sailboat as a safety line as a precaution just in case something let loose. But nothing ever even groaned..
I don't have pics of the next step, but it is pretty simple.. While your boat is on the trailer - use a car jack and jack up trailer boat and everything under the sling on the front of the boat. You will have to work on this a bit to get the right height so that it clears the trailer as you pull it out. Mine is 36" from the floor.
When it is jacked up, snug up the tow strap and let the front of the trailer down. Do not ratchet the strap on the boat, it just messes up the finish as it pulls.
OK - so now the front of the boat is in the air.
You will need to get a pair of powerboat stands for the back.
My trailer comes right to the end of the transom - so I had to jack the boat up a little bit off the trailer (car - floor jack) using a 'T' shaped 4x4 with a hunk of 2x6 for the rear of the boat and slide the trailer forward ~2 feet. So the trailer is still under the boat, but now you have room to get the boat stands under.
Now - you can jack the trailer up and put the boat stands under when the boat gets to a good height - or jack the boat up enough to get the stands under and use the stand screws to raise the boat.
Once the trailer is clear - roll it out and roll the cradle in place.
Next - use the car jack to raise the back of the cradle up under the boat and lift the back end off the stands. Pull out the stands and lower to the floor.
Then jack the front of the cradle to release the tension on the tow strap - remove - and lower the front end to the floor.
Done...
Like I said, the first couple of times I was afraid - now... I don't even think about it... The trailer in the shop is a pain..
Just make sure the wheels are strong and will not buckle.
Hope this helps
ps. I did not do lift rigs - that would have made the processes simpler at the bow.
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