Rocket Launch Pad

Thought I'd share what I've cooked up here for dry sailing the Rocket from our in water slip.

Our marina does not have a lift. We can dry sail the boat but it involves using the boat ramp. The ramp is not too bad but sometimes can get clogged with fisherman trying to get in and out with their boats.

We finally got a slip this year but even a month in and out of the water cleaning the gelcoat every week has left some algae coloration on the bottom which will have to be cleaned off this fall.

I'd been researching lifts a bunch because it just seemed like an ideal solution. Jim Lanter had his on a hydrohoist which looked pretty cool except that the height the boat would sit out of the water would not work here at our marina.

Instead I decided that I wanted a lift I could sail into with the keel down. I would leave the keel down as well. We had our keel bottom painted this Spring with white Petit Vivid ablative paint. It's been very easy to clean this season.

I saw that some powerboats in the marina are already using the airdock system and love it. www.airdock.com. However, the airdock does not work with keelboats.

So I concocted a system where I got 4 old windsurfer masts. I created 2 sets of spreader bars using the masts. They are bound at the forward keel end with ipe wood spreaders and stainless steel hose clamps, making a tuning fork like arrangement where the aft end is open to sail into.

Now we simply sail in and out of the bag when deflated. I take a sail tie and bind the masts at the aft end BEFORE inflating the bag which makes the arrangement quite sturdy as the bag inflates.

I couldn't be happier. The system is very fast up and down. It can be easily deinstalled for the winter and rolled up and stored in our basement.

Rocketing Videos

Here are some videos of Rocketing in the Gorge.

New Owner Hull #3

Dear All,

My name is Richard Sharpe and my wife and I have just purchased #3 and shlepped her down to Southern California. We have started the process of changing out the old aluminum spreaders, because they are deformed and listening to the horror stories from owners, we decided to get the fix from Forte Carbon as a first priority. I have two questions (only two I hear you say) 1. Has anybody ever put the mast up on the hard with the keel in the up position? If so how the heck did you do that? and 2. What methods of locking down the keel have you used? This one is not locked down.

I see this boat as a big challenge to us, but hope that it will give us lots of fun. We were a kick ass team in an Olson 30, 3rd in the recent Nationals and killer on the coast, but the handicap here is going to kill us. 102 W/L, 75 RLC, 65 OWC. Any help you can give in weight saving, running rigging and sail setting will be welcome. I will now go home and read the blog from the beginning.