Launching over a seawall?

Hi! I live on the Chesapeake Bay, and I'm thinking about buying a Hobie Wave. Problem is, I don't have a beach. I do have a dock, but I've read that mooring a Hobie cat is not a good idea. As an alternative idea, I'm thinking about building some kind of ramp to launch the Wave over a rock seawall (picture attached). Does anyone else here have a similar situation? I don't want to get a Wave until I know that launching it this way is reasonable.

Look at the 2 links:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27401

https://plus.google.com/photos/10454302 ... banner=pwa

I think a PVC Ladder, as per a couple of the pics in the link above, would do the trick fine to protect the hulls. They are very easy and cheap to build. The consideration for you is the initial angle that you would be pulling up the boat over the seawall. It's a bit steep and it would require a god bit of collective strength to manually drag up that angle. Some form of winch or vehicle attached would certainly solve that problem though. Although it doesn't look like a spot that would allow a vehicle. I'm sure something could be dreamed up as a winch anchor. As a former, rock crawling, Jeep guy, I've seen some Very imaginative ways to set up winches without damaging the environment.

Awesome, thanks! I didn't consider how hard it would be to pull the cat up -- I guess 245 lbs is pretty heavy. I'm guessing one person couldn't haul that up there, right?

That would not be a lot of fun. Thinking a boat trailer type winch mounted on a 4x4 post would make ez work of it though. You could probably drag it up some pvc ladders solo...but walking backwards holding the boat over those rocks would be asking for it.

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1980 H16

mfichman,

Can you stand comfortably in the water on the other side of the riprap?

Hello!
I just moved to the Chesapeake Bay as well and have the same issue with rip rap. The pics that were posted have all expired links. Does anyone have some to post? I've been considering a 6x6 winch and running 2 2x8's into the water, but wanted to see the execution for a 18.5' long boat. Thanks.

Why not set up a boat lift next to the dock?

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks

Sinking a 6x6 and running 2 2x8's will be a fraction of the cost of installing a boat lift for the hobie. I only spent $2k on the used hobie, so $3k for a lift is a little bonkers. Thanks - I was hoping to see the photos of the broken links of the solution for what's over the rip rap.

I see used boat lifts all the time. Even free ones

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks