A beachcat seawall ramp if you don't have a beach

Had some questions about the ramp I use to get my H16 over a rip rap seawall. This is FAR from fancy, but it works. On Lake Norman the level goes up and down almost 10 feet; if I was building it again i would make the ramps longer for when it drops really low. I would also make the ramps wider to make it easier, and out of structural aluminum I could find some without breaking the bank, but have decided to sail instead of build new ones

Pic 1: I keep the ramps next to the launch; technically not supposed to keep them in the water for long so they just drop into the end of the launch when ready. They stay in the water until I come back from sailing.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xMJqa0T0850mL9VWdfzVuFP3-KzBT4V6/view?usp=sharing

Pic 2: Port side ramp about to roll down the rip rap. Its just pressure treated 2x6's with 10" tires from Tractor Supply on the end (so they float, and to make it easier to get down the rocks). The rollers are 1.5" PVC screwed into the 2x6's with a shorter section of 2" PVC inside for cheap rollers. The last one (the handle in this pic) is just 1.5" and is bolted through to keep it place; this drops into the launch when deploying the ramps
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17xQ4qweW4yl0oofG3L7ZOFHw-G7sZKBD/view?usp=sharing

Pic 3: One of the ramps dropped into the end of the launch
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X-oM5pYcqoeudHg8nMRur5OH7OgiqdPx/view?usp=sharing

Pic 4: Close up of the back of the launch, I used 2 8" trailer rollers per side which helps when the boat pivots onto the launch. A couple of wedges wrapped in outside carpet keep the ramps in place, just drop them in.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1it52fsxybxJ4jDR8rkubTrSv1IynU_K5/view?usp=sharing

Pic 5: Ready to send 'er down the ramp
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wuCy0N0bmpeHqEbbCwQWqI4PaB_Y3Agj/view?usp=sharing

Pic 6: A winch on a 4x4 post cranks the boat up and down the ramp. The previous homeowner had this post here for a birdhouse, so I get lucky with the placement!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15ILPx3ajz-jGp887CVUHuKbLh83qly1G/view?usp=sharing

Pic 7: Last one, this one shows the launch structure as the boat goes down the ramp. I wrapped the 2x4' cross members with some outside carpet to make it a little easier on those old hulls.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZJW2YLjHGtXhtBDSqAhuEY2SsmQLFx3c/view?usp=sharing

Hope thats helpful to somebody. Let me know if you want any measurements.

Very cool. I'm thinking of doing this for my boat. As it is right now there are ralroad ties along where the boat sits, and there is about 12" between the water and top of the wood. They are held into place by pipe on the water side. If I'm not careful, the hulls scrape along them. Our neighbor had something very similar for his pontoon boat for years so he could take it out easily during winter.

When I had a Hobie dealership here on this lake, in the early '80's, I kept one of each boat on permanent ramps with winches, so if a demo sail was needed, all we had to do was raise the sails, and go.

This lake only fluctuates one foot though, so the ramps stayed down in the water. They were covered with carpet.

We taught Windsurfing lessons off of an anchored pontoon boat.

That was the time before jetskiis took the market though.

Thanks! SlowSL, sounds like railroad ties would be a solid place to mount ramp hinges.
And Tom, that sounds like the perfect setup, I wish I could keep the ramps in the water and make them wider. I will say this for the jetskiers around here...they sure seem to be interested in an old Hobie flying along with an old guy out on trap barely keeping things under control

Thanks so much for posting about the ramps. My boat is at our place on Lake Martin in Alabama and the lake stays at full pool from around the end of March until around the end of September then it is let down for the winter months, I want to say around 10 feet or more. We have concrete seawalls at our place and there is Rip Rap at the base of the wall and your system looks promising. We just had a new pier built and I purposely wanted it to be lower to the water than the old pier. The new pier has composite decking called "Tech Deck" and I am thinking that with a winch mounted on a post and mounted on the pier, I would be able to pull the boat up onto the pier and out of the water and waves when not in use. Your ramps would work for my application I am sure. Thanks again for posting.

_________________
Marty
1984 H16 Yellow Nationals Redline, "Yellow Fever"
Lake Martin, 'Bama.

HobieMarty, no problem! Thanks for asking about the setup. If you were to make the ramps out of the same PVC/composite as your pier, it would solve the twisting issue I have with mine. One ramp had 2x's that were closer to quartersawn, so have stayed fairly straight, but the other has a twist in it now after a few years. Plus if you used 100% pvc boards you might just be able to glue it all together like a plumbing system, don't know.

I toyed with making a launch connected to the floating dock with hinges on the dock side and dock floats at the end. But we have enough surf and wakeboats going by that it would still beat up my cat. But pulling onto a pier would be a great solution.

Not sure what the weather is like on Lake Martin, but here in Charlotte the most consistent wind for sailing is Jan-March, when our lake is typically at its lowest as well. So, ramps (and steamer wetsuit) required at our place for that!

I would use treated 6x's, instead of railroad ties. Railroad ties last best sitting on a well draining bed of railroad ballast stone, not to mention the bad things creosote does to water. They don't last that good sitting on the ground. We surrounded our Dressage arena with railroad ties, and they didn't last ten years.

Can you tell me a bit more about how you screwed the PVC into the 2x4s? Did you put a bolt all the way through with a nut on the other side?

I planning to build a good sized boathouse and dock on our point in about a year. I'm wanting to build one of these platform lifts for the 21, since the mast can't go under a roof limited to 16' above the water anyway. I haven't seen another one on the lake, so have to get it approved before I can get a permit. Other stuff on the To-Do list ahead of it though.

https://iqboatlifts.com/deck-lifts/#foo ... 93/i:19665

Great work on this. The other recommendation would be to run a bungy cord between your shrouds just about the trap handles (to keep it up a little ways). Then run another bungy from the center of that bungy down to the tramp lacing. It takes the slop out of the rigging so the mast is less likely to bang from side to side when sitting on the beach on windy days. This seems to really extend the life of the standing rigging, especially if you are on a freshwater lake.

_________________
Steve
2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795
1985 & 1973? Hobie 14 "Sea & Ski"