Flip a ski... on land.

[SabrToothSqrl]

so, my engine is currently out of the ski for a rebuild, and I was going to town on gelcote on the hull. laying on my back, working between the bunks, axles, frame, bolts, and anything else that I could hit my head on. holding a sander above my head. fun times....

anyway.... with 2-3 pull palls I believe I could suspend my 02 XP from the ceiling in my garage, upside down. this would give me 100% easy access to make the entire hull look good as new...

is this a stupid idea or has anyone done it? without the engine it's not all that heavy (full tank, no where to drain it). but that's sealed since it's a boat anyway.

I only have one pull pall (hand winch) but would need ideally 3 to make this work.

i'd lift the ski up from the front bow hook and 2 in the rear, then slide the trailer out and basically position the winches so that tightening one would flip it over.

is this a stupid idea? between the 3, each would only be holding 1-200 lbs... and the beams in my ceiling easily hold me (170).

 

[Comp]

I have a ski upside down right now because I was working on the bottom and didnt feel like laying on my back to try and fiberglass it. Got 4 guys, put down a couple of packing blankets on the ground, set the ski down on it, rolled it onto its side and then carefully picked it up and rotated it upsed down. Then we set it on sawhorses running lengthwise in the footwells.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

thats... not a bad idea.

 

[Comp]

You may have to remove the handlbars or get pretty tall sawhorses. The one I have upside down is a fairly small ski and the handlbars are almost touching the ground. Might want to do a little measuring before you actually flip it and then find out they hit.

 

[Bills86e]

Cut a 10' 2x4 in half, slide under, and yes, four guys to turn over on the trailor, then ya can move her around when & where ya want. Been there, done that! Four guys no prob to the sweet spot! Build a four post stand on ski, the set on ground flipped, set ski on it.

Bills86e

 

[Seadoobuddy]

STS - I'm confused...you say it's a 02 XP then while talking about the gas tank you say it's a boat.

I assume it's a ski and not a boat.

IMHO I wouldn't suspend it from the rafters. They may hold you for a few seconds but to hold 400-500 lbs for up to 2 weeks, you may asking too much of the ceiling. Plus the pressure of sanding and leaning on it.

Like Comp said, Maybe putting it on 2 saw horses but across the seat area then tying it to the rafters from the tow hook might also work

Could you turn it upside down and leave it on the trailer, at least the bunks are padded. I would siphon out the gas as much as possible first.

Just giving you some options here, take and run with them if you wish.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

The first sentence in the PA boater's hand book:

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/faqpwc.htm

"personal watercraft is a boat less than 16 feet in length that uses an internal combustion motor powering a water jet pump as its primary source of propulsion. It"

etc. Next week, for my most awesome trick, I will fully flip a 38' donzi.



I have no where to put the gas...

if it's attached to the ceiling in 3 locations over 3 beams, its under 180 lbs at each location... so thats not that much weight... but perhaps i can use the lifts to lift it, then get it onto some saw horses to make it stable / safer... maybe I can use a winch on the front then flip the rear by hand...

but this is a lot of work for a ski that, when it's engine is returned may not even work! so... do i bother or just wait until next fall...

 

[Seadoobuddy]

STS - OK, I agree with you about PWC is a boat.
Since I have both, I refer to the boat as the boat and the Seadoo ski as the Seadoo, jetski, waverunner or the green Monster.

 

[djredman99]

I have no where to put the gas...

You don't own a gas can? $10-$15 for a 5 gallon can sold EVERYWHERE
Just siphon out, fill can, put gas in car, repeat. I am guessing you would have gas dripping out your breather lines if you left it in there. You could pinch the lines but I would rather have the gas out.

I like the idea of sawhorses or similar much better than hanging from rafters. You don't have to worry about working around straps holding it up plus it just seems safer to me, especially since I have small kids running around my house. With my kids, one would be swinging wildly from the ski while the other crawled inside the hull.

 

[96spxpos]

Hey Broseph;
I just hung my ski up in the air by the front hook only on a davit TWICE this week...this is when i found out that the only thing holding the motor in tact or in place was the driveshaft...
so, when i DID have it straight up, i had close to a full tank of gas, and i didnt have any leaks that I saw, but it DID smell like gas more than usual..
So i would probably try getting out as much gas as possible if you're only going to hang it straight up...
I literally just used a regular small sized(about an inch or less wide) tie-down strap, ran to the eye hook to the davit hook twice(meaning if you looked at the strap, it looked like there were four straps)..and although i was EXTREMELY NERVOUS at first, it held pretty damn well, and that was with the motor in it..
So im guessing your ski without the motor, suspended by three connections, will be MORE THAN sufficient...
GOOD LUCK, lemme know what happens

 

[Comp]

A big problem you are going to have trying to hang it is its going to turn into a gigantic swing every time you try to work on it.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

After several engines and work, i've decided to hold off on this part, step 1 is to get the stupid thing working 100%,100% of the time. vs now which it works 100% correctly 70% of the time....

if the ski doesn't work fully, what's the point of making it pretty? this will wait till next fall...

 

[crisso]

Put some tyres on the ground.Cover them with a towel so you don't get marks on the ski.
Roll the ski one way 90%.Work on that side and then roll it over to the other side

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

the ski has a lot of yellow that becomes black when even a garden hose touches it but it's not a bad idea!

 

[crisso]

Works on bigger BOATS as well.You can put as much weight as you want on them.We used to fair the bottom of high speed boats(race boats) this way.Everything is at a good height