How to Block Up a Sail Boat on Shore

When you put a sailboat up on blocks ashore, whether for maintenance or storage, you face issues of both weight and balance. The sailboat's trip to the blocks begins when you pull your boat onto its trailer. While boat yards rely on an expensive boat lift to put a boat up on blocks, your boat's trailer and a specialized piece of equipment available from boat supply stores are all you need to accomplish the same task.

Things You'll Need

  • Wooden blocks
  • Marine jack stands
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Instructions

    • 1

      Disconnect and lower the mast. Secure the mast as if for towing.

    • 2

      Lay out wooden blocks below the boat trailer in a line beneath the boat's keel, its backbone. Place these "keel blocks" low enough that you can pull the trailer over the blocks without touching them.

    • 3

      Center the trailer over the keel blocks. Raise the marine jack stands beneath the boat until they are in contact with the boat's hull, at the sides of the keel.

    • 4

      Tie one end of each of the boat's dock lines to the most rearward cleats on each side of the boat. Tie the unused ends of the dock lines to the boat's anchor.

    • 5

      Move the anchor to the rear of the boat far enough that the dock lines are fully extended. "Anchor" the rear of the boat to the ground.

    • 6

      Pull the trailer forward and from beneath the boat, stopping when a cross-member of the trailer gets close to a jack stand. Reposition the jack stand behind the cross-members.

    • 7

      Repeat the process of pulling the trailer forward and repositioning the jack stands until the trailer is completely removed from beneath the boat. Lower the jack stands until the keel settles onto the blocks.