How to Turn Over a Drag Boat to Paint

Drag boats are small, lightweight boats designed to be as fast as possible. They are used in drag races and they skim across the water at high speeds. Skimming at such high speeds can cause the paint on the bottom of your boat to rub off. However, you can sand blast the bottom of the boat and prepare it for painting. Lifting the boat and turning it over to paint is difficult as these boats can still weigh nearly a ton. Instead, you can use a careful application of ropes and winches.

Things You'll Need

  • Eight strands of 20 to 30 feet of 2 inch diameter rope
  • Two winches
  • 14 strong helpers
  • Solidly planted tree
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Instructions

    • 1

      Pull one end of your rope around the tree trunk and pull it through your winch. Tie another rope around the same tree and thread this rope through a second winch.

    • 2

      Grab one rope end and climb on top of your drag boat. Wrap the rope around the front of the ski that is farthest from the winch. Tie it tightly in place using whatever knot you feel comfortable knotting.

    • 3

      Tie the other rope around the back of the same ski to which you tied the first rope. Knot it up and get off of your boat. Alternatively, you can tie your ropes to the crash bars on top of the drag boat steering section.

    • 4

      Wrap three ropes along the front of the boat and three along the back. Tie these into place and assign two helpers to each rope..

    • 5

      Send the other two helpers to go help man the winches. Take charge of the project and give commands to your helpers as they work.

    • 6

      Count to three and tell the winching helpers to crank their winch one time. Tell them when to crank and make sure they only crank once each time you ask. Avoid winching too quickly as you can cause your boat to fall to the ground and break.

    • 7

      Watch the helpers holding the ropes to make sure they are holding them tightly. Make sure they are checking the stability of the boat.

    • 8

      Wait for the moment when the boat is turned at nearly 90 degrees to the ground. Man one of the ropes and help your rope holding helpers hold the boat back from falling. Slowly winch the boat to the ground while the rope holders slowly lower it to the ground.

    • 9

      Continue holding the ropes for stability as you lower it to the ground. Let go of the ropes once it has been completely lowered to the ground.