Model slipways

[3nero]

has anyone here made a slipway to launch their models into the water and if so can you tell me how you built it.
the place where i sail is a man made lake with concrete sides and during the summer the water level drops to about 2 feet below the edge making it difficult to launch large scale models. at the moment we use straps at each end of the ship and lower it into the water that way, but one slip or gust of wind and you can end up droping the model.
i can build a slipway easy enough that just launches the model but i cant figure out how to retrieve the model using the same slipway.
most of my boats are over 1 meter long and very heavy and the strap launching makes me very nerveous every time.

It dosn't have to look pretty it just has to work.

[Merlin]

try making a cradle out of some PVC tubing.

[George Pfeifer]

Can you make any modifications to the launch area, or is that prohibited?
We once made a davit out of pipe, drilled a hole in the concrete to hold the davit. Used the crank mechanism from a boat trailer to raise an lower a platform that you could set the boat on.
The concept was that you placed your boat on the platform, swung the davit out over the water, lowered it down and floated the boat off. Reverse the process to retrive the boat. The davit could be removed from the concrete when not in use and stored away.
Also used it strapped to a metal railing that was nearby the launch area.
Or, another thought, can you convince the local authorities to dig a launch pit alongside the concrete wall? This also works good as you are lifting the boat to waist height and setting it in the water, no bending over.
Also, several years back, Marine Modeler Magazine had plans for a launch stand that could be wheeled down the wall. But even that required a fair amount of muscle to operate, especially when bring it back out.
Another posibility is to use an old ladder as a track, make a carriage that will ride on the "rails" of the ladder and haul it up and down with a rope. Something like that would not be hard to make.

[3nero]

the lake/pool we use is in the middle of a collage campus so no hole drilling or digging is allowed.
the ladder idea sounds good and is kind of what i was thinking of.
my idea was a plank with empty 2lt coke bottles 1/3 of the way up on either side so it would float the end under water.but iwas thinking of sliding the ship backwards down the plank.
this way launching is no problem but for retrival you would have to force the ship as far up the ramp as possible before and bracket could grab it and this could damage the hull or props and sail boats couldn't use it because of the large keels.

the only problem i see with a side ways launch on a table would be the table would have to be level and when the water level changes the angle of the table would have to change.

there are swiming pool type ladders around the edge of the pool so maybe i could use the davit idea straped to one of these.

the other problem is that altough it is possible to drive right up to the pools egde it is not permited so we have to transport the boats from the car park which is not that close, so i want some thing that folds and is light enough to carry along with all the othe equipment.

thanks for the ideas
now i have something to think about.

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

I am wondering why I never noticed this post before.

A friend built this "Marine rail System" out of square tubing.
He built up some wood wheels and then levels the carriage according to the slope. Sometime he just piles up crates under the high end to get the right angle. the Low end just goes down to the bottom.

The whole thing is about 8 feet long. The ship you see in the carriage is also 8feet long.

In this photo the drop to the water is about 18 inches, and the total depth to the bottom is about 4 feet.

The chain, and then some rope is all that is used to lower a ship, or pull it up out of the water.

Build this 3Nero