Windy City to Windy Seas: How Our 25,000 LB Catamaran Goes From Concrete to Water

Bangarang comes out of the water once every year to have her bottom repainted; again if a repair is needed that can't be done at the dock. Each time we have to haul her in/out, we pay about $600-$800, so we hope to do this only once a year. However, as we plan for sailing in the Caribbean year round, we need to have a haulout plan ready for hurricane season, just in case. And our insurance requires it.

Several of our friends and family have asked us: how do you get that big catamaran in and out of the water?

In the early years of our marriage, Kent and I owned a Catalina 22 sailboat which weighed about 5,500 lbs. We could haul it around on a trailer behind our Suburban, and launch it ourselves. Then we bought a 35 foot Freedom sailboat which weighed almost 16,000 lbs even though it was only 12 feet wide. Too big to haul ourselves. So the boatyard would take it in and out of the water for us for each sailing season in Chicago, using a relatively small Travelift.

Now...our catamaran, Bangarang, is close to 57 feet if you count the bowsprit and davits with the dinghy hanging off the stern. It weighs about 25,000 lbs and is almost 26 feet wide. How do you haul around a boat that's as big as your living room or maybe your first floor? You need a boatyard with a big ass Travelift. Not your average Travelift. A 30 foot wide Travelift. Those are hard to find! But we're doing our homework to make sure we know where they are as we travel Florida and the Caribbean, just in case we need one.

So, for you landlubbers who don't hang around hot, dusty boatyards for fun, I've posted some photos below. They'll give you an idea of what it was like when we took Bangarang out of storage and put her in the water this past December in Florida.

The Travelift is rolled to Bangarang, enclosing her within the lift's structure. Super strong straps are placed securely in position underneath her hulls. No one is allowed on the boat when she's being moved. The Travelift is controlled remotely by a person in the boatyard, rolling her slowly. It's a pretty amazing process to watch, given Bangarang's size and weight. The process takes about 45 minutes. I did the math: if you look at each photo for 2.14285714 minutes, it'll feel like you are really there!