What is the best way to cook a 17lb turkey?
Richard C has a great answer - I gave him a thumbs upYou can disregard the thumbs down as there is a Village Idiot on here that is always doing this to most everyone regardless of their answer.
Depending on the boat and construction you can dry launch and load - I use a lot of old tyres (free from any tyre place mostly if you pre-arrange to pick up) and make a continuous keel pad on a lawn or other softish ground, and a few ready to support the transomI use a solid (don't pull the fence down - it's hard to explain) structure to tie the boat on to behind it and (remember to undo all the safety chains and winch!) slowly tow the trailer out from under the boat ensuring the hull is supported well with tyres as you goTo load - you winch the new trailer under the boat as the tyres are carefully removedThis is less risky than jacks often and can provide more hull supportHowever if the old trailer is actually so knackered to not allow the boat to be slid off without causing damage you will have to resort to jacks or a lift or forklift of some sortMake sure if jacking or otherwise lifting a large mass that all your equipment is capable of much greater load than you are liftingCement blocks are not safe as supports - only use sold clear timber blocksCement blocks used as props fail with no warning and cause injury and death every yearIt would get you instantly sacked from any construction and maintenance yard I have worked inCorrectly maintained purpose made jacks are much safer - ensure they are rated for your boat weight.
Let's do this easy, cheap, and safeAll you need is 2 timbers about 8 feet longer than your boat is wide, a come-along or other load reducing device, a pile of blocking, and a tree First, position the trailer with the stern of the boat about 6-8 feet from the treeIf you don't have trees where you are, a vehicle with the wheels blocked will do as an anchor pointAttach the come-along or winch or even a heavy duty ratchet strap to the strongest points on the transom or around the midsection of the outboard or to the pontoon frame, block the trailer and pull the boat back off the trailer until you have a couple of feet of boat protrudingNow raise the landing gear to it's shortest point, which will raise the stern of the boat Slide the timber (size will be dependant on the size of your boat, but 6x6 will support any pontoon up to about 24') across under the pontoons, and block it up snugly and securely Crank the landing gear down, which will lower the stern and raise the bow, Once you have the landing as high as it will go, start pulling the trailer forward from under the boatWhen you have about 1/3 of the boat left on the trailer, crank the landing gear down, which will now raise the bowSlide the other timber under the boat behind the trailer and block it upCrank the landing gear up, which will lower the bow, and the boat will rest on the timbersThe trailer should now be free of the boat and you remove it from underneathPlease be safe, make sure your blocking is stable, stay out from under the boat and trailer at all times
I can tell you what has always given me wonderful resultsSituate the turkey in a deep baking dish, season with salt, pepper and thymeCover with heavy duty aluminum foil and bake in a 375 degree oven for 3-4 hours (check the timetable on the covering) I have never basted my birds and they are always tender juicy Uncover when you've made sure it's done and brown for 20 minutesLet sit out of the oven for 10 minutes before carvingALSO: I have used the baking bags and the turkey comes out very tender and juicyPlus, you can cut the cooking time down an hour!
