The time has come to move Shoal Waters from off the hardstanding in front of the workshop and into the Hay Barn.
Here’s the reason why. It’s not easy trying to work on the boat when she’s open to the elements. This was taken a few days ago and, to be honest, it doesn’t rain this hard very often, but I think you get the point.
So, today’s boat task is to put Shoal Waters onto the working trailer and move her into the Hay Barn.
First things first, move the trailer close to the boat.
Then jack the boat up using a specially made beam to form the bridge at the front.
The beam bent a bit as you can see here, but not enough to worry about just yet. However, before the next lift I’ll reinforce the beam, probably with a length of 6mm steel bolted to one or both sides. For now it’s good enough as the wood is not old and therefore still quite strong.
With the hull lifted up sufficiently, the trailer could be rolled underneath the boat. This wasn’t as tedious as getting her off the trailer a few weeks ago, but still tedious enough to make me want to find a better way to do this before the next lift is required.
Finally the boat is on the trailer, the side supports are bolted in place, the centreline rollers adjusted and the beam removed.
Once one of the rollers touched the keel, the others were lifted to also touch and then bolted in position.
a thin piece of wood was put onto the front new cross beam but it wasn’t quite thick enough as you can see. Once Shoal Waters is in the barn I’ll fashion a better filler for both the new cross beams as these do not have rollers.
And finally into the barn. Here she is protected from the elements and the only thing that needs to be watched is your head when climbing in and out of the boat.
As usual I used a spirit level across the aft end of the cockpit to level the boat.
The trailer being blocked up just behind the wheels on both sides.
The port side blocking is about 75mm or 3″ taller than the other side due to the slope of the ground underneath.
Blocks were also added under the towing hitch…
…and under the back end of the trailer. This makes the whole thing very stable and the boat does not rock or threaten to tip over when you climb in and out.
The hardstanding is now clear of the boat…
I even put away all the wooden pieces that were used to block up the boat and trailer at various times. What is left is the lead ballast. I need to decide what to do with this. When it was originally cast by Charles Stock he had to melt the lead is stages, pouring each pot into the mould before melting the next.
This, unfortunately, meant that the layers only partially bonded together, you can see the layers in the ends of the pieces…
…and one has come apart. I should probably melt these down one at a time and recast them to the same size but in one go to get rid of the delaminating problem.
Still, that’s for another day. for now, Shoal Waters is under the barn roof and I can continue working on her without having to worry about the weather.
Well, once my feet are properly healed.
In the meantime, time for a cup of tea.