|
The boat emerges!
by Rob Rohde-Szudy
Boat Extraction: How to get a 24' boat out of the shop single-handed in an hour or less
Twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit in Wisconsin is not what we'd call "cold". Merely "brisk". And perfect weather for physical labor. It was the momentous occasion of extracting the largely-finished hull of my Bolger Light Schooner from the shop, so I can weld the rest of the trailer.
Fortunately, I got the trailer partly built in the welding class I took. I'll show you the finished trailer when it's done. I lifted the bow onto a table, and slooooowly and carefully got the stern up on this 2x4 and milk crates. It's no great problem getting the wood up on one crate on one side, then adding the other. But when you try to go two high it really wants to fall. I needed all this altitude to get the partial trailer under it. Here it is lowered down and strapped.
| How did I manage to build this thing stern out? I should have realized it would be easier with the bow pointing out. Oh well. Guess it fit in the shop better that way. |
 |
 |
Play theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey… (Also known to the more musically inclined as Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss.)
|
| "Thump." OK, don't strap your boat down the way I did. Do it this way: |
|
 |
Moving into it's resting place:
|
| See, mom…didn't even ram the garage door. |
|
 |
Ah, a nice empty shop waiting for welding smoke. Pictured is the system I used to support the boat to get the trailer under it. Had to use the same system to take it off too. |
| Contrary to popular belief, this is not the site of a smurf |
| domestic dispute gone horribly wrong. This is the mess you make when you try to paint the inside of a daggerboard case. Now I know why Michalak's leeboards are so awesome. I won't show you what the boat |
 |
|
looked like when I was attemping that tragedy. |
 |
Back to the schlepping. Unstrapped and bow down. Crates and 2x4 placed. |
| The boat looks afraid to get on the table.... |
|
 |
....and unhappy that it's there. |
| Don't worry, it's temporary. Here's a better view of what it looked like in the shop getting this thing ready to get out. Except here we're taking the trailer out. |
|
 |
Look ma, no trailer. |
| First I got the bow down to the ground. Then lift one side, knock out a crate. |
|
 |
Then knock out a crate on the other side. |
|
"Uh, yeah, I'm OK honey. There was supposed to be a big thumping sound." Oops. |
|
 |
Oh well. Now time to get the crates to their final places underneath the bulkheads. Mm…parked it too close to lift, though. |
|
Aha! Block the bow up first! The blue crate is in its final position. |
|
 |
The 2x4 came in pretty handy levering up one side at a time to shove the crates under. |
|
These two lovely ladies kept the shop warm. |
|
 |
Then I went home and took ibuprofen against the inevitable backache. |
Cheers from the frozen tundra!
--Rob Rohde-Szudy
robrohdeszudy@netzero.net
|
