In an attempt to wrangle our lives under our control, we decided to sell our house (and huge shed) and move into the apartment above our business. It was a decision made for financial and emotional reasons, an attempt at simplification. To explain it further would require a War and Peace grade novel, not what this little blog is for.
So how did turn the boat get turned over?
To set the scene, I’ve been struggling to do heavy work on the boat since the surgery to my wrist in December, we decided to auction our house in March. We decided to move out of the house to stage it properly, we decided straighten up the shed but use the boat build as an attraction. We had to move the boat at settlement, and as a bare minimum, the hull anti fouled and onto the trailer right side up.
I was truly a deer in the headlights about it all. I made many calls to friends and professionals, I received many offers of help, but all required my leadership, and I was not in a good head space for that.
Robert Ayliffe was aware of my state, I think he could see this coming and offered to help push this through. Robert lined up two helpers, Morgan and Sebastian. All three of them dove in to the fairing and glassing of the lead and wood keelson I had formed.
They worked like demons possessed. More was achieved in those few weeks than I had in the past year, I think there is an advantage in not being the pedantic owner and builder. You cannot imagine how good it felt to see this boat rise up, flip, and rest on its rightful bottom.
Seb stayed through the fairing, but Morgan and Robert saw it home. During the last week before settlement of the house, the pressure rose. Everything had to happen before Tuesday, us moving out, the hull, trailer, turning and the Goolwa WoodenBoat Festival.
I’m not sure exactly how, but Robert turned up on the Tuesday morning, after throwing himself through the 2019 festival, with Ian Phillips of Botecote, and Marrack Payne in tow and a carload of heavy lift gear. Also joining us was Graham Crane and the mighty Morgan Clarke. All six of us keen to see this through or perhaps wanting to gawk at whatever happened.
At this time, none of us were sure of how this was to be accomplished. I’d heard several theories, and fearing a competition of opinions, I kept quiet and wide eyed. Full marks to Robert for picking the team, as half the crew voiced strong opinions, but all settled and supported Robert’s plan, slightly adjusted from the discussions. I am sure arguments at this stage could have wrecked the hull, or one of us.
I had imagined two slings on the boat’s thirds, lifting, and a control line easing the turn. This control line was to be critical because the center of gravity is just below the lead, and once it began to turn, it was likely to swiftly run away from us.
Robert’s plan, and the way we achieved the turn was to make a single lift through the centreboard case, on the designed centre of gravity, the forward end of the case. Once the weight was off the building frame, we could cut that away and leave it free hanging, and use manpower and blocks to stabilise. This was very quickly achieved, a matter of thirty minutes.
Once it was freely dangling, a control line was attached to the same lift point, but coming out from under the hull, off to the side and up. This would lift the sharpie onto it’s starboard beam, and onto a mattress slid in place. With some further effort, we stabilised it on this side, and swapped the main lift point to exit the inside of the boat, and lifted once again. Within minutes, the boat was aloft and the trailer was being backed underneath.
It was truly marvellous. All the worrying had distilled down to a brilliant series maneuvours. We were all beaming with pride and relief.
The boat was then towed the five kilometres to it’s new home, and even though Robert had insisted on placing the boat well forward on the trailer (thus minimising the overall length), my measurements of the it’s new home had failed to predict the shed was 10cm short for the sharpie and I couldn’t close the roller door.
Graham jumped in and designed a method to cap off the entrance flush so we could lock it all up, while I returned to the shed to tidy up for the new owners. That night I went to bed with the boat locked up and snug. First good sleep in months.
Significant thanks must go to Robert for picking up the lead, Morgan and Seb for their energy and great work, and Ian, Marrack and Graham for being so level headed, strong and supportive.
I’ll be celebrating this effort for the rest of my life.
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