At last the day arrived for the launch. It has been literally billions of digits, hundreds of emails, uncounted phone conversations, thousands of miles, hundreds of hours, thousands of pounds, lots of kindness, gallons of unguents, yards of cable.
and still the doubts - wil she leak?
and
will the engine run okay?
Well, that all went fairly smoothly. I hope the rest of the season goes as well.
apart from the sluggish engine start of course – and a slight overheating problem – got to work on those in some way. The keels are not leaking at all – which is wonderful
D
Very impressive lift. Smooth as silk. I had actually wondered how exactly she got into that spot (and how you were getting her out). Here in the States practically all the yards are exclusively Travelift based, a powered maneuverable massive box frame lift with slings, rolls up over the boat, drops the slings, lifts the boat high into the frame, drives the whole frame boat and all through the yard out onto elevated tracks over a launch bay, lowers the slings and releases. Much less exciting.
I had my eye on that forward sling which seemed to be on a slightly curved part of the underbody with nothing to constrain it from slipping forward but dead weight, wondering if you were going to end up on “Worlds Funniest (or most heartbreaking) Boat Launches” (a popular You Tube sub-genre).
A hearty “well done” on the work to date, and looking forward to seeing you enjoying the boat in the coming season.
My collie is called Missy and known as Missy Moo
She’s a boat dog too. Funny how folk are with dogs!
anyway – good luck – Its seems your well sorted with that boat. Much better than i expected and i guess maybe you did too!
the cranes are dissapearing – most lifts in small yards are now with tractors, hand cranked lifts and a slope down into the water – like the one I filmed in Paynes
I am always worried to see those slings and would like to see a rope between the two
however, these blokes do it all the time… so you just have to stand back and wait for developments
at least being on film it wouold have got a lot of hits
It was a pretty intensive two months
but she has come up better than I could have expected
I am a very lucky bloke regarding the boat. Much better than I expected
maggie is pretty good on the boat – sure footed, never jumps off unless asked and she has a 36 hour bladder
too many dog hairs though – she will be in a lot of films this summer
maggie is often lengthened to Maggie Moo – pretty weird eh!
Our part American Eskimo Dog, Lucy, doesn’t mind the boat, but certainly not as well behaved as the yellow Lab we had before, and hair is more of a problem. We got her from the SPCA over a year ago, at about 2 years old, and with 2 previous owners, so still trying to break her of some bad habits.
Had her out for a test run in the canoe last summer.
Had her aboard the sailboat for about an hour too. She has her own PFD now, so we can start trying her on longer trips.