Project Log: Tuesday, August 24-Wednesday,
August 25, 2010
With an appointment at 0800 to meet the owner's
representative to finalize the purchase of the boat (the
owner was away on a boat delivery that had taken longer
than anticipated), I drove down to New York Monday
evening to stay in a motel so I could be on hand at the
appointed hour. I'd engaged
ECT
Boat Movers of Westbrook, CT to transport the boat
to Maine after my local hauler, who was my first call,
had declined the job and instead recommended ECT. |
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After consummating the purchase and loading the old
engine and sails into my truck, I removed the shrinkwrap,
which the trucking company had required, and spent some
time securing the mast with several tie-downs.
Later, I removed a huge radome from the mizzen mast
(which was stored on sawhorses next to the boat) to make
it easier to load on the truck when it arrived; the
dome, a 24" diameter version, was ruined anyway from the
sinking.
With my short list of projects complete, I settled in to
wait for the truck. It was about 0845, and the
truck was due between 0900 and 1000. Joe Jr. and
John arrived around 0945 and began the loading process,
which took a little longer than usual since the boat had
settled into the earth, and the hydraulic trailer, which
was designed and optimized for trucking powerboats,
wasn't quite as versatile as true sailboat trailers. |
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The boat was loaded and strapped down by 1100, and John
got in the truck to pull her out. The boat was
located in a small cleared area just off the driveway,
with a slight slope away from the driveway; in addition,
nearby brush required that the truck pull up the
driveway towards the house--a relatively steep
grade--before backing down to the road, as there was no
clearance to head straight down.
The boat was loaded far aft on the trailer, as the
trailer's design intended, but this left the 5th wheel
extremely light, unloading the drive wheels of the
truck. So the truck spun out almost immediately
when John tried to pull the boat up the slope.
Several additional attempts to get the truck moving up
the slope also failed, at which time we discovered that,
in addition to the difficulty in gaining traction, the
right side of the trailer had sunken deeply into the
ground, which had been softened by nearly 6" of rain a
couple days before. This made the prospects of the
truck getting out under its own power virtually nil.
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The person I'd met to complete the transaction was a
building contractor who, along with his son, was doing
work on the owner's house, and the two of them were
hanging around and watching the events. Located on
site was a mini-excavator, and the first thought was to
try and use the machine to pull the truck out.
Unfortunately, no one had a chain on hand--straps only.
But even so, this almost worked: the excavator's
arm had almost enough power to get the truck's rear
wheels onto the crushed stone driveway, which might have
been enough to get it going. But the arm ran out
of power and couldn't pull any more, leaving the truck
just short of being free. |
 |
Next: try a small 4WD tractor that was also on
site. This didn't really help, though, and a lack
of coordination between the tractor driver and the truck
meant that the tractor was jerking the strap at the
wrong times, eventually breaking two straps. |
 |
At this time, we made the decision to call in a wrecker
rather than waste more time and risk damage or injury.
After making the call, we all sat around to wait.
And wait. And wait. The wait seemed
interminable, and stretched to over an hour and a half
before the wrecker finally arrived. As I'd been
standing around doing essentially nothing since 0800 (it
was now after noon), I was thoroughly bored and ready to
head home, so the sight of the wrecker was a welcome
one.
In short order, the wrecker set up a 2:1 winch cable and
pulled the truck partway out of the cleared area and
slightly up the hill, before needing to reset a bit
further up the hill to repeat the process. After
three resets, the truck, boat, and trailer were safely
on the driveway and ready to back out of the curvy
driveway. |
 |
There was one more hurdle ahead: backing onto the
road, one of the lower plates securing the trailer's
suspension airbags got hung up on the pavement edge,
requiring the guys to release the air, strap up the
offending bag, and try again. Finally, they were
free, and at 1400 I headed home, leaving the truck to
make its own way (they wouldn't arrive at my shop till
the next day anyway, as planned). After making a
desperately-needed stop for food along the way, I passed
the boat in a rest stop where the guys were checking
straps, but unfortunately I couldn't get my camera out
fast enough for a shot. |
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The next morning, the boat arrived at my shop without
fanfare or drama, and was soon unloaded outdoors, where
she'd stay for a short time to allow me to wash her out
before putting her in the shop for the project. |
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Total Time Today: n/a |
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