Sunday, September 25, 2016

The "Gilded Girl" is on the trailer and here's why...

Big Changes coming (here) and a warning of a possible lull in progress...

Miss Addy sits on here trailer and its not to run down to the local lake.  The news is that I have been moved to the coast, Savannah, GA to be exact.  After four years of an increasingly hectic schedule of traveling two to three days a week from Atlanta to Savannah to handle projects, my company has decided that it makes more sense to make Savannah our permanent home.  The sad part of this is that my Dad will have to now make the trip to help me finish it up.  I don't know if that makes him that sad, he loves the coast, but it does make it harder.  We will have guest accomdations ready for Mom and Dad anytime they are ready.  So the house here is on the market, we will head down next weekend on a house hunting trip, maybe get lucky and come back with a contract on one.  My temporary abode is the cheapest thing I can find (within reason) with travel back and forth on weekends.  So, it's down to two dogs and us.  The horses are at a new home, one that will take care of them and give them the chance to bloom out as I couldn't (like owning a race car and using it to get milk and bread once a year).  The tractor was sold and most of the shop resting in an assortment of flip top bins.  The boat shop is now empty and I will have Miss Addy shrink wrapped to protect her as we make the transition.

Getting ready to back the trailer under.  She is clear of the deck that
is ready to be removed so the trailer can back under.
Getting her from the shop floor to the trailer...

Luckily my Dad and brother were here to help.  My wife could hardly stand to watch and was sure it would be the the end of us all.  I saw Louis Sauzedde on the Jamestown site use jacks and blocking to get a big boat off its trailer. If you want to see how it's done and how we basically did it, go to their video series and watch.  Go slow and easy and over communicate!  The process was to support the transom, jack up and block the boat and gradually leapfrog the trailer cross members as you slowly back the boat under the boat.  We supported the transom at each end so at all times it was basically sitting on three points.  We basically had to reconfigure the trailer bunks so that there was one twelve foot bunk either side of the keel. So, off to the store for pressure treated 2" x 6" and outdoor carpet. We really aren't done with the bunks entirely and some adjustment will be necessary to get it perfect.  The foremost bunk attachments will need to be blocked up to match the rocker of the boat.  We also want to add a roller as the boat enters the trailer to start it up the keel.  Now that Miss Addy is on the trailer, we will drill for the bow and stern eyes.

So, stay tuned... 

It would be an incredible stroke of luck to find a shop ready to roll her in.  My next series of posts in this blog may be the building of a shop to continue her fitting out. I have a feeling that the project continues after I have built her a new home.

Things are a whirlwind and upside down. But, in the end, she will see the kind of use that she deserves cruising the Golden Isles of Georgia's Coast.

Picture taken at Pelican Point in Shellman Bluff, our intended target area for a home buy.


Now that she is on we can finally get a real look at her.  What a Beauty!