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With the True Grit now out of the shop the next task was to load it on the trailer. I honestly didn't give this nearly the thought I had afforded exiting the shop. I guess because I had lifted my Cabin Skiff on to the trailer twice I didn't consider it a major challenge. Sure it was considerably larger and heavier but not that much different. I was wrong! It wasn't until my friend with the small crane was setting up beside the boat and asked, "How high do we need to lift it?" Until then I had not given it a thought. I then walked down the alley with a tape measure and proceeded to take a measurement.
Yes, I had looked at the trailer previously. And yes, I had taken measurements I sent the company that custom built it for me. But now as I placed the end of the tape on the ground and measured up I was some how shocked that we were going to have to lift the transom about 40". Now that may not sound like a lot but when you are working with floor jacks the have about a 16" lift it starts to get complicated. It means lots of blocking, jacking and re-blocking to get it elevated. Fortunately I had a good supply of concrete and wood blocks on hand so that at least we would have what we needed. But still having 31' and 5500 pounds of boat propped up on blocks that high was somewhat unsettling.
After
some discussion we decided to try first lifting the stern with the crane,
blocking it and then moving to the bow. We quickly found this would not
work as the entire hull had a tendency to want pivot on the bow and roll
to one side or the other. No, we needed to lift the bow with the crane and
slowly raise the stern with the jacks. And so we
began.
Trying to lift the stern first didn't work but this photo gives and idea the size of the crane.
In this
photo the height of the bunk can be seen as I rest my hand on it. That is how high the transom will
have to be lifted.
Here we
have the crane in place and beginning the lift. Note the overhead
wires.
While
the crane has the bow we are working on the stern with jacks and
blocks. At this point it was
high enough to back the trailer part way under
it.
A view
of the starboard side. Here
we are working in a shallow drainage ditch. The healthy crown in the alley
surface is also visible. It didn't help tryng to keep the blocking
straight.
The
rear blocking prevented the trailer from coming all the way back. We then lowered the
boat on to the trailer and removed the blocks. But the hull still
needed to be lifted to get the trailer totally in place. Using the jacks and a stack of
wood blocks we accomplished this.
Looking at this photo now it appears much more precarious than I
remember it. But had it
fallen it would just come to rest on the trailer
again.
And there she is. On the trailer and ready to roll. The loading process took us about three hours.
The
True Grit is now out in the street and ready to head home where she will
be stored under roof. The day
had gone very well. We gotten
it out of the shop and on to the trailer with no damage to man or
craft. I was a very
happy guy and thankful to all the friends that helped this come
together.
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