Up and under.

Yesterday another milestone passed. With the storms of the first week of January having abated, we prepared to make an attempt to get the boat onto its trailer. This involved jacking up the boat bit by bit and sliding the trailer underneath. The first step was to set up a framework D had built in order to provide some reassurance that the boat would not end up on its side if it all went horribly wrong. 
The framework and beam were set up at the position of the rear chainplates and block and tackles run either side onto the chainplates.

So far, so good...What else was useful ? Well, a friend gave us four small 'caterpillars' (see below) which were about nine inches by five inches. They were used by his father to move x-ray machines round hospitals and can take about 2 tonnes each. These were slipped between the bottom of the keel and the keel tray on the trailer with a piece of ply on top to stop the teeth 'nibbling' into anything.

Then,  a cable was attached to the front of the trailer and led aft through a 'cable puller' (see below) which was helpfully restrained by a rope round an obliging oak tree behind the tent. At this point we expected to have to apply a bit of force but no, with D applying some winching on the trailer winch and me on the cable puller the trailer slid under so easily without repositioning the oak tree. I couldn't quite believe it had been so straightforward. The next thing to do was to jack up and remove the caterpillars remembering to put a bit of wood under the keel to allow the strops to go under when lifting her ready for launch.

The whole process, working steadily with jacking up the boat and repositioning boat stands, blocks under the jack and faffing with the block and tackles took the afternoon but by the time dusk arrived she was up on her trailer and we retired to thaw out and celebrate.

Oh yes, while I remember... if you want to understand the inner workings of a Golant Gaffer I found this image below. This is on the website of what seems to be a group of German radio controlled model boat building enthusiasts whose work needs to be seen to be believed - exquisite. One of them is building a scale model Golant Gaffer and details of the group can be found here.