CHEAPEST WAY TO BUILD LOADING RAMPS

[Aussiebushman]

IT IS OUT OF THE DAM!

After several false starts, got the boat onto the bank yesterday where the hulls are draining. As usual, it was silly things that caused the delay, mainly not having any helpers around, then finding that the tractor tubes did not have valves and I could not find my valve tool so that meant another delay. Then the filler plug on the compressor sh*t itself blowing oil everywhere. Otherwise a good and reliable unit I have had for many years, the filler plug was a cheap (Chinese) plastic one forced into a tapered hole - not threaded as it should have been.

The water lever in the dam has dropped considerably as the spring temperature increased so the angle of the hulls was much steeper than previously with the aft deck well over a metre below the water surface. It proved impossible to get the inner tubes under the deck from the stern due to the inherent flotation of the tubes even without air in them. The solution was to crawl under the boat from the front and push the tubes - one on top of the other - under the aft end of the deck with the valves positioned where they could be reached from the front. That took over a hour and it was bl&#dy cold, even with a wet suit

The generator and compressor were in a box trailer on the bank with a long airline. My helper started the generator with me right under the boat attaching the hose to the tube valves - literally 5 minutes and the boat broke free of the mud.

I had already placed a sturdy recovery strap right around the aft ends of the hulls, with heavy ropes and a chain block shackled to the tow vehicle This eliminated the need to have two tow vehicles because the ramps I had made were exactly the right answer. By careful positioning and now with the hulls out of the clinging mud, the boat slowly but surely climbed up the ramps onto the firm ground where it now sits while the water drains out.

Only when the water has drained in a few days time will it be possible to winch the boat fully onto the trailer rollers but the worst is over. If you look at the mud line on the boat sides, you can see just how low the boat was in the water.

City folk wonder what you do all day when you live in the bush!

 

[jaxs]

That went far better than it is supposed to. Something must break or get jambed up before the job can be considered complete.:talktothehand: Good to hear it's high and dry.

 

[Wagtail]

HUZZAH!

 

[TomSeller]

Congratulations !! Good job !!

 

[square1]

Congrats! Now you're all set for the next time

 

[BleedingOrange]

Great job. Neat looking boat. Was that home built or is it a manufactured one ?
I,ve never seen one shaped like that before. When you get a chance, it would be nice to hear more about the boat and its history.

 

[JB13502]

I've been following this post since the beginning. I was also worried (along with the masses) when we didn't hear anything for a while. Glad to hear you got her out!:applause:

 

[Xfaxman]

:thumbsup:

 

[dragoneggs]

I've been following this post since the beginning. I was also worried (along with the masses) when we didn't hear anything for a while. Glad to hear you got her out!:applause:

Me too... I think we even had an APB put out to check on him at one point. Great to hear of the success!

 

[Aussiebushman]

Thanks Guys!

This has been a constant embarrassment for me as it should never have happened in the first place. I really appreciate the ongoing interest and supportive suggestions from all of you- and this is not even a boating forum.

Re history, I had built a 6 metre trimaran that was moved from a mooring in a strong wind area to a different location on the NSW south coast, It survived just two weeks before being stripped of everything worth stealing then TORCHED - the centre hull was completely burned and sunk - no insurance of course. With some help from a local guy, I recovered the two outer hulls (they had not been burnt) alloy cross beams, winches, pulpit and and dragged them back to the farm.

Mostly to overcome the angst caused by the loss, I decided to use the twin hulls, cross beams and the existing trailer as the basis for a simple little inshore sailing catamaran with minimal accommodation - just a bunk, galley, porta-potti and a decent sized cockpit with lockers for fuel and fresh water. The design just grew from those simple requirements. Yes it is an ugly little bast#rd but no worse than many other small craft and it is actually very practical.

I sourced heaps of second hand gear at very low prices, also fitted new solar panels, a deep-cycle battery, outboard motor, replacement mast and sails etc (the sails in the picture are on a different boat) and was pretty well ready to sailing when this last fiasco occurred.

Now I have the job of finding and fixing the holes, cleaning everything, stepping the (swing-down) mast by which time it will be winter again - welcome to boat-building!