Trailer and Dolly TETRIS

 31 Dec 21:

We are trailer sailors again, trying to figure out to get 8 different types of boats from our high and dry boat yard out to the local beaches and boat ramps. The Armada of 15 boats ranges in size from an 8 foot punt to a 19 foot Drascombe Lugger. 4 of the largest boats, the 13 foot Catfish, 15 foot Sorg Runabout, 16 foot Day Sailer II and the 19 foot Drascombe Lugger have dedicated trailers, so that challenge is solved. What to do with the other 11 boats? The punt (1), kayaks (2) and Sailfish/Sunfish (6) fleets will fit on our 5x10 utility trailer using their Dynamic Dollies, and the 17 foot Grumman canoe has a nice car top loader. 

But what to do with the 14 foot Penobscot? ST. JACQUES is a tad heavy for consistent beach dolly launching and possibly too long for the utility trailer. We woke up this morning thinking that we may need yet another trailer. We found a few on Facebook Marketplace, but before we plopped down $1000 for another trailer we decided to see if the Penobscot would fit on the utility trailer. One obstacle was that the Penobscot dolly was over 5 feet wide, it wouldn't fit on the trailer bed. We fixed that by moving the Penobscot to a 5 foot wide Sunfish dolly, a feat in itself. Next we moved the punt off of the trailer and rolled the Penobscot up onto the trailer deck. We raised the ramp and had 4 foot of boat extending forward of the bed rails, but the dolly handle did not extend past the hitch coupler, a good thing. The weight of the boat was centered just forward of the trailer axle, a good spot, and the tongue weight sat around 120 pounds, another good thing. We threw on some straps, with plenty of spots to tie down the boat.

The only drawback is that the hatch on the tow vehicle can not be opened with this setup, but we can get around that by loading gear into the vehicle first and loading the boat last, then reverse the operation at the ramp. Turns out that works well, most of the gear, PFDs, towels, snacks, etc... can be transported in the boat down to the ramp versus multiple trips to and from the parking lot.

So Huzzah! No need to buy another trailer! Next we gave SCUPPERS a rinse with TILEX and fresh water, then stowed her in the Carriage House. At 62 pounds she's easy to move around, and this might be her semi-permanent spot, as I can work around her or roll her outside when we need more access.

The forecast is for rain and cold over the next few days, so we retired ST. JACQUES back to the Sunfish Shack. Shhhhh, don't tell her that she is not a Sunfish. She got a new spot on the starboard side, there is a good chance that she will see more action than the Sunfish, as she can row 4 crew or sail 3. Sunfish WAVE, in the center spot, will probably move over to the port side and have a straight shout out of the Shack when her name is called.  She can carry up to 500 pounds of crew, so when the water warms back up she'll be a fun boat to take out, along with a kayak or canoe. Speaking of kayaks and canoes, we have plans to put a rack on the utility trailer so we can carry kayaks and/or canoe over the top of a bed loaded boat.

Rewind to the first conversation of the morning, Skipper decreed that it was time to move WILLOW from the back porch to her temporary driveway spot, so we can hook her up easier during this cooler season. Skipper did the driving over the muddy backyard, she has the mud and sand driving skills from her beach days on South Padre Island. I did the wing walking, if I had done the driving, we'd have been calling a tow truck to pull out the tractor, boat, trailer and other vehicles I would have gotten stuck.

The front hitch performed flawlessly, pulling about 1200 pounds of boat, motor and trailer.

WILLOW will eventually be parked under a cover between the Carriage House and the RV, creating a straight shot to pull her in and out.

WILLOW, CYANE and ST. JACQUES. "Looks like a boatyard" is what Capn Jack would say. 

Emptying out the back porch creates room to plan our screened porch and deck. And it gives Skipper the opportunity to pull out the pressure washer today :)