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 :)

8 Foot Punt SCUPPERS 26 Dec 21 Sea Trials

 26 Dec 21:

Beautiful day, 71F and light wind, so we decided to take our Granddaughter for her first boat ride. We looked around our Armada of 15 boats and to our surprise, SCUPPERS was the boat of choice for today. The water is 47F so we decided it was best to stay close to shore, very close, so an 8 foot punt seemed the best and easiest choice.

First we needed to add a bow line. I drilled a 1/2 inch hole and cut 12 foot piece of New England Rope Vintage 3 strand to make the bow line.

SCUPPERS needed a pennant, so we drilled a hole for the nice bronze flagstaff bracket that we found on ebay, made by Wilcox and Crittenden. Skipper's ratcheting brace bit and auger bits were used to drill the hole.

We used a 4 in 1 file to finish the edges of the hole. This versatile file comes in very handy for a variety of projects, we keep it readily accessible in the shop. The 4 surfaces range from coarse to fine, one side is flat and the other curved.

The flagstaff bracket came with a nice mahogany flagstaff which we plan to use as a template, and a Skunk flag, which we are told is flown after a day of fishing and no fish are caught, i.e. being "skunked." The flag will make a nice pattern as well for more flags.

The boat ride for the Granddaughter was a success, then Skipper took SCUPPERS out to finish up the official Sea Trials. SCUPPERS moves well, turns easily and tracks straight. We determined that we should move the middle seat back a few inches and located spots for oar locks.

My turn. We love how SCUPPERS floats in a puddle of water. The flat bottom is stable and the rocker on the bow lets us run right up on the beach, amphibious operations, Marine Corps style.

All of these boats rested comfortably, but they are next on the list.

The straps worked great, easy to use and the overcenter buckles put just the right amount of pressure on the boat and dolly.

It's nice to have the Carriage House aka Boat Shop up and running, a nice place to keep tools and materials to maintain the Armada. And to keep an eye on the hooligans in the Sunfish Shack.

Bluff Ratty v0.1 SCUPPERS 11 Feb 21 Sea Trials

 11 Feb 21:

Launched SCUPPERS for Sea Trials. Watertight integrity was 100 percent, no leaks from any of the 3 different seams we tried, THIXO, PL Subfloor and RustOleum soaked cloth. One positive aspect of the punt design was the ability to step in directly from the shore and walk to towards the stern, which lifted the bow, and from there I was able to punt pole off of the beach.

Found out real fast that the lightweight punt, with her narrow beam, is very twitchy side to side when an adult is standing. Standing up for an extended period would be a workout, and also the punt pole was too long, it created an even higher moment arm above the lateral center of balance. So I switched over quickly to secondary propulsion mode of paddle. She floats well on her lines with about 6 inches of freeboard and was easy to control with a paddle. The punt pole could also be used as a double paddle, not very efficient but it did move the boat around.

I checked balance fore and aft, and with just one person and no cargo it would be possible to submerge a corner. Keeping a wide stance did help with lateral stability but it was hard to change positions unless I shuffled.  The punt also needs a skeg to help with directional control.

Sea Trial Video: https://youtu.be/cTCr04LjlZw

Overall SCUPPERS was an easy build with locally available materials, 4 leisurely weekends. She weighs in at 60 ponds and will fit in a pickup bed, so she'd be a fun little boat for kids to mess about in on the shoreline under adult supervision.  We envision she'd be tied to the shore and kids would spend most of the day dumping sand in her bilge.

One question we get asked is how we know which end is which? As it turned out, I didn't know, most of the Sea Trial was conducted stern first. The bow is tucked up just a little more than the stern and she would have beached even easier. In the photos above she is beached stern first.

We took steps to help identify bow and stern.

Looking for some short oars now, we have oarlocks standing by. She also needs some handling lines, maybe a cleat or two.

Log of SCUPPERS.