Moved to Booth's

Andrew towed the boat to John Booth's place on Easter Saturday, a day when there would be no vehicles in the driveway to deal with. The tow went smoothly. Bill helped get her ready to tow, then helped with clean-up of the new spot and putting the tarp back on again.

I visited the next day on my bike, to make sure all was still okay.

Below is the new bow knee I installed just before moving to Booth's. It was extremely difficult to get the size right and to install it, as I had to lie down on my back and reach up over my head, barely able to reach the screws with the screw driver while sliding back down towards the stern as I pushed. The first one I made was upside-down and backwards!

The reason I wanted a knee there (it's a wide yellow cedar board) is because I want to lift the mast from the stem-head, and the greatest pull will be toward the stern just as the mast is beginning to lift up, pulling the stem backwards and compressing the bow deck. I'm sure the bow was strong enough already, but I wanted to be really really sure about it. And I needed something to do while I was waiting to move the boat. :-)

Another change I made was to trade out the bow eye bolt. I didn't like that the original had opened up, and wanted one that wouldn't. I originally wanted a U-bolt, but couldn't find one the right size, so went with the eye bolt. It was way easier than a U-bolt anyway.

Here is Dick, John's co-worker, getting one of their Whitehall-type boats ready to go:

Isn't this just the greatest place to work on a boat?