With the purchase of Shoal Waters last year by my cousins and myself the plan was to refurbish Shoal Waters over the Winter and put her into the water on a mooring at the Goldhanger Sailing Club where she has been based for 12 or 13 years. Naiad, on the other hand, would remain at home where I would carry out the required maintenance over the Summer ready for her to go in the water for the 2027 season with Shoal Waters being returned home to continue the refurbishment.

However, it turns out that there are two leaks in the hull that I cannot find and she cannot be launched until these are fixed.

So the plan changed and Shoal Waters will remain at home this year instead and Naiad will go into the water. This meant that I had to drop everything and start work on Naiad. Most of this consisted of scrubbing, painting and varnishing and the installation of a USB charging hub. I had intended to make a new distribution box for her electrics, but since that will take a number of weeks, it has been delayed.

I also need to work on the trailer.

The previous work I undertook on the trailer, putting bunks on the sides and a central timber to spread the load worked in principle but was a nightmare to use when hauling out. It was far too easy to misalign the boat on the trailer and cause damage. So a rethink and rebuild was required.

The main damage comes from the metalwork. If, for example, you miss the roller here and the boat touches the metal, the bolts gouge chunks out of the hull.

Here is some light damage on Shoal Waters. Here the metalwork only scraped off some of the antifouling paint but it is far too easy to cause significant damage.

So, I removed all the bunks and timbers that I put on at the last trailer remake, doubled up on the two main load bearing cross members...

... and added two new smaller cross members on the front of the trailer. These are adjustable in height and will be put in the correct position once the boat is loaded onto the trailer.

These two pieces will protect the hull by not allowing the boat to touch the metal at all. 

I have also replaced the roller at the bows with a vee shaped rubber piece that will also protect the hull from the bolts.

Naiad will be slung in strops from the gantry cranes I made and lowered until the bottom of the keel just touches the main cross members. The two new cross pieces will be raised until they also touch the keel and bolted into place. After that short sections of timber will be fixed to the main cross timbers and will support the hull by allowing the bilge runner to rest on them.

The intention is to allow a foot or so of sideways movement when hauling the boats out of the water and to still be supported by the trailer. When the boat and trailer is out of the water, then the hull can be adjusted to sit square and central using jacks and levers.

Hopefully.

Time for a cup of tea.