There are just a few more modifications to carry out on the travelling trailer before Naiad can be strapped in place for the trip down to the River Blackwater.

The previous roller at the bows was replaced with a better one and you can see that the 'wings' of the vee protect the boat from the metalwork.

There is a section of the hull that used to be supported by the rollers, but those have been removed and I wondered about putting in a support just for when the trailer is moving.

So I made one from scaps of plywood. It's that big chunky thing. The four bilge runner supports were extended, the extensions being glued in place with domino tenons.

This how they look when placed on the trailer.

All four were bolted in place before being covered with preservative. You'll notice that Naiad is just hanging in the slings at this point. I did put some blocks under her stern and used the two aluminium steps as bilge runner supports. None of these are touching but if anything happens she only has about an inch to fall.

The heads of the bolts were recessed into the supports such that they will not damage the hull.

The next modification was to add stop blocks which will prevent the boat from slipping sideways. Well, not too far. These will be bolted into position after the boat has been recovered onto the trailer.

As before, the bolt heads were recessed. These bolts are inserted into holes in the supports that have been threaded using a wood-threading bit and give a surprisingly good grip.

The aft stop blocks are the same as for the fore stop blocks.

The inner bolt is a little tricky to get in place as the hex key can only be used for half a turn before it hits the hull. Still, it does the job and that's all that counts. Now all four stop blocks need to be covered with preservative.

Time for a cup of tea.

Whilst the stop blocks were drying, I removed the cranes and started the process of lashing Naiad down to the trailer and making her ready to travel. This included packing all the bits and pieces into the minibus.

One thing I did a few days before putting Naiad onto the trailer was to try out Shoal Waters' old foresails.

The first question did they fit lengthways? As you can see they did.

Since it was a calm day I unfurled the sails as well.

Now why am I doing this?

The answer to that is that the foresails I have for Naiad are not correct. If I unfurl the jib, the one at the very front of the boat, it does little to aid the sailing. Most of the time that sail just tries to force the boat around. There is a very small window where the sail works, but it is very small indeed. Off the wind, that is with the wind coming from the back half of the boat, the sail could be used, but not otherwise.

Since I have both sets of sails I measured them and compared them and Shoal Waters' sails are all smaller in area except for the staysail.

These are the sail areas in square feet:

The plan is to try Shoal Waters' headsails on Naiad and see how she sails. It might mean retaining Naiad's smaller staysail, but time will tell. The difference between the main sails is not likely to be a problem and Naiad's main is just 13% larger than Shoal Waters'.

Time for a cup of tea.