2013 Launch Day

Scheduled for splash on 08 May 2013, the days before launch alternated between dragging slower than the proverbial molasses in January, and zooming by faster than they could be acknowledged. 




A few days before launch I was out to the boat to get started on the prep work.

Still wrapped up snug as a bug after a long winter's slumber

First job was to get all the shrink-wrap off.  I'm quite impressed with the job that the marina guys did wrapping her up, and also with the quality of the shrink-wrap they use.  It's quite heavy duty and kept the boat safe and dry all winter.

After that I put up our little forward mast (its main function is to provide a mount point for the steaming/anchor light), and finished up with some clean-up and checks of the batteries inside the boat.

A few days later, on the 6th of May, Dar and I were out to finish the prep, and to touch up the bottom paint.  The boat really does need new bottom paint, but touching up the thin spots is good enough for now.  In the fall when we're down in the southern US we'll find a price appropriate (ie, cheap) yard to haul out and then we'll do a complete bottom paint job, using a more salt-water appropriate paint.


 Wednesday, 08 May was launch day.  I was scheduled for the first splash of the day, and as eager as I was the marina guys were already lining the trailer up on my boat when I got out there!

It's actually a pretty cool setup they have for moving the bigger boats around.  They have these huge split trailers that they can position under the boats with the supports in place.  The trailer then lifts up hydraulically to take the weight of the boat.  The supports are then removed and away they go with your boat.

Then they take it over in front of the maintenance buildings, jockey around a bit and line it up with the boat lift.

The trailer is backed up until the boat is in the lift, and the straps are fed around the bottom of the boat.  The straps on the lift are then raised and when the weight of the boat is on the straps the trailer is lowered and driven away.

The lift is then backed into the lift slip, and the boat is lowered into the water.  It's amazing how well these guys are able to move these big trailers around.  I have trouble keeping a little utility trailer straight backing it up 10 feet.

A quick hop in to make sure the bilge is dry and the boat isn't sinking (seriously :-)) and the boat is moved forward out of the slings, pulled up to the gas dock and it's all my game from there.

I'm happy to say that the diesel started right up.  After checking that the exhaust water flow was good, I let it warm up a bit and then made the quick run across the harbour to our slip.

I was pretty thankful and quite happy with how well the launch went.  As I walked over to get my car and move it by our slip I snapped a pic of the marina as it was that day.  I was one of the first launches, and it was still pretty empty.  It doesn't look like that now though...