One for the road.

Pathfinder (WABI IV) project post…..preparing for the first road trip.

First, the video version.

It’s late April 2023 , I think iv’e done as many jobs as I can at this stage so i’m getting the whole rig of boat and trailer ready to go out on the road for the very first time – and frankly i’m a bit nervous about that because iv’e never towed anything that long and which is now personally very valuable. This week I finalized the details of the order for the sails, added the upsy-downs-y lines for the rudder, cleaned the workshop out and did the one really essential job before hitting the road which was to insure the boat and trailer ; my partner’s car, which is our towing vehicle is currently insured of course but that insurance doesn’t cover any damage to the boat and trailer.

In this post i’m going to do a show and tell of my preps to take the boat and trailer out on the road for the first time and that’s really the last step before putting it ‘down the slip’ at the far end of the journey and which then represents the end of one stage in this entire project and the start of another.

For the last few weeks iv’e been mostly completing the last few detail jobs that I can do before I get the sails – a few small jobs on the boat to get done at this stage and a few more on the trailer itself. Today I think I did the last essential job on the trailer – the final fitting of the draw-bar extension so instead I started preparing the whole rig for it’s first road trip and while doing that series of jobs I took the time to capture some of it on video.

In this side of the post and video I would just like to capture and photograph some details of my preparation for our first time out on the road , that’s really in 2 parts ; preparing and stowing the boat and then final preps and checks of the trailer.

Below, stripping the mast of all it’s loose gear except for the shrouds and lashing it firmly to the boat fore and aft. Given that the boat and it’s rig are of similar length it should be possible to stow the mast within the length of the boat (which I tried) but which works a lot better when I support the bottom end in the tabernacle and the aft end in the custom made afy deck crutch. There is now a small amount of aft overhang so that will get a red road pennant…….as soon as I can find one.

Mast support forward.

The mast isn’t pinned into the tabernacle because the pivot point is lower down and if the mast was in that position there would be another foot of aft overhang. I trust that the cheeks of the tabernacle , a piece of camping mat and a lashing are ‘good to go’…….but not go anywhere it shouldn’t.

Mast support crutch aft.

I made this last year while I was also making the birdsmouth construction mast, the crutch comprises a laminated plywood deck plate molded to fit the curvature of the aft deck and then some scrap plywood to form the upright. The base is lashed out side to side using the aft deck cleats and the top lashing runs down to the same pad eye each side that I use to hold the blades of the oars aft (the oars will come off for trailing although the side deck oarlock and aft deck bungee seem effective). The mast shrouds stay in position because it then makes raising the mast a lot easier and the shrouds are simply cable-tied to the mast.

Loose gear stowage.

The rudder assembly, the gaff spar (yard) and both tillers go forward under the cuddy. The rudder assembly is fairly heavy so I really don’t want it sliding around as I corner like a boss !. The rudder is sitting on a longer piece of camping mat and is currently lashed to the compression post. One autumn/winter project that I already have in mind will be to make stowage bags for the rudder body and the blade separately. When I have everything together in the bow I will tie everything together as a bundle and lash it in place, once again a better winter project will be to make custom stowage positions for the loose gear.

As a small side note the off center ‘centerboard’ is now off of it’s cleat and is sitting on the trailer deck – one job I have to do at the launch site is to haul and cleat the board before coming off the trailer.

On the road rope and gear stowage 1.

Outboard of the ‘centerboard’ are these 2 lockers, at sea they will form the main galley locker and dry gear stowage bins, for now the aft one contains all of the halyards and the 2 anchor warp bags. In the forward bin, for now, are essential fastenings such as the mast pivot bolt, the spare trailer bolts and a selection of the long cable ties I use for mast lashing, attaching the trailer electrics and the draw-bar extension arm.

Heavy (loose) gear stowage.

Both anchors are securely lashed to the boat in their respective sea-going stowage points, the Admiralty pattern anchor has a second stowage position under the cuddy and once I know the final draw-bar weight I might move that anchor forward if the current drawbar/tow hitch weight is too little. At this stage there is no loose ballast under the center deck, I intend to sail at first with at least a couple of bags of builders sand under there (or some granite blocks) but ultimately there will be a large and heavy (60 Kg) AGM battery under there.

Part two…..taking a look at the trailer and the principal tie-downs.

Below….the last job I had to do on the trailer was to finish and fit the extension draw-bar and it’s pair of trailer brackets. The trailer brackets were, I feel, quite a poor effort by the fabricator and they didn’t initially even accept the draw-bar section but eventually fitted with the help of a ‘big smacky hammer’ and some buffing off of the galvanizing . The last job I have done is to work out a stowage position for the 25 kg bar and it now slides under the boat and is held in place each end by some 600mm (8 mm wide) cable ties.

Boat (hull) supports (risers)

The boat is principally supported on the deck of the trailer via it’s twin skegs, which from memory are about 3 meters in length. The hull is then further supported, especially from body-roll by 4 pads and risers which can be raised and lowered. I am hoping not to have to adjust these when I am launching the boat but may have to lower and then re-position the aft pair on recovery but depending on how the boat ‘lands’ on the trailer.

Boat to trailer lashing and tie down (forward).

At the font end is this 2 ton rated lifting strap which is shackled directly to the trailer (port side) goes over the boat just forward of the cuddy and tabernacle and is then lashed to a shackle and tie down point to starboard. The forward strap also acts as a ‘spring’ in that it has an aft lead to prevent the boat sliding forward during heavy braking rather than just relying on the trailer winch post.

Boat to trailer lashing aft.

I replaced the initial , local store-bought, ratchet strap for this one , which has a shorter ratchet end and thus sits in a much better position with regard to the hull panel chines. In the same picture is my experimental one side docking arm which I have since covered with a length of PVC pipe and, if it works, should help me to ‘land’ the boat on the trailer in the same position each time I recover the boat.

Bits & pieces…..and spares.

Not shown because I have only just done it are the electrics and lightboard – that’s now on and the power cable is both cable-tied and taped to the trailer. Ready to go now is the spare wheel, a bag of replacement cable ties and Gorilla tape plus tools that I would need to ‘persuade’ the draw-bar extension into position and the correct spanners and sockets to shift the pad risers if I need to.

Further thoughts.

If it isn’t already obvious then I just want to say at this point that i’m pretty nervous about our first tow and road trip – we’re not going very far, perhaps only 20 miles or so but the fact is that iv’e never towed a trailer this long or with something so personally valuable on board. Yes, the boat and trailer are insured against damage but and road liability is covered under my partner’s car insurance but that’s just necessary practice.

Our first main problem is just getting out of this place (our drive and then our common access drive) …it’s tight and has two hard turns just to get out into the lane and to achieve that iv’e had to modify both ends of the driveway. The greater problems come in as soon as we are out in the lane because it’s a typically narrow and fairly steep minor road down through this end of the village and around several blind choke points out to the main road. I used to joke that the lane just uphill of us is so narrow that if two fat Cornishmen meet in the lane then one of them will have to turn sideways and both of them will have to breathe in.

So far….we’ve only been out once and back but just with the bare trailer and even then I had two incidents with angry drivers – one with an aggressively driven Audi (why is it always Audi’s and BMW’s ?) and the second one while coming back up the lane ….uphill and with obstructions in the other lane but the down-coming driver still seemed to assume right of way. It wasn’t a great start !

We have a basic plan that when we tow the boat somewhere then we will leave very early when most of the local scrotums are still fast (slow) asleep and when we come back it will be outside normal busy times….such as when the local GP surgery is out of hours because patients and visitors always double park down there. Because of the way I intend to sail this year it will mostly be a matter of taking the boat to a slipway and just launching the boat and then as soon as we can bringing the trailer home so as not to incur high parking costs and risk theft of the trailer. We do have an outside plan of doing the very long drive across to Norfolk with the boat – that’s an already planned camping trip where it might be fun to take the boat and extend the holiday by having a week with the boat just messing around between Wells and Blakeney. That’s a long drive but basically all major roads and motorway – that doesn’t stress me at all because it’s basically a straight line at close to HGV speed with plenty of places to stop.

That’s for the future though – right now i’m putting together a pack of essential tools , fasteners and fittings to work with when we get to our launch point because it’s there that we will probably bend on the sails and work out sheeting positions and suchlike. With that in mind i’m also setting up to basic-camp on the boat so will take a stove, kettle and so on…..not a full cruising set up but enough to make 2 people hot drinks and a sandwich.

I think that’s it for today except for this……

Iv’e finally decided to ask for a bit of help to run this channel and to finance the kit I need to make video’s at sea, if you appreciate and enjoy what I do you can now ‘buy me a coffee’ right here : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/steve1gunns

Best wishes Y’awl.