Launching boats

Watched the yard crew launch 6 boats in just a few hours today.

The tide has to be up to have enough water for the boats to go into the lauch slip. Otherwise the water is too shallow. They had to move some boats to get to the ones to be launched. With a pretty full yard it reminded us of one of those puzzles with pieces that slide with one missing from the pattern. You have to move this one over here, so you can move that one, etc. There probably wasn't that much shuffling, but the travel lift with a boat on the slings is a great big piece of equipment and something of a marvel.

The lift moves out on tracks that run alongside the launch slip. Once it reaches the far end, the slings are lowered until the hull touches the water. Just before the boat is floating free, the slings are stopped and the boat is checked for leaks. It is much easier to pull a boat out if it is still positioned on the slings. Once the check for leaks is completed, and the engine is started, the slings are lowered until they hang quite below the hull, leaving room for the boat to motor on out to the docks.

Watching one boat launch is interesting. Watching six in a row is amazing.

The paint is not quite ready for us to be tromping around on. The weather here has been intermitantly raining, which slows the curing process down. At least Fiddler has been moved into the middle building where we can visit while we wait. We hoped to be doing more detail work aboard by now, but sometimes these things take longer than planned.