I wrote this on paper while having a drink...
It is Saturday the 7th of October and almost two weeks since we recovered the main and mizzen masts from where they declined for a couple of years.
Girl Marion's masts stayed at her old mooring whilst I moved her to a yard on another river - the Hamble. The number of available slipways in the Solent area have decreased massively over the last twenty years; old yards have failed as the modern fibreglass boat displaces her older wooden sisters.
Girl Marion's long overdue refit is taking a lot more time and resource than I'd be proud of. I am ashamed to say that very few people expect it to be finished and that she has nothing but decay to look forward to.
However...
This is not how I have ever or do now intend things to be done. The reasons, good though they may be, are irrelevant and it is now time to get things going again. And so back to the masts.
Girl Marion is a ketch blessed with a gaff rig. I say blessed because although rich in string this is a low tech rig. As with many vessels designed for the short and steep seas of the North Sea and Atlantic continental shelf the rig is fairly low aspect ratio. The masts are not tall by comparison with the Brixham Trawlers. But, as I said. there's a lot of string.
So two weeks ago I finally caved in to the pressure of sleepless nights and frissons of guilty worry whenever I thought about the boat. Building a trailer was out as was putting them on top of the van. At nearly forty feet, the overhang would have stimulated the local constabulary to a nickfest frenzy.
I have a small trailer thet we bought as a business tool a couple of years back. At about nine feet it would not easily be pressed into service; at least not in the manner intended by its makers.
In an inventive seizure I tracked down and purchased two and a half metres of 50mm sqaure section tube, a two coupling and enough seven core cable and plugs to extend the trailer's electrics. Some drilling and wiring and down to the yard mob handed. We wrestled the masts from their storage and onto the trailer.
The two and a half metre bar was roped securely to the foot of the mainmast. Then the other end was roped down tightly to the boards that had been bolted across the top of the trailer. This extended the trailor to about forty feet long. The mizzen manst was laid down on top of the main and roped to it. Then the whole lot was hitched to the van and the electrics connected and tested. it all seemed to work
We formed up in a convoy with my father in front, then me and bringing up the rear was Richard. It was dark as we started the two mile journey back to my father's house where the masts are to be repaired and stored. Richard daughter Jess rode with me keeping an eye on the tow. If something went wrong and the trailer started steering itself I needed to know quickly
And it all happened without incident.
We stoppped a few times to let anxious traffic past and had the masts in the driveway less than fifteen minutes later. The very next evening Richar came around and helped me lift the masts onto the scaffolding towers I'd built during the day. Two days after that and they were individually wrapped in plasted sheeting; finally protected from the elements. Ready for work to commence.
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