Whilst I was a little nervous about moving the hulls I needn’t have been. It was as easy as I described in yesterdays log. With 9 guys and a 40ft trailer these hulls are really easy to move. Its easy to make it sound like nothing after the fact but it really was no trouble. Not even a scratch to the hulls and all done in under 2 hours. We started at 10.30 and were enjoying sausages and beer by 12.30 with both hulls in the new shed on their cradles, side by side.

We started by lifting the hull off the strongback on its legs and moving the strongback onto its side against the wall. We then parked the trailer along side the hull and simply tipped it over onto the trailer and slid it over on its side into the middle. We removed the legs and strapped it down and drove it around to the new shed. We had originally thought we would transport the hulls upside down on the bulkheads but in the end it was easier to just lay it on its side. We will transport the strongback over to the new warehouse tomorrow along with the bridgedeck and some of the other larger panels and 44 gallon drums and other larger items using the same trailer. Over the next 2 weeks I want to move the rest and be out of this warehouse by months end.

At the new shed it was just a matter of taking the hull back off the trailer. The easiest method was to slide it off onto the bulkheads upside down and then roll it over. Then it was an easy task to lift the bow and slide the cradle in then repeat this at the stern. Once on the cradles the hull is super easy to roll into whatever position I decide to join the hulls in. The shed is wide enough for the hull to be rotated completely inside. I am fairly sure that once joined I will still be able to rotate the boat inside the shed not that I think I will ever need to. I will probably join the hulls diagonally across the shed.

Back at the first shed, we rolled the second hull (the first one finished) over to the trailer and lifted it off the cradles, and repeated the movement by leaning the hull over onto the trailer and sliding it to the middle on its side and strapping it down. When it arrived at the new shed we removed it in the same way, sliding it off onto the bulkheads then rolling it over onto its keel before lifting each end onto the cradle and rolling it over along side the first hull into roughly the correct beam. Its amazing how much smaller the shed looks now with a cat inside. There is still plenty of room to build a second boat and then some but it does change the perspective a little.

With the hulls safely inside the new shed it was time to relax with a beer and just in time for lunch. All the while we were moving the second hull Jo was barbecuing sausages in rolls for lunch. Just 2 hours of work consisting of a few short bursts of energy but a huge relief. I can now look forward to about 3 years of hard work to get her finished in the knowledge that the next move will be the last.

I would like to thank Warren for organizing and towing the trailer and James, Mark, Scott, Luke and Glen, friends of Warren’s who came to help and to Andrew a friend of mine and to Frank a kind reader of the website that wanted to help move the hulls to get a feel for their size. I know I will see a lot of James over the next 12 months as he is going to be building a cat along side mine in the shed. Thanks again guys, I really appreciate your help today.

Once I have finished moving the rest of the stuff out (I should have the bulk of it done next by the end of next weekend) I can get started on joining the 2 hulls and raising the bridgedeck. Then I will be able to say I have a cat. Although we only spent 2 hours moving the hulls today, Jo and I have spent about 4 hours cleaning and moving other things around so I have put down 6 hours of work toward MM. I was tempted not to count the time moving, as many would finish where they start so would not have to factor in a move, but many do, as Schionning’s say on their site that you can build the hulls in one place and finish in another, just as I have.

For the readers that have missed the posts on the progress of MM (even though the dingy has been interesting) the work and the posts should now get interesting again.