Those of you who follow my column or this blog, know that my husband is a boat builder. It’s not like he grew up on the water. No, his boat building is more about what happens when woodworkers are on the hunt for even more curious and challenging projects. Fortunately, I did grow up spending time on the water in San Diego so, as luck would have it, we had a lovely little collision of interests.
But what is about to happen at our house next Sunday is a little beyond belief. The semi-finished, upside down hull of our next boat, all 27‘ 4’, 2,500 pounds of her, will get hauled out of my husband’s shop, turned over and right-sided up, and then pushed back into the shop. Stop for a minute to visualize what I have just described. Does it boggle you mind? It does mine!
Naturally, you might think that something like an industrial crane is coming to our back yard, or perhaps a tow truck with all kinds of bells and whistles is scheduled to arrive. There’s a huge part of me that wishes this was the case. But no … my husband and his band of genius friends, have all put their heads together to come up with a completely non-motorized plan. He has built a deck off of his shop and on the appointed day, those four men will slowly move that beast into a new position. Using numerous ropes, block and tackle gizmos, wooden “sleds” he’s constructed, they are confident it will all go according to plan!
Maybe all of these guys were Egyptians in a former life, as this entire process seems like an engineering feat from yesteryear. Fingers crossed I have a success story to share with you next week!