Ready for the Boat Show!

I'm writing this on Tuesday, 24 June 2025. Tomorrow I am bringing "13 Mistakes" (formerly Unicorn) to Mystic Seaport in CT, to their annual "Wooden Boat Show". I cannot believe this is happening! Dad would be so proud. <3

My brother-in-law and I decided to buy a trailer to haul our boats. And the "tow truck" is our 1985 Toyota Truck.

The "Truck" is on the left, next to a modern Toyota pickup (for size comparison!)

 
My former boss offered this trailer for free (thanks Charlie!),
but I decided it was just not quite big enough for "13 Mistakes".

So I bought this trailer, with winch and trailer jack.



First, the stubbornly rusted-on 40 year-old trailer ball had to be cut off with a torch. The ball was one size too small. I'm a little peeved for not keeping the old (and useless...) ball.

To get the boat onto the trailer, everything that could be removed without tools was removed, significantly reducing weight. The front and rear boat cradle frames were slid out from under the boat, which was then was pulled out of the boathouse by hand with some help from the winch on the trailer. The keel slid on the central cradle and on a piece of soft plywood. Remember that the keel is epoxy coated Mahogany, making it very hard and scratch resistant.


 

Eagle-eyed viewers will notice an add-on "accessory" yellow roller on the rear most beam of the trailer. This is critical to getting the boat(s) on and off without the keel rubbing on the steel beam.

Also, in the bottom right picture can be seen the central support cradle. The foam padding was squished flat because it supported most of the weight of the boat for the last couple years. When I went to unscrew it from the boathouse floor like I had done to remove the forward and aft cradles, I discovered it was never screwed down. It was just "floating" on the boathouse floor the whole time!



 
Some pics of the canopy being assembled.

The canopy is made of cheap pine lumber and thin cheap plywood subflooring from Home Depot. It's painted with an exterior latex paint which is coated with oil-based polyurethane varnish. This whole thing is a giant experiment to see how long it will last outdoors in the sun, rain, heat, snow, and ice. I predict it will self-disassemble in a few months or several years.



It was quite the process getting the canopy onto the boat. I stood in the boathouse (in 98 degree heat!) for perhaps 20 minutes trying to visualize how I was going the get the thing up that high and onto the four bronze (painted aluminum) posts. Look really closely at the left picture and you can just make out a thin white rope going from the canopy up and over a beam of the pergola. There is an (apparently invisible) line going to the top of the ladder also. Weights on the bottom step of the ladder held it upright. It's been years since I was as hot and exhausted as I was when I finally completed this task.

I can't believe I am saying this, but "See You at the Wooden Boat Show".

At the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail at the top of My Katahdin, there is a large wooden sign. Every hiker who completes the trail touches "The Sign" when they finish the trail. When I get 13 Mistakes to the Boat Show, I will have made it to "The Sign", an effort which to me is equally satisfying. Some day I may make it to the real Sign too.

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