Today is November 12, 2000 and I spent about four hours moving the trailer under the boat. I figured that this would be easier than trying to put the boat on the trailer. Basically the method is to jack one end of the boat up a bit, winch the trailer under a few turns, jack move the jack, raise a bit, crank the winch a few turns, etc. It helps that my driveway slopes downward on the bow. Once it slid on, the tongue was too light, and so I slid the winch tower forward a few inches. Still too light, so I slid the axle back a foot or so. This is the best I can do until I pile on more weight (engine, mast, camping junk, etc).

These photos show the boat almost ready to put in the water as a motor boat. I still need to:

• Figure out a way to hold the hatches closed
• Ditto for the front window
• Paint the tabernacles and install the hardware
• Affix the numbers and license sticker
• Paint the inside of the bow pulpit
• Paint the stern
• Install cleats for docking
• Paint the black waterline stripe (between the green side and the white bottom
• Build, paint, and install the French doors.

A test launch is scheduled for Saturday, November 18 from Vista Point on Jordan Lake, NC.

Saturday November 18, 2000

Today we did a test launch, and this is what everything looks like back on the trailer, on level ground. I can finally step back far enough to get a good look at the whole setup. Note that I added a black waterline stripe. The stripe is 1 1/2" wide to match the width of the yellow on the rub rail.