Trimaran - Especially Searunner - Owners

[Boatguy30]

I did buy that 5 gallons of ABC a few weeks ago. Hope to be able to use it early next year!

[Mark Johnson]

I never really liked the ways folks were making bow nets on homemade multihulls. Frequently they were made by running a PVC pipe through the net's squares, and then "lacing" this with zig zags, along the sides. It was quick to make, could be pretty tight, and allowed for future adjustments. It also lent itself "mostly" to a square shape, the PVC pipe wore out from UVs, the lacing could ALL fail with just one break, and all of the constant chafe wore out the net as well as lacing in an unpredictable way. It also left huge openings in the very important, EDGES.

Here is how to make MULTI DECADE BOW NETS: (IF they don't get regularly walked in, that is).

We first ordered the netting. (Forgot the Co name, in Alabama...) It was nothing fancy or "marine", just nylon net. (NOT shrimp or fishing net, which is too light and too small a squares).

Net is made for hundreds of uses, like baseball game back drop nets & such. We used app 3/16" thick, black vinyl coated, nylon net, with 1.5" squares, and "woven" vs "knotted" joints between the squares. It was/is perfect, (after 13 years of hard use), and costs well under $100. Should last indefinitely...

We decided on our nets' location and shape, (a parallel front and back edged trapezoid), then mounted strong front corner pad eyes, for leading edge support. The ama ones are through bolted, but the main hull pad eyes are permanently "screwed" in. Both are epoxy bonded in as well.

To do this "epoxy bonding", Remove paint in the glue joint, then you clean and wetsand, the pad's base, (with catalized resin rather than water), and bed it in epoxy with white pigment , (thickened with Silica and High D), but FIRST...

This inner/fwd pad is going on the main hull, mounted to the 5" wide, deck extension flange's rounded edge, so you must make a flat base first! This is done by bedding the hardware "first round"... with no prep, to the padeye's base. This run, the hardware's base and edges are covered with that 471 plastic tape, as a mold release, like I mentioned earlier. If you kept resin out of the screw holes, (mostly), you can unscrew the pad in an hour, and it pops off, leaving a perfect base. Then, to finish preparing the long horizontal screw holes...

Now, when I say screwed, I mean a flat head 1/4" machine screw", NOT wood screw, and it will be 3" long! You drill the hole horizontally, a bit small, like (3/16"), and tap threads into the wood. Then do a trial fit to make sure its right. The pad should now mount "perfectly" on this "flat spot" that matches the pad's base, that you made on the flange's rounded edge.

Now you use a syringe, and starting at the hole's bottom, squirt the hole mostly full of slow resin, swish it around with a probe, and let it drain out. (Do it 3 times in 30 min). The plywood's threads are now saturated with resin that is "just beginning" to get thick. Next, goop up the base and machine screw's threads with the previously described thickened resin, and mount the pad eye, (which was prepared just like the other one on the ama), and just snug it up.

This makes a permanent, STRONG installation, that will NEVER move, or need to be moved. Then on the rest of the small pad eyes, (which need no pre-made epoxy bases), I use the same method, except these are "self tapping screws", so I make threads in the wood first with the screw itself. (Since a tap has different threads)... These small padeyes and their screws, are all 316 SS. Other than light surface rust, they are still perfect. The one downside, is that to re-paint the boat, you have to mask off and paint around these, rather than remove them. I think that this is actually less work.

One point about epoxy bonding mechanically fastened hdw. Only boats with LP paints really lend themselves to it. For the larger padeye bases, I removed the paint from the middle, and scuffed the paint on the edges. For the little pad eyes, I just sanded "lightly", the area of the paint under the base, then glued them down. I would NEVER do this with any one part paint.

I only epoxy bond down hardware like small padeyes, never cleats and such... If this technique is too "high end" for you, on the deck flange, you can also caulk and through bolt a "small", off the shelf Sheaffer chainplate, from West Marine. Its just less elegant.

Onto your "whatever" fitting, you make a "leading edge" of 3/16 core vinyl coated lifeline wire & nicropresses... You shackle one end, and lash the other, (like I described on my tramp's corners). Lashings are better than turnbuckles here, and we use them to terminate the lifelines as well. They easily last 10 years!

This "perimeter" defines your net space, and the wire that you just installed will support the nets leading edge. I use lashings on about 8" centers all around, with a TIGHT double wrap, then TIGHT square knot, then burn the little tail, and apply a drop of epoxy on the knot... (Like described earlier in tramp lashings).

To make the net:

You make a pattern of the net's desired shape & size, except make it about 1.5" narrower and 3" shorter than the stretched in size. (If your nets are like mine)...

Put this pattern on an OLD dock, or piece of 3/4" plywood, mark the perimeter, and put large finishing nails all around on 1.5" centers.

Then, starting at the corners, hook the net on the nails. Pull opposite corners away from each other as much as you can, and then opposite sides. The idea is to have the net very very tight, and evenly held that way with a bit of load on each square. Now, you use 3/8" NER's black "polyester" three strand rope, and weave it in and out of the squares until the ends meet. Mark the rope carefully for an end to end splice. (This is an easy splice to make).

Remove the net from the nails, enough to give slack, make the splice, and put it back on the nails. Then do REALLY tight/secure lashings of the net to the border rope, on a square or two on both sides of the 4 corners.

At the boat, lash in the corners first. Since the net is too small. The edges will hourglass quite a bit. Next lash in the ends' edges, (in opposite pairs), front border rope to the leading edge support wire, then aft edge.

This is about a day's work to make the nets, and a day to install them. Preparing ALL of the hardware & support wire, however... might take a week.

A couple of years later, when it had all "settled" into its permanent position, it was time to paint the boat, so the net had to come out. FIRST... we made lashings with 1/16" black polyester twine, IN EVERY SINGLE SQUARE, tying the net to its border rope, in effect... bonding every single contact point.

A tight lashing here, like the others attaching the border rope to pad eyes, is a double wrap with a square knot. It takes two people. You pull HARD on the double wrapped tails, with one twist in the knot, the helper puts their finger on the beginning of the knot, then you do the second half of the square knot. Works every time!

After marking our "border rope to pad eye" lashing locations, and snipping these old lashings, the net and border rope are one, non moving piece! After painting the boat, they were lashed in using the exact same spots, but now, the lashings were vinyl coated with that Sunrise nets black vinyl paint stuff. (3 coats) Oh yes... while they were out, we had rolled a refresher coat on the entire nets, while strung up in trees.

Since then, we have twice coated the entire border rope to net contacting perimeter, BONDING them together, and we've coated the perimeter rope to padeye lashings as well. (This is just "entertainment", done with an artist brush, while anchored out).

In this recent haulout, we coated the vinyl coated lifeline wire & nicropresses, along with the above "very simple" maintenance. It seems to stick fine!

Your bow nets don't have to be just like this by any means, but by eliminating ALL chafe, (with individual lashings vs lacings & PVC pipe), keeping it VERY tight, and keeping ALL of the fiber parts covered with this black vinyl paint, ONE set of bow nets can last for the life of the boat. It is just a matter of maintenance. Some folks, perhaps most, may prefer the "easy on the front end route", with less reliability all along, and numerous replacements guaranteed. Its a personality thing...

IF, however, you are the "maintain it and keep it" type, this is how.

Mark

Btw... The reason these are not jet black, but gray... is that they were still just a bit sticky, and I went straight into the 320 grit sanding of the underwings. That is very fine paint dust stuck to them, and of no consequence at all.

[Mark Johnson]

A couple more...

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

I did buy that 5 gallons of ABC a few weeks ago. Hope to be able to use it early next year!

That's great Jeff. I dove on the Delphys for a de-slime, yesterday, with plans to use a squeegee rather than gloved hand. Thing is, in 1" vis, I wouldn't be able to tell where I'd been, and Searunners have so many angles and radii down there. I just used a soft gloved hand like last time. As an experiment... I tried a garden hose blast on the speed impeller and painted rudder hardware, rather than a brush... A few very small pieces of ABC paint came off of one gudgeon, and the prop hub, but the primer did not. I think the primer was too cured for a perfect chemical bond. Hmmm? Maybe a brush next time.

NO hard growth on the ABC... Just slime, which wiped right off! The prop's unpainted blades were covered with barnicles. I'd say that "Prop Glop" is a total failure. "Surprise"!


Next year? Do you mean that your Vardo will be done by then? Surely not?

Mark

P.S.
Like that design btw. Its simple... easy to build & maintain. Lots to be said for that!

[Cavalier MK2]

I'd suggest getting your netting from a commercial fishing suppier. The heavy stuff is thicker than 3/16s with the large openings. They also carry the netting for ball parks etc....Frequently you can obtain remnants for free because they are too small for commercial use. If kept painted/coated it all lasts the same. Full bow nets are great for kids if you do school sailing. I'm not a fan of the pvc pipe lashing either. Jim Brown's double washer screw set up holds up well on boats I've surveyed but is pricey in terms of the fasteners and labor compared to other methods. Epoxy bonding hardware to paint systems is silly. It might work with LP but should only be done if you know all the paint history. Lots of boats out there with LP over a "barrier" coat.

[Mark Johnson]

Well guys... I'm winding down: "How I spent my summer vacation".

I just had to re-caulk my through deck chainplates' moats, and while I was at it, and thinking of all the ways that modern production boats have designed around the problem, I realized I had one example on Delphys.

Some builders have gone to shroud attachment fittings mounted to a base plate, with a mirror imaged base plate inside the cabin, that in turn is connected to a base plate "or similar", mounted to a bulkhead or the hull, by a tensioned turnbuckle. Done right, with heavy hardware, it works well, and avoids the pitfalls of all "through the deck" chainplates. They work, then may leak, and either rot the deck, or crevis corrosion can get to the chainplates.

This is my small example of one new chainplate solution... (seen on other designs). I needed a really STRONG pad eye for my 4to1 purchase, vang/preventer tackle. This pad eye would be mounted to the inside ama deck, and I needed a way to load it up, sometimes in the thousands of pounds, without pulling the deck off of the boat.

I did a small version of that back to back pad eye, to turnbuckle, to pad eye thing. All pads are both bolted and epoxy bonded, including the machine screws, and if I tried to pick up the boat by them, the bale would pull off before the pad eye base would let go, or leak.

In my business, I have used a beefy version of this to install staysail stay attachment points, in the bows of monohulls.

Use??? If you need to pull up on the ama deck, (for whatever reason), here is a way to deliver the load to a stronger part of the boat. This too has been on here for 16 years...

Mark

The turnbuckle is angled in the direction of the upper "deck" padeye's load...

[Mark Johnson]

When we were in the boatyard, I noticed some rusty stains where the bow chainplate was "weeping", thereby staining the deck. This indicated that I'd waited a year or two too long in the regular re-caulking of its moat. (It had been 7 years) Shame on us...

Now... Searunners don't lend themselves to another chainplate concept entirely, so we're stuck with three, "through the deck" ones on the bow, four on the ama corners, and four lifting chainplates, (that knowbody really uses)..

WITH NO EXCEPTIONS... These chainplates should ALL have "deck plate moats", made of sheet fiberglass, aluminum, SS, or Micarta (like mine). These 1/4" thick plates have a 1/4" or so space around the chainplate, and are permanently mounted to the deck. (Mine are glued & screwed in). This space is the "moat" into which you must keep a good caulk bead, sealing water out of the slot in the deck.

Hopefully the wooden slot got 8 or 10 coats of resin, with sanding in-between every few coats... but not likely. So rot can be a problem, LONG before you see the evidence. Also, even if the wood is sound, you can have a failed chain plate due to crevice corrosion.

John Marples published an article ages ago, where he actually suggested that we preemptively take old chainplates out, and replace them with duplicates of 316 SS. (On the bow one, IF one has roller furling, the for n aft plate is not needed). If I had ANY concerns, I would do it. I think "Boat Guy" Jeff has done it, he could tell us how much fun a "nose job" is...

IF I was going to change out any of mine, however, (Which I'm not), I would definitely use Titanium! It could be thicker, (for the same or less weight). This way you still have good bearing surface for the clevis pin, but eliminate the welded on doubler at the top, that is problematic, and creates a notch that is hard to caulk under. Titanium is no longer unobtanium! If you get the plate stock from a non marine, non aerospace source, and take it to a competent machine shop yourself, you're talking a couple hundred bucks each. Once re-installed in REALLY epoxy coated slots, both rot and corrosion are just not gonna happen. Compared to the weeks of work, the money is not the issue.

John's advice is very good, but I do the next best thing, as I trust my chainplates, "for now". Every X years, I cut away the caulk around the plate with a razor knife, scalpel, needle nosed pliers, and small sharp screwdriver. I get past the part of caulk that has UV damaged cracks and separated from the plate. Once this moat is all cleaned out, I can inspect the plate that is exposed, and the only part likely to have gotten wet. So far, I got lucky. My chainplate's weeping was only light surface rust. I then clean it really good with a toothbrush & acetone, let it dry, and vacuum.

Now, I fill the moat (from bottom up) with 3-M 4000UV. I have, of coarse, previously masked off the part of the chainplate above the bead, and part of the "base" plate beyond the bead. This first round, I clean up excess caulk with the round end of a plastic WEST System stir stick, as a "fillet stick". It will be rough on first pass. The next day I raise the tape some, and go wider on the base by a bit too. Then I do round two.

CAULK MUST GET UNDER THE DOUBLER'S NOTCH, and be free of bubbles. I find that after 5 minutes I can get it even smoother with my finger, wet with solvent.

My Headsail chainplate needs this the most often, (After 5 years next time, rather than 7). It stands to reason, it "works" the most when under way.

After the chore, (which requires removal of the stay & roller unit), I TefGel profusely all bits n pieces, put it back together, and clean up the excess with mineral spirits.

Then I RE-TefGel the turnbuckle threads, and put back the same number of turns that I took off. (Count carefully, & write it down). I originally took 10 turns off of the backstay first, then 15 off of the forestay. This avoids bending the mast.

One good thing... Our cutter rigs are great, in that any wire can be removed if necessary, and the others will hold her up.

Having this chainplate "moat", combined with careful observation and regular maintenance, is an absolute MUST for anyone with conventional through the deck chainplates, like ours. One of the worst repairs I was ever hired to do, was from the owner blowing this one off. It took months!

The chore is just a few days of work, every 5 years or so. And btw, don't paint over the caulk bead later. It will stick to 4,000, and does protect the caulk from UVs, but paint makes the caulk too stiff to move with the chainplate. When the caulk bead is really cracked and crumbly, OR it pulls away from the chainplate with gentile pulling from a screwdriver, it it due for replacement. We all want it to be "a good trip"!

Hope passing all of this along has done some of my fellow Searunner tribe some good. A lot of it is really easy, with just a few pointers.

Now I have to concentrate on yet more boat projects...
Regards to all,
Mark

[Boatguy30]

RE: Nosejob
Marples suggested cutting the entire deck and stem faring off. I ended up cutting a large chunk out with a hand saw and fein tool.

RE Vardo: I told Richard I planned to go for a Christmas cruise next year. May be using LED headlamps and air mattresses, but planning to make it happen!

RE:ABC didn't you just put it on about 2 months ago? I would hope not much has grown on it since then?

[Cavalier MK2]

I'm with Marples- burying the stem chainplates was for looks not function. I've seen enough bad ones that I'd cut off the noses and change the looks slightly to add outboard chainplates.

[Boatguy30]

The idea was to redo it all back to original. that is why I did not cut that much off. Marples does not suggest making the boat look like a cancer patient.

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

RE: Nosejob
Marples suggested cutting the entire deck and stem faring off. I ended up cutting a large chunk out with a hand saw and fein tool.

RE Vardo: I told Richard I planned to go for a Christmas cruise next year. May be using LED headlamps and air mattresses, but planning to make it happen!

RE:ABC didn't you just put it on about 2 months ago? I would hope not much has grown on it since then?

Hi Jeff,
Man, next Christmas! You're fast. My hat's off to ya.

After checking out your blog, I could relate to the "need for speed" in building here. The successful use of the tried n true "anarchy method" in your building situation, may change any day...

Our first leg of the Delphys project was a dried-in & painted, but mostly empty "hull/deck", with engine, and the boat could be steered. (NO electrics or plumbing, just a flashlight!) This was after a 5 year grind for the two of us, @ a collective 100 hrs a week. (If one reads the story, It all makes sense).

Our 150 mile route to the sea was closing in and being developed so much, that the likelihood of a successful launch was < 10%! So we launched years early, started living / "camping" on the boat, and finished her at marinas. Our first sail was 2 years after launch, and first "real" cruise, a year after that. It all worked out in the end!

On my SC 28 project, I also both turned the hull and rolled it out into the yard by myself. I later even loaded it on the trailer by myself, with a single car jack & lots of concrete blocks! Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

A couple of ideas... For a paint adhesion test, I'd use the "cross hatch test" as recommended by AwlGrip. On a prepped/primed and painted sample piece, you use a single edged razor blade, and cut through the coatings to do a 2" square of both vertical and horizontal lines, all 1/8" apart. Like a tight tic tac toe, leaving lots of 1/8" squares. Then press out over this the stickiest tape you can find, like packaging tape, and rip it up... over and over. If no squares come off, adhesion is good. Adhesion is not the only issue though.

Before I knew the ropes with 2 parts, I over catalyzed the SC28 amas' paint by quite a bit. (When you add 1/3rd flattening paste, you don't count that part, when figuring up what makes a 1 to 1 mix)... AwlGrip did some test for me, and concluded that my paint would be OK, but more brittle and a shorter lifespan. Under catalyzed would've been worse. I'd really do my homework here, regarding that catalyst...

On your cabin sole issue. I see why you need to glue it in, no edge stringers there to screw it to. I'd glue in the sole, with a large hole in the middle for access to the hull. If you pre glue flat 1X2s under the hole, half way out into it, there are your drop in hatch supports. I had the same issue in the back cabin with my engine installation. I had to raise the sole 4", to where there was no side support, yet needed most of it an open hatch area.

About the time since hauling out... Yep, just over 2 months. The prop blades alone had barnacles. Being protected by a shaft zinc, the battery it creates is like ice cream for the little bastards. PropGlop seems useless. When I stick with what I know works, my success rate is VERY high, but when experimenting, it drops to 50/50. This is why I try to only experiment "these days", when failure is a minor issue.

The slime wipes off really easily "now", but turns to carpet if left there too long. The reason we have such a slime problem here in the Pamlico Sound / Neuse River and it's tributaries, is this. Eastern NC has sold out to factory farming which is unsustainable! We are the hog farm capitol of the entire world, really! There are more hogs in NC than humans! This waste, (10X a human's), is just sprayed in fields, with FLAT topography, near water. This, along with residential lawn, golf course, and agriculture runnoff, get into the water with frequent rain & flood events. It is all fertilizer! The nutrient rich water, and subsequent algae blooms, cut off the oxygen, and sometimes kill the fish by the tens of millions, in just a few weeks. So we have slime, in-between even worse events. Unfortunately, left unregulated, all industry will look out for "their" short term interest, and screw others needs, the quality of our environment, or future generations.

In this photo, the smell and sight was DISGUSTING, but I had to dive on the boat, TWICE, to put innertubes under it, pump them up, raise the boat 6", and access my WL CB trunk block. I didn't get sick from this, but literally "disinfected" when I got out. This was week 3 of a fish kill, and they were over a foot thick on the bottom, I could feel it. Folks that think that we can ignore the repercussions of our behavior, as a society, are missing the big picture!

Still, we love Eastern NC. It is a wonderful sailors playground, most of the time...
M.

[Cavalier MK2]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

The idea was to redo it all back to original. that is why I did not cut that much off. Marples does not suggest making the boat look like a cancer patient.

Sad analogy.....
I'm not advocating anything but removal of the ornamental nose to remove the chainplate and perhaps laminating a bit more onto the stem to get it closer to the original profile when installing the new outboard stem head fittings.
The original method is pretty silly. It adds weight and a huge maintenance issue with severe consequences if any problems aren't caught in time. on a rotten Searunner you can pull off that whole nose lamination for a neat yard ornament.

[Boatguy30]

Mark

If by Anarchy Method, you mean I'm doing a helluva job then thanks!

I should point out Mark Hellsell finished his SR 37 in 15 months and went sailing on launch day.

The paint sticks great. got some on my ankles, was there for weeks. Was mostly concerned might blister due to different hardner supplied and also how color fast the epoxy pigment was I used. So far so good. Plan to buy another 5 gallons.

jeff

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Mark

If by Anarchy Method, you mean I'm doing a helluva job then thanks!

I should point out Mark Hellsell finished his SR 37 in 15 months and went sailing on launch day.

The paint sticks great. got some on my ankles, was there for weeks. Was mostly concerned might blister due to different hardner supplied and also how color fast the epoxy pigment was I used. So far so good. Plan to buy another 5 gallons.

jeff

What I meant by "anarchy method" was building a boat in a city, and just keeping a "low profile", hoping to avoid a neighbor problem if the Jonses sell...

We kept the route to a series of swamps, lakes, and rivers, (the half way point), open... for those 5 years, by looking "official", when stopping every couple of miles to trim limbs. A yellow light on your truck goes a long way! We later hauled the boat with 3 separate permits by calling it a house, and exceeded the max distance allowed, by calling it three subsequent moves. (with DOT approval)... Did the same to stand the mast at that public landing ramp in Titusville. Put the Yellow flashing light on my truck, and used survey tape to block that corner of the parking lot. Even had a friend in the navy standing by, for "a person in uniform".

When the crane arrived I only had the wire upper ends with fittings, as the lower ends were left long. I held it up with ropes to the 4 corners only, while I finished the rigging's lower ends over weeks. That's right... a dozen climbs with the mast held up with ROPE! When a boat went by, it swung in a 10' circle!

So, the anarchy method works... It was all "no harm no foul", I never lied to anyone, and it was "mostly" legal, but if I had gotten every bit of "permission" needed, it would never have happened.

Yep Mark Hassle really knocked them out. He couldn't have done what we did in that time though. (Like I said, if you read the story...)

A friend of ours was on that first sail with Mark, btw. It was utterly out of control and ill prepared, but fun! Mark said: "Ya wanna raise the chute"? Then he threw up in the air a standard full sized PARACHUTE, with the business end attached to the mast head, IN A GALE! Could easily have capsized in the first hour! Those were wild days! They built them to last for the duration of an adventure only, then sold them cheep, gave them away, or let them rot. NO one thought of living on, or owning a Searunner, for decades. Jim Brown and Roy are rare exceptions.

When building THAT, however, it took him many years. In fact, it took 6 months just to get in his barrel of resin. Things moved slow in Guatemala!

When we were there (up the Rio), in 2,000, we saw "THAT". Just like Mark's SR37 had many years earlier, it had very quickly become a termite infested rot bucket, but a French dive excursion company had bought it, used the shell, and built another hull inside of it. In its current form, it was double weight, but OK as a cattlemaran!

There is nothing wrong in it I guess, if one likes a world of cheep Chineese knockoffs and our totally throw away society. Nothing holds up any more, or gets repaired and passed on for generations, at least not in the US. I always felt that making everything "important" that I build, to last as long as possible, was a better way. I take pride in this philosophy... It is the world I wish we lived in, and the only speck of power we have in life, is to "be the change we wish to see in the world"... Most of the homes in GB for example, are renovated, but the shells are hundreds of years old. A 100 year old home there, is VERY young indeed! Some old fishing boats are over 100, and still in service!

Different strokes for different folks I guess... I met a guy once who knocked out a self designed, 30', slab sided, single hard chine, Dory shaped monohull, with no epoxy and a one part paint. "Hogfish".. It was incredibly tender, had a junk rig, homemade sails, wouldn't go to windward, and sailed like a sack of ****. It actually made sense to me though, because taking only a few months to build, and costing just a few thousand dollars, the 2 year "great adventure" he had, sounded like a fair trade. It just doesn't make sense to me on a larger multihull, like a Searunner, because of the complicated rig, hatches, ports, and huge surface area. To me, quick & dirty only applies to small simple structures, that you wont later hate yourself for building it "quick N dirty".

Now my body is wearing out, yet I still like cruising, and my big regret is that I didn't know then, what I know now. I wish I had made her even lower maintenance! This is why I've tried to pass these tips along, purely for those who are looking 10+ years down the road, and think that, as seniors, they might still be "into" their boat. Then, if ya didn't build her low maintenance, and aren't rich either, you are forced out of cruising before you were ready.

Best of luck with it, and like I said, "I like that design", it is FAR simpler than a Searunner!

Mark

[Mark Johnson]

The trip to the water, btw, was 75 miles by land (through 3 counties, requiring an escort service and 3 permits)... and 75 by water. We were only the 2nd people with a cruising sized boat, to have ever traversed these bass boat lakes, a canal, then lock down 78', to wind our way in a unmarked swampy maze at the Cooper Rivers headwaters. We cleared the non opening RR bridge by 2", and made it to our new dock on the 4th day. No electronics, no lights, no GPS, no clew! Just a scrap of foam, a sheet, some sandwich makings, and a fluorescent Coleman lantern for an anchor light.

It was a desperate move, and we narrowly missed being landlocked for ever! There was already a median, ON A CURVE, that the trailer had to straddle, and in a month or two more, the development would have been too much. I had even considered a helicopter lift, but it cost a FORTUNE!