Building an Outboard Trawler - Oct 25, 2022 -

Tarp and Cradle:

There was no wind at all on Sunday, even out on the peninsula, and the temperature got way up there near 20C (68F). It was just the day we needed to hang that big tarp. Look at that blue sky!

We started by going inside the boat, opening all the lockers and spreading 105 dryer sheets all around the interior. The theory around this is that it keeps rodents out.

In the big hall, we unfolded the tarp and re-folded it like 'flaking' a sail. We hauled it up at the stern and pulled it forward along the ridge pole. It unfolded like a dream.

I tied the back of the tarp around the stern of the boat.

Using the ladder, I pulled the tarp tight over the bow.

Starting back at the stern and moving forward, Donna and I worked together to tie lines through the tarp grommets and under the hull.

At the bow, we cut off the extra bit of tarp (the tarp measured 40 feet and the boat is only 27 feet). We pulled the tarp taught and attached a bunch of plastic clips along the stem.

That's a wrap!

Yesterday, Dean and I worked on the cradle. Well, he worked and I helped. I picked up a two-foot length of seamless, heavy-walled steel tubing, 2 1/2" square. Dean cut it into four pieces and welded one on each corner. We also cut up the two cradle 'uprights' so that only the four individual posts remained. The old posts, now cut to the right length, will fit snugly into the new 'receivers'. I still need to clean up all the cuts with a grinder and paint the newly-resized posts. Morceau de gateau.

I went back in the afternoon and painted the new steel receivers and the welds.

Last evening, after supper, Donna and I brought a crow bar and some short lengths of steel pipe down to the yard. We dragged the cradle from the shop over to the boat.

Next big job will be to get that thing underneath the boat. . . . should be fun. . . .stay tuned!

Thanks for reading our blog.

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