After weeks of planning and preparation Dorade arrived in San Francisco early last week. There have been a lot of people involved with the process and I would like to say thank you to all of the people who have made it possible. The journey started in Rhode Island weeks before Dorade left, with the planning of how to get her across the states in the safest possible way that would cause her the least damage. The biggest problem with wooden boats is that they like to be in the water and not out in the open air drying out. As the wood dries out it becomes more brittle and with the constant vibration that she would be put through on a three thousand mile road trip the possibility for splitting planks and frames could be high. With this in mind we had to consider all options, the only other realistic option would be sending her on a ship. After some consideration we decided that the time she would be drying out for on the ship, would be that much greater that the benefit of less vibration would not necessarily be any better for her. Also, we want to sail her so the faster we get her here the better.
We all agreed that a cradle, supporting her down her entire sides to spread the load and avoid any point loading on the hull, would be the best thing. Fortunately, Greg Stuart from Nelson/Marek yacht design was on hand to do the drawings and design a cradle that would fit perfectly into the trailer we were going to use. Once we finally decided on the transport date we didn’t have a lot of time to get the project done and we certainly didn’t have any spare time to allow for mistakes. With this in mind the key players in the project had to get together for a meeting. Greg had talked a lot with the haulage company, Joule Yacht Transport, and they were very helpful in giving us the dimensions of the trailer we would be using. They also offered invaluable advice that they had gained through transporting yachts around the world for over thirty years. Through my short time on The Dorade Project, a reasonable amount of metal fabrication has been done and it seemed only natural to choose Syd Janes again to carry out the fabrication of the cradle. Syd has built several yacht cradles, been in the business for decades, has built all the bronze work on Dorade and is used to working under pressure. Between him and his son I knew they could get it done. Last and not least by any means is Joe Loughborough of LMI. Joe is a legend in the game and has probably forgotten more than most can remember about this sort of thing, as well as talking the talk he has walked the walk. He is responsible for the fantastic restoration of Dorade and taking the lead as project manager. It took careful coordination and communication between many people to make this all happen in time, I can only take my hat off to Joe and all his team at LMI (you know who you are).
Click here to view the cradle plan
Five and a half days later Dorade and all her gear arrived into Sausalito, California. I arrived on Monday morning to meet Dorade and the drivers at KKMI boat yard where we would begin the process of putting her back together and re-rigging. Fortunately, I was very happy to see that no damage had been sustained to the hull or topsides and that all the preparations in Rhode Island had paid off. In fact the only damage incurred was to some of the varnish on deck where a cover had worked loose and a metal clip on the corner had flogged against the coach roof for a while. Now that section has been stripped and a few new coats applied and she looks great again.
By Thursday we had the boat in the water again and the mizzen mast stepped. Friday morning we stepped the Main mast and spent the rest of the day getting them tuned. There is still a bit of work to finish before we go sailing such as stitching the leather work back on and re wiring the electrics that run through the mast but hope fully that will be straight forward. If all goes well in the next few days you should be able to see Dorade out on the water this Sunday.
Thanks again to everybody involved and we are all looking forward to what the west coast will bring us.
Ben