C-Dream, from idea to reality (Pt. 2)

Already getting to Port Washington on North Pender was marred with the break down of my old outboard motor and a late start to get there in time for the high winter tides that was to help me in my endeavour. Full of the idea to get the sloop sailing again this were all minor setbacks. Still not fully aware of how long it was to take me to get the boat afloat again, I convinced myself that I only had to move the whole thing for some 75’ down my makeshift ramp and that I would be ready for the next period of 12’ tides in the middle of February. Had I not moved her some 20’ in a week and was descending of the platform where she had been for over 10 years. Everything was going a bit slower than anticipated, but it was happening. Refusing to acknowledge the hardships of camping out in the middle of winter I only concentrated on getting C-Dream (no sailing vessel should be without a name) back unto the water to sail the Salish Sea.

As mentioned in the last chapter already, it was quite a task to keep the sloop in the center of the ramp. So it was not that surprising  that half way down I got too close to the edge and barely managing to keep the boat from tipping over it slid down some 16’’ to settle next to the big bolder I had used to brace and sturdy the ramp. Now that not only the decline, but also the smooth surface of the wooden planks had gone, my daily 3’ to 4’ achievements were cut in half and some days despite all my painstaking efforts I could hardly move the craft at all.

The timbers I used to create a point to pull the sloop towards to kept on falling or busting. The come-along wasn’t working as smooth anymore, until I finally broke the handle and it became even more awkward to use. A one-ton hydraulic car jack (used to shove the boat closer to the water when the pulling became to hard) gave up on me. 3 weeks had past and it did not look promising, even so the high tide had reached the hull of the boat there was a lot of distance missing. Never once did I question the point I’d determent to be reached to start floating. Until a week later, when the last of this years 12’ winter tides came in. Despite empty barrels I used to help floatation, the hull submerged under the water, but the boat itself never moved. I’d giving up on the idea as reality set in… I was in it for the long haul. With diminishing tides from here on in even time became irrelevant…  only one thing remained, the desire to see the sloop afloat.

Constantly seeking different ideas, alternatives to make my task easier, I started to reroute the little creek that was running close by. Digging a new creek bed I determent that, if it was to difficult to pull the craft into the sea, I would bring the water to it…

C-Dream, from idea to reality (Pt. 1)

With the lyric of an old song: “ A dream never dies, but the dreamer…” in my head I went to work. First to visualize the few easy steps it should take to move a small wooden boat, it was to take but a mere few days.  Too easy, as one never fully considers all the unforeseen, mishaps and errors one is sure to encounter.

The start was promising, once set up to do the actual work, I moved the mind boggling weight of well over a tone down a ramp for some 36’’. Furthermore I managed to keep her upright descending off it’s 4’ high platform in the center of my ramp. Yet this early success was not to last. Only a short distance later I veered to the portside and so was forced to spend a day straighten out my first mistake off many.

The question arises how did I move the boat at all… after I’d ripped every available boulder that could serve me as anchorage out of it’s sea-bed, I found myself left over with only sand & broken shell & no anchor big enough to hold. So recalling bits & pieces of lessons in physic, I build a very temporary brace in front of the ramp to pull the sloop towards with the come-along. So temporary was this brace, that it had to be changed; due to forever loosing the right point for all the pressure I was putting upon this contraption (after every couple of feet I got closer too), or more then half the time it fell or busted apart  on it’s own account.

The original owner of the boat had pulled it out of the water. To his advantage he had several trees close enough to the beach to use with the help of winches to make the pulling towards shore incomparable to pulling it back out to sea. He also had a place to go too after the day was done. Poor me had to spend weeks on a small sloop that wasn’t even afloat… not that I’m complaining… it was ,due to it’s airtight stove, warm and all that was missing was the ocean swell to give the illusion of an extended sea voyage.

Still,every day I pushed on and on, dreaming and working my way to the ultimate goal… get  this craft afloat & sailing again. By now it had become quite clear there was way more involved than I had imagined and it would take longer than just a few days. My good attitude and spirit had not yet diminished, that was to come a few weeks later when I asked myself more detailed what, why & how.

Thank God, the first time I did hit on a low of the roller-coaster trip I’d embarked on and which became more intense as time went by, …friends stopped by and gave moral support.

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C- Dream

Can’t rightfully recall from where this dream originated, it might not even have been only my dream…

Last fall while sailing the Salish Sea, looking for an inexpensive place to restore my 23’ Crown “Puffin”, I came across an old sloop abandoned on the beach in Grimmers Bay, Port Washington, on Pender Island. A local old-timer had spend years restoring a 80 year old Island Haida Mark 2 cruiser, dreaming about sailing, but had lost heart due to old age & health. So this unique little craft just sat there high & dry for over a decade, that is until silly old me saw her and immediately started to dream about wild sailing trips.

Little did I know how much work there was involved to get this old lady afloat again (and that in one piece), getting her cleaned of 10 years worth dirt & grime and now turning her into a sea worthy boat one can take sailing…

Well, when I first saw her on a sunny autumn day, it was like love on first sight. The 25’ cedar sloop had an aura of antiquity around her, but was surprisingly well build. The hull had acquired a thick layer of epoxy on the outside and the wood on  the inside was remarkable dry and firm. With her solid spruce mast (way towards the bow) and her 8 sided long boom I thought first that this was a homemade craft, yet slowly realized it to be a locally build island cruiser. The inboard motor had been removed, giving her extra space… and here she was standing braced up on a platform some 4’ of the ground, to be mine if I could get her back into the water.

What was I thinking (most likely not at all, or very little besides “it’s doable”), but in the middle of January (hoping the high winter tides would make my task a might easier) I found myself back in Port Washington to revive the boat, whatever it may take. Had I known before hand what energy, willpower and determination it eventually required to get her afloat I most likely would have shied away or found an alternative.

Maybe in older days, a long time ago, I can only imaging …, some 25 younger and stronger people getting together, they might have carried her with little effort and little time …, one afternoon…and then a party… As reality sat in I found myself alone and with few tools to help me in my plight… Even so, as I was able to inch her along with the help of a come-along, an old cable I found and a ramp I’d build, I was in good & optimistic spirits.