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Make Life Better with a Sailboat-in-a-Closet

Step 4Pack up!

Pack up!
You have no trailer because your dory is sitting on it at mom's house in New Hampshire. Also, the same landlord who is snooping around because he (or she) thinks you are building a boat on her (or his or their) hardwood floors also won't let you (or me) keep a trailer anywhere. Tow trucks cruise the lots seeking wheeled things parked in spaces that don't belong there (the cars, I mean; avoid vague pronoun reference).

Life is compartmentalized, especially in New England where somebody (perhaps the same 17 people) owns everything. Each square yard is the province of a landlord, an owner, the State, and I include chipmunks and birds. That's why we have voices: the first sounds produced by living critters meant, "Hey- that-mine!" -- rather like all spaces on which lawns grow in English towns. If you walk on English town lawns, people come out of guard shacks and yell at you. That's how they keep unemployment down.

What to do? Design a boat that stores in your own square-yard of space, be it your closet, room or vehicle with the rear seats folded down.

Since this photo, I bought a Ford Focus and am now in deep trouble for boat transport, but a break-in-two boat at least allows you to buy the cheapest, smallest utility trailer, and, in fact, some models fold up, and yes indeed, can also be stowed in an apartment! There's nearly always a solution if you relax and think about it. If you built a light boat, you can get it on the roof, but I think you will find that a trailer is slightly less bother if you can store, especially if you can store the boat on it. This reduces set up time, which can be critical if you have only an afternoon to sail. Trailers are not always the problem; it is one's attitude toward trailers that it is sometimes the problem.
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2 comments
Apr 23, 2010. 12:42 AMfatcharlie says:
Wade - I hope in the ensuing time since you posted this that you have still been experiencing the wonders of sailing! Fantastic instructable - puts me in mind of 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' - not so much a 'how-to' but rather a 'why-to'. Thanks.

Suggestion re. trailer - make a small, road- wheeled cradle to fit the centre section. Rather than taking the halves apart, hinge them at the gunwale level between the two centre bulkheads. When you fold it in half, with the cradle attached to the downward hull, you have a long, thin, box-trailer.

Thanks again for your humour and insight. Keep well :-)
Dec 1, 2008. 1:36 AMvitex says:
Something visceral about boats. I think they speak of escape and ecstasy, which are in somewhat short supply when you're sitting in the wreckage of a relationship. And I even managed a nice little maritime figure-o-speech. Arr. Aye. Splice the Mainbrace. You'll recognise this design idea as I did yours. I think too few people try building boats because they're supposed to be perfect! I've built three so far, and none of them are. But it was fun.

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Author:Wade Tarzia
If you read blogs, come vist mine: www.tristramshandy21st. blogspot.com where right now I am posting chapters of my humorous and philosophical nonfiction, "In Search of Tim Severin" among other thi...
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