The Long Roll...

We finally rolled the boat 400' up the new roadway and into the restoration building. Although we waited for the ground to freeze up a bit the biggest issue was still the mud. The rolling platform worked nicely but the original 8x10 beam under the bow cracked - which was retrofitted easily with a 10x10. The key to keeping the 32,000lb load from crashing through the cradle was the center skid. Basically, the majority of the weight was in compression through the center skid so deflection of the cross members played very little roll. Thirty rollers were used, ten under each skid, making a distributed load of 1,000lbs (+) / roller when evenly weighted.

Now to get the roofing tin on and then, finally, the restoration begins!

- Thanksgiving at the Whitehairs -
Julian rocks in his PJ's at 25 degrees! - nice job patching the neighbors driveway Julian! Thanks!

Ebben pulling with the logging skid system - lots of slow control @ 14,000lb pull strength which was nice.
The dozer is pushing from behind and holding the works between resetting the tractor.
The incline here was a challenge as it was quite steep.

We made it though the mud!
Erling, Jamey, Jeremy, Jeff, Jullian, Price, Ebben & Bria  - Thanks for the help!

32,000 lbs over a road of phone poll rollers, on a phone pole platform.
300' up the hill and around three corners. Nothing broke. Amazing.

View of Bluesette from the breakfast table.
Motivation at it's finest...
Time for some roofing tin!

The Rolling Platform

Spring returned and a very used roof structure was salvaged. Ebben and I cleared away the forest, carved out the hillside, cut drains and built the roadway. The roofing sections were erected.

For ease of convenience throughout the rebuild the roof structure was built about 400' away from where Maverick was first placed. Now we face the challenge of moving the hull up the newly built roadway, through two 45 degree corners and into the building. I looked around for months for parts to build a trailer system for the move but I was not able to salvage one that was worthy. I settled on the idea of a three skid platform for the hull that literally rolled over sections of phone poll rollers. The poles were left over from raising the building. This is the most challenging phase of the rebuild as I have never moved such weight anywhere near that distance. We will first try to draw it along with a logging attachment that is spec'd to pull 14,000lbs but in addition we'll use the dozer and an additional Kabota tractor for more pull/control as needed.

The cradle platform is now built. The boat has been jacked up 24" to reassemble the cradle under it.  The first 10 feet will prove whether or not the whole idea will work.

These days I find myself dreaming of visiting Rio de Janeiro. After rounding Cape of Good Hope it will be a good place to gather up some new steam.

Three phone poles make the skids on the platform. Set on 3' phone pole rollers
The cross members are notched into the skid poles and bolted with 3/4" bolts.
 This worked very nicely.

A wonderful Distraction: Ebbens 32' Ericson Restoration....

When the steel building is up his boat will lay right next to Aperio for refitting.  He is thinking of naming it  "Look out!"

Check out the YouTube video:

Ebben, his friend Max and his sister Bria at work taking apart the first block.

On Chappaquiddick Island picking up block #2,

A view inside block #2.   Nasty!

Many, many hours later... it purrs like a kitten! and it's beautiful!
Notice Ebben is a couple of years older?

A few reference photos taken 20 years ago....

Building the boat shed

Click on images to play videos or enlarge photos

 A half acre of trees for the sugar house...

Ebben stumping out the lot
 May/2012

A hard lesson...  broke the excavators main swing arm casting.
John Deere said no more are available...
Ebben located one via internet junk yard and had it in the mail within hours! Yup!

Through the jungles of Vermont

Aperios' stern in the distance

First bent going up!

After much searching: located a used steel town shed that had been disassembled and was about to go up for auction.   Combined with 15 used phoned poles (free for the asking) raised the clearance to 22' . 

A bargain at $1,200.00

Ready for cross bracing, grass seed and steel roofing party.
The frame is raised 7' on the used phone polls.
21' clearance on inside low corners of Aperios main bay.
Ebbens $1.00 32' Ericson will be in the left bay. Another story entirely!

Maverick Arrives!

Maverick arrives by overland carrier:

ps: 

Never lift a boat like this! once in the air we could not set it down to equalize the straps... 

a horrible moment I'd rather forget!

Maverick surfaces

As listed on Craigslist
November/2011

Locating "Maverick"

While paging through yacht listings one morning in October of 2011, I stumbled across a boat in central Florida that had been posted just a few hours prior. It stated that a dutch built 42' steel sailboat was within hours of being cut-up for scrap and that the owner was making a last minute push to sell it and its contents "as-is where-is". The shape of the metal work appeared (to me anyways) to have been built by master metal workers in a full ship yard and it clearly had the potential to cruise any ocean on this planet. Possibly the boat I had been looking for for over 25 years.

Further online searches located a friendly sounding woman who was (sadly) in the midst of selling her recently deceased brothers estate. Among her challenges was that she was running out of time to find a new home for his old steel friend. After speaking with her directly a promise was made that the salvage team and marine scrappers would be put on hold for 48 hours if I made my way south for a visit. I quickly  called into work to let them know I might be a bit late... I had a detour.

Arriving at the boat the following afternoon, I met the family of owners who handed me a dust mask and warned me about the molds inside. Then, looking around by flashlight it was disappointingly clear why nobody else had taken this project on. A full color spectrum of mold spores ran the length of the interior with textures ranging from dust-like particles that could be raised with the slightest passing draft, to leather-like growths that couldn't be budged with a putty knife. The hull had obviously been sitting unopened, wet inside and out, in the jungles of Florida for far too long.

After a whirlwind inspection inside and out the sunlight was gone and the mosquito population of the region dove down the hatchways for dinner. My return plane ticket was ticking away the few hours I had left - and it was becoming apparent that if this vessel was to transfer ownership it would have to be by noon the following day, leaving one afternoon to pack things up as secure as possible, catch a few hours rest and jump on the plane back to New England - and then explain the whole saga to my wife which would prove to be the biggest challenge of them all.

The next morning a flurry of phone calls was made in an attempt to understand the logistics and expenses of having 34,000 lbs of scrap iron picked up from crimeland central florida and delivered North to Vermont via overland carrier. It was far more complicated than I had imagined due to the sharply bending local roadways and the right angle driveway into the property.

It was clearly the largest gamble I had ever taken in my life and my stomach was churning over all of the unknowns. I was thoroughly exhausted from the combined effects of my gorilla style yacht inspection and the horrible gas station chicken. However, an offer was made and shortly thereafter, somehow, I managed to process the fact that I quickly became the owner of 16 tons of potential scrap -the entire lot sitting in a yard that had been robbed of many high value items within the past past 30 days. The boat had no locks, and in three days NOBODY would be around to oversee any of it. Hardly what I imagined as the first chapter in my book 'Boaterbliss'.

With LOTS of help from a family friend and the very kind sellers we beat back the mosquitoes, pulled the floorboards and packed a deep bilge with the highest valued hardware. Progressively junkier items piled on toward the top until at last the boat was nearly full to the overhead. We took extra effort to tangle large broken spars, old running rigging and lifelines on the top of the pile so that if/when anyone would look down the hatch with the intention of removing anything they would give up on the idea before they started.  The final delivery down the unlockable hatch was a horribly stinky array of overflowing garbage bags from the homestead that was being emptied. It was an effective crime deterrent. A full month would pass before anyone came to move the boat, yet the entire boat and contents arrived in Vermont as hoped. Wow... if all of Maverick's adventures measure up like this it promises to be one wild ride!

Houston Boyd - Former owner.
Imported Maverick to US waters.

To Dierdra and Beverly Boyd: A heart felt thank you.  

I had been looking for a steel world voyager for 25 years but had never come across a match that fit my needs. Your help and understanding in allowing me this opportunity is so very much appreciated. I hope both of you, and your family, enjoy this story.
As Maverick makes her way around the globe I will remain hopeful that you will join us for a leg - perhaps you will gain a sense of the wonders of the ocean... as had your brother.

J-