Off the Keel and in the Shed

It has been another couple very busy days at the shipyard, getting the keel removed from the race boat and moving her into the shed. The keel has not been removed from the boat since 2004, and the good news is that it was terribly difficult to detach from the hull… hard for the crew yet reassuring that it was built right and should never be easily separately from the bottom of the boat! It took a great deal of physical labor, with the guys banging on the different plates that hold it into the boat, lots of wiggling, and the final use of hydraulic jacks to lower the keel out.

Once the massive tungsten keel was detached from the hull, we lifted the boat out of her cradle and onto a flatbed trailer. Once again, the skilled crew at Detyens Shipyard proved invaluable, helping us carefully move the boat into the warehouse in North Charleston. We then devised a system using chainfalls from Charleston Rigging to hang the boat from the rafters of the building, which allowed us to get the boat off the trailer and lower it down onto the bunks from the cradle. Essentially this whole process will allow for the shore team to have reasonable access to the boat in a safe and shaded space. We are ready for the refit to begin!

Cheers and thanks for keeping up with our progress,
Brad