For the past two weeks we have been landlocked for the first time in almost two years. We pushed Craigslist to it's limits, but to no avail. So here we are, now living on an volcano, in a boat, 5 miles from water.
Lifting a boat out of the water at a marina is generally not a problem and the price is generally reasonable considering that you're taking a heavy, awkwardly shaped item, out of the ocean and setting it down on the ground. Well, if you try to accomplish this in Hilo it is slightly different. First of all there isn't a marina, just a little boat basin, and there isn't a normal travel-lift which easily scoops boats out of the water and plunks them down on land. With no such services available, we had to convince a local guy with a crane and flatbed to do it. He has done this for a few other boats but somewhat reluctantly and with a monopolistic disposition. The final bill was quite substantial...
The process is quite simple. You strip everything from your deck to get to a certain height and when the crane guy shows up he tells you to take more stuff off. Then he throws a few straps in the water and you are told to jump in an set them where you see fit. He pulls your mast off, which really doesn't want to come off, at all. Once everything is secure you set off down the highway at 50mph and hope the damn thing doesn't fall onto a car in the slow lane.
In reality it wasn't so bad. The only real problem was that after everything was said and done, when Sylvie and I went to the boat to check it out, we realized that we were on a fairly steep downward angle. The crane was obviously long gone by the time we discovered this. We figure that we've been living on many angles recently, so what's a few more months.
Here are some pictures for your amusement:
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| Dan wonders what the hell he's gotten himself into. |
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| Slightly frazzled. I wore my most ill-fitting shirt for the occasion. |
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| The crane and flatbed combo. |
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| Jesus himself climbs the cross. |
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| After many minutes and 600 pounds of tension the mast finally popped. |
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| Ustupu looking a bit naked. |
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| There were no other volunteers to swim in the oily boat harbor. |
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| The bow seems a bit low. No problem, we'll sort that out later. |
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| A few of the local sailors came down to help and I certainly didn't want to embarrass myself with a dirty bottom. They're a real judgmental group. |
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| All hands mount the mast |
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| Coming up our driveway. |
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| I rode the last 2 miles up top with a metal pole to make sure we didn't hit any power lines. Umm hummmm. |
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| The boat's potential grave. |
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| My view from the road. |
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| Due to plumbing issues we are no longer able to use our toilet and sinks. This is a composting toilet that I whipped up. Flies sure do like it. |
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| My first flight of stairs. |
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| Sylvie makes a path. Nice boots! |
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| The final product. |
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| Carpenter for hire! |
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| Our neighbors have a farm with nearly a hundred animals. When they heard a kitty crying they offered to catch it and give it to us. |
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| She now lives on a land yacht. |
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| Frig she's cute. |
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| We named her Coconut. |
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| I was reluctant to accept the cat, but it's barely left my hands since we adopted her. |
