To the water we go! woooheee!
Elvira is ready to go in the water, so let's do it! And let's make a small tour to check that all is well.
Taking a crane-lift to the water
The day has come, today Elvira is going to the water. With the help of our harbour captain and a neighbour, we put on the “belt” under Elvira and started to lift off. Once in the water, quick check for any leaks, removing the belts, and running the engine for a bit. I was quite nervous to see the boat in the air, and then quite anxious to know if the engine would work nicely. After all, for most of the maintenance, I used YouTube videos to see what to do… But all went well, and I could start to empty the storage space from the boat club and to fill up my boat.
The crane is approaching
Walking through the other boats on land and guiding Elvira with 2 lines.
From the point of view of Elvira
Mooring at my place (without mast, we'll take it another day)
Two or three loads like this and that was it for the day!
Quick look at the nesting swans, it's not so often we can see them, soon some sort of cane is going to grow and hide all that part from our view.
Wrapping the DIY
The forepeak storage “support” for my clothes is ready too. I had to wait for the wind to pipe down a bit before putting the mast in place, so it was a good opportunity to wrap up on that stuff.
Checking the frame's size
WIP, adding some ribs
All ready to be installed
Let's fill it up
Masting up and going for a test-sail
On a nice but chilled evening, the mast went up. After that, it was a matter of checking pics from last year to remember how everything was rigged up. Somehow I had that good idea last year when packing everything up to take some pictures to help me. But somehow, too, I didn't really take enough pics or at least they weren't clear enough. All in all it worked out OK, and the next day I could take Elvira for a spin and check that all was right, that was quite fun!
I'm taking hopefully better picture for the next time I have to do this process.
She has a mast! And sails! And sail-cover and spray hood…
Nice weather for a first tour!
Not the worst view from my docking-spot, is it?
