The Boat Goes Home for some Updates
Our little Flying Scot sailboat was in need of a few updates. After our work and test sail last year, I made a short list of things that I thought we should have done before we take it out sailing again. This list included changing some of the horn cleats to cam cleats to enable us to safely uncleat lines quickly, re-attaching the foam floatation supports that fit under the gunwhales, fixing the centerboard winch, and (probably most importantly) replacing the beat-up and un-title-able trailer with a properly-titled and functioning trailer.
While there are other marinas and boat shops that can do this work (and, in fact, I could do some if we had someplace we could turn the boat upside-down and support it safely for a while), the Flying Scot mothership is just down in Deer Park, MD. I called to order the trailer and arrange for work to be done to the boat in early May. The shop was backed-up and didn’t have time to take us until this week. I recruited my awesome Dad to come down with me to be company and to help in case there were any issues. I had little confidence in the trailer and really hoped to get the boat in one piece to Maryland.
On Monday, Dad and I drained water from the cover in an area where the cover sunk down into the cockpit, uncovered the boat, and checked-out the trailer for our trip. We have been storing the boat at my parents’ house (they’re awesome) while waiting on a more appropriate storage and use location. With the trailer and boat tied better and ready to go, we moved the trailer by hand to make it easier to align the truck the next morning for an on-hill pick-up. The result is what you see above.
This morning, I met my Dad at their house a little after 7AM, and we hitched-up the boat. After verifying trailer lights, we departed for Deer Park, which is just outside of Deep Creek, MD. As we were coming down the hill from their house, I realized that I forgot to grab the EZPass from the Subaru that Jenny now had in Springdale. Dad called Mom and we borrowed theirs. Mom drove it down to us so we didn’t have to go all the way back up the hill and fight with turning the trailer around at their house. While we were waiting for her, I checked the tie-downs and grabbed another photo:
Once we were again on our way, we reached Deep Creek in a just about two and a half hours, and made our way to Deer Park. Once at Deer Park, we met Harry Carpenter, his wife, and a few other employees at the Flying Scot factory. The Deer Park facility is the one and only maker of the Flying Scot, and Harry Carpenter is the owner and boat builder. It was awesome getting to see the factory, some brand-new boats ready for delivery, a couple of boats in production, and some boats that just finished work like the kinds of things they were going to do for us. After exchanging some paperwork on the trailer and getting some information from me on what we wanted to have done, we went out to un-hitch the boat and prepare it for them to pick it up and move it to their workshop. Here’s our boat and TruckStor sitting right outside the Flying Scot mothership:
Now we wait. I can’t wait until they’re done and we get the call that the boat is ready for pick-up and SAILING! I’m happy we were able to get these safety items handled quickly, and I have full confidence in this shop to get them right! 🙂
