Before the wheels turn...

It's Saturday and we are planning to haul the boat out Monday morning and depart for what I am sure will be a delightful exploration of Georgetown, SC, and the Great Pee Dee, Black and Waccamaw Rivers. While some may think adventures like this just happen after you load  up and head on down the road, experienced cruisers know there is a usually complex infrastructure behind even a little trip like this one.

Here's a sampling of the kinds of answers we like to get before the wheels turn:

• What's the land route to the cruising destination?
• Are marina reservations in place?
• Weather forecast, tidal ranges, currents
• Where is the best public launching ramp?
• Ramp hours, fees?
• Where is secure storage available for the truck and trailer?
• Is there local land transportation--cabs, buses?
• Where are the restaurants, grocery stores, chandleries?

In addition, here are a few tasks that I never leave home without completing:

• Cruise itineraries for significant others and potential rescuers
• On the water chartplotter routes for the cruising area
• Testing operation, and checking/charging batteries for all the fixed and portable electronic gear
• Hands-on inspection of all safety gear

So I have been doing that kind of advance work today, in between trips to the dock to double check systems on the boat, load bedding, survey safety gear and so on. In the latter respect, I found my flares expired, so I went to West marine for a new supply.

At the end of the day, the tangible product in hand consists of confirmed reservations at one marina, A highway route to Georgetown, the location of a public launch ramp, the address and number of a U-Haul RV storage center near the ramp, telephone numbers for cab companies and a marina in another town we plan to visit, and cruise itineraries to leave with the home folks just in case. I have also done a few chartplotter routes to help avoid getting lost on the waters around Georgetown. Sounds anal. Might be.

Trailer update

We finished re-carpeting the trailer bunks in record time yesterday. Instead of the two-day job predicted, we  wrapped it up over at my friend Major's house in about four hours. Here are some results to compare to the trailer photos in the last blog post:

After removing the old carpet and staples from the top thirds of the bunks, I used a power planer to smooth the tops of the bunks and round off sharp edges. I think this will add some lifespan to the new carpet. This closeup shows the inward-leaning chamfer of the starboard bunk.












The photo below shows the 12-foot-long 1 x 3-inch treated lumber battens securing the carpet on either side of each bunk. Two-inch stainless steel deck screws, spaced about 12 inches apart pass through the battens and the carpet into the trailer bunks. After this cruise, I am going to make some sacrificial bunk covers out of cut up blue tarps to help protect the new carpet from ultraviolet degradation.

The truck and trailer are over at Major's house now. I'll be on the river in Ms. Bettencourt Monday morning, while he's driving the truck and trailer to the haulout ramp in North Augusta. We will stay in touch by VHF radio until we have visual contact at the ramp.

That's when all the planning and mechanical preparedness work will come together-- on the road to cruising destinations out of Georgetown, SC.