Out of the barn

The hull is out of the barn and another big milestone has been achieved.

The hull is wider and taller than the 12 x 14 doors I have in the barn so a overhead door company had to be called in to remove the door. Once the door was off, it was up to me to remove some of the siding, the purlins, and two posts. It took me about two nails to remember that pole barn siding nails are not meant to come out. It took me about 30 more nails to realize that a cat's paw and a hammer is really not the preferred way to remove these nails. My right angle die grinder with a cutting disc used to cut the nail head in half, then a punch to knock off the nail head is the fastest, cleanest way to remove pole barn siding nails ( if any one really cares ;-0). Because the 6 x 6 posts are on the gable, and I had bolted them to the foundation when I built the barn, I was able to easily remove them for salvage on the re build of the door opening.

I had to use the swim platform of the boat for scaffold while I removed the door header. Using the skid loader to pull the boat back and under the door header had me realizing just how easy she moved across the barn floor. Walking around on the swim platform with demolition tools and using a chain saw to cut the posts out had me reminding myself that I can fix the dings I'm creating later on down at the boat yard.

For some reason I've long forgotten, I decide to build the boat in the barn facing the wrong way. Building her in the barn backwards ended up causing some more work in getting her out.  Because the parking area outside the barn is on a grade I had to use a I beam with one end chained to the boat dolly axle, and another end chained to the dozer blade so I could control the hull and prevent her from rolling down the hill in to the dozer. The I beam idea worked good and getting her in to the barn  yard was really no big deal.

Once out in the barn yard I backed the dump truck in to position so I could get a measurement on the length of the hitch. Once the hitch was welded to the dolly, and the pintle ring was bolted to the hitch, I again backed the truck in to place and hooked the dolly to the truck. For the most part, she's ready to leave our property.

 This morning I'm going to chain her down, and move her further away from the barn using the dump truck. I need her away from the barn door so I can back a trailer in to the barn and load the wheel house on to the trailer. Hopefully, this time next week, both pieces will be down at the boat yard ready to weld together.

As she sits on her dolly, she measures 14'3" above the road.

Getting her out of the barn was a pretty big milestone for me. This is the first time I've really been able to see what she looks like. It feels amazing not having to duck under the truss's. To say I'm happy would be an understatement.

Cheers