Ok. Someone must have dreamed up a neat way of doing this! Any offers?
At the moment Four Sisters is blocking the view of my bit of Sherwood Forest (two Birch trees and a cat toilet) from my kitchen window, waiting for me to spruce her up for the next sailing season – which, by the way, starts in February around these parts. (This job needs completing as soon as possible to assuage the mounting pressure from my wife to let the snowdrops get some light.)
The big problem is not re-varnishing the mast and brightwork or dealing with the mess the anchor chain has made of the gunnel, it's how to get last seasons barnacles off the bilge boards!
Six weeks moored in warm, salt water is quite long enough to raise a fair crop all over the hull and at about 1.5 mm across they make a rough surface capable of slowing us up by at least a knot – and taking the skin off an unwary swimmer, too. Most of the hull is accessible with the little lugger on her trailer but how do I get at the bilge boards on which she sits? What I need is a safe, foolproof way of hoisting her a couple of feet into the air to allow the boards to drop out of the hull for a good scrub and a wax polish, perhaps.
All ideas will be gratefully received........
