Trailer

Trailer

When I purchased Trá Bhuí it sat on a converted car transporter. While this trailer had the strength to carry the boat with ease and with 4 wheels had the stability for towing that is desirable, its configuration meant that it had to be submersed every time the boat was launched or recovered. This had worked well for the previous owner who kept Trá Bhuí on a mooring but was not ideal for my use as I intended to launch Trá Bhuí each time I  sailed her. The obvious answer was to put Trá Bhuí on the trailer that I used for my Lugger “Braveheart”.

The existing trailer was solid but not ideal for frequent launches

Preparing to lift Tra Bhui off it's original trailer

My own trailer was an ex MOD trailer which I had bought to carry the Lugger as it was in my opinion  a far better engineered trailer than those supplied with modern boats. With Landrover wheels, a break back set up and its robust build, it had allowed me to launch and recover my Lugger from any beach without having to put the brakes or bearings into the water.

 I had originally modified it the trailer to carry the Lugger by removing 3 feet from the tow hitch as there was too much trailer in front of the bow of the boat. Measuring it against Trá Bhuí, it looked like putting four feet back into the spine and moving the axle back 2 feet along with moving the swing cradle and side rollers, would be all that was required to carry Trá Bhuí.

Being only home in the UK for a week or so, with plenty of other things that I needed to do and intending to get use the boat at the Drascombe Association’s forthcoming rally on the Clyde at the end of the week, I decided this time to get a local fabricator to carry out the welding required to lengthen the trailer

With four feet of new spine welded into my existing trailer the axle now needs to be moved back and some additional rollers fitted

Once the spine had been lengthened, the next step was to swap the trailers over in order that the swing arm cradle and auxiliary rollers could be welded in place. Without local water this was accomplished by jacking the boat up and securing it in the air with a mixture of jacks and load straps – perhaps not to the relevant industry standards for lifting, but as I had no intention of being under it at any time it seemed a reasonable solution. Probably this should come under the heading of “don’t try this at home”

In the air!

Still in the air!!

Once the new trailer was under the boat it sat rather nicely, more importantly the balance seemed to be pretty good. All that remained was to move the swing cradle and secondary rollers to support the hull and stop the boat falling over.

Trailer with axle moved ready to be placed under the boat

Using the trailer winch to move it under the boat - the boat is secured to a metal post driven into the lawn behind the car port. Bodge it and Scarper have nothing on this operation!

Once the boat was set up a set of guide rails were welded into position along the side of the keel rollers to ensure that the boat sat on the middle of the trailer. Having had some minor problems with the Lugger due to the keel rocker making the boat run off the rollers if it was not sitting upright when loading, I realised that the Gig was simply too heavy to lift back into place on my own. The tubes are not shown on the pictures below as they were fitted once the boat was on the trailer. This was simply due to time as I did not know if I would have time to fit them or not before we needed to head off to the forthcoming rally.

Arrival at large for the Clyde Rally

The guide tubes proved to work well and during our first launch and recovery we only needed to put the trailer into three inches of water, with the boat going off and on very easily.

Time however did not allow me to complete everything on the trailer. The new bits still need to be painted, the twin light boards need to be moved further back and a cradle made to sit inside the boat to carry the mast and spars. These are things I can look forward to tinkering with the next time I am home!

Hauling out after Baltimore Rally (Ireland) 2014

Cradle - trailer before refurb - August 2014

Owning Tra Bhui

Trá Bhuí

This is my record of owning the Gig - Trá Bhuí.

Trá Bhuí is a 25’ long Drascome Gig (no 69 (1994) built in Totnes, Devon by Honnor Marine (UK) Ltd. – not to be confused with the current Honnor Marine in Rochdale)

The name Trá Bhuí, is Irish Gaelic (and I think Scottish Gaelic) for - Yellow Strand or beach.  It was named after a mile long beach near Sligo in Ireland where its previous owner lived.

Road sign - seen in Baltimore during DA Rally there 2014

So what is a Gig? – According to the Drascombe Association, -  “Never intended for the private buyer, the Gig is a pure sail training craft designed for use by Navies. Previously, the Royal Navy used the Montagu Whaler for this purpose, but these boats were getting well past their best, and new ones have not been built since the 1950s. The Longboat  was considered too small, so the Gig was designed for this specific market”

Why a Gig? – After having borrowed from our local library the excellent Lugworm books by Ken Duxbury when I was about 12 years old I have always had a deep seated desire to own a Drascombe Lugger and if time and funds permit spend some time pottering around the coast of Greece.

Ownership of a Lugger eventually came to reality when some four years ago I purchased a “project boat” from an outward bound school in the Lake District via EBay. Having surprised my long suffering “crew” with a romantic weekend in the Lake District she was even more surprised when I came to pick her up with a trailer behind the car. Later that night with the help of 12 men recruited from a local pub my newly purchased Lugger (Braveheart) was on the trailer and my project could begin.

Jump forward 2 years

With Braveheart having been completely renovated and with a number of cruises and Drascombe Association Rallies under our belts, a new project was required. What about another Drascombe? While the Lugger  proved to be an excellent boat, it proved to be a bit cramped to sleep on when loaded with camping gear and towing a tender, something else along the lines of the Lugger but a bit bigger would be ideal.  

With or without a cabin? As I still really wanted a Lugger I decided that the next boat should also be an open boat – as my “crew” was not consulted on this there were no objections to my proposal! About that time (2011), Churchouse Boats was advertising a Gig on their brokerage page on behalf of a seller in America. The Gig to my eye is one of the nicest looking Drascombes with its traditional Lug Sail and at 25 feet long (nearly seven feet longer than my Lugger) it was an ideal size. An offer was quickly made but unfortunately, it came to nothing as the seller had I think sold it locally, but the seed of an idea had been sown as the Gig not only gave me the space that I wanted but it had potentially more performance (speed) than the other boats in the Drascombe range. The fact that it was designed as a sail training boat for a crew of 12 and that it had nearly twice the sail area of a standard Lugger had to be considered but in the end the decision was made.

Jump forward 2 years

Due to various influencing factors – children leaving home, down turn in the British (Scottish) economy etc., 2012 saw me working overseas again. With more free time in the evenings I found more time to window shop for boats, but it was not until early in 2013 that I saw an advert for a Drascombe Gig that caught my interest. After a bit of coming and going I was the new owner of a bright yellow Gig named Trá Bhuí.

After waiting for the right moment if there is such a thing, my “crew” was advised of this new purchase  just before it was delivered. Luckily being over six and a half thousand miles from home does at times have its advantages at times!

A few logistical issues had still to be overcome – I was in the Philippines , the boat was in Sligo (Ireland) and home was near Glasgow (Scotland), however with the help of the seller the boat was delivered to  its new home in May 2013 although I would not see it myself until the end of June. That would be the starting point for the voyages of Trá Bhuí.

So how big is a Gig?

 At least it floats - on a mooring in Ireland

With previous owner - sailing in Ireland

What a nice looking boat!