The Day my Baba fell over :-(

Wed 3rd May, Lady Stardust is scheduled for a lift in. Not a big deal normally, however this day things go a bit wrong.

The yard had the boat chocked up on the four corners and the long keel lay on a piece of timber almost the same length. It was assumed that the keel held the boat and if the front chocks were removed to allow the 'parker trailer' in the rear chocks would keep the boat vertical.

This didn't happen, I think the problem occurred because the centre of gravity was forward of the curve of the keel up to the forefoot, this was caused by a lot of gear on the bow and also extra weight that was stowed in the forward v-berth. Consequently the boat pivoted on the turn of the forefoot. I don't think there was a massive turning force, and a small chock on the stem would have stopped this.

Apparently the Centre of gravity is 16ft Aft of the Stem, I put this about here ...

The problem is this position is derived from theory and will vary depending on how much anchor gear and forward stowage there is. Now that my baba is rigged for cruising and everything is properly stowed, my bow has risen 2" out of the water, indicating that it was heavily loaded towards the bow, presumably moving the CG forward.

Don't look at the pictures if you love your baba

Before the fall Notice the chocs at the front	The trailer was moved under the bow and the front chocs removed	Boat falls over as a result	looks bad from here	Actually pushed the next boat along a bit
Feel sorry for next door, but they suffer mostly gelcoat damage, nothing structural	now the boat is resting on the 'parker' trailer	This I don't want to see again	quite a lot of weight on the pad here	you can see the bow lying on the trailer
this is a few tons of baba pressing down on a pad of foam!	Now the cavalry arrive, a huge crane comes to take the weight	once the weight is taken off the trailer, it is pulled out and put back in to support the bow	Finally the travel hoist could get in and take over