Boatbreakers in The Wirral
The Boatbreakers team were back on the road this week to collect a yacht from The Wirral. We had an email from a couple who had a boat next to their driveway. It had been sat on a road trailer but it was now falling to bits.
There are always challenges to collecting boats from people’s houses. Most of the time this is because access can be an issue. Obviously boatyards are set up to accommodate the arrival and manoeuvring of big trucks. Whereas houses and gardens are usually crammed in together with gateways only suitable for cars.
Hiab to lift the boat
Luckily after a quick look on Google Maps it seemed that the access would be ok. The gate was large enough to fit a truck and the driveway looked like there was room to play with. Our plan was to send a truck with a Hiab lift to come and lift the boat on to our trailer. We arranged for a local Hiab company “Hassall Transport” to be there with Steve to sort the sort.
Before the Hiab truck arrived to lift the boat, Steve set about dropping the mast. As the boat had been put in the garden many years ago from the coast nearby, the mast was still up. Over the years the tree next to the boat had grown over and above the boat. This meant that dropping the mast was quite tricky. In the end Steve had to cut the mast in half to free it from branches.
Weaved along the driveway
We’re not sure exactly how many years but judging by the size of the tree and the condition of the trailer it had been a while. Soon after Steve had the mast down the Hiab arrived and weaved its way along the driveway. Steve had positioned the trailer so the Hiab could set up and have plenty of room to lift the boat.
As the boat was a bilge keel yacht it meant it could sit nicely on the flatbed trailer. It’s always trickier with fin keel boats as they require custom boat trailers. Once the boat was down on the trailer, Steve set about strapping it down. For such a long journey it’s always important to make sure the boat is as secure as possible. The last thing we want is the boat becoming unstable and falling from the trailer.
Do you have a boat in the garden?
The owner was pleased to see the back of the yacht. We’re sure he will be glad to also have some space back in the garden. Steve then set off back down south with another job well done.
