Carlos arrived at 9AM and we went off to Home Depot in San Jose on Hillsdale where we picked up 3 railroad ties.  These things are creosote soaked blocks of redwood that measure about  7×8″ x 9 feet, and they weigh nearly 160 lbs each.  We also got three 8′ lengths of pressure treated 1×6. The guy rang me up for 33 of those, so I had to get a refund.  I also bought a 10′ fiberglass ladder because the boat went up some 5 inches and the 8′ ladder I have was a little sketchy and just came to the caprail height as it was.

Back at the house The ties were chainsaw cut to 22″ lengths.  We had about ten pieces before the chainsaw got dull.  Then the trailer was jacked with a big 20-ton bottle jack. When we finished each wheel was about 2″ off the ground, which will allow some margin for settlement. The whole process took about 4 hours, after which  I learned that with the trailer level, the boat is not level inside. The bow is too high!  That means we’ll need to pull out some of the forward stack to get things back into line.

We also spent some time chocking up the front end of the mast to take the load off the pulpit frame and the weaker bowsprit wood that supports it.  We used a 4×4 cut to 27-1/2 inches with notch sitting on top of the bowsprit.

Next week I plan to get get the mast down off the boat and on to some sawhorses we bought today.