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The Latest Free Wooden Boat by George R. Garrison This particular boat saga started in 1997. At that time I approached a boat repair person to work on my Chris Craft Cavalier. After discussing what I needed, he suggested I pay a visit to his house and he'd show me a sample of his work. The example turned out to be a 1949 Matthews sedan cruiser that was 40 foot long on stands As the years went on our relationship grew. He did work on my boats but did very little to his own. He was self employed and worked on both boats and old houses. Like always in the case of a plumber who has jury rigged pipes or a carpenter whose house is barely able to support it's self. His boat was a mess. Lots of things started, but very little finished. The work he performed was great, but he never got over the hump. The vessel just sat in limbo in varied stages for years. Then he had a few medical problems, some financial problems and again the boat just held on by a thread. Several times my friend indicated he might just give me the boat someday. I actually never paid much attention to that as he always had hopes of obtaining enough money and time to get it all together. He really wanted to keep this boat and many times I offered to help with the work, but he always had excuses and would tell me the same stories about things of the past regarding the events that led up to his acquiring the boat and all the same sad stories and problems and events that occurred. He no longer could find the time to work my boats. I got tired of the constant line of stories, endless hours of cigarette smoke and gallons of coffee, with no progress on the Mathews. We drifted apart, he had some more medical problems and I totally lost track of his affairs and almost two years passed. One day we crossed paths and he indicated having sold his house, changed his life, married a companion and left the boat behind. He wondered if I was still interested in the boat. I said I could be, but it had been at least two years since I'd even seen the vessel and would need to visit it and decide if my interest was still active. He indicated the price was right and that it would be free with all the parts and anything that was there to support it. He was offering his entire collection of stuff; he'd thrown in the towel and just wanted it to go away. Lock stock and barrel. But, not a day later, the relative that he sold the house to where he left the boat, called me on my home phone machine and left a message. The message said I understand you want the Matthews and you need to come and get it by Wednesday or he was going to chop the boat up and haul away the pieces. This was on a Friday and I have loads of other stuff going on, plus this guy just out of the blue is trying to put me behind the eight ball. He said he'd rented the house out and was afraid the new tenants kids would get injured climbing on the boat and insisted it had to be moved almost immediately. I returned his call the next day and left a message and scheduled a visit with my friend to discuss his old boat. He gave me directions to his new place and I arranged to meet with him and his wife and then we'd drive to where the boats located. He'd bring me up to date and I'd look at the boat for the first time in several years. So, after making the arrangements, I called the house owner and he says forget it. You didn't call back quickly enough so he gave it to someone else. I explained I didn't have an opportunity to even look at the boat that I had not seen in years. I couldn't just commit to taking a big boat sight unseen. I said when's this guy going to move the boat? He said the person was going to call him on Wednesday with the details. I said, ok. Just consider me out of it, I won't go look at the boat and will not arrange a mover unless he calls me back. He said, don't bother, this guys going to take the boat ASAP after Wednesday. So, I responded, don't let this guy take any of the small parts until he's taken the boat or he may take the easy stuff and leave you stuck with the boat after getting the loose parts. He said, don't worry, I have it under control. I said ok, I will not do anything to consider this boat unless it falls thru and you call me. I called my friend, told him the story and he explains this person doesn't have the money to do anything with the boat and probably won't even be able to arrange to move it either. I said, well I'm out of the picture unless I get a call. Several days pass and Thursday morning I get a call that the other guy has not come thru and if I want the boat, it has to be moved by April 15th or he'll have an excavator rip the boat up and haul it away. So, I go and look at the boat and after reviewing everything, I decide to accept the vessel. He says ok and I start to arrange a mover. Now I have moved several large boats using a particular person. I call him, he agrees to a specific date and I in turn pass this info on the property owner and keep him posted. Two days before moving the boat, I call the boat mover to confirm the move and he gets really casual and says he has the wheels off his trailer and needs brakes and is waiting for parts. After several calls, it becomes obvious that he will not be able to move on the day I was quoted. So now, the property owner thinks I'm just another faker like the other guy. So, I decide to look for another mover. I stumble over a guy that just bought a new hydraulic trailer and thinks he can do the move. At least he'll try, he'd meet me there that afternoon and we'd load the boat. I pass this info on to the relative because he wants to be there for the move. The boat mover gets there, sizes up the boat, gets his trailer under it, loaded and on the trailer, moves the boat 40 feet and it's obvious that his trailers too short for the vessel. The weight is too far aft; it's on the trailer as far forward as it will go. Good try, but it's not going to work. So, we unload the boat after moving it 40 ft. put it back on stands. He was disappointed and so was I, but the boat was just too much for his great new trailer. He didn't want anything for his effort, but I gave him $40, at least that covered a little fuel. So, now the property owner saw I meant business and realized it was not easy to just move a big boat. So, I contacted the original boat mover and explained to him that I needed a firm date, he committed but, due to a past experience moving one of my boats and taking down a couple cable TV drops and at least one small telephone cable. He'd decided we needed another permit to cover the height and a pole car as an escort to ensure safe passage. This was now the week before Easter. So after checking with the state agency issuing the permit, it was decided that the permit was valid until noon on Saturday. I met with the boat mover and his escort along route 50 just outside of Ocean City Maryland and we proceeded to the location of the boat. It was quick getting the boat on the trailer and after adding straps, checking height, width and reviewing the route and what each of the vehicles would do, we where off. Leaving the property the truck had to go over into the ditch on the far side of the road. Due to the difference in angles of the pavement and all, the trailer bottomed out and the truck wheels started to spin and we where stuck in the middle of the road. This required stopping and playing with the hydraulics' to free the trailer and off we went again. Everything went well for the route until we arrived at my place. Earlier I'd told the mover to back into the area behind my shop. This is where I wanted the boat. This route required going across my neighbors yard, so I wanted to be careful of his grass. I knew the area was soft even with the dry conditions. But, rather than doing this, he pulled in and attempted to turn around. Big ruts where made with the heavy truck, trailer and boat. He was able to back up, but when he tried pulling forward the wheels started to dig in. The pole vehicle was a Suburban with four wheel drive so they chained the two together in an attempt to free the boat. This failed, so I chained n four wheel drive pickup to the Suburban. We still were unable to free the rig. After pretty much destroying the neighbors yard, we're hopelessly stuck. Now, I had to call a wrecker and was able to free the whole rig to high ground. But the boat needed to be on the other side of this yard war zone. We decided to position the wrecker in the area where the boat would go; with his long cable we'd pull the boat, trailer and truck backwards into the parking area behind my workshop. We pulled this as far as we could and then had to move the wrecker farther across the back yard and do it again to continue the pull to the resting spot. My building's 80 foot long and I wanted the Matthews all the way back, so the wrecker pulled the whole rig about 200 foot to get it in place. At this point we positioned the stands, blocks and supported the boat, leveled it. The truck and trailer now drove out under its own power. The wrecker exited out the other end of my yard thru my other neighbors backyard. We did get off the street before the noon expiration of the special height permit. The whole thing took several hours longer than anticipated. We did not hit lines, but did brush one very lightly, actually that was with the pole vehicle. The wrecker took almost an hour to get there, but the guy was wonderful, I've used him before. He charged me $200 for his part. Neither of the neighbors got mad and I continue to do yard work in there yard to restore the damage. The boat mover stuck to his latest estimate, I gave him a $1000 for what he did. The boat is now safe; I still need to collect all the other stuff that goes with it. A big trailer full off chrome, rails, hardware, two sets of props, spare pumps and accessories and the list goes on and on. Plus, she's powered by a pair of Chrysler 392 Hemi's. At this point I have $1240 dollars out of pocket in a FREE boat, no body got mad we're all still talking and most of all I've saved another Wooden Classic from the chain saw. Now, I can start to actually work on the boat. Of course there's still many things do, but at least this is a start. Have you hugged a wooden boat today, I hug one of mine everyday but with some degree of variety. I believe I'm up to about 22 boats. -- Thanks for reading my story, I hope you enjoyed it. -- This occurred during March-April of 2006, I'm an active member in the ACBS and the local Chesapeake Bay chapter.
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