Prepping for the Road

On the Hard in Sandusky, OH

Unfortunately Pilgrim is presently residing in Sandusky, OH.  So our first hurdle is shipping her overland to Beaufort, NC.   We traveled up to Ohio over the Thanksgiving Holiday to visit Anne’s family and prep Pilgrim for the highway.

We began the preparations with stripping and packaging the mast.  

Bill removing spreaders.

Anne’s father, Bill, and I began the tear down on “Black Friday”.  We removed the spreaders and all the mast head adornments - windex, vhf antenna, lights, etc.

Anne and I returned on Saturday to complete the packaging.  First, we wrapped the mast in bubble wrap to prevent the standing and running rigging from chafing against the mast.

Anne working the bubble wrap under the rigging.

Next  we secured all the standing & running rigging to the mast via cord, straps, and duct tape.  Finally we wrapped the entire rig with Tyvek House Wrap secured with duct tape  

mast wrapped for delivery

We then moved to the boat.  The 775 mile road trip from Sandusky, OH to Beaufort, NC will take over 12 hours.  That means Pilgrim will face  tropical storm force winds, 60+ mph, for much of the time on the road.

We stripped everything off the topsides… bimini, dodger, running rigging, anchors, etc.

stripped down topsides.

During this process we discovered the frame for the dodger does not fit in the cabin.  The foredeck offered the best space for tying down the frame.

dodger frame secured on foredeck

After a wonderful visit with family we returned to Beaufort, NC.  Now we wait for SV Pilgrim to follow.