Smooty was located near Somerleyton in Suffolk, waiting patiently on her trailer.
As I climbed aboard for the first time about noon on Saturday 1st September 2007, I was aware of a certain green hue to her decks and topsides, courtesy of the bushes she'd been parked up against.
Green hue prior to JetWash
(Click on Thumbnail images to see pictures in a new window from the Picture Album).
Down below, mildew covered the deckhead and insides and she had that glorious "shut-up" boat smell which is a mixture of mould, petrol, fibreglass and bacon rind.
I didn't dwell too long in there and, after completing the paperwork, hitched her to the back of my Ford Galaxy and trundled off after a last minute spent slam-dunking fenders up into the cockpit.
I've never towed anything that big before.
Visibility to the rear was excellent because the hull of the boat doesn't really get started until above the rear windscreen.
My Ford Galaxy is, fortunately, large engined, a Four-Wheel drive, and an Automatic.
The trailer is single-axled and perfectly balanced, with the weight centred over the axle, making it possible to easily lift the hitch end, or wind it up and down using the jockey wheel.
I was pleased to find out that the trailer is fully braked. I was nervous about towing such a large hunk of yacht on an unbraked trailer. It turned out that the trailer was in perfect order with a very professional lighting board (that worked first time!), bearings greased by the previous owners, great big mudguards, and very efficient stopping power - during subsequent manouevring when (unknown to me) the brakes had been applied, my car couldn't budge the load.
I took it very cautiously through the country lanes. I found that too much speed over the uneven roads makes the tow bounce - due to the single axle, I suspect.
All was well, and at a top speed of 40 mph once I got onto the A roads, I drove her only 8 miles back to my parent's house for an overnight stop before taking her down to Essex on the following day.
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