115 Miles under the keel.

Last Sunday, I towed the boat down from Norfolk to Fambridge Yacht Haven.

At a fairly steady 45mph down the A12, occasionally pulling over to let the impatient hordes past, it took about 4 hours and the car managed about 15 miles to the gallon (it normally does only 22 - so that's not as bad as it sounds).


(Click on Thumbnail images to see pictures in a new window from the Picture Album)

Fambridge is a beautiful marina with grassy banks and friendly staff, if Paul, who was on duty there on Sunday afternoon, is anything to judge by.

(Click on Thumbnail images to see pictures in a new window from the Picture Album)

I snugged Smooty down to chat to a Prout for a couple of days until I get back to tackle her mildew problem.

Spray-Off and Tow Away

On arrival at my parents, I got out the trusty K'archer and jet washed off the worst of the grime.
What a difference a couple of hours of filthy work makes!
Hitched up the old jallopy and we were ready to go.
Hours of painstaking research had revealed that the best value storage boat yard or Marina on the East Coast was down at Fambridge Yacht Haven, so that was where we headed.

(Click on Thumbnail images to see pictures in a new window from the Picture Album).

What's a Smoot Anyway?

Strange name "Smoot Yan"...
Curious to find out what a Smoot is, from Wikipedia, turns out that one definition is that "The smoot is a nonstandard unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank.".
That makes Smooty about 4.12 Smoots long.
Now, I wonder what a Yan is?

Layout Drawings for Halcyon 23

These are the line drawings of a Halcyon 23:

(Click on Thumbnail images to see pictures in a new window from the Picture Album).

Towing Smooty for the first time.

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.

Pictures from the eBay Ad.

I purchased Smooty unseen off the eBay advert (after a few questions to the previous owners).
These are the pictures from the eBay auction:


(Click on Thumbnail images to see pictures in a new window from the Picture Album).

The Ad that started it all.

I was looking for a seaworthy, easily handled, yacht that I could afford.
After extensive research on what's available on eBay, and a couple of disappointments, I secured the winning bid on Smoot Yan.
Smoot Yan is a Halcyon 23 Class pocket cruiser, which seemed to fit the bill.

Here's the ad:

(Click on Thumbnail image to see it in a new window from the Picture Album).