Massive Oops!

I was recently invited to take the Punt down to a friend's workshop where he was holding an exhibition of local crafts. The idea was to help me raise awareness of my Shefford-to-King's Lynn project, and maybe get a bit of sponsorship going.

The Punt is not quite finished, but it's complete enough to 'show'. Anyway, it would be a good opportunity to learn how to get it on and off the car.

So, I duly hauled it out of Frank's garage, trundled it across the road on it's fold-down nose wheel, and started to grunt a lot as I heaved the stern end up onto the rear roof bar (already modified to include rollers for easier loading). Went to the bow (still on the floor) and lifted it up to face level, using the frame of the nose wheel as a handle and started to push.

CRACK. BANG. The boat fell clean off the roof of the car (1.5m drop?) onto the paved driveway, and I was left holding half of the nose wheel frame in my hands.

Turns out that the loud crack was the hardwood beam that supports the nose wheel shearing off.

The two main legs had also sheared off with the impact of the boat hitting the support rail above the wheel.

The immediate good news was that it missed the car completely as it fell.

So, after carrying the boat back to Frank's garage (so much for this being the 'lightweight' variant of the West Mersea Duck Punt!) I checked the hull over to see what damage had occurred. Apart from the sheared-off mounting beam, the damage to the hull was restricted to just a few scuffs on the paintwork, plus a small gouge and some scrapes on the starboard gunwale - all since fixed.

This is one strong boat!

I have some serious thinking to do about how I am going to get it mobile again though. The planned trip involves multiple 'portages', so I've got to find a workable solution and fast.