Every two years, Sea Raven has to come out of the water, or drydock, as we say. with most boats, this is a fairly easy and accessible task. There’s dozens of boatyards surrounding San
Francisco Bay, from Sacramento all the way through the City, East Bay and beyond. Pull your boat into the slipways, a big hoist pulls over the bow, lowers a few straps, lifts the boat, steam cleans the bottom and places her in the yard supported by jackstands.Unfortunately, things aren’t so simple with Catamarans. M
ost are too wide to fit into the slipways and between the legs of the moving hoist. Traditionally big Cats are hauled on either a marine rail or a lifting drydock. Both of these methods are normally used to haul BIG, heavy ships. While Catamarans are very wide, they aren’t particularly ‘big’ in the ship sense. Both drydocks and railways are quite expe
nsive to use...something Catamaran owners just have to deal with. Our normal marine rail in Sausalito was so busy (there are fewer and fewer of these every year) so they simply couldn’t squeeze us in for a good six months. Sea Raven is US Coast Guard certified and as such has prescripted inspections. We needed to get boat hauled before May 1.
A friend of mine, Hans, who owns a couple of commercial boats told me about a little yard in Napa, Ca that specializes in hauling big Cats (and all sorts of boats). They use a rather unique marine rail system and they
aren’t small at all. Quite to the contrary, they might have more boats in their yard than I’ve ever seen in any other yard, literally hundreds. They store what looks like most of the commercial herring fleet. Add in the odd seaplane and some contraption called “tin can” and you have an eclectic mix of things that supposed to be floating.
Napa lies 8 hours north, by water, of our San Francisco location. What starts out as a normal delivery from point to point ends up turning into a lovely sightseeing trip up one of America’s most beautiful waterways. The mudflats of San Pablo Bay give way to the vineyard lined shores of the river, quite a sight to behold.
We’ve hauled Sea Raven out on many marine rails, but never one like this. Most rails you just pull the boat up onto a BIG electric winch. It’s very much like pulling a ski boa t out of the lake, just in bigger proportions. Yes, I’m oversimplifying it, but you get my point. The Napa yard has a large rail car a big winch BUT instead of the boat sitting on the rail car, the boats belly or ‘bridge deck’ (the expanse between the two hulls) rests on the car. There’s all sorts of engineering that has to be factored into this style of haulout; where the main structural members of the boat are located, how much stress they can take, where to place supports and pads...it’s all pretty complicated.
Garett and I were filled with visions of all sorts of things going awry. Sea Raven has never hauled on ‘her belly.’ Add to that, a fair crosswind and the necessity to place Sea Ravens fiberglass belly within a 2 or 3 inch tolerance in a 15 knot crosswind, you get the idea.
Surprisingly, it worked, thankfully. Now begins the task at hand, pulling shafts, props, sanding, more sanding, painting, more painting, pull out an unused generator for rebuilding, more sanding and
painting. Finally the easing of the boat down the rail, into the water and the truly lovely ride through all the vineyards and beauty that is Napa Valley back to our cozy little harbor in San Francisco. Thanks Mike at Napa Valley Marina, you run a great yard!
Back at South Beach, in her berth...Whew...what a journey.
A friend of mine, Hans, who owns a couple of commercial boats told me about a little yard in Napa, Ca that specializes in hauling big Cats (and all sorts of boats). They use a rather unique marine rail system and they
aren’t small at all. Quite to the contrary, they might have more boats in their yard than I’ve ever seen in any other yard, literally hundreds. They store what looks like most of the commercial herring fleet. Add in the odd seaplane and some contraption called “tin can” and you have an eclectic mix of things that supposed to be floating.Napa lies 8 hours north, by water, of our San Francisco location. What starts out as a normal delivery from point to point ends up turning into a lovely sightseeing trip up one of America’s most beautiful waterways. The mudflats of San Pablo Bay give way to the vineyard lined shores of the river, quite a sight to behold.
We’ve hauled Sea Raven out on many marine rails, but never one like this. Most rails you just pull the boat up onto a BIG electric winch. It’s very much like pulling a ski boa t out of the lake, just in bigger proportions. Yes, I’m oversimplifying it, but you get my point. The Napa yard has a large rail car a big winch BUT instead of the boat sitting on the rail car, the boats belly or ‘bridge deck’ (the expanse between the two hulls) rests on the car. There’s all sorts of engineering that has to be factored into this style of haulout; where the main structural members of the boat are located, how much stress they can take, where to place supports and pads...it’s all pretty complicated.
Garett and I were filled with visions of all sorts of things going awry. Sea Raven has never hauled on ‘her belly.’ Add to that, a fair crosswind and the necessity to place Sea Ravens fiberglass belly within a 2 or 3 inch tolerance in a 15 knot crosswind, you get the idea.
Surprisingly, it worked, thankfully. Now begins the task at hand, pulling shafts, props, sanding, more sanding, painting, more painting, pull out an unused generator for rebuilding, more sanding and
painting. Finally the easing of the boat down the rail, into the water and the truly lovely ride through all the vineyards and beauty that is Napa Valley back to our cozy little harbor in San Francisco. Thanks Mike at Napa Valley Marina, you run a great yard!Back at South Beach, in her berth...Whew...what a journey.
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