Eidelweiss trailer is finally here! But still more stress…

by steamtug on Jan.31, 2015, under Steamships

The “Sud Hamburg line” ship Cap Capricorn finally arrived with my boat trailer after being laid up in San Francisco, then going to New Zealand, Melbourne, Sydney and finally arrived in Brisbane. I got notification that it was ready to be picked up, so got together all the paperwork and my brother picked me up from my office and we drove together down to the docks together, only to be met by a big surprise!
After being lost, mis-directed and confused we finally found the correct docks office and got the paperwork all signed up by the port manager. He then looked at our old Landy and said how are you going to move this? “We gonna tow it home” we said happily together!
But our smiles soon changed when he said “Well you better come and look”. So we went up to the back of the yard to the wash bay and found the frame of the trailer set up on pallets with all the wheels, bolts, guards, lights and associated fixtures all tied up on top. I was angry because they had offered to send the trailer un-assembled for a much cheaper shipping rate, but we would need to assemble everything this end. Because it wasn’t going to my home port and I would need to rely on others, I wanted it assembled, so we could just drive it away. But they pulled it apart to save space in the container anyway. And worse, they pulled the dust caps off the wheel bearings and they were now filled up with paint from the container and dirt. I was mad as hell!
I asked if we could put it back together, and the port manager said No. We are not site inducted and dont have a port access pass, so we will need to get a tilt tray truck over here to pick it up and deliver it the 15 kms down the road to my brother Craig’s place. He suggested a local company that delivers stuff from the port on a regular basis. So I googled and rang them. They were very nice until they told me it was no trouble to do the job. Then looked up the price for the job and said it would cost $685!!! I told them to shove it! I will carry it home on my back instead.
When I told the port manager this, he was very sympathetic especially after I showed him a photo of Eidelweiss and he confessed he was in an engine club and had a couple of Southern Cross oil engines. So he thought a bit, and whispered behind his hand, Can you be at the gate here, at 6am Saturday morning. I could not be there because I had to fly out to Miles as I have now been changed to work in the bush. So poor Craig turned up this morning, put it all together, wired up the trailer plug to Australian plug and successfully towed it home unregistered. I was nervous about the journey home, because we didn’t have any permits and the trailer was unregisterd, and is so, so big, it sticks out like dogs, dogs…. oh, a dogs sore thumb!! I was so worried the cops were going to stop us and not believe that we were going to the motor registration office, which was the excuse we were going to give them. Your should see this baby on the road. It’s huge!!! And the boat is going to hang another 1.5 metres out the back.
So now its finally here, sitting on Craig’s front lawn and in 4 weeks, after I come back from the wooden boat festival in Tassie, we are going to take it down the highway on a Victorian unregistered vehicle permit to Murwillumbah, fit the trailer up for Eidelweiss and finally tow her home! I am so lucky to have Craig here to help me. I don’t know how I can thank him enough. THANKS CRAIG!!!