However the crane was booked and came at the appointed hour. Many friends came to help and to watch. The engine had started and was warmed up. The strops were attached and the crane gradually took the strain and then lifted. 

We turned the boat around in the air so as to point outwards into the river and the crane gradually lowered us and placed us in a good position to await the last of the rising tide. The engine was restarted for the first time to be cooled by “raw” water. The keel was still in contact with the mud but the crane was now taking very little load and so the strops were removed. Two crew members came aboard, shorelines were taken in and the gearbox was engaged as the anchor warp was hauled. Ramprasad moved out into the river Adur, afloat for the first time and under her own power. Shortly we came to rest in the chosen mud berth adjacent to the car park and had something of a celebration.

This shows Tom and Dave pulling at the anchor warp, Bob the Assistant Bosun in the cockpit and myself steering as we pull out into the river Adur for the first time - that afternoon at low tide we notice the boat's keel track in the mud gradually diverge from the shallow trench dug the previous evening!

Next morning in the mud berth - adjustments with the warps was still necessary to get the boat to settle centrally in the pre-existing hole in the mud - and therefore lie on an even keel 

In the next year much work continued to be done. I quickly extended the mud jetty with scaffolding to bring the bow within a plank’s throw of the jetty’s platform. I then loaded ex-railway steel ballast to bring the boat down closer to the designed waterline and to correct the slight port side list which was noticed at the launch. This was subsequently cemented in but the next job was to repaint the waterline at neap tides to more closely follow the actual waterline than that previously calculated.

Ramprasad in her mud berth in Shoreham November 1996 - waterline repainted, grey deck paint mostly applied and mast heel-fitting in place

The sanded filler on deck had proved to be remarkably slippery when wet on launch day. Obviously a non-slip finish was needed and deck paint with added grit was chosen; two coats were applied before there were too many deck fittings in the way. I fitted two pieces of secondhand grating into the cockpit sole and then fitted the mainsheet track and eyebolts just forward of the steering pedestal. I then bolted the two genoa sheet winches and cleats down to the deck which were quickly followed by the mast heel fitting. These were but the first of many deck fittings.

Mainsheet track and Whitlock steering pedestal fitted in the cockpit

I had already fitted the internal galvanised mild steel chainplate straps which would spread the rigging loads down to the hull. Making use of the original designers plans I drew the deck fittings to which these would be bolted and what I wanted for a stemhead fitting, and then sent the drawings out to stainless fabricators for competitive quotes.

Throughout the winter of ‘96-’97 the internal work continued. The heads was fitted along with its attendant plumbing and an electrical panel was fitted above the chart table permitting the wiring of many internal lights and the mounting of some navigational instruments.

The Electrical panel showing ammeters, circuit breaker and switch panels, Echo Sounder and Log - more equipment would soon follow

With stemhead and chainplates fitted the subject of stepping the mast came to the fore. A mobile crane in the car park would need a long reach and probably need boats ashore to be moved. It became clear that it would be more sensible to move the boat (and the mast) to the site of a suitable crane. Brighton marina had one such along with experienced personnel and the trip there would offer a suitable sea trial to the vessel so far. A week with a set of big spring tides at the beginning of May was selected and the plan was set into motion with some friends coming round to load the mast onto the mast trailer on the Sunday evening. Towing a 50 foot mast is not a job to be undertaken lightly. It was not without its worries in the strong wind but was successfully concluded. Next day some other friends joined me on the boat and we extracted ourselves from the mud berth for the first time (not without some difficulty) and motored to Brighton.

Going out to sea for the first time from the port of Shoreham

The mast on its trailer in Brighton Marina dressed with spreaders, stays and halyards ready for stepping

The day was windy and so not ideal. If it were not for the constraint of using the mud berth (and an unrelated delivery commitment which I had made) it would have been very tempting to delay the mast stepping to a calmer day. But constraints being what they were and the boatyard staff being willing the job went ahead. The mast was temporarily secured with some of the weight still being taken by the crane while I was left to complete the sta-lok terminals at the bottom of the stays. After two hours I had made the rig secure enough for the crane to drop the sling and then we motored the boat to the other side of the yard “pond” for me to spend the rest of the day to complete the task.

The rig is partly secure and the sling is still in place - and on the West side of the pond

Next morning some friends arrived and we motored the “yacht” back to Shoreham against the SW5-6. A very pleasant motion was experienced compared to that on the way to Brighton in a similar wind and sea.

Back in the Shoreham mud-berth with the mast up

In the next three months the rate of progress did not diminish. Many more deck fittings were bolted down, not least amongst them being six lengths of sheet block track. Also a pulpit was designed, tendered, made and fitted. Measurements were made for a mainsail and this was made and fitted. Second hand headsails were flown and tested. Stanchions and lifelines were fitted. Eyebolts were fitted and jackstays made to measure and fitted. Eventually a year and two days after the launch Ramprasad was ready to go cruising. But extraction from the mud berth at the spring high were at first and second attempts unsuccessful. However the third attempt succeeded and freedom into deep water was established for a delightful, and mostly successfully testing three week maiden cruise.

This is Bill steering on our first day's sail - running under twin headsails

This account of the project was written for the Sussex Yacht Club "Wavelength" in Autumn 1997. There are some references to the “casual outside observers” at the club, some of whom in the early stages of the project did not believe that the boat would ever be finished. I dedicate this account to the many who helped me.

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