Build Cradle | Reassembly

When we moved the boat out of the workshop onto its trailer I dismantled the build cradle.

I put the two cradle ends behind my workbench and put the spreaders and support blocks in the scrap pile.

I did consider scrapping the cradle ends but thought if I ever needed to put PocketShip back inside for rework I would need them, so I kept them.

That was a very sensible decision, because we will soon need another build cradle when we flip her upright again!

The spreaders had long since been cut up and recycled so I made a new pair. Here I am cutting them to length.

I searched through all of my many boxes of scrap and found all the support blocks from the original cradle.

Here are the new spreaders and the old blocks.

I drilled the spreaders for screws using the pillar drill to ensure the holes were perpendicular, like this.

Then I took all the parts outside and stood the cradle ends on a pair of tables.

All parts were marked up to ensure they were correctly reassembled, like this.

I carefully screwed all the pieces back together, using a big roofing square to make sure everything was at right angles.

This is the reassembled cradle.

I will fit the wheels when we flip the boat.

Lastly I removed the spreaders and put the parts safely back inside.

That was fun!