Made it back to Melbourne

We finally made it back home. We arrived back last night and thankfully, the boat just fits in the garage and we can close the door.

This morning I had to clean all the mud and red dirt we collected along the way on both the boat and trailer.

It was a great adventure!

Here are some stats :

We traveled 3500 km, burned 440 litres of diesel, spent 41 hours driving and took 4 days to complete the round trip.

That was one hell of a drive !!!

It's a bloody long way !!

After about 15 hours of driving we made it to the Queensland border and we are about 4 hours away from our destination. I can't believe we are almost there.

The worst part is ... we have to do it all again tomorrow to go back home !

Delivery !!

So all these previous posts Bring us to Today Thursday 23/08/2012, where we are all packed and ready to drive 1700 km each way to bring the boat back to Melbourne.

I have decided that instead of paying a transport company to load the boat in Queensland, drive it to Melbourne and hire a crane to unload the boat onto my newly built trailer, we drive up to Queensland load the boat and drive back.

All this will start tomorrow morning at about 5:00 am........

The boat !!

It all began about 6 months ago when I came across a boat for sale on ebay. It looked great, it had nice lines and a brand new fibreglass hull ready for a custom fit-out just the way i like.

I started doing some research and found out that Milan boats was a small company in Eugene, Oregon, USA that shut down around 2007. Only a few boats were built during that time and you will not come across many of them. The whole set of moulds was up for sale and a guy in Queensland, Australia decided to buy them.

He too, didn't have a lot of luck, and the company he was trying to start went bust due to the GFC. He then sold a pair of moulds to another boat builder in Queensland, and Adam, from whom i am buying the boat borrowed another set of moulds to pull a hull for himself, that in the end, he decided to sell.


Long story short, I am now the proud owner of a brand new Milan Boat !!

 

This is It !! a 21ft Cuddy Cabin

 

A 210 cuddy cabin

 

A 210 Bow Rider Version

 

 

A Milan Boat Build in Queensland

Finished trailer

After picking the trailer up from galvanising, 3 days of re-assembling and bolting a lot of bolts, it's finished, registered and ready to go.

I had my assistant giving me a hand too !!!

It rolls

After all brackets were fitted it was time to roll it out of the garage. I then had to dismantle it and prep the individual parts for galvanising.

I have added a swing away drawbar so I can fit the boat in my garage.

It all begins here !

It all starts with a whole lot of steel tubes and trailer parts ! I decided to build my own trailer for the boat. It's made out of hollow sections, has a tandem setup with hydraulic brakes and a roller setup. I decided to get the frame hot dip galvanised so it will last longer before it starts corroding !!