After lots of ringing around and emails, I had decided to bring the boat from Perth to Melbourne via sea. The ship bringing here got delayed so the Jarcat spent about a week sitting in the terminal car park at Freemantle. Finally I got news (after pestering them) that the boat was arriving and would be ready for pickup today.
It's amazing the stuff that goes on that, until you have a need, you just don't know is happening.
Take MIRRAT - Melbourne International Rollon-Rolloff Automotive Terminal, for example.
The guys at MIRRAT appeared to all know about the "Jetcat". The paperwork I submitted said "Jarcat", but somewhere along the way the boat got a lot faster... I imagine they thought the Jet engines would be fitted later. Anyway, after watching a 20 minute indoctrination (safety) video and doing a questionnaire I was allowed on site. The Jarcat was sitting all alone in a very large warehouse awaiting pick-up.
My MIRRAT guide and I connected the trailer up to my tow-car and tested out the lights on the light-board (detachable trailer lights that mount on the back of the boat during towing). The right indicator started smoking then went out - other wise all was well - my adaptor purchased a few weeks earlier FITTED!. After I got out of the MIRRAT complex I stopped in a large parking bay and checked everything out. Sure enough the right indicator globe glass envelope was broken. No spare, so no right indicator for the trip home - unless I could find a service station along the way. I checked all the tie downs and ropes then started for home - what a stressful journey that was!
The Jarcat is 2.5 meters wide and has to be the scariest thing I have ever towed. Our caravan is 2.2M but the extra 300mm makes a big difference. On my trip home I managed to miss getting on the M1 Freeway and ended up going up St Kilda road - an overcrowded road near the CBD of Melbourne. The traffic lanes there were just a tad narrower than the Jarcat trailer. At one stage I had one wheel running along the kerb and the other running over the cats eyes between the lanes. I managed to swing a right turn near the Melbourne War Memorial and after a few more stressful moments (remember no right indicator) was back on the freeway. It was better from that point on.
I was very glad to get home unscathed.
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