HEART of GOLD’s Cradle

While researching cradles for the Flicka, I discovered a Flicka cradle built in Australia by Richard Lawless’s father. It was simple and appeared to fit the Flicka very well. Richard is currently refitting his Flicka, s/y HEART of GOLD, after sailing across the Tasman Sea from New Zealand to Australia. The stable platform created by the cradle should make working on his Flicka easier. I contacted Richard Lawless about his cradle. He replied, saying that he used the design from Rik Sandberg’s article “Building a cradle for your Flicka” which appeared in the Fall 2003 issue of Flicka Friends. While the design is somewhat different, the measurements were taken from the article.

The cradle was built without direct access to the Flicka. Richard e-mailed that the Flicka fit into the cradle perfectly. His cradle has six supports, three on each side of the sailboat. Having six supports means you can apply bottom paint by moving one of the pads at a time. This isn’t possible with just four pads. The keel was supported for much of the length with a board protecting the keel from the steel. This keel support was also angled to match the changes in the Flicka’s keel shape, which drops gradually to the transom. One of the things that I liked about this cradle was the ability to lower the support arms to ground level. This would allow storing the cradle in less space. This also meant that replacement of the arms could be done without welding if something is damaged. A new idea or product could be added as well. The modifications on the “HEART of GOLD Cradle” make the cradle completely adjustable, something that welding the support arms in place would not allow. One change might be slots for the lifting straps. This would allow putting these straps in the locations that Pacific Seacraft specified. See the factory Lift Plan in “Lifting A Flicka” in this issue for more information. They are basically under the fore and aft cabin walls. This would complicate the cradle’s design, but would be worth the time, expense, and trouble. I was pleased to see that an article published ten years ago was useful and the information proved to work perfectly.