Today, I checked to see how level Mahdee’s waterline is.

When Mahdee was moved into the yard in August, she was leveled with respect to the waterline. Initial attempts to do so failed because Mahdee was sinking into the asphalt. Larger blocks were used which stopped the sinking. Since then, Mahdee has been seriously demo-ed inside and out, bumped, jostled, lifted off of the pilings and dropped (while trying to jack out the keel bolts–those same jacks have make large depressions into the asphalt near the pilings). Now, over four months later, I seriously doubted that Mahdee was anywhere near level anymore. Thus it seemed time to reassess the levelness (or lack thereof) of her waterline.

The original workers uses a water level. Over the distances involved, they struggled with bubbles and inconsistent readings. Mahdee at that time, however, had a clear waterline. Now that the paint has been stripped and many planks removed to facilitate clamping the laminated frames, at least seven scribbed lines exist and their track across the Mahdee is obscurred by the missing planks. On the other hand, I now have Robo, our motorized laser leveling device.

I found a spot with good sight lines to the bow and nearly to the stern. It was about 8 feet above the ground and right up against the metal shed wall. I couldn’t get the laser any higher due to the scaffolding that is almost exactly at the waterline. I clamped the laser to the wall about 9″ below the waterline. By using a tape measure to record the distance below the waterline of the laser beam, I could compare the height of the bow and stern.

Now all I had to do was figure out which waterline scribe to use and to try and use the same one at all positions — easier said than done. Most of the panics about out of plumb waterlines were ultimately traced to the incorrect choice of scribes. It seems that the waterline at the bow of Mahdee is about 1.5 inches higher than the stern. Not too bad of an error over the 50 foot length.

With all the removed planks, I was able to shoot the laser right through Mahdee to the far side and check for any list. Finding the right water line on the other side was much more difficult. It seems Mahdee was listing in the water for several years and the wear in the planks which show the actual waterline is much different from the scribed waterline on her port side. Measurements up to the deck shelf showed no listing at all. And, by counting down from the top waterline scribe, we were able to find the correct waterline and confirm that it is level with the starboard side.

All this allowed me to put marks on Mahdee’s brand new stem for the waterline. I also made height measurements to the pavement under bow and stern that should be useful for quick checks of levelness in the future. After this exercise, I now feel much more confident using a level inside Mahdee to make checks.

David