Welcome aboard. A) If you're going to leave it in the water, you'll need an actual bottom paint, not Brightsides or similar below the waterline. B) There are a lot of canvas shops up there, one very good one in Rockland, who will make a cover for the boat. Have fun.

   Given that your vacation home is lakeside, why not save yourself a lot of heartache and take it out each time you're done sailing.  You'll probably have noticed by now, it is not a heavy boat.  100 lbs give or take.  And easy to move by one person, end by end, a few feet a time.  When done, lay the mast lengthwise down the center. using a cross bar at one end to support it.  Buy a 10 x 20 plastic tarp at a big box store for 30 bucks, lay it over the mast, and over the sides, clipping it to the gunwales with butterfly brackets, keeping the interior dry for you.  Good luck on your June launch! Check the Skerry Facebook page out for tips and pics.  

I'm going to second the idea of storing it on land if you have a beach you can launch it from. Fresh water is the enemy of wooden boats and topside paint. If it was my boat, I'd store it upside down on land under a waterproof tarp that doesn't touch the boat anywhere. That would keep the inside dry, allow good ventilation and keep the sun from baking the paint.

For getting it to the lake, you can buy or build a small dolly.

This obviously won't work if your shoreline is not suitable for launching. In that case, let us know what kind of shoreline you have access to and we can give you more ideas.

Laszlo

I agree with the consensus above. I live 500 feet from the water's edge (Chautauqua, NY), up a fairly steep hill, and I roll my PMD, lug rig kit, oars, drinks, pfds, etc using a balloon-tired dolly.

You have lovingly built this boat and keeping it out of the water and off a buoy is the best way to preserve it. The lovely image of a small boat on a mooring belies the violence that can occur when your boat is out in the weather - bugs, birds, algae, storms, bass fisherman trolling the shoreline and tourists trying to navigate their rental boats to name a few. I also find that climbing aboard a 100 lb boat and rigging it in the water is also not the most elegant way to begin a sail vs getting everything shipshape at the waters edge.  

Of course, every lake is different, but my opinion is informed by stories I will remember the rest of life.

Congrats, by the way! - Ken

Thank you all, I am convinced to not keep the boat in the water all summer. However, my shoreline is a challenge. It is EXTREMELY rocky. My situation is similar to KenDor's, the house is up a hill, although not 500 feet, and the hill is uneven. Still, that might be doable.

Well, maybe the next time you hear one of your neighbors complaining about how their teenage son spends too much time playin' video games (tools of the devil, straight from the workshops of hell, in my opinion), see if you can press gang him into service helping you carry your Skerry to and from the water.  Maybe bribe him with Cheetos, but don't let him have any until after you are done handling the sails and such.  Heck, maybe you could teach him to sail, and row and maybe end up with an eager Able Bodied Seaman (able to hand, reef and steer) in the bargain.  If he gives you any trouble, a couple of keel haulings should sort him out.  <;-)

.....Michael

   Another thought, if you have a dock, is to make a boat hoist to lift it out when not using it.  A sailing friend of mine has a dock at his house and is very gracious with letting friends use it.  He lets the college son of his neighbor keep his used 420 sailing dinghy there.  It's alongside the main piece of the dock, away from the slips with the big boats.  They devised a pair of davits made of scrap lumber that angle over the water and used leftover blocks to make a hoist so he can haul it clear of the water.  It took a bit of thought to triangulate the arms so they were far enough out yet stiff enough.  You'll still need a cover (CLC sells a nice one or get one made by a local shop) but davits might work.

I'd consider through-bolting a pair of folding Wichard padeyes to the breasthooks to let you more simply connect a pair of carabiners.  I use one on my skerry as a tiedown and dockline connection on the stern (I have a standard stainless cleat on the bow) and they are very stout.

   Another thought are inflatable beach rollers.  I know a lot of the people doing "raid" style regattas use them since they have to beach launch unaided.  Here's a pair from Aere on a Brooklin ME beach so there are some rocks: