Leaving Townsville

Tuesday 23/8/2016

The last blog post finished on a note of defeat on trying to find a mouse hole to run the wires for the new solar panel. A few friends wrote words of encouragement as to the miracles that might ensue given further persistence (thanks for the vote of confidence.)

However, sometimes mountains remain intractably immovable.  After my personal conclusions to that effect, expert electrician Colin, confirmed there was in fact no way through the preferred route, short of dismantling the entire boat. 

Hence, a rather unobtrusive external plastic conduit and hole through the deck were the only sensible recourse, so today we spent the morning on this last job.  Yay! Another potential 3 - 5 amps of solar power per sunny hour.

Tonight we bade farewell to Maria Semple who is flying back down to cold old Melbourne, after having enjoyed the past week cruising the Coral Sea aboard Shanti.

Colin and Cam sailed in company with us on "First Contact" out to Herald Island, an RAAF practice bombardment site where potential unexploded bombs preclude walking above high water mark. From there we sailed to Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island where long walks into the interior can be enjoyed to one's heart's content.  We took the Fort's walk, about 7 km each way, saw two koala bears, a few butterflies, some magnificent soaring eagles, and hoards of tourists.

The view to the Forts, looking back toward Horseshoe Bay - by far the most popular anchorage on the island with a count of over 40 boats anchored.






Yesterday's sail back to the Yacht Club was one of those perfect days that are supposed to occur ten percent of the time.  Well, so they say... whoever "they" are ...  though one in ten still seems high to me.  However, the sun was shining, the skies blue, the whales slapping and breaching, with a gentle 8 knot breeze on the beam.  Who could ask for more?


It was an added bonus to get some rare shots of Shanti sailing.

Thanks Colin, for everything. 

Shanti is now much better prepared for safe, reliable, comfortable cruising.

Tomorrow morning I depart Townsville, taking advantage of the northerlies to head south.  My plan is to sail through the night as far as I can until the southerlies resume, possibly sometime around midday Thursday.

I shall miss Townsville and the good friends here.

Life is for learning

14/8/2016

 

A boat is a microcosm of stand alone systems  – mechanical, electrical, mathematical, navigational, meteorological, aeronautical, and many other mysterious wonders ending  with the suffix  “–cal”  - the running of which involves the mastering of an array of diverse skills before even thinking about the actual sailing. 

Therein lies its unique challenge and interest, quite unlike anything else.  It can be frustrating and rewarding, elating and deflating, a micro roller-coaster of highs and lows, and above all else, lessons in patience.  But life is for learning and where else are so many lessons piled up each day, after finishing school?

Get this wonder of wonders:

My fridge lid is now hinged instead of having to lift it out completely at great risk to life and limb.  No more wrestling it out and stowing it temporarily on a sliding, shifting, rolling, bucking surface nearby and hoping it doesn't become airborne at the next wave. 

Yesterday I fitted one of those spring hatch supports, that bends down when closed and sproings up into a solid rod when open. I love it.

(Note how the front edge of the lid had to be cut back to allow it to close).

Next job, solar panel:

 

 

 This picture shows the old solar panel connectors, which were never soldered properly, with the tang on the far left just flapping in the breeze.  Luckily an easy fix with a tiny screw and so now I have 3 x 100W panels including the new one sent up from Melbourne as a good customer service freebie.

New challenge: where to put it?

 

The replacement solar panel is now mounted on top of the dodger, (canvas canopy where cabin meets cockpit for “dodging” oncoming waves) making it effectively almost a hard-top, much more robust with the extra bracing. It took me nearly all day to mount it. (Colin had been roped in to another job so left me to my own devices). 

First was a trip to the local Chandlery for fittings, then to Bunnings to buy a couple of one metre lengths of rectangular aluminium tube for the supports between the front and rear stainless steel bows (thanks to Cam and his car). It's great being here with friends with wheels.

Then a bit of contemplation, measuring, drawing, more contemplation...

As with any first-time attempt at anything, mistakes are made (not enough contemplation). The solar panel and aluminium supports were positioned and marked in black texta,  lifted off, turned turtle on the deck for drilling –and,  you guessed it – now upside down with front and rear reversed.  Oops. Luckily this was discovered before too many holes were put in the wrong places. 

Another silly error was to awkwardly mark the undersides with only half an inch clearance above the canvas, when all I had to do was open the zip and peel it back for full access. The tolerances were small and potentially compounding, so a mm out could misalign everything.  Again, with more good luck  than good management, they lined up pretty well precisely.

It was necessary to drill holes in the front bow to bolt the supports to.  This is never easy;  for starters, the bow being curved and polished makes the drill slip off, for seconds, stainless is a very hard metal to drill. Friends Tom & vivienne off the yacht “Imajica” lent me a spring loaded centre punch to get started.  I bought a special Tungsten drill bit and used a few drops of their cutting oil to stop the bit getting too hot and melting, but it seemed like it was going to take the rest of the month to make more than a slight pinprick.  In the end, one of the local yardsmen came with the right drill and zapped it like it was a block of cheese. (A bad tradesman blames his tools and mine are just toys).

Out with the rusty (that's rusty, not trusty) hacksaw next to shorten the bolts and cut the aluminium tubes to the right length.  One thing I have learnt is to always do a “dry fit” before assembling, especially where goop is involved.  My new favourite goop is Selleys "3 in 1 Ezi-Press”, which comes in a small cartridge with a cap and lever to pump it.  It keeps well  in the fantastically wonderful brilliant new fridge for ages without going off and seems to stick anything to anything like the proverbial.

 

 

 I realize the boom will shade the panel some of the time, but this one is going to be wired to the engine cranking battery, so not so critical.  Colin has fitted a two-way VSR (Voltage Sensitive Relay) so power will go between both battery banks when one is full.

 The next challenge:

Time to run the cable from the panel to the battery. How could this job take the best part of another day?

This is how: 

1. Locate the preferred (waterproof) site for the cable to enter the interior of the boat, in this case, on the cabin top under the protection of the dodger, an area directly above the galley
2. pull everything out of the cockpit locker to make room to climb into the black hole
3. climb in and examine all possible avenues of ingress for the cabling to run where required
4. find there is only one very tight gap into the ceiling cavity through which an old cable goes to the light above the stove
5. poke usual long skinny poky thing in the gap, only to hit the right angle turn where hull meets deck
6. increase the already existant chaos down below hunting for other less/more flexible long skinny poky things
7. try them all, to no avail (if you’ve read this far, you’ve got the general idea, and are probably as much of a lost cause as I in all things nautical/practical/methodological.....)
8. realize the only solution is to use the existing light cable as a mouse, pulling it through with another string attached, then pulling it back into its original hole, being very mindful of potential to lose the only light above the stove
9. dismantle the light above the stove to access its wiring
10. the other end of the cable is in a scarcely reachable nook behind the new fridge compressor in the cockpit locker
11. (it’s hot enough in there before adding the heat of the compressor)
12. confirm, the cable has been gooped with what looks like a slurry of ancient cement.
13. climb back into the cockpit locker (for perhaps the hundredth time) with various tools of attack - hammer, screwdrivers, scraper, etc
14. not enough room to get two hands into the nook, so bash and scrape for an hour or so with one hand, taking care not to damage the existing cable to the only light above the stove
15. get it free enough to use wire coathanger to hook it by its upper half inch where it disappears into the impossible gap
16. tug gently, then not so gently, enough to realize it has been further cemented inside the ceiling when the boat was being built, before they put the “lid” on and rendered it all forevermore inaccessible
17. concede defeat (for today).

Member's blogs

Sandringham YC has posted links to member's blogs, including these:

Hugh Pilsworth,
Is traveling back home to Dublin Ireland aboard his 49 foot Jeanneau Blue Flyer
http://blueflyer4905.blogspot.com.au/

Shane Freeman,
Is doing the GGR2018 race around the world and is preparing his Trade Winds 35 Mushka from his pen down on E Row
http://freemansailing.com

Hugh called in to Townsville on his way up the coast and took this photo of Shanti, looking quite settled in after being tied up in this gorgeous part of the world for the past two weeks, almost as if she lives here.  Well, she is certainly getting loads of TLC.

 

 

 

 

Eating the elephant

1/8/16.

Back to the old conundrum, how do you eat an elephant? Answer: one bite at a time.

So here I am in Townsville, chomping away at that old elephant again. 

This is after all a “shake-down” cruise to iron out the glitches and  prepare Shanti for all that will ever be asked of her, including living aboard in relative comfort.  Hence,  I’m continuing on with tasks that could/should have been done before leaving Melbourne, only here in warmer climes.  (That’s another old saying: “cruising is doing boat jobs in exotic locations”).

I’m very fortunate to have my old friend from SYC, Colin Grazules, here.  He’s extremely competent in all things electrical (many owners refuse to let anyone else touch their boat) and despite being in high demand, willing to squeeze me in between as first priority, and at better than “mate’s rates”.

It was time to bite the bullet on that old, inefficient fridge that many an expert had previously looked at and declared an “anchor”.  So like pulling a rotten tooth, out it came.

A new Waeco (12V Danfoss) compressor and evaporator plate were ordered from Seabreeze Industries on the Gold Coast and shipped up here in two days (great service and good prices). 

The compressor is more compact than the old one, with built in fan, condenser and electronics. All the pipes are pre-gassed so just need feeding through various holes and connecting up.  (Harder than it sounds - "even after it's "FT" keep turning till it screams!"  Or Colin screams.

Yay!!!!  It's in.

It’s fantastic to have a much more efficient fridge that cools the ice-box down to around 3-5 deg without gobbling up all my battery power. 

Another problem:  The 2 x 100W solar panels are not putting in as much power as they should be, despite all of the abundant  sunshine up here so that’s another thing to check and fix.

(UPDATE: Discovered one panel not working.  Rang the supplier in Melbourne (Low Energy Developments in Preston) and they will send another panel up next week. - that's good service.)

Other jobs so far include installing a new 7-stage battery charger (for when I’m in a marina and can plug into shore power), relocating the inverter from where it was overheating, rewiring the autopilot, and checking out the misbehaving HF radio.

The old Furuno HF radio would receive but not transmit.  We discovered a tiny little yellow wire in the coupler cable had come unsoldered.  This is the one that goes into the ATU (Automatic Tuning Unit) and connects to the “TUNE” terminal.  Hmmm, now that might explain why it wouldn’t tune.  Even Colin’s steady hands failed to resolder it, so today it’s off to town to see the experter expert.

With all this going on, I’m glad I made the call to come back to Townsville and continue “shaking down” in places other than Darwin or the Indian Ocean this year.

Flicking through Jimmy Cornell’s “World Cruising Routes” whets my appetite with possibilities.  He sagely comments that any circumnavigation that takes less than 2-3 years is simply an endurance test.  It’s taking me a while to get that.

Townsville is a desirable winter holiday destination, now settled into its clear blue canopy of consistent sunshine with perfect temperatures in the mid to high 20’s. There’s that relaxed holiday atmosphere, with outdoor markets,  live music, and people just ambling around with no great rush to be anywhere other than where they are.  As my boat jobs-list shrinks I shall have a little more time to join in that present moment.

So what’s next? My friend, Maria Semple, is flying up from Melbourne in a couple of weeks to enjoy the sunshine and some short excursions to Magnetic Island or other islands nearby. After that I’ll pick my weather to beat back South down to the Whitsundays, where other friends and family may drop in for a visit.

Then it’s a matter of joining the mass exodus of the Southbound fleet once the Northerlies kick in, usually around October, and working out where to spend the summer.

Zen mind

They say that long distance voyaging is character building.

"Buddha said building character is like making bread - you have to mix it little by little, step by step, and moderate temperature is needed.  You know exactly what you need. If you get too excited you will forget how much temperature is good for you and you will lose your own way.  This is very dangerous.

The good ox driver knows how much load the ox can carry, and he keeps the ox from being overloaded.  You know your way and your state of mind.  Do not carry too much!

Building character is like building a dam.  If you try to do it all at once, water will leak from it.  Make the bank carefully and you will end up with a fine dam for the reservoir." - Shunryu Suzuki

Shanti's turn to breakdown

23/7/2016  Orpheus Island (again)

Having stayed put these last few days, through rain, mist, sunshine and moonlight, I have had a delightful taster of the magnificence of Hinchinbrook in all of its moods.  The only word that comes to mind is majestic. 

 

It's just a shame about the bities.  I sewed a length rope in as a weight around the edges of mosquito netting for the companionway, so I could get some air when the sun came out and heated things up.

 

High tide at the entrance to the Channel was at 1050 this morning, so I upped anchor at 0800 to motor against it for 2 hours.  The entire area was shrouded in thick fog, so navigation was blind, following the breadcrumb trail I had left coming in and hoping no-one else was silly enough to be out in it. 

My AIS alarm made  my heart jump until I saw I was being followed by the impressive black schooner, “Southern Passage”.  The young deck-hands all cheered and waved as they passed close by. It’s wonderful to see young people learning the ropes on these tall ships.

 

Shortly after lining myself up on the leads to avoid the shallowest waters of the channel, my faithful Yanmar engine stopped running.  I immediately pulled the headsail out (in only 2 knots of breeze from behind) and hoped I could work my magic quickly to avoid running aground.  OK, I thought, it hasn’t happened for a while, but I know what to do – just bleed it to get the air out.  Wrong.  This time that didn’t work.

No fuel was spitting out of any of the usual bleed holes, making me wonder if the lift pump had failed. I opened the secondary fuel filter and found it empty, so topped it up with fresh diesel from my jerry can. Still no good.

 Perhaps coincidentally, Townsville was the first place since leaving Melbourne that I have filled the tank straight from the pump, rather than via my jerry cans and polishing system.  Thinking it may be a blockage rather than air in the system,  I changed the primary fuel filter.  This time when I cranked the engine to bleed it, fuel spat out – success!

Luckily we were still on track, drifting slowly over less than 1 metre below the keel, but still afloat.  What a relief to get motoring again.

 

Once out of the shallow channel, I pulled up the mainsail and lifted into shimmeringly  perfect flat water sailing. The sun was shining and Shanti was skimming lightly over what could have been (a good day) on Port Phillip bay, without a speed bump in sight. 

Beating into 8 knots of head wind in calm waters is a far cry from running with it behind when the iron spinnaker is the common recourse. 

This was fun!  Especially so with no great time pressure.

It didn’t bother me to be only making 4 knots and having to tack back and forth, nor that it took all afternoon  to do 10 miles; It was the best sail I have had since leaving Melbourne.  They say that the average is one good sail out of every ten.  Well so much for statistics.

Back on a public mooring in Little Pioneer Bay on Orpheus Island again, the fuel polishing system is now  pumping out the contents of my tank, passing it through a new filter and back into the tank.  Hopefully it will get me back to Townsville tomorrow, when time and distance will once again necessitate burning diesel.

Sleeping amongst crocs.

Thursday, 21/7/16. Reis Point, Hinchinbrook.

This is the first morning I have awoken without the pressure to move on. Twelve hours of blissful oblivion vindicated yesterday's decision.

I actually woke up at 0530, as I have been accustomed to, by the sound of someone calling out "Hoy!" (the modern version of Ahoy there).

I leapt out of my bunk thinking perhaps Shanti had dragged closer to the crocodile infested mangroves, grabbed the torch (not working) and went out on deck in the rain. (Yes, it's still raining).
Not a soul in sight. I must have dreamt it.

I slid back into my warm bunk and fell into that really deep stupor of total exhaustion for another 3 hours. Oh guilty joy!

What will I do with this free day? Perhaps use some of that bucket full of rainwater and have a shower.  Hopefully the midges won't devour me.

                                           ______________________________

All squeaky clean now after my first hot shower on board Shanti. Thanks to my friend Wayne for the great idea of using a tall rubbish bin and submersible pump.  I bought this rechargeable battery powered pump from Aldi in Melbourne and just dug it out today. I love it!

It takes surprisingly little water to create a lovely hot shower (all fresh rainwater so there is an abundance of it).  Mopping up the head afterwards is the longer part of the process, but it needed a good clean anyway. All I need is a shower curtain and drainable sump in the bilge.

Such are the luxuries we appreciate in life aboard a small vessel.