Aboard Shenoa again

[haiqu]

Winning bidder was in Mildura and didn't contact me prior auction to arrange transport. I guess he expected me to simply deliver it, a distance of 1100km. I HATE eBay.

Sure hope the underbidder isn't such a moron.

[haiqu]

Underbidder didn't respond so the engine is back on the auction block. Last week's winner refuses to cancel the auction but hasn't paid or provided an actual address so who knows what he's doing.

But in all this I have had a win. I've been desperate for funds and looking for a job seemed impossible with me living on a yacht. Then I found it! My ideal position, one that allows me to work when and where I want, and pick my own price.

The answer is www.truckit.net which is an agency for delivery drivers. I have a van and trailer after all, and love traveling. You bid on the jobs you want and if successful take the delivery. Found it while looking for a way to ship large items, like engines for instance.

Who knows, I may even make enough to buy a semi. After all I do have a heavy combination licence and a Certificate II in Transport and Logistics (Heavy Vehicles).

[haiqu]

Del has made it to Pape'ete, Tahiti. Yay!

[redbopeep]

So glad to hear that Del made it! And, a new vocation for you? wow. Good luck with that.

[haiqu]

Sold the spare engine again, this time to a guy in Junee who did arrange shipping before bidding. $420 plus $200 delivery.

I'm very pleased. Heading to Melbourne via Junee in a couple of days.

[haiqu]

In Melbourne for the first time in two years. It's overcast and gloomy, and I'm assured this is a change from recent weather which has been fine and sunny. Yeah right. :-)

Should be here for a few weeks sorting out my storeroom and selling stuff. Staying with my brother Phil and family.

I received a final value fee refund for the failed engine sale on eBay, but due to a recent policy change the cost of the new sale was 50% higher. eBay now charges a percentage of the over all sale price including shipping, due to the number of sellers trying to avoid fees by listing low priced goods with exorbitant shipping costs. Ouch.

[haiqu]

Sold off some of the stuff in my storeroom but stopped after one week due to the possibility of a resolution to the estate conflict that has been keeping me so poor.

The delivery driving idea seems to be useless. Too many procrastinators on the customer end, and too many desperates on the service provider side. I bid on a couple of jobs but when some idiot bids $130 for a shipment that's going 1388km it's hardly worth trying to compete. And with the delays I can see myself stuck in remote places for weeks waiting for a load.

Leaving Melbourne either today or tomorrow. I'll be heading back to Sydney to pick up Keppelena's new engine and take it up to Newcastle, then may continue on to Port Stephens and check out their haulout facilities. After that, who knows.

[oldboyracer]

I use cove marine up near port stephens , will be hauling out and staying on the hard for a month again around November . Lots of rules to follow for ohs but that's ok ,not to many places left where you can work on your own boat .

[Auzzee]

Sometimes it is hard to understand how, as the world's dominant race, we managed to survive in the days before OH&S became our personal saviour.

[delatbabel]

I've heard good reports about the haul out facilities in Port Stephens. I loved working with the guys at Midcoast Boatyard in Newcastle, but I needed a bunch of stuff done, had limited time, and I was prepared to throw coin at the problem to make it go away. They were fast and professional but if I was doing it on the cheap I'd probably make for Port Stephens.

Would be good if someone could put a bit more into the wiki about the yards up there.

[haiqu]

I'll take some notes then.

[haiqu]

Made friends with the new owner of one of the yachts moored nearby in Sydney before I went south. She needed some help today with a dodgy battery and after finding the problem I was invited to go sailing on Wednesday with her and a couple of her housewife friends. She's also bringing lunch.

Hey, it's better than sitting around here waiting for the mail to arrive.

[Oldsquizzy]

Aha....

[Auzzee]

New owner, dodgy battery, hen's club... Sounds like you will be the skipper matey.

[haiqu]

Hells no. This woman has tons of sailing experience, albeit mostly in Sydney waters. It's a 1960 timber yacht, and part of the reason old Michael sold it to her was that she had previously written a history of the make, going right back to the 1921 yacht "Australia I". She has also been involved in many restorations. I think I'll learn a lot here.

The housewives coming along are clueless of course, but she's teaching them to sail.

[haiqu]

Here's the ad for the Fisher yacht she bought:

Used Randell 8.3m Timber Classic for Sale | Yachts For Sale | Yachthub

Has been completely reconditioned by her in the past six months.

[Auzzee]

That is a very nice little yacht. The bronze dunny pump alone is 'proper', and probably worth a fortune. With a full keel, relatively deep draft and low aspect rig, it should be a very comfortable yacht and, unlike many 60s boats, will probably sail without excessive heel.
Have fun!

[haiqu]

Well, the sailing day didn't eventuate. Leanne had some skin cancer removed from her hands on Tuesday and didn't want to damage the work, so instead we replaced her battery with a new one and fitted a 10W solar panel and controller to keep it topped up while she's not aboard. She brought lunch which was an egg and lettuce roll and cappuccino, and a nice pack of mini Anzac cookies from her local bakery. She had also purchased a single burner gas stove at my suggestion to replace the rather inefficient old metho burner, and now looks forward to toasted sandwiches aboard.

-----

Back in November in this message:

http://www.cruiserlog.com/forums/f29...html#post40367

I introduced the experiment of adding an ultrasonic antifoul to Keppelena. They don't normally recommend these things for ferro yachts but I fitted the transducer into a PVC pipe slung over the stern. I'm pleased to say that it was a success, I cleaned the hull a few days ago with the scraper and there was a lot of weed but very little in the way of barnacles present, making the job much easier.

-----

All my purchases have now arrived at the local Post Office. I'm off the Port Stephens on Saturday.

[haiqu]

Originally Posted by Auzzee

That is a very nice little yacht. The bronze dunny pump alone is 'proper', and probably worth a fortune.

Unfortunately it has to go. Apart from not having an inbuilt macerator - and therefore not meeting even that requirement, much less black water tanks - it's a bit hard to use. Leanne has bought a 10L Porta-Potti to fit in its place, but will be storing the bronze marvel for the time when/if the yacht is ever sold.

Likewise the bronze sink pump is unusable, and water comes aboard in 10L bladders which are slung in calico bags under the sink. The trials of owning a "genuine antique".

[Auzzee]

I hadn't noticed the sink pump. It looks like a chrome covered, bronze Fynspray, made in New Zealand (I think). These are still available new and if necessary pump kits are readily available from most chandleries. I have these pumps fitted on every boat I have owned. They are very efficient, and they look 'proper'. The last one I bought cost me close me $220, the RRP is about $300.

Often, a new kit is not required. The seal at the end of the piston is leather on the older ones (remember your bike pump from your schooldays), the new ones I think are silicone. There is a non return valve at the base of the pump which is just a ball over a narrow inlet. If this is stuck, the pump won't prime.

It is about twenty minutes work to push out the pin holding the handle, unscrew the head from the barrel and then clean up and reassemble the pump. They really are good and I think much better than the more common (and far cheaper) Whale foot pumps.

The Fynspray may have been used for a saltwater wash at the sink, to reduce the usage of freshwater when doin' the dishes.