Aboard Shenoa again

[haiqu]

Picked up the engine from my mate's garage and delivered it to the Newcastle store room today. Then headed to Oyster Cove to check out the facilities or, in this case, lack of facilities. Now in Coffs Harbour and planning to spend the night here.

[haiqu]

Stopped for Sunday night outside BoatWorks in Coomera and toured their facilities yesterday for a few hours. Very nice indeed. They have some specials running that I wish I could avail myself of, but that would require me to have money.

I'm now back aboard Shenoa again, making the thread title true once more.

Both new bilge pumps have failed since I was here last, and the yacht shifted about 30 metres the night before I arrived, managing to snag a new hold on the river bottom in much deeper water judging by how vertical the chain is at high tide. I'll have to shift her asap, then get a new pump.

At least I have three months before leaving for NZ to find the new leak that's causing the pumps to run so hard. Very glad I decided to come back up here, the neighbors hadn't noticed any problems.

[haiqu]

Comments about Oyster Cove for those who were curious:

There are about 20 houses and a boatyard. That's Oyster Cove. Nearest shopping is in Tanilba Bay or Lemon Tree Passage which are 10 minutes' drive away. Lemon Tree has a handy little industrial estate where you can get things fixed at reasonable prices, according to a source.

I suspect more often than not a 40 minute drive back to Newcastle would be needed to find things not available locally. Personally I found the lack of a milk bar, bakery or even a pub quite disturbing.

[Oldsquizzy]

Sounds like a hive of activity with a thriving night life............not

[haiqu]

Originally Posted by Oldsquizzy

Sounds like a hive of activity with a thriving night life............not

I drove in at dusk, did a u-turn and got out of there as fast as possible.

[haiqu]

Del has reported on Facebook that his forestay broke just after leaving Rarotonga, destroying the genoa in the process. He's back in Raro now and spent his 50th birthday there yesterday.

Thankfully his mast remains intact, thanks to the cutter rigging.

[redbopeep]

ouch! So glad that the rig was OK.

[haiqu]

Originally Posted by redbopeep

ouch! So glad that the rig was OK.

Ouch indeed. Here's hoping his furler was spared any damage.

[haiqu]

Here are the prices I collected at Boatworks in Coomera:

Item 27' yacht 33' yacht

Haulout/return $290 $297
Waterblast $60 $66
Environ. Levy $30 $33
Hardstand daily $49.50 $54.45

They had various winter specials running, including the following:

1/2 price hardstand deal - pay for 7 days, receive 7 days free (non compounding)
Midweek standby rates - book for Wed/Thurs lift and receive first w/e free
Long term refit - book h/s or shed for three weeks, receive fourth week free (compounding)

Courtesy cars available for transient sailors. Tons of services on site, inc. chandlery.

Seems like they will be the go-to guys for haulouts.

[haiqu]

After spending 10 days at my brother's house due to freezing overnight temperatures in Brisbane, I clambered aboard again today with supplies for the next fortnight. There's no water inside, which is a nice change.

However, my plans to sail Shenoa this trip are now on hold. I did buy the PVC pipe to change the jib rigging, but while I was gone the furler unfurled itself and the sail's trailing edge has been flapping in the wind, which has been ferocious in my absence, and is now shredded beyond repair. It also managed to exert enough pressure to drive the yacht back into the mud at the river's edge, which will need to be fixed once I get the sail down.

Bummer. New sail needed.

[haiqu]

Had a sleepless night listening to the jib thrashing about. The backstay on this yacht was erroneously attached to the fibreglass roof over the helm (probably so an outboard could be used) so both the mast and helm roof were making a godawful racket.

Just after dawn there was a lull in the wind and I managed to wrestle the thing down and tie off the halyard. What a mess ...

In other news, Del left the Cook Islands a couple of days ago and is heading NW towards Kiribati. Not sure of his next stop.

[haiqu]

Via Facebook:

Del and the merry crew on Chiara Stella were heading for Palmerston Island, but due to 30kt winds blowing them east they have now set sights on Suwarrow.

"I think I just set a new record for this boat -- between yesterday at 8am and today at 8am we covered 163 nautical miles, which is an average well over 6 knots. Most of that was done on the same course, 340 magnetic on the autopilot with the wind just behind the beam, main with 2 reefs and genoa partially furled. Wind speed was mostly between 22 - 25 knots with gusts to 28 or so (against a forecast of 16 knots). Seas were a bit too lumpy so it was difficult to cook any food, fortunately I laid in good supplies of cabin bread, cheese, jam, and even some chopped liver I made at Rarotonga."

Go Del!

[redbopeep]

Sorry that the backstay seems to not have been well-thought-out. Thanks for the updates on all!

We're in Prince Rupert now and headed back down from AK to explore BC for the next few weeks.

Fair winds,

[haiqu]

Fixing the backstay won't be too difficult, just drill a hole in the helm roof and extend it with a bit of chain as a temporary measure. But the jib is toast, which is the bigger issue right now.

I envy those of you on the move, right now I'm wasting the remaining active years treading water, waiting for finances to improve. Meh.

[haiqu]

For the second time in my life, I just bought an aircraft. What can I say ... it was cheap.

[steve_h]

Two boats, a house and an areoplane - are you sure you want to go sailing

[Auzzee]

Just in case you haven't seen this:
http://stores.ebay.com.au/Secondhand...eZdomainQQtZkm
Cheers.

[haiqu]

Originally Posted by steve_h

Two boats, a house and an areoplane - are you sure you want to go sailing

Well yeah, there is that.

[haiqu]

Originally Posted by Auzzee

Just in case you haven't seen this:
http://stores.ebay.com.au/Secondhand...eZdomainQQtZkm
Cheers.

Nice. Finding one with the right dimensions with a bolt rope inserted seems to be an issue however. Imma be thinking that a new sail would be cheaper and easier in the long run, especially if ordered from Asia.

[Auzzee]

New is better for sure. I have bought new cruising sails from both Rolly Tasker in Thailand and Lee Sails in Singapore. Both were good. The bolt rope is not an issue, with the used jobs, all you need to do is take the sail to any loft, and they will remove the piston hanks, unpick the luff tape, and sew on a new one with a bolt rope. Minimal cost especially if you remove the hanks and luff tape yourself. I did it with the old headsails on both my last boats when I installed roller furling/reefing.