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Old 11-05-2015, 07:07 AM   #121
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So, don't beat around the bush, I hear you all saying, tell us what's really on your mind.

Well all right, if you insist.

Collected my beautiful new secondhand TackTick system and brought it back to the yacht. I tested it Saturday morning and everything talked properly, which - as Del will tell you - is a minor miracle. I was particularly enamoured of the T111 Dual Display, which was one of the MN100-2 silver/gray models and looked all shiny new. They retail at about US$750.00

I can hear some preempting going on there, so wait for it. Wait for it.

So then I took the T111 and T110 displays and the wind instrument up to the deck and placed them on the companionway hatch for a bit of solar charging. I'd been back below for about 10 minutes and some ASSHAT in a power boat thundered by with such an enormous, inefficent draggy hull that every yacht in the whole river was thrown about madly. I had half the stuff on my benches land on the sole - cans of food, plates, detergent bottle, you name it. I'd only just collected all that together when I remembered the instruments.

Bolting back out the hatch I looked up top to see -- nothing. The wind instrument was still sitting on the bench seat, where I put it to ensure that a huge gust didn't blow it away, but both the digital instruments were gone.

I peered over the port side, nothing. I peered over the starboard side and spotted the T110 single display in four pieces on the very narrow deck edge. I hastily collected them together - main body, two rubber button moldings and top case - and reassembled it and it still worked, phew. But that beautiful T111 dual display had vanished into the water.

Looking gloomily at the water I decided I'd dive for it at low tide. Then I got in the dinghy to check the current using an oar and realized that it was running at 5 knots under there. And with the muddiness of that water I'd simply never find it again.

About two hours later I decided to test the bouyancy of these things in the hope that maybe it had sunk like a stone. I wrapped the T110 in Glad Wrap (tm) and dropped it into a bucket of seawater. It floated proud.

Damn! It was probably floating around the yacht when I first noticed it missing, and if I'd gotten up higher I probably could have spotted it and rowed to the rescue. Hopped in the dinghy and headed to the shoreline to see if it had ended up there, but the density of the ti-trees made it impossible to even see the water from there.

It's gone.
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Old 11-05-2015, 07:54 AM   #122
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Man....Some days I look more forward to your posts than the next weeks Bold and beautiful. At least more happens with you.
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Old 11-05-2015, 12:14 PM   #123
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Yeah, I'm charmed all right. FML.

If I had buckets of money or loads more time on my hands none of this would matter a damn, but it's just another delay, yet one more reason that I'll never go sailing. As I stated back a few messages, it took me 18 months to find a good deal on this set of instruments.

Being poor really sucks.

I once told an American guy about all the businesses I've been involved in, and the skills I have ... won't go into details, but he sort-of looked at me funny and said, "If you'd done all that in the States you would have been a millionaire years ago." Yeah, that was the plan.

Now I just want to get the hell out of here.
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Old 11-05-2015, 07:31 PM   #124
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Like sand through the hourglass.....
Mate, that's rotten luck. Better go buy a lottery ticket.

We're going to the boat show in Fort Lauderdale this week. I'll spot the new boat you're looking for.
Cheers.
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Old 11-05-2015, 11:42 PM   #125
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Auzzee View Post
Like sand through the hourglass.....
Mate, that's rotten luck. Better go buy a lottery ticket.

And while we're at it, I may as well get drunk and take drugs. But I don't.

Gambling is what's called "stupidity tax" as anyone with an inkling of mathematical sense can tell you.

Being a journo you should understand writing for the intended target. Well, I'm smart enough to know that a stupid person is so stupid that he doesn't know he's stupid. Which probably makes me a tad smarter than the average "fight, f*ck, ride motorbike, push wheelbarrow" kinda guy.

I know people like that, some of them are related to me. But to quote Jackson Browne, "I passed that point long ago." In fact I stopped listening to Jackson Browne long ago, too.

Just sayin'.

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Old 11-07-2015, 09:26 AM   #126
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And besides that, last time I bought a lottery ticket I got 6 numbers and it paid a whole $31.20 which is the greatest insult I can imagine to the luckless. :-)
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Old 11-07-2015, 01:29 PM   #127
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I would not worry about luck. The year I have been having has been such that when at work in the sweep I got the favorite I immediately apologized to all other Australians for putting the triple wammy on the horse. And as you saw it ran like a pushme pullyou.
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Old 11-07-2015, 09:42 PM   #128
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Buying lottery tickets is not much of an investment strategy. I am not a gambler, however, I went into the Cairns casino with my father. He spent a few dollars on the pokies and had the occasional small payout. I didn't bet.

I went to the bar to buy us a beer each and while I was there, I spotted the big dollar machines. I put in one dollar, pushed the button and collected $460.

This was whilke I was delivering my new (at the time) boat from Airlie Beach to Darwin. We carried on to Port Douglas, then went slowly on to Thursday Island where I bought $100 worth of groceries for about $400 and wiped out the win.

Sail-ah-vee.
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Old 11-08-2015, 08:43 AM   #129
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Well, the last few days have been more relaxed. Started working on the wiring and so far I've installed a couple of 12V cigarette lighter sockets to power various devices that use them, and begun on wiring the AIS/Bluetooth combo that worked so well on Keppelena.

The local pelicans have kept me amused. Normally they just sit on a few isolated poles that used to be a short pier, but I caught a few of them splashing about having a bath in a puddle left by the outgoing tide.

Then there was the crab pot guy. Imagine a 50yo fat Eastern European with an equally fat wife. He's sitting in the back of a 15' tinny trying to lay pots while the wife is driving. But they have a 60hp engine that's so heavy it makes the tinny look as if it's planing while standing still, and every time she guns the gas it almost goes vertical, tipping the old guy half out of the stern. Talk about laugh, I wish I'd had a video camera.

Wx here is rubbish. 10 kts constantly with some nights blowing 25 kts for 8 hours. Pissing rain as well. Hope it breaks soon, I almost need a shower.
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Old 11-08-2015, 12:55 PM   #130
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Almost. Aha.....
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Old 11-09-2015, 08:39 AM   #131
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Got my shower today and did the shopping. While awaiting the tide I spotted a guy called Terry who used to own a Scarab power boat moored permanently next to me, but which vanished about two days after I got aboard this year. I asked where he went, since I was surprised he had moved the boat - it had been hit by lightning and was immobile due to electrical issues but he lived still aboard with his dog and one of her new pups, which is now as large as it's mother.

Anyhow, that became a pretty long story, but the short version is that he had offloaded the Scarab for $5000 cash after being given a Hartley Tahitian 38'er for free. I was boggled, gobsmacked and generally astounded.

Evidently some guy had a big dream to go sailing, but his wife and two daughters had all been dreadfully ill on the - fairly short - delivery trip to Brisbane, and refused to set foot aboard again under any circumstances. It had dragged anchor on about three occasions and each time Terry had helped him by dragging it back into position with his dinghy, which has a fairly decent engine. Then the owner had tried to take it out one day and forgotten to turn on the water cock to the engine cooling and blown the old Perkins' headgasket.

The last time it dragged it ran into a steel yacht, whose owner rang to ask him to sort the problem out. The owner of the Hartley then called Terry and said, in effect, "You're the only guy who has been of any help when I needed it so if you want the yacht, come to my place and I'll sign it over to you right now." Which he did.

I got a lift over and checked it out about an hour later. It already needed some work, but the rear deck is now covered in all the contents of the Scarab, plus it has dogshit all over the foredeck and an interior full of empty beer cans. Any rotting woodwork is rapidly being eaten away by the dogs, who have also attacked the wiring and his fishing gear. On the positive side, Terry has installed a gas BBQ and got his TV working. Oh, and he also had the brains to buy a decent anchor for it.

He got a full history with it including a folder of photos of the builder, a doctor from Mullumbimby who built her in 1977, and even a newspaper report of the launch at which time she was evidently dropped off the crane by accident. The yacht is on the Australian registry and has two sets of sails, sturdy all-round stainless steel safety rails, wheel steering in a centre cockpit and a very expensive looking furler.

But when it all comes down to it, I fear the thing will just end up being a larger substitute for the previous live-aboard go-nowhere Scarab. What a waste.
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Old 11-10-2015, 07:48 AM   #132
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Spent half the day trying to find a P2P file backup program that would work with wifi and failed miserably, so I decided to overhaul that secondhand winch.

The first thing that became obvious when I inspected it a few days ago is that it had been assembled bass-ackwards, with the gypsy on the wrong side. It takes a special kind of moron to manage that, but then again only with an Italian product would it be possible; if memory serves me well the Alfasud gearbox had similar issues.

Anyhow, it turns out the "maintenance kit" was a waste of money, most of the parts were for an updated model and just wouldn't fit. I used two bolts and two washers in toto.

Original condition when bought is in this post:

http://www.cruiserlog.com/forums/f29...html#post43588

Here's the result of the overhaul. I think the correct handle looks a fair bit better than that old lump of bronze, don't you?
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Old 11-10-2015, 08:13 AM   #133
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Ah, almost forgot to mention that I finally found an outboard for Shenoa. It's a 2006 model Mercury long shaft 4-stroke of 6hp which is the maximum power you can use here without requiring a licence. Comes with a 12 litre fuel tank and bulb-prime hose for $600.00

I specifically wanted this model because at 27kg it's the lightest 4-stroke outboard of that size. Being of Japanese manufacture it will also be good quality compared to many of the offerings out there.

It was 200km north and I ignored it for weeks, but eventually emailed and asked the guy if he was ever in Brisbane. It so happens he's going to be in Kangaroo Point about 3km away on Saturday to celebrate his daughter's birthday, and was only too happy to drop it off to me.
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Old 11-12-2015, 10:10 AM   #134
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The cops have been making the rounds tonight. Evidently some woman walked off the end of the boat ramp and disappeared and they haven't found her yet. They're checking all yachts to make sure she didn't clamber aboard one.

Hope this turns out well.
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Old 11-14-2015, 05:00 AM   #135
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My lovely Mercury ME6ML was dropped off at 8:30 this morning, complete with the 12 litre tank and primer hose. It took a while to get back aboard due to Queensland's dodgy weather, but after the rain stopped I got it all fitted and connected.

Took a while to get the first start. I'm so unfamiliar with outboards I forgot that there's an air breather on the tank filler that needs to be opened first. D'oh. She runs great and spits cooling water like a champion but has a small issue with idling which means the carbie is probably varnished up from fuel additives.

Bonus points: It's not just a long shaft (23"), it's an extra long shaft measuring in at an astounding 26". I don't even need to drop the bracket down, the prop is in the water permanently.

The guy who sold it to me bought it quite recently, attached to a 4.2 metre tinny which had only ever been used in fresh water. The tinny and the engine were both 2006 models so he suspects it was original equipment. Since he already had a much larger outboard it was surplus to requirements.
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Old 11-15-2015, 02:30 AM   #136
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Had to go ashore again this morning due to an issue with the sliding side door of the VW van. It was bent when I bought the vehicle and occasionally the latch mechanism refuses to work, which means that essentially anyone could gain entry by simply pulling on the handle. So, a box of tools and an hour's fiddling about and it works again, for the moment. It does this about once a year. *sigh*

While I was there I looked around to see if I could find my e-cigarette which I apparently misplaced yesterday. I didn't find it, but did manage to locate the three metres of chain and padlock lost over a month ago (see msg #36 this thread, 29th Sept) which had somehow managed to obscure itself under the edge of someone's upturned dinghy.

Ran the outboard engine again today and it now idles fine. It seems there was a need to run a bit of fuel through it and let it soak overnight to loosen up the carby. It's a wee ripper and I'm 100% chuffed with it.
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Old 11-16-2015, 01:43 PM   #137
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In what seemed to be a slow day I managed to do more than expected. Several days ago I bent on the storm jib, which hanks to the inner stay. Almost immediately it rained and for the past few days winds have seldom dropped below 10kt which made it impossible to raise the sail while at anchor. On the other hand I noted that it can sit there happily on the deck without any chance of taking off in the wind, which is what ruined the furled genoa.

Late tonight there was finally a lull and I managed to haul her aloft and check that the sheets weren't fouling the stays, and also attached a short line to the tack so that it sits at the right height above the safety lines. I must say that I can now see why furlers are so popular; attaching piston hanks and messing about took me quite a while and I'm sure it would have been uncomfortable to do all this at sea.

The other day while visiting Terry - the new owner of the 38' Hartley - he asked if I still had the TCM toilet I bought cheaply last year. Since I no longer plan to use it I told him he could have it, and tonight I dug that out from under the cockpit. While under there I also re-discovered the horrid Chinese 3.5hp 2-stroke engine that I bought for the dinghy but couldn't manage to get running, and pulled that out for another attempt. I'll look at it in the morning, and will probably totally disassemble it on the basis that it can't get any worse than its current useless state.

I've also had a good look at the tiller today and figured out that it needs a little work. The bolt attaching it to the rudder is too small which gives it a lot of lateral slop, and it needs some timber packing in the tiller head to get rid of some vertical movement as well. I'll attend to all that this week, and may even give it a new coat of varnish for good measure.

I'm re-reading Fatty Goodlander's "Buy, Outfit and Sail" and his tightfisted attitude got me thinking about the cost of hauling out for antifoul. The mud flats here aren't great for that sort of thing, one tends to sink up to the mid-calf when walking on the stuff. However, there are a couple of old pylons nearby that would be ideal to lean against for careening, and I've spotted a large old pontoon floating amongst the ti-trees that would be a great thing to stand on in order to circumvent the mud. The brain is ticking over at these possibilities, especially if it will save me up to $2,000 in yard fees.

I've decided to take the old mainsail in for repair, despite the fact that it's barely worth saving. I figure it would be better to learn to sail using that and the hanked jib rather than wrecking the new set of sails, and if it survives then I'll also have a useful spare.

How to mount the windlass also took up some of my time. It seems the only place it can fit is right where the anchor locker cover currently sits. This is going to take some engineering.
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Old 11-17-2015, 10:37 AM   #138
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Glad to hear that things are moving forward.

Any idea when she will be ready for a sail?
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Old 11-17-2015, 04:58 PM   #139
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Hi Steve,

The main issue at this time is getting the windlass mounted. I'm not strong enough to lift the anchor without it due to the muddy bottom in the river. Once that's sorted I'll immediately be able to motor around with the outboard at least. Next step is getting the original mainsail patched, after which sailing is entirely possible.

Before Christmas is the target at this point.
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Old 11-19-2015, 05:35 AM   #140
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Had a funny experience yesterday that's worth mentioning. I spotted an ad for a "MacGyver type person" to fix boats, starting with a Hatteras 58 in Brooklyn, NSW and moving on to several others. The guy advertising evidently runs a business renovating older craft and needed a general dogsbody skilled in all facets of boat repair, including diesel and outboard engines. He was even willing to take on someone with a tourist visa or sponsor someone into Australia for the job. But they had to be able to start Monday!

So let me get this straight, thinks I. You want a mechanic, shipwright, electrician, fibreglasser and carpenter in one person, and they have to be able to start Monday for an unspecified amount of money?

But what caught my eye at this point is that he's the same guy who has been trying to sell an unfinished Hartley 46'er sitting in Canberra for the past year. So I impishly sent him an email saying I'd be happy to take the job in exchange for the Hartley rather than cash on a barter basis to avoid the hassles of tax.

Anyhow he replies, "OK. But you're in Brisbane?"
To which I respond, "Yes, I'm in Brisbane but I have a van."
So then he says, "So you can live in the van?"

Now he had advertised that the applicant could live in the Hatteras 58 while working on it, so I got a bit narky at this stage.

"Well, I could do that for a short time but it's a bit uncomfortable. The ad says I can live in the Hatteras but everything is negotiable."

Then I continued on with a wake-up call.

"But Harry, this is trivia. What hourly rate are you proposing? And please don't insult me, I'm a qualified engineer with a lifetime of experience and also have a Cert III in Transport and Logistics (Heavy Vehicles) and a forklift licence."

I then went on for another page explaining how it wasn't worth my while to even think about it unless the Hartley he had advertised included rigging, drive shaft, propellor, instruments, windlass, deck hardware, rudder, tiller and sails (none of which were mentioned or visible in the ad).

And how his "46'er" was in fact a weirdly modified Tahitian 38 with a bowsprit and a non-standard extended transom, and that the last owner had made such a hash of the interior that it would take 6 months to correct it, making his estimate of the finished value something like $100,000 too optimistic. And how it would cost at least $10,000 to get it to the sea and launched once completed.

Honestly, I have no idea how these cretins make enough money to even start such a business.
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