The Full Monty

[haiqu]

All the above accomplished apart from the doona. They're usually only available seasonally and apparently it's not the right season. In addition I managed to find a $2.00 shop to replace my broken thongs/jandals/flip-flops and also bought a small pack of 5-minute epoxy to fix a slow leak in the dinghy, which was far easier than trying to find a fibreglass repair kit. I sure hope that holds, the dinghy was almost full this morning.

It seems everyone north of the bridge today said to themselves, "Hey, it's Sunday. Why don't we take the kids to Bunnings?"

I'll tell you why not, buster. Beacuse the little bastards have no sense of direction, recognition of other people or self-control, that's why not. Very frustrating experience.

Emailed Pete Winning to see if he wanted to get together for a beer, but he's out of town with work until the 5th. Oh well.

[Oldsquizzy]

So I take it you are the Bunnings grinch.

[haiqu]

No, just a regular grumpy old bastard. LOL

Loving the new gas stove, I find it difficult to live without access to coffee. The new stove won't even work with the old cans. Must be something to do with that general recall where all the old designs were taken off the market a couple of years ago.

[Oldsquizzy]

It's not grumpy. It is the inability to tolerate stupid. Best part of getting old is the ability to see things coming, and to bite ones tongue so you can watch stupid unfold. Small pleasures that fill in the day.

[haiqu]

Cleaned the foredeck in preparation for paint this morning, then promptly fell asleep due to exhaustion from a combination of travel and insomnia. I meant to fix some of the electrical wiring during daylight hours but had to struggle with it using my LED torch instead. I now have one light and one power point working again, which will have to suffice. At least I can now use the laptop without having to recharge it in the galley.

All the wiring I replaced is open circuit; not just at the ends where the wires broke, but throughout the length of the wire. Lesson learned is that one must use tinned wire for boats. This was one of the first tasks I did almost 6 years ago before I did any reading on the subject so not particularly unhappy, and anyhow the hardest part was removing all the taped bundles and fitting conduit so changing the actual wires this time should be much easier.

I also cleaned all the dusty surfaces in the foreward berth area this morning so feel much more comfortable being aboard. The dinghy repair was a success, not much water in it today despite high winds and choppiness all day.

[Oldsquizzy]

Sounds like a rewire is called for with some nice white marine tinned wiring

[haiqu]

Won't have the time this visit, but it does need redoing for sure. Just one more item on the endless list.

If I can manage to make her look a bit respectable from the outside and remove the accumulated junk I'll be happy with the results of this trip.

Also need to reassemble the table over the dead engine since I'm not going to be able to replace that while afloat. The gaping hole is a bit of a hazard even on a mooring.

[haiqu]

Decks and cabin top scraped, swept and ready for paint. Also cleaned the bathroom and the ceiling in the fore berths. At this rate I may even have time to take in some of the sights before heading back.

[Oldsquizzy]

Why the time limit ?

[haiqu]

Main reason for the trip was the reunion on the 28th. Doing minimal maintenance on Keppelena is necessary but since she's not going to be repaired for years (if ever) there's not a lot of point spending more time and money on her at this stage. And I'm still paying hardstand fees in Qld while this is happening.

Painted the front deck back to the cabin tonight by torch light. It's stinking hot here in Sydney so painting at night is possible. Same brand of paving paint as before but this lot is oil based and the last lot was water based. Bloody odd, but it's actually what I wanted originally anyhow. Should last better this time.

[haiqu]

News on Facebook is that Del and Nhi are expecting an addition to the family. Nice to know it still works at his age but I guess sailing will be taking a back seat for a while.

[haiqu]

Yesterday I got nothing done, so despite another sleepless night I decided to do heaps today to make up for it. At first light I painted the side decks, and the plan after that was to make several dinghy runs with stuff I want to remove from the yacht and load into the van, then take a shower and do some shopping.

Unfortunately the sky tells me this is a bad idea, looks like it's going to dump very soon - most overcast day I've seen in ages. Still, that didn't stop the 6am rowers with the megaphone or the 7am water skier. Gotta love Sydney, they just don't give a damn here.

I'm also appreciating the change of wildlife. No midges, no ants, no mozzies, only one cockroach so far and I got him with the toilet plunger. There are a few tiny spiders in the food cupboard but nothing to concern myself about.

The trip to the shower would be a different matter though. Last time I used the council ablutions block here I had to share the shower with a huge huntsman spider, whereas the worst I have to contend with in Queensland is green tree frogs, and even then only after dark. The water dragons here are smaller too, if more numerous, and there aren't any red bellied black snakes.

The things that keep us amused.

[haiqu]

Made an enquiry yesterday about a 2br unit in Mackay, Qld. Smallish coastal town, 200,000 people and 900km north of Brisbane. Cost of the unit is $129,000 but added to that would be body corporate fees and local council rates.

The result?

Anyone buying it would be paying $112 per week for ongoing fees, whether they lived there or not. Now I remember why boats are so attractive. My current total expenses are normally $150pw not including food, and also excluding the (temporary) hardstand fees being incurred at present. That accounts for all car, boat and trailer registrations, government licences and everything, even my phone and internet usage. It also includes the rates on my NZ property.

As Bob Norson says in the header of his excellent newspaper, The Coastal Passage, "A wet address is the best. Because you can never really own that block."

[haiqu]

Yesterday I painted the rear deck then did the shower/shopping run. A storm that clobbered Adelaide blew through while I was out so I decided to sleep in the van a few hours. Bliss.

Today I pulled the engine box table sides out from under the helm and reassembled it. Can't believe I've gone without a table all this time. The newly powdercoated stove top has also been fitted and it's a great improvement since that was the ugliest thing aboard.

It has just gone 7:30am and I'm feeling very much on top of things, especially since I have another week before the reunion.

[redbopeep]

Table looks great!

[Oldsquizzy]

Almost like living at home. Only thing with eating at a table, food has further to fall and makes the five second rule hard to live by.

[haiqu]

Not really convenient as a table, being the engine cover it has vertical sides and you can't sit at it. But for the convenience of having somewhere to leave stuff, brilliant. Also makes a good map table I'd expect, not that I can ever see myself using paper maps.

Filled the water tank from 10L bottles then did the water run today. Five km to the servo and back because council has removed all water taps from the parks. Bastards.

Sent a copy of the stove top photo to my nephew on Facebook, he was kind enough to sand blast and powder coat it for me at his work. He was pleased.

Squizzy: The 5 second rule is even harder without the table, since everything ends up in the bilges.

[Auzzee]

On a boat, the rule is 15 seconds when at anchor, 30 minutes when under way.

[Oldsquizzy]

lol

[haiqu]

Just finished the hull clean. I use a paint scraper bolted to a broomstick, which does an awesome job of cleaning barnacles off the hull from the dinghy. Did manage to snap one blade which is unusual because they're stainless, but luckily I had another in the toolkit.

That was the last of the really tough and nasty jobs to be done, so I've revised my schedule. Now planning to be off the yacht by Wednesday night so I can join in the Australia Day celebrations on Thursday.

I also spotted this last night, which has inspired me to get on with the repairs of Shenoa: JOIN FLEET OF TRAILER SAILERS SAILING FROM GOLD COAST TO CAIRNS | Sail Boats | Gumtree Australia Blacktown Area - Seven Hills | 1132916713

If I can have her back in the water by April then I could do this. My plan was to circumnavigate Australia anyhow, and doing it in company would be far nicer, not to mention safer.

Sometimes you just need a more interesting goal. I still recall how quickly I got things done so could go with Del to NZ.