Back in the drink,

[Mr B]

Its back in the drink, Ready to go for a sail on Saturday,

Putting a 14 foot wide boat in a 16 foot wide berth was a bit of a challenge,
I had the Genoa halfway up the self furler before I realized it was upside down,
Pull it down and turn it over and drag it it up again,

The very windy conditions didnt help either,
Just have to connect the mast wiring up and she is good to go,
I am very pleased with it all,

[BugzyCan]

Now you can relax, all of your hard work has an ending, for now anyways.

Looks fantastic.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Mr B

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I had the Genoa halfway up the self furler before I realized it was upside down,
Pull it down and turn it over and drag it it up again,

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ach, no, you, too?!?


Congrats, looks great. Enjoy the sail. Our season jut ended up here.

[Juho]

Congratulations, and have a nice sail.

[SuW]

What an incredible story of persistence!
Congratulations and bon voyage!

Thanks for all the pictures, very inspiring as our winter's just around the corner!

[mikereed100]

Well done Brian! The boat looks beautiful. The misery of rebuilding will fade quickly as you set sail again. (Don't ask how I know this)

[Mr B]

I took it out for its maiden voyage last Saturday, Scraped the centreboards on the way out in the channel from Yaringa,
It was extreme low tide and I moved over for another boat coming in, Caught the side of the channel,
I Put up the Genoa and Christie sailed it down Western Port Bay, Hand steering as the autopilot and GPS and wind gauge dont work yet,

Finally got all the ropes to the Genoa working properly with the right pulleys and back to the cockpit,
So now we can sail with out getting wet, Well, I was the one getting wet as I was out in the rain,

The depth sounder has decided to work properly now its in water, Its very accurate too,
On the hard it reads 14 feet, 3 feet above ground level, Hahahaha
The bottom of the channel was reading 1.7 feet on the way out,
At 1.5 feet, Im aground and sitting firmly on the sand, Overnighter,

She loved it, I was busy checking every thing out, Making sure all things were working,
I had the full cockpit covers on as it was pissing rain,

It was a great run down the Bay, Small rooster tails off the rudders, Dead down wind on the Genoa full out, Possibly 10 knots,
At the end of Western Port Bay, We decided lunch at Cowes, On Phillip Island would be nice,
Pull up to the pier and walk across the road to the pub,
All good in theory,
I still cant sail upwind, So I fire up the diesel and upwind we motor,
We cant see the pier as its still raining and visibilty is crap,
We got a few miles in when the motor decides to shut down, Bugga,
Its got water in the filter, I drain that out and it fires up again,
Then it shuts down again,
Fuel line is clear, Diesel Pump is clicking, Fires up on starter fluid, But conks out almost immediately,
Pull the feed lines off, Pump is clicking, but no diesel coming out,
The fuel lines are not blocked,
No sail up, but we are drifting to the south west in 50 feet of water, Not a problem while I am working on the motor,

Then Christie says, we are getting very close to the pier, 100 feet at most,
We cant tie up to it as its too high, The boat will go under it but the mast wont,
So I put up the Genoa and sail away from the pier, Luckily the wind is blowing us away from the pier,
Then after the Pier, I decided to drop anchor when the level got down to 30 feet, Not far from the beach,
Safe spot to stay in while I got the motor going again,
I used the Danforth thru the hoop of the new big anchor I had made,
A new diesel pump fitted and it still wont go, Its electrical,
So I pulled the old circuit breaker off the solenoid, It fell apart in my hand,
Bugga, I dont have a new one of those,
Stuff the electrics, I will fire up the diesel with out electrics working,
By this time the Battery is getting weak, No sun, So the solar Panels are not putting charge into the batterys,
Now Im getting stressed,
Flat battery, Not a hope in hell of sailing it back into the Marina, I cant sail that good,
Im thinking its going to be a tow job for the boat to get it back to the Marina,

Then Christie says, what about the generator, Being stressed, My brain isnt working too clearly by this stage,
Thats all I need, A Blonde joke, Grrrr,

I says, I need to get the motor going for the generator or alternator to work,
She says, The generator in the locker, Duuuuhhhh, I had totally forgotten all about it,
3,5 KVA, Brand New Generator I had bought as a back up for when every thing else failed,
It has a Built in 12 volt battery charger in it,
I had put it in the locker a week before when the boat was on the hard,
I appologise to her,
So I pull it out, Its 40 Kgs, and hook it up, Battery is being charged, I am no longer stressed,
Back to getting this diesel started, Remote fuel pump is working, Squirt of Instant start and the motor fires up,
So now its just getting us back to the Marina, Its still day light, We can see clearly by now,
Pulling up the anchor by hand, Im glad I didnt drop the big one in,
100 feet of chain and the drag of the tide going out, That taking some grunt to get it up again,
It caught a few times near ripping my arms off, Slapping it onto the cleat saved it from going out again,
Had to stop for a breather a few times, If I was going to have a heart attack, It would have happened today, Hahahaha That was hard bloody work,

Christie is enjoying motoring the Gemini up the channel in Western port Bay,
doing 7 knots, at 2500 RPM,
We go past the Hot Strip Mill at Hastings and it almost dark,
I can see Yaringa, But cant see any Markers,
We are a fair way off the edge of the Bay, I have never come into Yaringa before, Night or day, So It a bit of a mystery to me,
The channel for Yaring is a good 3/4 Kilometre out into the bay, But non of the markers are lit,
Well we just keep going north and hopefully I can line up the Marina's boat lights in the channel and then maybe I can see the markers of the channel,
This is almost 10 PM by this time,
The water is getting very shallow, Im in 5 feet of water and getting thinner as the tide is fully out at 10-15 plus about 50 Minutes,
Finally its 1,5 feet and we are stopped on a sandy bank, It looks about a foot deep in the spotlight,
Kill the motor, Drop the anchor, Its sticking out of the water, Add about 10 feet of chain beside the anchor, and tie it off to the cleat,
Its dinner time, Salada's, Tomato and cheese and a hot coffee and tea,,
We are here for the night,
5-15 AM for the next high tide, 6-15 AM for daylight to see where we are going,
Daylight and Im about 300 feet south of the Yaringa channel,
Pull up the anchor, Motor to the channel and berth the Boat,
It was supposed to be a daylight cruise the day before, Home before dark and a nice spa to relax in,
Christie missed out on working on the Sunday, Thats life I suppose,
But the boat sailed extremely well, Im very pleased with its performance,
Christie has seem me stressed and still wants to travel on the boat with me,

I made a new anchor support for the big anchor so its easier to use the small danforth thru it for normal parking of the boat,
The big anchor is only for times when the ocean gets angry,
Its just a matter of changing the D shackle from one anchor to the other, and lifting the Danforth off the big anchor,
The roller bracket stays on the big anchor all the time, It wont effect what the big anchor does, It wont clog or get jammed by the chain either,

And the Flange on my Raritan Manual Pump Dunny broke,
So I bought a new Jabsco manual pump Dunny for $290-00 Delivered,
Its cheaper than just a new Pump casing from Raritan,
So No Dunny working on the weekend either,
You pump the lever and brown stuff squirted up the wall,
Bucket job, on the weekend,
What a foul disgusting job that was pulling it out,
The bilge was full of crap,
I did this on Tuesday, Pulled it out,
The dunny gets delivered tomorrow, It came from Brisbane,
The TMC dunny was cheaper, But on reviews, The Jabsco is a better quality dunny, We will see how this one goes first, ,






,

[StuM]

Bet your dock neighbours love that thing sticking out over the walkway

[mrarcher]

Originally Posted by StuM

Bet your dock neighbours love that thing sticking out over the walkway

x2

[SuW]

Great story, thanks!

"I took it out for its maiden voyage last Saturday..." followed by another tale of amazing persistence and obstacles overcome! In other words, a normal shakedown cruise!

All's well that ends well.

[SV.KAIVITA]

Fantastic congrats [emoji122] the ups and downs of yachting

[smj]

Congrats Mr. B, many would have given up long ago but I believe persistence has paid of!

[Juho]

Ok, you got everything ready for the next (smoother) sail.

[Mr B]

I got stuck out in western port bay at low because I didnt have the GPS working,
I had no idea on where I was, I could only go on visual sighting and no lights on the markers,
I have never come into or out of Yaringa marina at night or day,

I could not understand why the GPS and RADAR would not turn on, as they did work fully before I wrecked my boat,
I have checked all the fuses and circuit breakers and they all seemed good,
Reread the books on them, They should turn on, ????????????
Well bugga this, I pulled all the wiring out again behind the panels,
Checked the contact points and joins with a multi meter,
I have no power, Any where,
Dont tell me these wires have been cut off inside the hulls too,
That means I will have to run new wiring up to the GPS and Radar,
Autopilot, Wind, Depth sounder, Dash, All run off the Instrument switch on the switch board,
I did get a company to come and look at it all, But they havent got back to me yet And I wasnt there when they came, Just left a note that they had been,
But nothing still worked,

Maybe, Maybe, Maybe, I will turn every thing on, on the 12 volt switchboard and see what happens, Im getting desperate by this time,
Radar I can do with out, But GPS is essential for me, I do travel at night,

Whoo Whoo, I now have power to the GPS and Radar,
I wonder what turned it on,
One by one I turned them all off on the switchboard, Checking the GPS and Radar each time,
The GPS and Radar work off the cabin light switch, I would never have guessed that one, Hahahahaha
If the GPS had worked I would not have run aground on my maiden voyage, The channels and entrance to Yaringa are clearly marked on the GPS,

My GPS chart on the GPS goes from Adelaide up the east coast to Darwin, Im not too sure how much of Tasmania is included on the chart, Ive never looked at it,
But Bass Straight is fully included, Same as The Tasman Sea,
I can go to Tassie with no problems now,

I also would not have had the experience with Christie and staying overnight on the boat Stuck in the middle of Westernport Bay, In one foot of water, The anchor shaft stood up one foot out of the water, Hahahahha,
She loved it all, Even tho we were freezing and it was raining, and we didnt have any bedding or blankets on board, But we made do and had good night of it all,
She is now looking forwards to travelling around OZ on my boat,
Before this happened she wasnt too sure of it all, She was very doubtfull,
She knows now That I can fix my boat in the middle of nowhere with out any problems, and wont leave us stranded out there, I can get us home again,

I have the new Dunny installed and it works extremely well, Tank or overboard,
Im definately not into Golden Showers,
The pipe with the effluent flicked the contents all over me as I pulled the flange out of the pipe,
Trying to have a bath in the galley sink to get it off me wasnt fun either,
My clothes stank on the way home as I didnt have any clean clothes to change into,

I also got the mainsail back in the Boom and Mast tracks in a high wind, Keeping it tied down to stop it blowing away, or driving the boat over the walkway,
I started with the boom and got it in without many problems,
Then I started with the mast, I got about ten feet of the sail up,
Decided the wind was too strong, So I then put the bottom slides in, Almost got most of it in and found I had a twist in the main sail,
So I had to unclip the top sail slides from the sail, Plastic clips, The slides were too hard to get out off the mast runner again,
Took the twist out of the mainsail and put the plastic clips back on main sail,
Its all assembled now and tied down on the boom,
Next time there is no wind, I will pull the mainsail up and drop it down into the lazy jacks again to take the creases and lumps out of it, It does look crap at the moment,
Then tie it down and put the cover on it, Its good for a spare as I dont use the Mainsail,
I also have a brand new Jib in the locker as a back up too, In case the Genoa ever gets wrecked,

Now looking forwards to getting my boat out there again and doing some serious sailing,
With my new First Mate,
Explained to Christie, I can now pull up to the Cowes pier for lunch even if I cant see the pier with the GPS working,
GPS makes a world of Difference to sailing if you cant see where your going,

Cheers, Brian,

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by StuM

Bet your dock neighbours love that thing sticking out over the walkway

Im not God and I cant stand on water to install my anchor,
So I installed it standing on the walkway,
As the picture clearly shows,

Diagonal bracing on the boats mooring lines, Holds my boat back from the walkway,
So No Part of the anchor is over the walkway, Duhhhhh,

But a good try on your part tho to ridicule another Boaties efforts, Hahahaha

Cheers, Brian,