Friday 20 March 2015

Foggy morning in Castle Lagoon, Broken Bay

The mozzie screen in the hatch above our beds was wet this morning, dripping on Terry whenever it was knocked.

I got up at my usual time (a very early 6:00am) to a rather beautiful, calm, foggy morning.  I sometimes wish I could sleep in but at times like this, I'm really glad I can't.

The only sound was fish jumping out of the water.  Awesome.

View towards Yoemans Creek

A couple of other boats sharing the foggy morning in the bay. 
The one centre frame is a yacht hull with the mast permanently removed.  On the right is a  Bavaria 39 just bought by a couple from Adelaide.  Small world.


Location: Ku-Ring-Gai Chase NSW, Australia
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Monday 16 March 2015

Bye Bye, Sydney Harbour

We left Drummoyne this morning and we won't be back in the harbour until much later in the year.

I left on Venture for Broken Bay and Terry drove Barbara's car and we met up at the Royal Motor Yacht club in Pittwater.

I ended up motor sailing all the way after the promised South Easterlies didn't turn up.  It was a bit uncomfortable in the swell left over from the southerly change that came through yesterday as there was just not enough wind to keep Venture stable so we were rocking and rolling a bit to some vintage Zappa :-)

We'll spend the next few days in Broken Bay checking out the bits we missed last time round and then head back to Adelaide for some birthdays and some more work while the boat has a new engine installed.

Drummoyne sailing club has become very familiar over the last few months and we've really enjoyed our time there with Dave and Selina.  We'll both miss them and also Dennis (our club contact) who has become our good friend.

However, we'll both be glad to move on further north into some warmer weather :-)



Location: Newport NSW 2106, Australia
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Wednesday 11 March 2015

So we ordered a new motor today..

For those following us on Facebook, you can safely ignore the next couple of posts.

It will be installed while we are in Adelaide in April and hopefully finished by the time we get back.

It was a very hard decision as the current motor was running like a sewing machine but we've had repeated failures of the exhaust manifold (due to poor design IMHO) and oil is seeping out old gaskets and the rear seal into the bilge.

The leaks cannot be fixed in place so we would have to pull the engine out to replace the seals and gaskets and I can see no point in putting an old engine with over nearly 4,000 hours back in as it's a big job to get them in and out.

My biggest worry was the oil leaks. The bilge pump is automatically activated and we get a constant influx of sea water through the stern gland (by design) so every time the bilge pump empties the bilge, I have to race onto the deck, pump up a weed spray unit and hose down the oil slick with detergent.

It's not a lot of oil but just a few drops create a lovely rainbow slick behind the boat. Not a good look in Sydney harbour and it would be completely wrong when we move north to the reef.

$25k later..

For those with a technical bent, the motor is a Kubota V2203-B 50HP general purpose engine marinized by WM Engineering in Pittwater.

The transmission is a PRM with a ratio of 2.1:1 driving a 3 blade Maxprop 17" feathering propeller with an 11" pitch.

Location: Inner West, Sydney NSW, Australia
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