KISS stuff

The KISS generator was pretty much totalled by the storm in Sydney.

The front bearing stopped bearing and separated into two pieces with some tiny steel balls floating around.  This caused the rotor to contact the stator (the two bits that actually generate the electricity) rapidly and repeatedly which is definitely not supposed to happen.  The result was overheated permanent magnets on the rotor (demagnetised) and damaged stator.

The rotor showing damaged magnets and lots of iron filings :-(

Fuzzy image of the inside of the stator.  The Steel laminated core has been badly damaged by the rotor contacting it.

Fortunately, Jack (the previous owner, bless him) carried a lot of spares for the generator (we actually carry three sets of spare blades..) and the people at Hotwire Enterprise have been really helpful so we will rebuild with a new stator/rotor/bearings and epoxied casing. 

She will live again, better and stronger!

Location: Port Stephens NSW 2324, Australia
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Moving on up the coast

So we finally left the Sydney area!

I think we were hanging there for around 6 months in the end.  We really enjoyed a lot of that time but it was definately time to move on.

We left Broken bay after working up 20 hours on the engine so that Sandy (the diesel wizard) could do the first service for us and headed up to Newcastle for the first leg North.  Unfortunately, Terry really suffered from lack of sea legs on this trip.  The first few hours were quite nasty rolling through 40 degrees at times with the swell and no wind to speak of to use a sail for stability and Terry literally could not stomach it.  But we got there in the end.

We met a nice chap (Hi Bruce..) on a Cavalier 32 who stopped by to say hello on the public wharf in the harbour.  He has been looking for a cruising boat for a while but is having real trouble finding a boat with 6' 7" headroom (anyone got a clue for him?).  That really would be really difficult I think.

We only stayed overnight this time but again we were really impressed with the place!  It's nothing like you'd expect for a town built around coal exports with really interesting surprises around almost every corner!


The 8 hours to Port Stephens was a nice motor sail even though a bit cold and grey.  Terry was a lot better this time taking kwells 30 minutes before we left (as advised on the packet) and then some no-doze to counter the drowsiness but then had to use Vaseline to fix the dry nose from the no-doze :-)

Venture in Fame Cove, Port Stephens

We went directly to Fame Cove this time and it's an absolutely lovely spot with fish jumping, pelicans, surrounded by bush and we just had a large pod of small dolphins come through to welcome us :-)

We'll spend tomorrow here in Fame Cove as Wednesday looks like a better day to move further north.  Next stop is Forster/Tuncurry and we'll be exploring new ground for the first time in 6 months :-)

Location: Port Stephens NSW 2324, Australia
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We didn't get off unscathed after all [edited]..

Well it looks like we didn't come through the storms quite as well as we thought.  The wind generator is fully busted.

Without getting it down to check, it looks like the insides are a mess.  The main shaft has about 10mm of lateral movement so the bearings are totalled and I suspect the rotor and stator are both a chewed up mess.

Damaged Kiss Generator.  Main shaft has 10mm lateral movement and there is some damage to the casing.

I'll get it down when we've finally cleaned up and stowed everything.  Parts are available so unless the bearing housings are also shot, we might be able to get it working again for less than a boat unit ($1,000).

Bugger!

[edited on the 7th]
And we found some significant wear and a hole in yankee.  It was partially unfurled by the wind during the storm but it didn't look damaged until we unrolled it fully yesterday.  Double bugger!

So another trip into Mona Vale with a sail this time and another $300 and 7 days to patch it.  The sail maker was not impressed by the state of the sail and said it was badly sun damaged and suggested we'll need a new sail sometime soon..  Double bugger!

Hopefully, this is the last of the storm damage and we can head north sometime soon after we get the sail back on the 15th.

Back on the boat with a shiny new engine

We got back to Pittwater today to find Venture still afloat after the storms and with a new engine!

Sandy (our most excellent mechanic) picked us up from John Witchards (marine engineer extraordinaire) and took us to the shops for some supplies before taking us out to Venture and giving us the low down on the new engine.

The new engine looks and runs sweet inside a very clean engine bay which is no longer black from soot and even though it's a slightly bigger motor (50hp instead of 46hp), it seems more compact and John's work with marinising the base Kubota engine seems to make it fit better inside the engine space.  There's much more room over the top and I can even reach down the front to the bilge below the engine!

The old, huge exhaust riser has been replaced with a much smaller unit (no more welding of the manifold flange) and there are less pipes to worry about as the heat exchanger is a part of the exhaust manifold instead of a separate unit.

Sandy (the engine wizard) told us all about the record breaking storms that came through Sydney a couple of weeks ago, a very nasty East Coast Low, and showed us some of the damage done in Pittwater.  The boat just upwind of us looks a bit sad because it's furler failed and the sail ripped off it.

As far as I can tell at the moment, the only damage Venture took from the storm was we lost our house flag, the Garden Island burgee is in tatters, a flag halyard parted (which means a trip up the mast) and some minor wear on one of the headsail sheets.. Incredibly lucky.

If anyone finds a flag like this somewhere to the North West of Sydney, it's ours :-)

Location: Newport NSW 2106, Australia
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Survived the storms (just) and the new engine is installed and running!

We are still in sunny (not) Adelaide but I'm nearly finished work and with luck, we should be able to head home to the boat towards the end of next week.

I'm told by Sandy (our awesome mechanic) that 70 knot winds went through Pittwater before hitting the Sydney coast and causing major strife.  More than 6 boats were sunk in the area and they still can't find a 42' schooner that dragged it's moorings and probably ended up on the bottom somewhere.

A 60' catamaran broke it's moorings and clobbered the boat next to Venture before heading off up Pittwater to end up on a beach. So we are counting ourselves very lucky at the moment.

Sandy (the awesome mechanic) took his life in his hands to get onto our boat during the height of the storm to make sure everything was ok and made sure everything was tied down properly.  Thanks mate, we can't thank you enough!

More about Sandy and our new motor later but for now, here's a picture.

The new 50HP Kubota motor marinised by WM Engineering in Pittwater.

Location: Newport NSW 2106, Australia
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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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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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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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Some information requested by readers

We've been asked some questions about some tech stuff on Venture and I thought I'd create this post to answer them to keep all the info in one spot..

First, the folding ladder.

It's in three sections with the bottom section completely underwater when it's extended.

It's attached to the Genoa track along the caprail so it can be moved along the boat if we need to but I can't think of a reason why you'd do that as it's best at the bottom of the sheer line obviously..

Some photos.

Ladder Extended

Ladder Packed away

Ladder attached to Genoa Track

The Staysail Club Foot fittings

I've never been that keen on a club footed staysail due to their "deck sweeping" nature but I've gained a grudging respect for ours as it is completely self tending and sets quite well.  In heavy weather, when it gets above 40 kts, the boat moves along quite well off the wind a bit with the staysail alone.

The sail is handled using three lines (not the normal two..).

There's the furler (obviously) the sheet and what I call the "unfurler" [Edit:  This is probably more rightly called the out-haul] and here's how they are rigged.  The unfurler line goes inside the staysail boom via sheaves at the aft and forward ends and the sheet goes via blocks under the boom.

When the staysail is furled, I use the sheet to pull the aft end of the boom down tight onto the life raft to stop it swinging around clubbing the forward dorade and doing its normal deck sweeping thing.. 

Fairleads for the staysail furler and sheet

 

Sheet Block and "unfurler" fairlead

Topping lift

Staysail self tending track and sheet blocks

Unfurler sheaves at the aft end of the club foot

The unfurler line goes through a block at the clew of the staysail

The infamous Deck Bag

As we were short of storage space, I decided to use the room in front of the cabin trunk on the deck.  It was a bit scary as I had to drill holes in the deck to attach fittings but after reading a lot of info about how to do this properly, I bit the bullet and went ahead with the project.

I got the bag made up at Austral Canvas in Beverly, South Australia using heavy duty canvas with seat belt straps and big "D" rings to take the load.

It currently holds one of the folding bikes, a big asymetric spinnaker (drifter) and an inflatable kayak.  The other kayak and bike are still in the rear lazarette.

Folding Wichard pad-eyes take the aft and side loads.
The aft pad-eyes are on the top of the cabin trunk.

The forward tie down is attached inside the anchor well under the
teak grating.  The eye sits inside the rope channel.

Another view of the deck storage bag.

Location: Drummoyne NSW, Australia
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Swinging in Bantry Bay

Well, swinging on a mooring..

View from the steep track on the Eastern side of the bay

There are about 7 courtesy (public) moorings here and it's lovely!

It's in Middle Harbour, basically north west of Sydney heads and through the "Spit Bridge".  It's a really nice spot reminiscent of Broken Bay with deep channels between steep hills in a national park.

We're here for a couple of days then back to Drummoyne for a while before heading back to Adelaide.

Another view from the Bay Track the following day

And a view from a rock ledge at the head of the bay

Loving it :-)

Location: Bantry Bay, NSW
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