Antipodean Boats Connection

[johnno]

DUNCAN!!! Where's your thread on Looe and the trip up from Sydney? Shake a leg sunshine, you've been back for two days now!!

Okay, so I've researched it, I've listened to the videos of Cornish miners talking and it's pronounced Loo, but you can count on me NOT to be mentioning phrases about Duncan 'being on the loo', 'fixing the leak in the loo', 'Dunny's on the dunny' or any other childish humour of that nature.

Being the mature fellow that I am, I'll leave that to others...

[Duncan Gibbs]

DUNCAN!!! Where's your thread on Looe and the trip up from Sydney? Shake a leg sunshine, you've been back for two days now!!

Ian's right! Not to mention going straight back to work yesterday (yereeeek!!) and today. (And tomorrow).

Plus, last night, I was pumping the bilge of all the fresh water that we'd collected along the way as well as paying M2 and M7 tolls (what a nightmare!).

I really want to take some shots of the inside, but haven't had a chance yet. I'll start up a thread in B&R tonight with a condensed take on how we got the offer to own her, get her out of the drink and haul her up here for those who don't like wading through the Finnigan's Wake of Oz Connection.

Tweedriverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of Pittwater shore and bend of Port Stephens bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of ricirculation back to Languishing Heights and Murwillumbah Environs... With a Dragon!

[PeterSibley]

Okay, so I've researched it, I've listened to the videos of Cornish miners talking and it's pronounced Loo, but you can count on me NOT to be mentioning phrases about Duncan 'being on the loo', 'fixing the leak in the loo', 'Dunny's on the dunny' or any other childish humour of that nature.

Being the mature fellow that I am, I'll leave that to others...

[Phil Y]

Thats a wee bit silly. if we are not careful Dunc will get the ****es with us.

[The Bigfella]

What on earth were you doing on the M2 and M7?

[The Bigfella]

M2 and M7? Why? Remind me to do the navigating if we go sailing

[johnno]

I'll start up a thread in B&R tonight with a condensed take on how we got the offer to own her, get her out of the drink and haul her up here for those who don't like wading through the Finnigan's Wake of Oz Connection.

Duncan, really looking forward to this, and to more pics! Know you've been flat strap, probably just at a time when you wanted to be somewhere else entirely. I'm out tonight, but will read it through when i get home.

[Duncan Gibbs]

M2 and M7? Why? Remind me to do the navigating if we go sailing

The most direct route to the trailer out in Richmond: Off the Pac Freeway, onto Pennant Hills Road, then the M2, M7 straight onto Richmond Road, and up to Llandilo Road. Back the same way, but on a bit further to Lane Cove Road/Mona Vale Road to Newport.

That's why!

[RFNK]

Ah, now I understand the delay! You should have picked up the boat after you picked up the trailer. Then crossed over the M3, bypassing the D6 and winding up in the VO5. Cheaper and more practical.

Rick

[PeterSibley]

I'll drop over for a butchers in a few days Dunc .... when you're a little more relaxed !

[Duncan Gibbs]

I actually may need to use that block and chain on Saturday Peter. You don't have two perchance?

[Duncan Gibbs]

Ah, now I understand the delay! You should have picked up the boat after you picked up the trailer. Then crossed over the M3, bypassing the D6 and winding up in the VO5. Cheaper and more practical.

Rick

Pay attention in the back of the class there! You'll be making the same journey in a few weeks time!

[RFNK]

No, I'll go via the C4

Rick

[PeterSibley]

I actually may need to use that block and chain on Saturday Peter. You don't have two perchance?

I have one here which you are welcome to borrow .... I could drop it off one Saturday morning as we are going past your way.

[skuthorp]

No, I'll go via the C4

Rick

Gently.....gently...........

[The Bigfella]

Long Way Round Dunc....

[WX]

Long Way Round Dunc....

Come on Ian you've seen how Duncan transports trusses, that lad likes a challenge!

[The Bigfella]

Its bloody freezing here. I've got my warmest gear on... a Wallabies guernsey... and it isn't cutting the mustard. I'm going to hit the sack early and hide under the blankets. Who'd have thought you'd need blankets in Java?

[PeterSibley]

This is very Miscellaneous and will probably fail the Boat Related test but for a really good online map , much better definition than Google try this one .http://www.nearmap.com/

[Portland]

Jeez , I'm glad I took HS out yesterday !.
My wife and I decided to go down and have a look at the Endeavour replica today , but the trawler wharf was just swamped with busloads of visitors , we gave it a miss.
And the boatramp area is overrun with slickers , it would be very difficult to get a park there either , if I wanted to tender out to HS.
So , I reckon about Wednesday , before I'll go near the harbour again , although I'm on CG duty on Monday.
Sunday , its our 40th wedding anniversary.
A few days gardening , it looks like.
Rob J.

[Larks]

This is very Miscellaneous and will probably fail the Boat Related test but for a really good online map , much better definition than Google try this one .http://www.nearmap.com/

Much more current and regularly updated satellite images than Google Earth as well.

[Duncan S]

Well this seems as good a place as any to stick a few grainy old snapshots I came across a couple of days ago. So excuse me for butting in but I thought you guys might like to see some of this. In my distant youth I spent a very enjoyable year in Oz boat building.

At the end of 1979 having finished joinery apprenticeship and being entitled to tradesman’s wages I get laid off. (Par for the course at the time) I decided that I would take what would be called a gap year nowadays but back then it was called bumming round the world. By the time I made it down under one year had become 3 and it was 1983. (I think)

I stepped off the plane in a poor state having been drinking most of the way inc. an 18 hour stopover – well boys will be boys! It was Friday morning and my mate picked me up. The pub was on my mind but he had other ideas “Are you going to work here? I know a guy looking for a carpenter/boat builder.We are on the way to see him now!” I don’t remember the interview except I was told to sober up, get some sleep be back at the yard 5.30am Monday, if I was any good and got stuck into the work I had a job! I knew right then ‘I’m going to like Australia.’ I should add I did have boat building experience by now having built a 30ft yacht on the roof of a block of flats in Hong Kong but that’s a story for another time.

I was a good boy and with 48 hours sleep behind me, I turned up at the new employment which was in a mast making factory in north Sydney. The job in an area set aside from mast making was to build the hull of a 46? foot cruising yacht epoxy construction. It had to all be done in 9 months because the mast people wanted their space back. Here she is in the early stages.



This for me was all exiting stuff but my employer this was just bread and butter. His real passion was 5.5 meter boats. He not only built them but designed them too.





It’s getting late, I dont stay up on 48 hour sessions any more be it computer or drinkiing so will continue this in a couple of days.

[RFNK]

That's great Duncan! Don't worry, all except whingers are very welcome here!

Rick

[purri]

Looks like Pittwater to me.

[Larks]

I like this story already Duncan, keep it coming please mate!!!! Which yard is it?

[Duncan Gibbs]

Looks like Pittwater to me.

The eastern side of the RPAYC to be precise: We hauled Looe out at the white looking shed directly above the wharf in the foreground on Monday!

Duncanesque!

[purri]

Remember I usta work around the traps. BTW there is a shippies cultural divide that starts abt Brookvale and certainly at the bottom end of Pittwater. Only worked once "above ze bends". Owners around there were "bunchawankers". Carl Gonsalves has soldiered on for many years and I wonder how he is coping with the second wave of arrivistes, poor fella!

[RFNK]

Is that photo in Pittwater? I'd have guessed somewhere in Middle Harbour or Mosman.

Rick

[Duncan Gibbs]

Is that photo in Pittwater? I'd have guessed somewhere in Middle Harbour or Mosman.

Rick

There's a clue carefully disguised on the spray guards of the centre console scow/barge just tied up behind.

[RFNK]

Hmm, what's that RPAYC workboat doing in Middle Harbour?

Rick

[Duncan S]

Remember I usta work around the traps. BTW there is a shippies cultural divide that starts abt Brookvale and certainly at the bottom end of Pittwater. Only worked once "above ze bends". Owners around there were "bunchawankers". Carl Gonsalves has soldiered on for many years and I wonder how he is coping with the second wave of arrivistes, poor fella!

Wot ye say? After almost 30 years I don’t understand Aussi anymore!

Pittwater it is then --- I aint got a clue.

The boatbuilder I was working for was Warren Muir. The Yard was as I said just an area of a mast making factory would it be Zap spar? In Brookville? An industrial area not on the waterside. They were building masts right beside us and we had our tea with the mast workers.

As you can see from the pic in the last post and this below the frames are all laminated that dam boat must have had a small fortune in epoxy in it. I remember the smelly rubber gloves we used to wear.



To start with just Warren and I were working on it. I got to like him, a quiet man who really knew his stuff. He did however like to stay at ground level so it was always me who ended up on the keel of the boat high up in the factory roof where the heat was awful. That is why we started so early in the morning. After some time he took on another guy so from that point on I don’t think he ever left the floor with his 2 monkeys to do all the climbing up. Here you can get an idea of things




This was going to be a beautiful boat I can’t remember the designer or the owner who commissioned it. I think he was a sail maker. Anyway I don’t think Warren’s heart was really in it. Building a boat this size epoxy construction can be a laborious process.

One morning a very perky Warren came in to announce he had a new commission to build a 5.5 Meter racing yacht to his own design. He was obviously delighted! He and I were to build it and the new guy was to stay on the cruising yacht with my help when needed.
He couldn’t wait to get started and we would work all hours to get it done because needless to say there was a deadline to meet.

The deadline is of course the crux of what makes professional boat building ‘work’ and building for your self such a pleasure. and why you should never ask the launch date!

Here’s the 5.5M under way.





More sometime soon.

[m2c1Iw]

Hi Duncan,
Thanks for posting this piece of history, really interesting.

BTW I have trouble following purri at times too and my future Irish son in law who has been out here a few years now but still baffles me. I don't think that means I'm slow but you never know.

Keep them coming.

Cheers
Mike

[Larks]

Wot ye say? After almost 30 years I don’t understand Aussi anymore!

Don't worry mate, we all have difficulty understanding Rick (Purri) a lot of the time, he delights in being obscure.

[PeterSibley]

Not only does he delight in it, he's very good at it !

[purri]

Brookvale is adjacent to the first northern Sydney beach suburb of Manly ( South Steyne/North Steyne). Can be a real sweatpit in summer before the sea breeze kicks in. BTW I agree with the sentiment of a professional build, the deadline is a real killer.

[WX]

Ah bliss, just had a day on Moreton Bay. Across to the sand dunes on Moreton Island. Not a lot of wind but a glorious day and maximum helm time.

[WX]

Just a couple of shots.
Flying the MPS.

At anchor for lunch at the sand dunes on Moreton Island.

Had no wind worth mentioning going over and it supposed to pick up to 10-15 knots in the afternoon but it didn't. With the Main and the MPS the best speed we did going back was around 5 knots. Saw a few Dolphins and possibly a Dugong. I was very pleased with my pilotage on the way back but blotted my copybook by trying to motor into the wrong part of the marina. Bloody place is always changing.

[The Bigfella]

That's OK... I charged flat out up a one way street today - the wrong way.

[WX]

Kerry won't be at the EBS, she's going to listen to live music at the pub instead.

[The Bigfella]

I got licence checked for the first time today... block stoppage of bikes. One cop was going to wave me through, but I showed him I had my International licence. They are fabulous with my bike... they all nod and smile.... so far

[RFNK]

OK, are there going to be any partners at the EBS? A certain person needs to know!

Rick

[PeterSibley]

Carol will be there as will my 2 granddaughters .My daughter ? Perhaps .

[johnno]

OK, are there going to be any partners at the EBS? A certain person needs to know!

Rick

There on my own this time...

[Duncan Gibbs]

As far as I know Greg and Kate will be there.

Rick, David mentioned he may have some acrow threads he didn't want/need when Simon and I stayed on the way back up?

I've got Looe well propped and supported now, but it won't be the best arrangement for when we start working on the outside of the hull. Could you possibly ask him to see if that's still a possibility?

[RFNK]

I'll find out and let you know. He knows where there's a pile of them rusting away and I asked him if we could take some of them for you a while ago but he said the owner still wanted them, so maybe there are others. Anyway, I'll find out and if there are, I'll bring them up.

Rick

[WX]

I've been using a 2D CAD program called Qcad to design my timber cradle. It's been helpful so far.

[johnno]

when we start working on the outside of the hull.

Duncan, I lost the whole story somewhere..who ended up being the final owners of your project? Is it still 'the syndicate'?

[Portland]

C G 1 7 Portland may be on TV this evening , after interviews by the ABC and Prime , following a big rescue yesterday.
The very grateful owner rang in today before he headed back to Melbourne , and asked me where he could leave a couple of slabs for his rescuers.
He was 30 NM south of Portland , when his engine seized , and V F 1 7 had great difficulty communicating with him , on his 27 meg radio.
But with a relay from a charter boat operator , V F 1 7 got C G 1 7 out to him , and then the long tow back.
He was a very grateful chappy.
Rob J.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Duncan, I lost the whole story somewhere..who ended up being the final owners of your project? Is it still 'the syndicate'?

It does sound like I've taken on airs and graces... "when we start..."

The syndicate still exists, although I think I'll be the one doing most of the work. I'm 'officially' the owner on the NSW registration documents.

[Portland]

It looks like we will be escorting the Endeavour replica out tomorrow morning .
Whether she just anchors out in the bay , or actually sails will depend on the winds.
Rob J.