Antipodean Boats Connection

[RFNK]

Thanks Mike, and sorry to hear of your concerns. It's probably die cast so I'd replace the whole bracket.

Rick

[PeterSibley]

Outboards can bring such stress to a relationship.

[Portland]

Mike , now that you are aware of the flaw of the old mount , time to get rid of it , and get a new one .
Regards Rob J.

[m2c1Iw]

Mike , now that you are aware of the flaw of the old mount , time to get rid of it , and get a new one .
Regards Rob J.

Sometimes "no comment" is wise.

[Larks]

I hate a flawed mount!!!

[johnno]

Sounds to me like her inboard is causing as many problems as his outboard....

[WX]

Rob it is quite dry here now though there are no fire bans, yet. Fires tend to burn fast up hill but burn slow downhill, giving us time to organise backburns and breaks. I have heard that back in the 50s and earlier that fires had jumped ridges etc but I never seen a fire do that here in 35 years. There is a LOT of fuel around after two and half very wet years...so I am sure it will be interesting if anyone gets careless.

[Portland]

Gary , history is a great teacher , but the future , hmm , what if you had a 10 year drought , like what we had ?.Climate change , and all that.
And I know of fireballs travelling several KMs , and landing in a homestead area , which included a dried up peat flat , that burned for 3 years.
After Ash Wednesday I got up on the roof and took down several buckets of "incenderies " that had landed on the roof , and since it was almost flat , with large ribs , they hadn't rolled off.
They were all hardwood , and the hardwood forest was at least 3kms away , we were surrounded by pine plantations .
People being careless is one thing , but people with evil intent is entirely another thing.
I'd have a yarn with the local fire service , see what they have to say.
Talking of fire services , after all of the bad press the CFA has been getting with the Fiskville debacle (I've been there twice , training) I got a letter the other day from the CFA congratulating me on being a senior firefighter !! , dunno what that is all about , just 'cos I joined 40 years ago !.
I treat fire with the respect it deserves.
The last few days it has been my servant , next summer , maybe it will be pressing to be my master !.
Regards Rob J.

[WX]

Gary , history is a great teacher , but the future , hmm , what if you had a 10 year drought , like what we had ?.Climate change , and all that.
And I know of fireballs travelling several KMs , and landing in a homestead area , which included a dried up peat flat , that burned for 3 years.
After Ash Wednesday I got up on the roof and took down several buckets of "incenderies " that had landed on the roof , and since it was almost flat , with large ribs , they hadn't rolled off.
They were all hardwood , and the hardwood forest was at least 3kms away , we were surrounded by pine plantations .
People being careless is one thing , but people with evil intent is entirely another thing.
I'd have a yarn with the local fire service , see what they have to say.
Talking of fire services , after all of the bad press the CFA has been getting with the Fiskville debacle (I've been there twice , training) I got a letter the other day from the CFA congratulating me on being a senior firefighter !! , dunno what that is all about , just 'cos I joined 40 years ago !.
I treat fire with the respect it deserves.
The last few days it has been my servant , next summer , maybe it will be pressing to be my master !.
Regards Rob J.

I did tonight at the pub, that's how I know there's no fire ban.
I've fought a number of fires here over the years and they have all come from the same direction. One could come from behind me but it would be a down hill burn. A ten year drought would leave this area barren and devoid of life...almost. Any annual rainfall under 850mm is a drought here...the trees on the ridges start to stress and die.

[skuthorp]

When we made the decision to live here Rob we were aware of the risks, and even the probability of fire. I have lived in wooded country on and off since my very early years. There is black humour here to the point that if we have a fire it better be at low tide. There are not many 'safe' areas other than the beach.
I don't think that people moving to the fringes of a big city are aware of how close the risk is to them. Five foot grass just over the paling fence. The lower end of the Mornington Peninsula is a tinderbox by late summer and when we had a house in Sorrento there were weekends we kept away because there is nowhere to go if a blaze comes before a northerly.

[Portland]

Gary , do you get a late wind change there ?.
We do here , and on Ash Wednesday it was the wind change , late in the day that did the most damage .
And I was almost caught on the ground myself earlier than that , by a wind change fighting a fire on Roy Higgins place.
It was only that I was training as a runner then that saved me , when our fire flank suddenly become the front , and I had to run like hell to catch the truck , before it drove through the wall of flame.
One thing that really "p---d me off in that video was the stupidity of a lot of the people , how more weren't killed astounds me .
But you know your own places , as I am learning this one , and have a plan , in the case of fire.
Regards Rob J.

[WX]

Rob we get strong gusting winds around this time of year (July/August). If we are going to get a fire it will generally be in Spring and it's usually caused by someone doing a hazard reduction burn. Our last one was caused by a nieghbour burning a pile of old wood on a windy day. The fire got away uphill and burnt through his waterline so he couldn't put it out. It kept us busy for 3-4 days. it only took a few hours to get to the ridge top but it took days before it burnt far enough back down the spurs to threaten any homes. Even then it was just a process of clear a 2 metre firebreak and back burn just ahead of the fire.

[Portland]

I have just done my fuel reduction burn , between rain storms , its absolutely p-----g down now.
I hope your neighbour was suitably chastised , for the timing of his fuel reduction burn.
Rob J.

[skuthorp]

Our CFA engine got bogged when it broke through the gravel drive between the bitumen road and their concrete apron.

[Portland]

Which reminds me.
Did you see that CFA truck get stuck last summer near Geelong , and burn ?.
I don't think he would get driving duties again.
A brand new very expensive tanker , and he put it in to the ditch square on , and got stuck , and burnt.
Looking out my window now I can see a fair bit of flooding , and somehow I've got to drag a wheelbarrow through that , to feed the horses !.
I wish I still had my old Percheron work horse , she could drag the sled though it easily.
Rob J.

[WX]

I have just done my fuel reduction burn , between rain storms , its absolutely p-----g down now.
I hope your neighbour was suitably chastised , for the timing of his fuel reduction burn.
Rob J.

He was almost suicidal, he nearly got hit by at least 2 falling trees while fighting the fire and those were just the ones I saw.

[Portland]

Gary , it sounds like a nightmare , if you ever do get a big fire . Why were the trees falling , are they rotton , or did they burn through that quickly ?. Either way , it doesn't sound good.
Rob J.

[Portland]

I've got out there and fed the horses , gawd , its a shocker of a day , horizontal rain , and that wind straight from the Antartic .
I managed to pick a track through the water that wasn't over gumboot hight , but only just.
I'll be glad when this blows over.
Can't imagine being on the big water in it .
Rob J.

[RFNK]

Heads up:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Wadkin-Ta...7#ht_500wt_922

Rick

[PeterSibley]

Wow !! a real one ! 16" and 10hp?

[RFNK]

How'd you work that out? I can barely read the label!

Rick

[RFNK]

Sliding table - great saw!

Rick

[PeterSibley]

The sliding table was an option on a few of their saws , even my 10 /12" model. It might be the 20" instead , it's hard to scale it .http://www.wadkin.com/uploads/files/...rts%20List.pdf

[skuthorp]

I would have detoured to Sydney for that!
Bad weather hasn't hit us yet, lots of wind but still just a few sprinkles. But we are supposed to get it tonight. Snowed all day just a hundred K north of here.

[PeterSibley]

I had my Wadkin shipped from Melbourne to here for $170 Jeff.

[PeterSibley]

A wind has just sprung up from somewhere , gusting 45km I'd say.

[Portland]

http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/vic_west.asp .
Check out today , 40 knots 6 metre seas , and an inch and a half of horizontal ice.
Rob J.

[WX]

Gary , it sounds like a nightmare , if you ever do get a big fire . Why were the trees falling , are they rotton , or did they burn through that quickly ?. Either way , it doesn't sound good.
Rob J.

Mostly Casurinas, they tend to burn well.later and for a couple of weeks after the fire it wasn't safe to bushwalk. There was stuff coming down all over the place and some of it was BIG. the old trees usually had pipes up the middle and you know how they burn when they get going. I reckon we lost a lot of old habitat trees in that fire.

[Larks]

Peter, I don't have my Bootle's here with me, but what do you think of Sheoak for a tiller? I gather it's used for axe and hammer handles and should look quite nice.....????

[WX]

Nothing like standing on the side of forested slope at 11.30 at night minding a firebreak and hearing a big tree coming down close by...and not knowing where exactly. It missed us by about 40 feet.

[skuthorp]

I know that feeling Gary, seeing trees being uprooted and sucked up into the smoke on a steep slope attempting a back burn. I was too young, too busy staying on my feet and breathing to be properly scared I think.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Peter, I don't have my Bootle's here with me, but what do you think of Sheoak for a tiller? I gather it's used for axe and hammer handles and should look quite nice.....????

Bootles doesn't make any mention of impact tool handles, although it lists some pretty impressive figures in the strength tables for Rose Sheoak (Allocasuarina torulosa). River Sheoak isn't nearly as strong, so be aware of which species you're using for such an application.

[Portland]

I was amazed at the damage the Ash Wednesday very hot burn had on the environment.
I'd done 10 years of fire fighting till then , but nothing compared to the damage the Ash Wednesday fire did.
Native trees that had evolved to quickly regrow after a fire were just killed outright , and the soil itself burnt.
I was doing part time gardening up on the mount , and had the chance to watch the bush evolve , after the fire.
Weeds took over , weeds that I had never seen there before , because everything else was killed.
I think most of the Mountain was replanted , by hand.
But the understory was gone , it had changed forever.
Rob J.

[Larks]

Bootles doesn't make any mention of impact tool handles, although it lists some pretty impressive figures in the strength tables for Rose Sheoak (Allocasuarina torulosa). River Sheoak isn't nearly as strong, so be aware of which species you're using for such an application.

Duncan, this one is native to WA: Casuarina fraserana,

[WX]

I visited Kinglake 2 years after the fire and was horrified by what I saw...ridge after ridge of dead twisted trunks.
Looks like I've sold the Navico Wheelpilot to a Dutch cruising couple in Sabah. They are of course cruising with a Junk rig.

[Portland]

We are planting a line of she oaks on our place , along our southern boundary .
I don't remember which one it is , but apparently it is good for soaking up spray drift , and that is what we are planting it for , to keep the neighbours "agent orange" off our place.
Rob J.

[PeterSibley]

Peter, I don't have my Bootle's here with me, but what do you think of Sheoak for a tiller? I gather it's used for axe and hammer handles and should look quite nice.....????

If you mean a WA sheoak, I think it would be very good, strong and resilient, but that's just hearsay as I've never seen it.

[skuthorp]

We have planted a stand of about 20 down on our southern boundary, Black, Nana and Swamp sheoaks and a few others rescued from various throw away piles in nurseries that have all recovered well.
The last big fires will have incinerated the seed bank in the ground in many places being so hot and you are right, it will never recover to be the same. I have seen the clay bank of a road that was fired like pottery in a kiln.

[Portland]

I'd have to check up which she oak we are getting , but it is actually advertised as a good shield for spray drift , which appeals to me.
But late last century my mothers family had a reunion , celebrating 150 years on their farm .
One of the things on display was a set of bagpipes laboriously made on the farm by a Scottish worker.The pipes were made of carved she-oak , and remained tight and sound .The tiny hinges he had made out of old hoop iron . The workmanship was incredible , just using whatever he could find around the farm.
My son played them , they were sharp and clear , and had the old Scots stirring.
I've put in a series of drainage channels here , and I'm planting trees either side of them , mostly boat building trees , but all are planted for a specific purpose.
At Macedon , I saved my house , but lost all of my shedding , and vegetable garden soil.All that was left of the garden was yellow powder , in a long ditch 18 inches deep.It took a lot of stable manure to rebuild it.
I had a collection of stained glass windows stacked up in the shed.
The pile of melted glass left was heartbreaking , but looking back incredibly poignant .
Rob J.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Greg WA Sheoak is lighter in M3 weight at 720kg than River Sheoak at 770kg, so I'd think that it will be weaker than that species, which is, in turn, half the strength of Rose Sheoak at 920kg per M3.

I'd be looking at either Rose Sheoak or another timber altogether. I'll be using a nice piece of White Mahogany for my tiller.

[PeterSibley]

Greg WA Sheoak is lighter in M3 weight at 720kg than River Sheoak at 770kg, so I'd think that it will be weaker than that species, which is, in turn, half the strength of Rose Sheoak at 920kg per M3.

I'd be looking at either Rose Sheoak or another timber altogether. I'll be using a nice piece of White Mahogany for my tiller.

This is all I've been able to find .http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/PC_92554.html?s=0

Western Australian sheoak - Allocasuarina fraseriana

Timber Advisory notes
Background information on characteristics 1 to 10

Species:	Allocasuarina fraseriana (Miq.) L. Johnson
Standard Trade Name:	Western Australian sheoak.
Common Names:	Sheoak
1. Size of tree / type of forest:	Western Australian sheoak is a medium-sized tree up to 15 m tall and 0.5 to 1 m in diameter at breast height. It occurs in the south-western corner of Western Australia in the coastal and hinterland region from Perth in the north to near Albany in the east, where it is an understorey species in the jarrah (E. marginata) forest. There is a small isolated population between Moora and Jurien Bay.
2. Wood description:	Heartwood dark-red to brown. Sapwood pale yellow. The texture is moderately fine and even and the medullary rays are prominent.

3. Wood density:
Green density:	Unavailable
Air-dry density:	About 730 kg/m3
Basic density:	About 620 kg/m3

4. Drying & shrinkage:	Tangential Shrinkage (%)	Radial Shrinkage (%)
Before reconditioning:	4.5	1.2
After reconditioning:	1.7	1.0

5. Workability:	Relatively easy to work.
6. Durability Class:	2
7. Strength Groups:	S6 and SD6.

8. Strength Properties:	Units	Green	Dry
Modulus of Rupture	MPa	-	98
Modulus of Elasticity	MPa	-	9 356
Max Crushing Strength	MPa	-	-
Hardness	kN	-	-

9. Uses:	Furniture, decorative woodware and turnery, roofing shingles, flooring and panelling. Until the advent of the aluminium cask it was a favoured species for beer barrels.
10. Availability:	Limited quantities are available in Western Australia.

Page reviewed 7 April, 2008

[purri]

White mahogany eh. Is that aka Brown Bolly?
And on the subject of sheoak. Also traditionally first named "Botany Bay Wood" as it was OZ colony's first export. Highly favoured by English cabinetmakers of the Georgian era.

[Larks]

I missed these posts this morning when I headed out to the mill in Ravenswood. I've ended up ordering a length of the WA sheoak and a leangth of lemon scented gum to play with. The sheoak should be more workeable and will have a nice finish, I grabbed a 20mm offcut to snap over my knee and it certainly "feels" strong enough for a tiller, considering that it will be about 50-55mm thick x from 60 to 80 mm along the guts of it.

The lemon scented gum is quite a bit tougher, more like jarrah, and has a very nice look but it might be a bit harder to tool considering that I only have my draw knife and spoke shave here to do the work of shaping and rounding the edges, though I should be able to find a local workshop to cut the rough shape on a band saw.

[WX]

Sitting outside around the brazer, looked up and thought,that's strange! To the West it looks like a new star formation, a perfect equilateral triangle...never seen it before.
I booted the netbook and loaded Stellarium which loaded with my settings...and there staring back at me was a perfect equilateral triangle.
It's Mars at the apex, Saturn to the right and Spica to the left. The colours are red, yellow and blue.
Go and have a look

[Portland]

Its cloudy and raining here.
Who was it that bought up the Morgan 3 wheeler a while back , Peter ?.
Have a listen to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjn-5...eature=related .
Regards Rob J.

[Duncan Gibbs]

White mahogany eh. Is that aka Brown Bolly?

Nah, Eucalyptus acmenoides. Interesting tidbit about our early timber export industry.

Greg, I think the destructive test is always the best!

[skuthorp]

Sitting about listening to Schubert's 4 last quartets, probably the zenith of his work.
Skiing tomorrow and maybe monday depending on what it's like weatherwise. I have all the gear but I think camping out in a blizzard just for the heck of it is in the past! Overcast, cold and windy here.

[PeterSibley]

Its cloudy and raining here.
Who was it that bought up the Morgan 3 wheeler a while back , Peter ?.
Have a listen to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjn-5...eature=related .
Regards Rob J.

Thanks Rob , what a lovely bit of gear !

I just came back from a nice run on my old BMW, she sounds pretty good too coming up the range .

[purri]

^ I finally collected my big twin sidevalve HD (rigid frame) and Murphy sidecar. Off for the big resto next week.

BTW James Craig was out off the beach yesterday in a spanking westerly. A fine sight for sure.

[PeterSibley]

Photos purri!~ before and after ... sometimes no resto is MUCH better !