Antipodean Boats Connection

[WX]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-0...s-lost/7075404
Some impressive photos.

[WX]

People forget Rob. Many of the old houses around here are high set because it floods. You get a few comparatively dry years and before you know it they've closed it all in and built rooms. And new people have never experienced a serious fire up close so have no idea. I can remember once reading the phone book by the light of the bushfire outside the house. I was organising for a dozer to help us out lower down the spur around dawn...we'd started backburning around 11 at night.

[Phil Y]

We have a few spare 200 litre wheelie bins we fill with water in bad fire weather. Never used in anger yet, but easily moved around, and nice to have.

[WX]

How can you forget something like this ?.
It happens every summer , especially in the southern areas.
When was the last big fire in WA , a month ago ?.
Some people get the grey matter working , some can't be bothered.
Rob J.

Just spoke to my brother, he lives at Dawesville. He was telling me they ran a mini Dunkirk from Preston Beach. Also a hell of a lot of people are not happy that they couldn't get to their properties to try and save them. The cops road blocked all access. Both highways south are cut with the only way south being via Albany Highway. 120 homes all up have been lost and 50,000 hectares burnt out.

[WX]

After Ash Wednesday the Police blocked access to Macedon and Mt Macedon.
The locals knew how to get in on back roads , but the roadblock kept out the rubbernecks , and the thieves , to a certain extent.
But yes , there is going to have to be "community consultation" on fire access , and preparedness.
The Police get blasted , whichever way they go.
I rememeber after a trek in the Sthn X area , we noted how dry the bush was.
Not long after , there was a fire in a park along the Eyre Highway. The Police set up roadblocks , but a convoy of heavy haulage trucks talked their way through it.
There was a wind change , and the fire ran down the convoy.
There were 4 burnt to death , and others badly injured.
If the Police had let these people through yesterday , what would have happened ?.
Its something they will have to sort out.
Rob J.

Given the ferocity of the fire I'd say there would have been a few cremations.

[PeterSibley]

One of these is one my short list.

[PeterSibley]

These ones are Yanmar clones Rob, well according to the bloke who was just rebuilding my Yanmar pump but decided it wasn't worth it. He said buy one for firefighting duty. I'll set it up on my 9000 litre rain water tank with a commercial firehose and reel from the demo yards.

[Larks]

These ones are Yanmar clones Rob, well according to the bloke who was just rebuilding my Yanmar pump but decided it wasn't worth it. He said buy one for firefighting duty. I'll set it up on my 9000 litre rain water tank with a commercial firehose and reel from the demo yards.

any idea of the price Peter, and what sort of lift capacity it might have? I bought a portable 4 stroke "fire pump" from Bunnings when we moved up here with the plan to use it to pump from the dam, but it has turned out to be useless as a lift pump in any capacity, so I set it up at the base of a 1000ltr cube (ex epoxy resin cube from Azzura) on an old trailer and it's marginally useful on that....so I've been thinking of looking for a diesel one for a while.

[PeterSibley]

I don't Greg, that might be worth a phone call or two. I'll just be pumping from right next to a tank and down hill at that. I think you're looking at a multistage impeller for lift.

Price for the firefighter diesel 7hp is around $600 IIRC.

As an aside the pump I use to pump from the dam to the house, a 20 m lift, is a $105 Aldi electric pump and it does as good a job and fills the tank as fast as the $750 Davey electric it replaced. It's been going 7 years now and would have pumped around 1.2 million litres and going strong.

[brucemoffatt]

In a change of subject, I did a paddle in the kayak today of 11 NM, a bit over 20 Km. Elapsed time 3.5 hours. Corrected to remove 30 mins force rest at 10 Km, results in 3.7 knots (near enough) average speed, 4.1 knots max. I'm a bit achy breaky all over just now...

[MattSplatt]

:-) Sounds good, Bruce.

I did a little bit of paddling on the SUP this arvo. Not quite as epic, though. Only a few hundred metres, repeated three times with a different child as passenger each time. They all wanted to be ferried out to say hello to the kids they could see on a cruising boat anchored off the beach at Mooloolaba. It was very pleasant to be bobbing around on the water at sunset, though.

[RFNK]

Me too. I got a GRP kayak last year (Tasman umm ... 19) and tried it out yesterday. I went with the brother in-law who has a super lightweight Fenn thing. We did 14 km at a fairly quick pace but stopped twice - once to chat to David at his place and once at Lemon Tree for coffee. I'm very happy with the kayak. Comfortable and seems to get along okay.

Rick

[RFNK]

We FINALLY have the house to ourselves again so I'll try to post some pictures from the Tasmania trip.

Rick

[Larks]

No kayaking, SUP'ing (other than on a James Squire Golden Ale right now) and no water activities - but sorting through my timber stash and trying to work out just what I have in there and where I'll use it. Aside from the big planks of mahogany, beech, bluegum and something ???, I have an absolute swag of teak, a good amount of mahogany trim, a whole heap of something that looks just like teak but without the distinctive smell - perhaps blackwood/Sally Wattle???, some amoora (?), cherry, beech and lots of "not really sure what" - some possibly mahogany, some possibly PNG rosewood......

I'd thought I might use some of the large amount of Oregon (that I have left over from the house build) for the H28 fit out framing (cockpit, bunks etc), but now I'm wondering if I might have enough sally wattle (if that's what it is) to do the job - any thoughts on this guys/gal?

[PeterSibley]

If the sally is colour consistent it's lovely stuff but check the boards as unless it's Tassy blackwood expect variation.... at least that;s what I found with local trees. It's a lot harder than say, qld cedar so it's harder to do really close joiner work with but the colour is great!

Your teak lookalike might be crows ash? It's very similar.

[MattSplatt]

Let me know if all that teak is a burden. I could help out.

[PeterSibley]

Yep, that's a great stash!

[Larks]

If the sally is colour consistent it's lovely stuff but check the boards as unless it's Tassy blackwood expect variation.... at least that;s what I found with local trees. It's a lot harder than say, qld cedar so it's harder to do really close joiner work with but the colour is great!

Your teak lookalike might be crows ash? It's very similar.

I wondered that Peter, but the crows ash that you gave me has a wonderful linseed oil type smell when cut, this has no real smell at all

[Larks]

Let me know if all that teak is a burden. I could help out.

It's a burden Matt, but I'll cope....

[skuthorp]

Haven't managed a paddle for about a month myself and I'm having withdrawal symptoms. OTOH I have gotten the shed almost sorted. Several trailer loads of sorted to the tip. And that's without the tools such as a box of wooden planes that need some attention, saws, half a dozen hammers, a whole ammo box of metal files………………. A stall at the local market coming up to find some new homes. Ridiculous prices are asked, but I'll not be 'pre-selling' to other dealers before the market opens so I expect the stock to go to new homes easily. I had so much stuff there was practically no working space, the legacy of the previous owner, several inherited tool batches and just a propensity to collect.

[brucemoffatt]

No kayaking, SUP'ing (other than on a James Squire Golden Ale right now)

Good choice! I had a Coopers Dr Tim's. I can SUP that, but I've never tried those big stand-up board things, although after yesterday I could be tempted.

[RFNK]

Tasmanian blackwood is heavy and fairly poisonous to work with. PNG rosewood has such a distinctive smell I think I could pick it from over the road. I wouldn't use oregon on a boat unless it's the old, close-grained stuff. PNG rosewood is particularly good for boat trim - nearly as good as teak.

Time to take the TS 16 for a run Greg!

Rick

[Phil Y]

Stumbled upon a thread called Becoming a Boat over in building and repair. Fellow setting up shop building strip canoes. Interesting approach. Nice boats.

[brucemoffatt]

Haven't managed a paddle for about a month myself and I'm having withdrawal symptoms.

Just for you, Jeff. I took a little bit of video of the trip yesterday including some very wide angle of a couple of sea lions playing in the shallows. Almost visible. I was going to do my usual thing and record a spectacular audio track for it. I was thinking La Bikina, in a Mariachi style, with ukulele, but then I realised: 1. I don't know how to play Mariachi style ukulele; 2. I can't speak Spanish; and 3. I don't actually know how La Bikina goes. So then I though Clapton's Cocaine, but the riff doesn't really suit the uke. Never mind, the thought was there.

[Phil Y]

I think I may have tracked down Balias younger sister, Kallista. I had stumbled across her ages ago, in a posting somewhere indicating that she was on the way from Victoria to Adelaide but nothing since then. And here she is for sale, with a few pictures and details. I have messaged her owner, and hoping to go have a look at her. Fingers crossed.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/seavi...awl/1100041040

[Larks]

Are you wanting a second one??? Or just one for spare parts? Rental car business must be booming! Looks like this one may be missing the heavy ring framing that you have.

[Phil Y]

Are you wanting a second one??? Or just one for spare parts? Rental car business must be booming! Looks like this one may be missing the heavy ring framing that you have.

Haha, no. One is enough. Her construction is obviously different, being steel and aluminium. Id be interested to look at her interior and rig. She has a wishbone boom arrangement, which was the original design. I see she has 2 wheels, one in the wheelhouse and one in the cockpit. The wheelhouse also looks a bit more modern than mine, and perhaps more appealing. Might be something to think about when I redo the deck.

[RFNK]

Haha, no. One is enough. Her construction is obviously different, being steel and aluminium. Id be interested to look at her interior and rig. She has a wishbone boom arrangement, which was the original design. I see she has 2 wheels, one in the wheelhouse and one in the cockpit. The wheelhouse also looks a bit more modern than mine, and perhaps more appealing. Might be something to think about when I redo the deck.

Got some interesting features - self-tailoring winches (beats having to buy those little covers) and the double berth has the shower and toilet in it (think I'd prefer privacy). Not sure that I'd want extensive refrigeration either!

Looks good though! I wonder if it also has twin keels?

When do you leave for Tas Phil?

Rick

[PeterSibley]

They wouldn't have known anything Rob, not good but gentle.

[PeterSibley]

CO is another big killer, gas heaters in caravans . You'd think everyone would know but we humans are a funny lot, memory is a slippery thing .... a lost a mate to CO once. His Dad, he and 2 brothers all died within ten minutes of each other pumping out an underground tank with a petrol firefighter pump. I think I told the story once before .

I know he knew, we'd both done CO poisoning 3 months before on a TAFE welding course, but in the heat of the situation he forgot and they all died.

[WX]

We have five yachts ready to go at seven am tomorrow. 15 - 20 kts predicted for tomorrow, hopefully a little less in the morning as it will be on the nose.

[Phil Y]

Got some interesting features - self-tailoring winches (beats having to buy those little covers) and the double berth has the shower and toilet in it (think I'd prefer privacy). Not sure that I'd want extensive refrigeration either!

Looks good though! I wonder if it also has twin keels?

When do you leave for Tas Phil?

Rick

I'm heading across on the ferry Sunday with Felicity and my youngest two boys to slip the boat and attack a list of jobs. Then back home early Feb. then we fly down on the 23rd I think to sail back to Adelaide. And yes I think that one also has the twin keels.

[Phil Y]

Seems it was lucky that there were not 4 dead.
Rob J.

IIRC Kay Cottee almost died from a petrol powered genset, which developed an exhaust leak. Only recovered because the fuel ran dry.

[Phil Y]

We have five yachts ready to go at seven am tomorrow. 15 - 20 kts predicted for tomorrow, hopefully a little less in the morning as it will be on the nose.

Fair winds and gentle seas!

[Phil Y]

And on the topic of our trip to Tassie, I am of the attitude that any money spent on anything other than the boat, is essentially wasted. We are driving across on Friday this week, and sailing on the ferry on the Sunday day sailing. Felicity is catching up with an old friend who is also visiting Melbourne on Saturday while I check out a used inflatable dinghy on the Mornington Peninsula.

Which leaves us us looking for a place to roll out 4 swags on Friday or Saturday night. Friday night could be either in or within a couple hundred km of Melbourne, Saturday in Melbourne would be ideal, for access to the ferry. But anywhere within cooee will do.

Seriously we are happy with just swagging it, don't even need floor space, just a patch of grass. Maybe a shower.

(We had arranged to stay with a nephew but it turns out his flatmate has double booked the lounge room floor in their apartment, so we've been chucked out of there)