Antipodean Boats Connection

[Phil Y]

Good stout rubbing strips would be nice, but they would rarely be in the right spot I suspect. Poor Balia now has a scar maybe 1cm wide, a couple of mm deep and 50 cm long at pontoon height on her starboard side. Its cracked right through her layer of glass sheathing. Still, nothing a bit of glass, epoxy and paint wont fix.

[PeterSibley]

A good save Bruce!

[RFNK]

That's always the problem! But strips at the widest point give you the option of turning around a post, at least, when the doo doo hits the fan.

But yes, paintwork and sheathing are easily repaired, unless you're an idiot with a professional, two-pack sprayed finish on your topsides .....

Rick

[brucemoffatt]

There was this moment. I had Phil's leg in my right hand. I had grabbed it as it came up in front of my face. Phil was leaning back like a Laser pilot on a nice reach. I couldn't convince my right hand to lower Phil's leg to bring his body back upright, so I held out my left hand. We were so close, right then, to both toppling into the wee. I pride myself in the knowledge that I didn't push Phil in to save myself. He makes good pies, after all. Somehow we both stayed dry and in good humour. I'm looking forward to the next exciting yachting adventure, hopefully with more of those pies!

sent from my nerdy phone app

[PeterSibley]

Pies ??? Now I understand ....

[brucemoffatt]

Oh yeah, I got a rashie today. It's Adrenalin brand to make me go faster. It's high vis blue so I can be spotted easily in the blue ocean... yeah, I don't get it either, but that's what it says. I'm expecting Short John any day now. Then my kayak.

sent from my nerdy phone app

[Phil Y]

That's always the problem! But strips at the widest point give you the option of turning around a post, at least, when the doo doo hits the fan.

But yes, paintwork and sheathing are easily repaired, unless you're an idiot with a professional, two-pack sprayed finish on your topsides .....

Rick

I do have those, but they were like that when I bought her, and are quite weathered and have a couple of repairs painted over in a slightly different shade of grey. What paint is good for longevity and repairability, by a total amateur who can neither brush, roll and tip, or spray a decent finish to save himself?

[PeterSibley]

Add 30% Penetrol then roll and tip. Even I can do it.

[Phil Y]

Pies ??? Now I understand ....

I bought a great little Sunbeam Pie Magic pie maker from the Hobart tip shop when I was down there. $4.00 Tasol. Like a toasted sandwich maker, but pie shaped. It's great. Make some pastry, spoon in some leftovers, or scrambled eggs and bacon or stewed apple or whatever, 7 minutes and you are in pie heaven.

[Phil Y]

Add 30% Penetrol then roll and tip. Even I can do it.

Add to what? It's not something I want to do every year really, so your basic oil based enamel is not really on my list. Balia was built in 1974 and has apparently had her top sides painted 3 times.

[PeterSibley]

In my humble opinion a good oil based gloss is the best paint available (+ 30% Penetrol). It was what was used by the pro painter who I prepped for at a yard in Brisbane.

[Phil Y]

Well I shall thank you for your opinion, but also wait to hear from others. Interesting that you suggest as much as 30% Penetrol. I'd never have thought to add quite that much. So I am slightly wiser anyway. Certainly for a carvel hull I'd be happy with a good oil based paint.

[brucemoffatt]

I have penetrol and you're welcome to grab some for experimentation purposes. I added it to the single pack PU on Romana. It rolled and tipped great. I used a marine grade PU for the hull and paving grade for the decks and soles. I'm ashamed to admit how long it has lasted so far, in the shed.

[MattSplatt]

Gloss enamel plus Penetrol is what was recommended to me by Peter Kerr (who is a professional shipwright and cares about longevity. He uses this on his own boat and customers' boats). I am utterly useless at painting with enamel because I go too slow. I was amazed at how good a result I got rolling & tipping that mix. I can't report on the longevity from personal experience but it came backed by a very solid recommendation. I used a Wattyl enamel and maybe 15% Penetrol, in warm weather.

[PeterSibley]

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...-(or-the-like)

[MattSplatt]

Also, I reckon the longevity of a top coat has more to do with the preparation of the substrate than the actual paint and method used for the top coat.

[WX]

Well we are all back on dry land. Ended up being me, Bruce and my youngest son Henry. I got to Balia to find sail covers off, hatches open and most sea cocks open, all ready to go to sea. Young Bruce had clearly arrived before me. Excellent fella that one. We spent a bit of time fiddling around with a new dock catching system before leaving the berth. It's a long way down from Balias deck to a marina pontoon. I had been greatly impressed by John Bs system which involved a spring line threaded through a length of PVC pipe, with which he could lassoo a special long hook thing he'd set up on his berth. I don't have the hook, but figured with something similar we could lassoo the cleat on the berth. Then there's also a stern line, attached to the loop on the end of the spring line, so you can manually haul the stern in if necessary. So we set all that up, had a couple of dummy runs just pulling forward gently on the berth, and it seemed to work well.

This was excellent, as getting 20 tonnes of boat safely into her berth is quite a stressful thing for me. I think with practice and the right systems it will be fine, and this system seems like a good step in the right direction.

So we then backed out of the berth, and headed up into the marina basin to check out Balias sister ship. That was all good, including a tight 3 point turn to get our nose pointing out again. Before heading out to sea we did a real live test on the berth catcher, which went without a hitch. Very smooth.

So, out we went, into a glassy calm sea. Bruce dropped a paravane out the back. Some dolphins came to play so he hauled that back in. Bruce got the coffee on. I very briefly unfurled the jib just because it would be wrong not to try to sail. There was no wind at all, not a breath. I turned the motor off for a while, and we just sat. And ate my bacon and egg pies. And tried out a new compass on the autopilot. Apparently the compass is not the problem. Then we headed back in. I approached the berth feeling reasonably confident, but probably went a bit slowly, and turned a bit late, and a bit of an incoming tide pushed us a bit past the berth. So instead of looping around I tried to come in with a bit of an S approach, with not much steerage way, and the current just making things worse. So we hit the corner of the berth a bit solidly, and then backed out, went around, came in at a proper angle. Bruce snagged the cleat beautifully with the new Berth Catcher and we pulled alongside with grace and elegance.

I hopped down onto the berth to inspect the damage to poor Balias top sides. It is significant. More a gouge than a scratch. Not to worry, easy fixed. I have to attend to a few cracks that are appearing in the top sides anyway. I went to have a look at the corner of the pontoon to see what did the damage. Grabbed a handy hand rail thing so I could lean out and get a good look. Except it wasnt a hand rail, it was a ladder which folds down into the water. Which is what it did when I grabbed it and leaned out over the water. So I got kind of horizontal over the water, hanging onto a folding ladder which offered no support, and managed to grab the stern line, which gave me some support. But I could see that failing to keep me out of the water as the boat pulled in closer to the berth due to my weight on the stern line. Luckily Bruce was there and he grabbed at one of my legs which was up in the air by now. And it was one of those moments where things were briefly stabilised, but it wasn't going to last long, and neither of us knew quite what to do next. I worked out the ladder wasn't doing me any good, so released it, and offered that hand to Bruce. He managed to grab my hand without letting go of my foot, and haul me away from the clutches of the icy depths.

All in all quite a good day out.

I'm having trouble visualizing that.

[brucemoffatt]

So, enough of boat posts. This is the ANTI-boatean thread after all. This evening my dearest joined me into the back of the truck. We had already put the back seats down, making a nice double bed sized flat space available for our purpose. We brought our pillows from our own bed, and gingerly clambered in, all giggly and shy, embarrassed that the neighbours might catch sight of us sneaking out to the truck like teenagers.

It appears, after a short but rigorous test, that we could, with the addition of a thin mattress and some sort of tent-like thing, use the truck for our planned short tour of Tasmania, dispensing with the need to lug a camper trailer, or hiring a campervan. I think I've seen pictures somewhere of the sort of thing that would do the job - a minimalist tentish thing that hangs off the back of the opened back of the truck to provide an enclosed kitcheny thing and storage for the stuff that we would inevitably drag all over Tasmania. Has anyone seen anything like this? Have any links, brands or other searchable info to share?

[WX]

Nice but you'll be happier with a telescopic one.

Rick

I won't discount that but I will test out the pvc one and if it fits the bill I'll make a bamboo one...with character.
BTW the bid on the VW part is at $12.50. I'll put up another part tomorrow and see how that goes.

[Phil Y]

So, enough of boat posts. This is the ANTI-boatean thread after all. This evening my dearest joined me into the back of the truck. We had already put the back seats down, making a nice double bed sized flat space available for our purpose. We brought our pillows from our own bed, and gingerly clambered in, all giggly and shy, embarrassed that the neighbours might catch sight of us sneaking out to the truck like teenagers.

It appears, after a short but rigorous test, that we could, with the addition of a thin mattress and some sort of tent-like thing, use the truck for our planned short tour of Tasmania, dispensing with the need to lug a camper trailer, or hiring a campervan. I think I've seen pictures somewhere of the sort of thing that would do the job - a minimalist tentish thing that hangs off the back of the opened back of the truck to provide an enclosed kitcheny thing and storage for the stuff that we would inevitably drag all over Tasmania. Has anyone seen anything like this? Have any links, brands or other searchable info to share?

The camper I rented when Henry took me to Unzed was exactly as you describe. It was a small people mover a Nimbus or something. To make a bed of sufficient length it had a metal frame which slid out the back door, a bit of ply which sat on top of that, and a foam squab on top of that. And then a canvas thing which went over the open back door and attached with elastic straps with hooks on their ends into the wheel arches. It also had a very nifty little canvas verandah thing that attached to the sliding side door. Kind of a cross between an umbrella and a gazebo. Made a great place to cook, leave our clothes bags, and shelter during rainy bits.

[auscruisertom]

I'm having trouble visualizing that.

I'm not remember they where baking pies in the Magic pie maker with all sort of ingredient's.

[PeterSibley]

So, enough of boat posts. This is the ANTI-boatean thread after all. This evening my dearest joined me into the back of the truck. We had already put the back seats down, making a nice double bed sized flat space available for our purpose. We brought our pillows from our own bed, and gingerly clambered in, all giggly and shy, embarrassed that the neighbours might catch sight of us sneaking out to the truck like teenagers.

It appears, after a short but rigorous test, that we could, with the addition of a thin mattress and some sort of tent-like thing, use the truck for our planned short tour of Tasmania, dispensing with the need to lug a camper trailer, or hiring a campervan. I think I've seen pictures somewhere of the sort of thing that would do the job - a minimalist tentish thing that hangs off the back of the opened back of the truck to provide an enclosed kitcheny thing and storage for the stuff that we would inevitably drag all over Tasmania. Has anyone seen anything like this? Have any links, brands or other searchable info to share?

This type of thing ?http://www.topgear2go.com.au/product.aspx?id=69

[Phil Y]

Like this

[Phil Y]

Search spaceships New Zealand. I don't seem to be able to do a picture.

[Phil Y]

Peters version looks better anyway, if you already have length in the truck. Although the spaceships side tent thing was pretty good. Took all of 3 seconds to erect, and stayed up all night. Ummm, hang on.

[Phil Y]

I won't discount that but I will test out the pvc one and if it fits the bill I'll make a bamboo one...with character.
BTW the bid on the VW part is at $12.50. I'll put up another part tomorrow and see how that goes.

I think you should go for twin carbon fibre steering wheels, mounted port and starboard on retractable electric over hydraulic swing away pedestals.

[WX]

I think you should go for twin carbon fibre steering wheels, mounted port and starboard on retractable electric over hydraulic swing away pedestals.

Do you think I could get two for $12.50?

[Phil Y]

Gumtree is your friend

[WX]

Need to contact AussieBarney, well Mel wants to contact him.

[brucemoffatt]

This type of thing ?http://www.topgear2go.com.au/product.aspx?id=69

That sort of thing, with 2016 styling, more floor area, and 1/4 that price

Somewhere there's a tent-like thing that docks to/around an opened rear tailgate to a truck, 4wd or station wagon that looks like a modern camping tent and makes the back of the vehicle an integrated, usable space as a part of the tent thing.

[WX]

Need to contact AussieBarney, well Mel wants to contact him.

Okay it's covered.

[Phil Y]

That sort of thing, with 2016 styling, more floor area, and 1/4 that price

Somewhere there's a tent-like thing that docks to/around an opened rear tailgate to a truck, 4wd or station wagon that looks like a modern camping tent and makes the back of the vehicle an integrated, usable space as a part of the tent thing.

Go to eBay and search van tent

[brucemoffatt]

SUV Tent!!

[PeterSibley]

SUV tent finds lots !

[skuthorp]

I had one on a Land Rover. It concertinered out from the back of the cab with a skirt and poles stored in tubes on the roof. I even carried duckboard floors. Cannot find a pic anywhere, or a commercial reference.