Season Three Preparation - Scarborough Marina, Queensland, Australia
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sat 24 Apr 2010 22:07
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27:11.685S 153:06.401E
Wow. Where to start? This year,
cruising season preparation entailed much more than the usual bottom
painting and provisioning. We did do the usual shopping, although we
didn't employ the usual fill, pay and load multiple cartload method because
we had to be mindful of Don's still limited ability to walk long distances and
be on his feet all day. So we instead employed the single cart fill, pay
and load method, and we employed this on at least three different occasions - so
the provisioning got done, but not with the usual impeccable
efficiency. We still did our best as far as quantity goes though. I
think we ended up buying close to five cases of wine, and were very careful
not to spend over $10 US per bottle on average (don't get too
worried about our overall alcohol consumption, this wine is supposed
to last for a very loooong time). Actually, we have been pleased as
punch to find that Australia offers a wide range of passable wines under $5 per
bottle. Apparently there is a glut in the wine market at the moment, so
the prices are good. I think it's safe to say that wine is the only thing
we would classify as relatively cheap in Australia. It doesn't help
that the value of the Australian dollar has risen from $.80 to the US
dollar last year to its present level of $.93. Boo. The
cost of everything from oil to boat parts to food is anywhere from 10% to 300%
more than it would be at home.
This is exactly why Don took it upon himself to buy
all the major boat stuff (and some of the minor stuff too) while we were home in
December, and arrange to have it shipped on a freighter from Baltimore to
Brisbane in February. This may seem like an extreme measure, but
here's an example of the savings...We planned to replace all eight
house batteries on the boat. The Australian price for one LifeLine brand
AGM 12V battery was $600 plus shipping from Sydney to Brisbane. The
price for the same battery in the US was $259 with shipping to Baltimore
included. If you account for the 10% difference in currency, that's still
$281 less per battery when purchased in the US. Take that difference
times eight batteries, and you've got a savings of $2,250. Now
add to that the savings associated with purchasing a new refrigerator
and compressor, new oven/stove and miscellaneous other boat parts and
maintenance items, and you can more than justify the shipment cost from the
US to Australia, plus the customs fees, Australian tax and delivery to the
Scarborough Marina from the Brisbane port. Sounds easy, right? Well,
the savings part was easy and did make the whole thing worthwhile.
However, if we factor in the time Don spent arranging and looking after
this movement of boat parts from there to here, the savings
would be a fair amount less than what they were on paper. But
never fear. The parts appeared and as you will see below, were installed
successfully, albeit with a fair amount of ado.
Since we have been sailing for nearly three years
now, we decided it was time to do some major upgrade/maintenance work.
Below is a list of things we (mostly Don with help from John when he was in
town) completed on the boat during the month of March. For those of you
that aren't boaters and/or have no interest what-so-ever in boatish technical
type stuff, feel free to skip down to the
pictures. Before we flew to Melbourne for the
Melbourne-to-Brisbane road trip, I finished waxing the hull, and we paid the
local chandlery owner to paint the bottom (Don had already completed the worst
of the job - that being sanding - before he fell)
When we came back at the end of February, we had a
local marine company lightly sand and polish up the prop before applying the
coating 'Prop Speed', which we've found to be extremely effective in warding off
marine critter growth on the prop. Don also replaced the rudder and
prop zincs.
While the boat was still on land, we dropped the
anchor and all 60 meters of chain into the trunk of a rental car, and took
it to be re-galvanized. Getting it back on the boat was another
story. Suffice it to say that it took three people and the use of the
Scarborough Marina run-about manned by the marina manager (by then our boat was
back in the water).
The boat went back in the water six days after we
returned from the road trip, and unfortunately, Don was still on crutches
at the time. Sue flew back to Melbourne, but John stayed on
Storyteller and helped Don with a few critical tasks - not the least of
which was replacing the plastic strips that run up either side of the slit in
the main mast that the sail passes through when it is furled and
unfurled. This nasty strip of plastic was the thing that cracked and
split, resulting in a sharp edge that put a beautifully straight, three-foot
tear in our main sail when we furled it during the very windy passage
from Tonga to Fiji we had last year. So, after much tugging and heaving
and pushing and pulling and one trip up the mast for John, the offending parts
of the old strips were replaced with new.
It's worth mentioning at this point that Don's only
way of maneuvering around the deck was to hop on one foot since there
are too many hazards for crutches to be used effectively. He did this for
about a week until his final doctor's appointment when he was
given the go-ahead to ditch the moon boot and start walking - or,
hobbling. At any rate, it's good that Don only had to hop for a week
because I'm not sure his good leg or the boat's deck could have taken any
more of those thundering hopping crashes. BLAM!!
Our shipment from Baltimore arrived and Don spent
the better part of a week removing the old batteries, oven and fridge and
installing the new ones. It was no mean feat in 90 degree heat. Of
course the new things didn't just slide in to the spaces the old
things left behind. Much had to be done to prepare for the new -
especially the fridge, which is much larger and uses a keel cooler compressor
instead of air.
Lighting:
We decided it was time to make the switch to LEDs
from traditional bulbs. Big expense, but the power savings is
huge. We replaced most of the cabin lights and on the main mast, the
steaming, tri-color/anchor and deck bulbs were also replaced with LED's.
The tri-color job was major in that Don had to install a new bracket at the very
top of the mast, which required several lengthy stints up the mast. The
motorboaters surrounding us at the marina were duly impressed with Don's
simulation of a high wire act.
Safety:
We sent the life raft off for inspection,
re-packing and certification. It came back with an A+ report card and a
$550 bill.
Don added a stainless steel handle on the stern for
easier dinghy entry and exit
Re-plumbed the oven propane gas line
Installed a new permanent base and antennae for the
satellite phone. This means our sat phone will now be on at all times
(before we only turned it on once per day to upload and download email).
Don also signed us up to receive text alerts on the sat phone when earthquakes
occur within certain areas. It's not the same as a tsunami alert,
which is what we'd prefer, but the tsunami alert system is not yet up and
running for the Indian Ocean.
Sailing/Navigation:
Had sails inspected and repaired
Replaced stops on the mizzen traveler
Fired up our new Mac computer with its new navigation software and
electronic charts. Our Toshiba has been relegated to
back-up duty, and our ancient back-up computer (circa
1996) was relegated to the marina's 'trash or treasure' shelf
where it was snatched up by some electronics-hungry sailor within ten
minutes.
Replaced contactors on the two headsail electric winches - a good thing
since last year the port electric winch decided to keep turning even when told
sternly to stop. Luckily, no damage was done to the
sail. Beauty:
Sanded and varnished the companionway and motor
mount
Sanded and oiled hatch screen frames
Waxed the cockpit and some of the topsides (sadly, waxing is always
our last priority)
Removed and repainted the stern bumper
Repaired canvas cover on the gasoline tank
Repaired our frayed US flag
Cleaned the fenders
Engine room stuff:
New cam belt on engine
New alternator belt
Disassembled and cleaned breather
Switched out alternator (installed
spare)
Replaced oil cooler hoses
Replaced exhaust hose
Replaced all fuel hoses. This, after Don
inadvertently leaned on a fuel hose and it disintegrated.
Changed transmission
oil
Checked heat exchanger
Replaced engine raw water pump with
spare Miscellaneous:
Diagnosed aft air conditioner problem (sticky solenoid) Re-plumbed propane from the propane locker to the
grill so it's no longer necessary to keep a tank on deck Diagnosed and 'fixed' the freezer (variable speed
controller was acting up and was therefore bypassed)
Submitted pile of paperwork to the rally
authorities for our Indonesian cruising permit
Ok. Now that everyone is thoroughly
bored to tears, here are the pictures:
Picture 1 - Harmonie in the lift and on its way to
the water.
Picture 2 - John putting the finishing bottom paint
touches on Harmonie's keel.
Picture 3 - Part of the shipment that arrived
from Baltimore just after we loaded it on to our boat. Note the word,
"Fragile" and the big gash in the packaging right next to it. There was no
damage done to the fridge which was a very good thing as it was the most
precious thing we had shipped.
Picture 4 - Don installing the new batteries in the
battery compartment under the pilot berth.
Picture 5 - Don, extremely comfortable in the 90
degree heat, contorting himself into one-thousand different
positions to install the new fridge compressor.
Picture 6 - Don, gazing in awe at the thing
of beauty - our new 100% stainless steel fridge. Shown here perched
on the counter minus door and shelves, just prior to final
installation. Don't ask how the two of us got it through the
companionway, down the steps or into place under the counter.
Picture 7 - The final product. Note the shiny
new fridge and oven.
Picture 8 - Don performing surgery on the top of
the mast (installing our new LED tricolor/anchor light).
That's pretty much it for the month of March
through the first week of April (aside from a very pleasant long weekend
stint on Storyteller to help John take his boat from Scarborough south to
the Gold Coast where stabilizers lay in wait).
Oh, and I should mention that Don continued to
recover nicely throughout this time period. His moon boot came off on
March 11, he ditched the crutches a week later, and now only uses a walking
stick when on soft or unstable ground. As Don would say, "There is very
little hitch in my giddy-up these days!" Yes, for those that might be
wondering, Don did in fact say this - and not just once, but several
times.(!) His ankle is still swollen, but looks remarkably better than it
did when the moon boot first came off. Back then, there was so much fluid
in his ankle that by the end of the day, it looked like an old, very
fat woman's ankle dressed in wrinkly pantyhose.
It wasn't long before Don discovered that the
doctor who removed his stitches, forgot one. A couple of weeks ago, I
discovered Don, in the cockpit with needle nose pliers, his magnifiers, the
lighter for the grill and the giant, slightly curved needle he uses for
sail repairs. "What are you doing??" I asked. "Performing
surgery." Don said with a sheepish grin. Ten minutes later and the
offending stitch was removed. "My grandfather would have been so proud."
said Don as he packed away his surgery equipment and applied disinfectant to the
wound.
(Don's grandfather was a doctor.)
Anne
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