New Surfaces

The plan that young Paul and I formulated last September to place stainless steel counter surfaces in the galley and head has progressed nicely.

The sheet metal worker produced the surfaces for only about $300.  As I was paying him I told him that I was getting a bargain and he agreed.  I told him that from now on I would see him for any stainless steel or aluminum work for the boat.  I then pass on the observation to Paul that the further from the coast one gets the cheaper the boat work.

Paul and I spent close to two days fitting the pieces.  He cut out the openings for the refrigerator and ice box openings, which was tricky operation because the metal would have to hug the thin wooden lips of the openings.  By then I had new taps: two ordinary kitchen taps for pressure water, and three good quality hand pumps.  There will be fresh and salt water hand pumps in the galley and a fresh water hand pump in the head.

Fresh Water Left, Salt Water Right

New Stove in Position

I had decided to keep the old sinks, which I had taken home and brightened up using a buffing wheel on my angle grinder.  We installed the sinks then it was left to me to install the taps on my time.  Installing the sink before the taps turned out to be a mistake because I found it impossible to install the taps working up that narrow space between the sink and the bulkhead.  I was forced to remove the galley sink, and the sooner the better before the Sikaflex 291 adhesive set hard.  That turned out to be a difficult job because any undue pressure would result in bending the lip around the sink.  I did the job by gently tapping a paint scraper along the lip of the sink then using gentle pressure.

After installing the taps I re bedded the sink using silicone sealant, which is gentler than 291, because I want to be able to remove the sink for future work on the taps.

I then turned my attention to the marine stove.  The connection was simple but the stove would not light.  I found that the cylinder was empty so switched to the spare.  Then I discovered that the manual gas valve at the galley was shut, but still the stove would not light.  I could hear the solenoid clacking as normal which allowed the gas to flow, so I uncoupled the gas hose at the stove end and confirmed that no gas was flowing.

Sink in Head

I eventually tracked the problem to the cylinder selector valve, which worked in one position but not the other.  It was a relief to know that the stove, the main gas line, and the gas cutoff solenoid were OK.  It was time that I gave that gas setup in the transom some attention - some hoses were looking a bit tatty, the pressure regulator was old when I purchased the boat, and too many things were welded together by corrosion - so I removed the regulator-solenoid-selector valve assembly and will visit the gas supply shop to try to get replacements for those items and three hoses.

Hoses and Pressure Components to be Replaced

I am enclosing photos of the galley, with the new stove, surfaces, and taps.  Paul has the lids at his place for fitting of their stainless steel surfaces.  There is also a photo of the gas components to be replaced.

Maintenance on Hard Stand

On Friday the 5th of September we put Pachuca back in the water after two hard weeks of hull maintenance.

When I sailed into Fremantle from Cape Town in April 2013 the boat had not been antifouled since Mexico in 2011.  I had her hull cleaned by divers in Argentina, Brazil, and Cape Town and Neil Huck commented on how surprisingly clean the hull looked when I arrived.  Unfortunately I was forced to neglect the boat for another sixteen months while I attended to the reestablishing myself in Perth and the renovation of the house.

Old Stove Before Removal

Being Removed

Burners Rusted Out

Stove Site Prepared

Good Fit

The boat had been out of the water for over two months on an exchange of three months of free hard standing for the use of my pen for boats visiting for the winter series of sailing.  I expected the maintenance effort to take about a week but the work took two weeks thanks to invaluable assistance from Paul Bylinski Jr in helping me in the installation of the new marine stove, which I had expected to do after the boat was back in the pen.

The hull below the water line needed sanding back to the gel coat when I purchased the boat in 2005, and now it needs it more than ever.  However, dry sanding is no longer allowed in the FSC hardstand area and I was not equipped for wet sanding.  I did the best that I could with scraping the loose flakes by hand, followed by wet sanding by hand using a metal mat.  I then rolled a barrier coat (Hempel "Hempatex" Aluminium 16300) to separate the USA style hard antifouling to the Australia style self oblating (soft) antifouling.  After that I rolled on two coats of blue Hempel Olympic 86901 antifouling, with three coats in the high load areas of the hull.  Unless I have the boat professionally painted next year (more on that below) I'll begin next year's hull maintenance prepared with a compressor and pneumatic equipment that will allow me to do a proper sanding job on the hull.  In the meantime it doesn't really matter since I'm not racing the boat and the roughness of the hull cannot be seen through the water.

I did a nice job of cleaning the propeller and shaft, then laid down a coat of metal primer from Pesle Marine Paints followed by two coats of Velox Plus.  These are products from Italy that are deemed to protect the propeller for at least two years.  They are not cheap at over $200 but well worth the price if it obviates the need for me to go over the side in cold waters to clean the growth from the propeller.  Besides, there is enough material remaining in the cans to last me several years.

I got my paint and antifouling advice and materials from Gary Martin, whom I have been dealing with for years and has always been a wealth of information.  (He also did a 2-year term as the Commodore of the FSC while I was away.)

Feeling Blue After Hard Day

Barrier Coat On

Clean Propeller, Shaft, Dynaplate

Rear Anode Not Yet in Place

I had the extreme good fortune of having Paul Jr take an interest in Pachuca.  Paul is a trained carpenter and in his renovation work showed himself to be a skilled all-arounder.  He spent several hours helping me fit in the new marine stove then returned for a full 12 hour session to pretty well complete that and other jobs.  I mentioned to him that I planned to find someone to fit new counter tops in the galley and head because it was beyond my competence and soon he had a plan of doing it all in stainless steel.  He made cardboard patterns of the surfaces, took photos and measurements, and will have a metal worker that he knows fabricate the stainless steel sheets, with turned up fiddles (edges).  Paul will cut the openings for the sinks and water taps.

I expect to take Paul out on the boat as often as he wants and teach him sailing.  And if he really, really likes sailing he would be a great partner to help me sail the Pachuca further afield such as the Houtman Abrolhos Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houtman_Abrolhos), which Brenda and I visited in about 2003 when we delivered that rust bucket Boro 34 sloop Jennica from Geraldton to Hillary's Boat Harbour. 

I got extremely good advice from Gary on the issues in having Pachuca professionally painted.  The sanding and painting must be done in a shed, which means that the mast must be removed.  If the mast must be removed then I may as well have it sanded and painted too (also in a shed).  As long as the hull will be prepared for a shed I may as well also have its hull below the water line blasted to the gel coat in the special shed.  I would prepare the boat by removing as much equipment and fittings as practical from the deck and cockpit.

The entire painting process would take about 4 weeks, with December and January being the best times due to the dry weather.  The ballpark figure of the costs are $20k for the deck and hull painting, $3k for the hull blasting, and I figure another $2k for the mast.  I'll have to go in preparing to spend $30k total.  That's a lot of money, but I spent $25k on an engine that cannot be seen, not to mention the more than $10k for rigging in over priced Argentina. The new paint job would be very visible and turn this classic S&S 39 into a head turner.

I used the word "would" because I'm not sure what I'll do.  It would not be a money thing, since a CUOF like me can afford the indulgence of such follies.  On the other hand, she still presents fairly well and I want to sail Pachuca without fear of putting a scratch on her precious hull. 

Anyway, Pachuca's back in the water now and I can rest for a few days after that those hard 10-12 hour days.

Boat Work Begins

After neglecting Pachuca for over two months that she's been on the hard stand I am finally able to turn my attention to her.  I expect to work on her for about 7 days and have her back in her pen at the end of this month. 

Yesterday morning I packed the car with all of the tools that I thought might useful for the maintenance and drove to Brenda's house for the duration of the boat work.  Brenda's house is a 5 minute drive from the Fremantle Sailing Club and provides an ideal base of operations.  And I must say that I enjoy the company of Brenda, Stephen, and Shelley the Dog. 

I arrived at the boat at about 1 PM today with the goal of removing the old marine stove.  I was able to accomplish this in about an hour and devoted the next few hours to thoroughly cleaning out the stove space then cleaning out the bilge.  With the stove removed I will be able to paint the recess for the first time, and I'll want to do a good job because it will be the only chance that I get.

The brand of the stove had always been a mystery to me because no documentation was provided when I purchased the boat.  However, the mystery was solved when I was able to read the plaque at the back which informed me that it was an SMEV Series 7000 made in Italy in December 1995.  It had been distributed by Camec Pty Ltd of Clayton, Victoria. 

I expect to see Paul Jr at 7.30 tomorrow morning.  He will help me lift the new stove up the steep ladder into Pachuca's cabin, then I'll give him a tour of the boat.  After that we'll discuss the fitting of the new stove.  Paul's skills are primarily in carpentry rather than metal work, but he might be able to suggest some solutions.

Before Removal

Badly Corroded Burners

Removed

Member of IACH

I have been privileged to be accepted as a member of the International Association of Cape Horners (http://www.capehorners.org/).  The basic requirements for ful membership are:

1. Rounded Cape Horn under Sail
2. Have "doubled the Horn" (ie Lat 50S to Lat 50S non-stop)
3. As part of a non-stop voyage of at least 3000 nautical miles.

There are about 350 names in the membership list, and my membership number is 769.  Looking through that list I saw that most of the members reside in UK and made their rounding of the Horn as part of one of the great ocean races (e.g. Whitbread, Global Challenge, BT Challenge).  The names of luminaries such as Sir Chay Blyth and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston jumped out of the list, but I could not find the name of the incomparable Jon Sanders. 

I will receive the IACH journal twice a year ("The journal is a wonderful source of seafaring and yachting material, all supplied by members.") and have been invited to submit any stories and anecdotes that might be of interest to others.

New Stove, Visit to Boat

Keel Bolts

On Friday I picked up the new marine stove from Yacht Grot.  It is a "Force 10" "European Sandard" size 2-burner stove, model no. 63256 (http://www.force10.com/gas_gimballed_2burner.html).  A 4-burner stove would not fit into the space in Pachuca's galley and a 3-burner model that we initially selected is not available in Australia. 

The two-burner model is actually OK because we were never able to use more than 2 burners at a time on the 4-burner stove currently on Pachuca because there was simply not the space for more than two pots or pans.

Trevor charged me an even $2,000 and I suspect that he shaved the price for the returning circumnavigator.  I notice that another boat shop is charging $2,249 plus $12 delivery.  This may seem expensive by USA standards but this is Australia in 2014.  I've just seen one USA price of $1650 with heaven knows how much tax will be piled on.

The stove is near the boat at Brenda and Stephen's house and I hope to install it during the 2 weeks that I will devote to Pachuca at the end of August.

I visited the boat yesterday exposed the bilge so that I could photograph the keel bolts which I would like to tighten up.  I'll engage a professional rather than going to the expense of purchasing the required tools.  To my surprise the bilge had about 100 mm of water in it.  This was interesting because the water was accumulated while the boat was on the hard stand.  I tasted the bilge water (sailors do this sort of thing) and confirmed that it was fresh water.  This means that the water that I have been shipping when driving the boat hard has probably been entering from the deck and not via thru-hull fittings and hoses.  If this is the case I am baffled because I am able to see most of the inside of the hull and have not noticed water passing through to the bilge.  I will do some experimentation with a water hose before I put the boat back into the water.

Rescued Sextant

I discovered my Astra II sextant at the bottom of a small compartment in the V berth area where it had ridden in a damp environment just above the forward end of the bilge since at least Argentina and possibly La Paz.  The Freiberger  and Ebco stextants had ridden in the electrical closet immediately behind the navigation station, but there was simply not enough room in that compartment for all three sextants.

Anyway, I brought the Astra II home and didn't mess around.  I put both the sextant and its box under a tap of tepid water and washed them thoroughly with a paint brush.  I then let them dry in the sun.  It appears that the sextant - and particularly the lenses and filters - is OK, and the box survived OK too.  Today I will treat the sextant with WD-40 and clean the lenses and filters with Windex.

Pachuca on Hardstand

Pachuca's liftout went without a hitch. 

I was lucky with the wind because after several days of very blustery weather things calmed down today and I was dealing with a 10-15 kt wind from the SW.  The lift out was scheduled for 1 PM and I arrived at the yacht club at 9 AM to have coffee in the library with the Monday morning group.  Before the coffee I visited the works area and confirmed that all was OK for the lift out.  I would arrive 10 minutes early and have heaving lines at both sides of the stern.  After coffee I headed for the boat at 10.30 AM and took my time in preparing the boat.  I hung a section of carpet on each side of the hull at the wides part and as a precaution put out two fenders forward of the carpets.  I started the engine at 12.35 PM, released the springer lines which were doing nothing, then released the stern lines followed by the bow lines knowing that the SW breeze would tend to push me out of the pen.  It was only a short run to the travel lift and the men were waiting when I arrived at 12.50.  The rest went without a hitch.

As the Pachuca was lifted out of the water I got a bit sentimental and thought about how this magnificent boat had survived the pounding at Two-Fold Bay in NSW, the electrical fire in the Sea of Cortez, a close encounter with the iceberg, and at least 3 storms, several heavy gales, and about 15 garden variety gales.  Of course we helped each other survive, so I guess that it's all about bonding while under fire.

The hull was very furry and as the man worked the pressure hose to clean the hull I mused that being blown off was wild life from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and South Africa.  Yes, divers had cleaned the hull in those last 3 countries but only so much can be done by a diver. 

I then had a couple of beers in the cockpit enjoying the scene of the marina and the ocean behind it, with views to Garden Island, the Stragglers, and Rottnest Island.  Invariable I thought of the work to be done on the boat during the next 3 months, which I began to realize will be a bit more extensive than simply anti fouling the hull and replacing the anodes. 

The gas stove/oven is at its end.  The years of salt water pouring and dripping through that hole that a previous owner had foolishly cut above the stove for an exhaust fan had taken its toll and the steel buners are literally breaking apart from corrosion.  The oven is also in bad shape, with a poor seal and much difficulty in lighting it.  A new stove/oven will cost me over $2000.

The gas detector now sounds a fault alarm instead of throwing open the gas solenoid switch, so it must be replace.  I can't complain about it (or the stove, for that matter).  I had the gas detector repaired in 2008 and it got me around the world.

I would love to have the hull painted but will wait another year in favor of more urgent tasks.  So I will put in a lot of time polishing the hull to bring some life back into the paint and also do some touch up of scratches.  The hull paint is in remarkably good condition given the travails of the 5-year circumnavigation. 

In fact, the entire boat is in remarkably good condition.  As I wrote earlier, she is much better equipped than when she departed on the circumnavigation and all of her major systems are in good condition and working well.  Even all of her 6 large batteries are performing well, with the house bank floating at about 13.5V and starter bank having no problem in starting the engine.

Hardstanding Pachuca

My application for free liftout and hard standing for 3 months was successful and the Pachuca is scheduled for liftout at 1 PM on the 26th of May.  My 12 meter pen will then be used by the club to accommodate one of the visiting boats for the winter series of sailing.

I visited the Fremantle Sailing Club web site (http://www.fsc.com.au/home/) and calculated that the entire package would have normally cost me a total of $4130 - $364 for the liftout and $3766 for the 90 days of hard standing.  The timing has been perfect for me because soon the worst of the house renovation effort will be behind me (until the next phase) and I'll be able to allocate many days at my convenience for performing overdue hull maintenance and probably some paint touch up.

Photo Competition Result

Last Wednesday night Brenda, Stephen, and I went to the South of Perth Yacht Club to join the other participants of the Bunbury Cruise for drinks, dinner, then the results of the photo competition.  As usual, we were fortunate to have Garth as the judge, given his experience in judging at the annual Perth Royal Show and various national events.

The classes to be judged were:

Class 1. Best Sailing Photo being of a participating yacht, under sail or power.
Class 2. Best Seascape photo of moon or sunrise/sunset, yachts at anchor, landfall or sky, but must contain an element of the sea.
Class 3. Best portrait, group or people photo depicting the participants or activities associated with this cruise.
Class 4. Best land based photo not including the sea, ocean, beach or such marine elements, but depicting activities associated with this cruise.
Class 5. Best Wild Life Photo captured on this cruise, for example insects, seabirds, fish or marine animals.
Peoples’ Choice: A separate poll to be taken on the night of the evening dinner function to announce the Competition winners.
Most Gut Wrenching: The Judge will select his the photo which stands apart from all other entries

With Stephen's invaluable help we entered photos in just about every class and had some unexpected success.  Robyn had entered a close up photo of me and won first prize in the "Portrait" class.  The same photo came in second in the "Peoples' Choice" then a photo of me proudly weighing the fish I had caught came in 3rd in the "Wild Life" class.

Robyn's Portrait Entry

Brenda had entered a great photo of Pachuca's mainsail against the clouds above and though Garth called it "interesting" he awarded the prize to a tiny photo that greatly impressed him technically.

------

Last Friday we got an offer from the FSC to hardstand boats for 3 months for free in order to make or pens available for visiting boats participating in the winter racing series.  The number of pens required is limited and is on a "first come first serve" basis, so on Sunday morning I entered my application.

Today I visited the 9 AM coffee session at the FSC Chart/Library room and learned that there are only 12 pens required and boats that have availed themselves of this offer in the recent past will get a lower priority.  Given that this will be Pachuca's first request and I have entered the request early I am hopeful - nay, confident - that I'll be able to haul Pachuca out on about 26 May and put her back into the water on about 25 August.  That 3 months on the hardstand will give me plenty of time to polish and touch up the hull above the waterline, antifoul below the waterline, replace the anodes, and do some more investigation on the source of the leaks when pounding to weather.  Pachuca has not been antifouled since Mexico about 3 years ago and she is overdue.  Having said that, I'm pretty sure that the Comex brand antifouling that I got in Mexico is the potent variety with TBT that is banned in Australia but is much more durable than the local eco-friendly antifouling.  I had Pachuca's hull cleaned in Argentina, Brazil, the Cape Town and she arrived in Fremantle with a remarkably clean hull.  Even now the growth on her hull has been superficial.

Finally, I am including a photo of Pachuca's latest plaque.

Internet Blues

In preparation for this cruise I put $50 into my Telstra wireless internet dongle, which gives me internet access whenever I am in range of a Telstra cell phone tower. The $50 would give me 3 Gb of data, which seemed ample for 3 weeks of email management, reading of newspapers, and getting weather reports.

On the 3^rd day of the cruise the internet service stopped. Stephen was able to check my account and told me that we had used a whopping 2.9 Gb of data in one day. I spoke with Telstra support who concluded that the data had been mysteriously consumed because I had left the dongle connected for hours when not using the system. I was in no position to defend this and was forced to accept the advice, pending a personal visit to a Telstra office to get more information.

Brenda then put another $30 into the dongle and were were very, very careful to disconnect immediately after finishing our internet work. The dongle ran out of money on the 3^rd day. Telstra confirmed that in that morning's 42 minute session in which we had done email work and I had read two newspaper articles we had consumed 515 Mb of data. Telstra could not give me information on what IP numbers were involved in this huge amount of data consumption.

That night I thought of the Avast! antivirus software and sure enough during that 42 minute session Avast! had upgraded its dictionary with a 165 Mb download. This means that in future I will have to shut down antivirus protection when using the dongle, but that 165 Mb does not explain everything. I have done full systems scans with up to date Avast! and Malawarebytes and there appear to be no infections in the computer.

The result is that there will be no more internet from Pachuca for the rest of this cruise. I am writing these blog updates “off line” as word documents and will upload them and associated photos after our return to Fremantle.

Bunbury Cruise, Day 14-17

The 12 mile passage from Quindalup (32S38, 115E08) to the Port Geographe Marina (33S38, 115E24) was pleasant and uneventful. A fair wind was not expected until the late afternoon so Brenda and I decided to motor to the marina rather than trust the advent of the promised wind. We were the first boat out and had the marina manager Craig and his assistant Doug take our lines when we arrived at our slip F80.

At Port Geographe Marina, Pachuca 3rd from front

We spent the bulk of the next day (28 Feb) on a bus tour that included a guided tour of the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse, a very interesting and informative visit to Australia's first and only silk factory, where the silk is produced in laboratory-like conditions, lunch at a winery, then visits to a large shop filled with exotic liqueurs, sauces, and spreads, and finally the coupe de grace of a chocolate factory. Terry had planned the bus tour well, and on the way back to the boat we stopped in Busselton for 30 minutes of much needed food shopping.

The group returned to Bunbury (33S19, 115E39) in two groups. The first group elected to make the passage of 23 miles on the planned day of Sat 1 Mar even though the wind forecast was for a light northerly into the afternoon. These boats motored.

We were in the second group of six boats who decided to make the passage under sail in the forecast southerly winds of 10-20 kts. Unfortunately the forecast proved to be much too optimistic. I set sail at about 8.30 AM with jib only but 30 minutes later when I could see that the wind was light (less than 10 kts) and almost on the starboard beam I raised the mainsail and we proceeded on a beam reach. Boats ahead of us increased their lead and Merv passed us and left us for dead in his smaller ferro cement boat Leola. Brenda then had to put up with my grumbling on how Pachuca was optimised for heavy weather and could not match the lighter boats in these conditions. But this could not explain Merv's great performance even though he had 4 sails up on his ketch rig. After several hours the wind veered to S and died down to less than 5 kts. When our headsail was beginning to flap and our COG was below 1 Kt I rolled in the headsail and we began to motor. 30 minutes later we had enough wind to make about 3 kts under sail but an hour later the wind died down again and we motored for the last 12 miles with jib rolled in and the mainsail giving us some assistance on the port quarter. Merv and Lee dropped by after we anchored at 4 PM and I asked him how he had been able to make such great progress. The answer was that he had motor sailed with all his sails up. (DUH, why didn't I think of that?) I suspect that all other skippers had been sensible enough to motor sail when their COG had dropped below 3 kts, which explained Pachuca's comparatively bad sail performance.

After 30 minutes of fretting that we had anchored too close to Jim Putt's Morning Tide we moved the boat to a better position and settled down for a peaceful secure night. Some of the crews went ashore for a meal at a Chinese restaurant but I was too tired to go through the effort of inflating the RIB and fitting the outboard engine.

Bunbury Cruise, Days 1-13

The annual Bunbury Cruise officially began with dinner at the Fremantle Sailing Club (FSC) on Friday 14 February. Brenda and I attended and enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones.

Although the Bunbury Cruise is sponsored by the Cruising Section of the FSC there are participants from both Swan River and blue water clubs. This year we have a fleet of 13 boats of various types and construction and ranging from 9.2m to 13.1 meters in length.

The programme called for departure on Saturday the 15^th for a 2-day stay at the Mandurah marina, about 30 sea miles to the south. From there the fleet would sail another 60 miles to Bunbury. However, for various reasons some boats departed before the 14^th and a few, such as Pachuca, departed as late as Tuesday the 18^th. The main issue is the wind. The prevailing winds are from the SW and the sensible tactic is to set sail for the south whenever there are sustained winds from the east.

We departed at about 9 AM on the 18^th with the plan to make directly for Bunbury and sailed through Challenger Pass very comfortable on an easterly wind. But in the early afternoon the wind veered to the SW (as predicted) and we spent the entire night bashing to windward against a 20 kt headwind with associated seas. Unfortunately Brenda was seasick during the entire night, not because conditions inside the cabin were particularly rough but more because of the corkscrew motion of the boat that does not agree with her at all.

I used the autopilot for steering, which worked out very well, and sailed with one reef in the mainsail and very short headsail.

One reason why I stayed up all night was to deal with the shipping. I dodged a large ship, fully lit, and broadcasting the AIS information that she as drifting and “Not Under Command”. Later I had a large Maersk container ship bearing down on me. I contacted her when she was still 10 miles out and she was not aware of me, which surprised me because I was broadcasting my AIS data. It appears that some commercial ships are now blocking out “Class B” AIS broadcasts from small boats, no doubt to remove a lot of clutter from their systems. However, it means that I cannot expect these ships to seem me on AIS and I must contact them when they are bearing down on me. In this case we agreed that he would alter course 10 degrees and pass across my stern.

After dawn I was able to set a timer and take several light naps of 45 minutes which perked me up a bit.

At about mid-day the wind backed to the SE but by then we were 20 miles W of Bunbury so we had to beat against it.

We dropped anchor at Koombana Bay in Bunbury at about 2 PM and I crashed out for 2 hours of deep sleep. By then most of the fleet had made it to Bunbury with tales of having the best and fastest sail from Mandurah to Bunbury ever. Morning Tide, and S&S 34, averaged over 6 knots of the 60 mile leg.

Brenda enjoying calm conditions

These boats had followed the tried and tested tactic of departing at 1-3AM and reaching the next destination before the E wind died out. Because they are hugging the coast which curves gently toward the SW they are sailing in calm waters and are well positioned to sail against a SE wind. I took the hit for employing the worst sailing tactic of the entire fleet and apologised to Brenda for giving her such a rough night. Next year we will be better prepared and will also hop along the coast with early morning departures.

During out stay at Bunbury we visited Peter Jeffreys at his home. Peter had his boat next to Pachuca on D jetty of the FSC but has passed it on to his son Tim. We asked Peter if he could take us to a sports shop so that we could purchase a new air pump for the inflatable dinghy and he found on in his car port that seemed to work very well. After 3 pleasant days in Bunbury we made the passage to Quindalup, 35 miles to the SW. The wind died down and all of us wound up motoring.

There was a fishing contest during this leg, and I trailed two lures in the hopes of redeeming my reputation as the worst fisherman on the West Coast. After starting the engine while we were only 2 miles off the coast I decided to leave the large lure out and within an hour Brenda noticed movement in the rubber bungee that absorbs the shock of a fish strike. We landed the largest fish of my modest experience. We photographed it, weighed it at 3 Kg, and measured it at 66 cm (2.2 ft), then gutted it and keeping the head. At Quindalup we showed the fish to Brian, and it was identified as a “queen fish”. That evening the winners of the fishing contest was announced by Brian. In second place was John Snell of Wim who hooked a magnificent tuna of possibly of 15 kg. The fish was so big that they had trouble landing it. Photographs were taken as John tried to land the fish it managed to dislodge the hook and was soon on its way. First prize went to Pachuca for landing the largest fish.

Prize Winning Fish

The Quindalup anchorage had changed much since our previous visit 6 or 7 years earlier. Now it was full of moorings but because the area was still classed as an anchorage we were free to tie up to any free mooring, on the understanding that we would move on if the owner of the mooring arrived in his boat. Due to Pachuca's relatively deep draft we were forced moor about 800 from the shore, and be the farthest out from the club house of the Dunsborough Bay Yacht Club, which was started only a few years ago and has a 2-story club house with magnificent views.

On the Tuesday the 25^th Brenda and I made the 4 km walk into Dunsborough and had a leisurely coffee and lunch while our telephones were recharged at one of the cafe's power point. We then found a sports shop where we purchased a new pump because we had found that the pump that Peter had kindly donated would begin leaking as we were approaching the necessary pressure in the pontoon. This eased our minds because we had not been sure how much longer the old pump would last. We needed the pump because the Bombard inflatable which had been stored in my garage for 6 years had slight leaks in the floor and one of the pontoons. Worse, the glue in one section of the floor had given way and whenever we put weight in that area the sea water would gush in. I might make an attempt to repair the bombard, but the most likely solution will be the purchase of a new inflatable dinghy during the winter.

Anchorage at Quindalup

Nearby Bunker Bay

There are two notably good things about the Bunbury Cruise besides the great people involve. The first is that the program is not too cluttered and we have entire days to ourselves. The second is that it doesn't matter anyway because people are free on whether or not to participate, with no judgements passed.

On Wed the 26^th (today) we are having an easy day. We had a blind wine tasting at the club last night, where Pachuca's offering of a Condingup red came in a surprising (because of its distinctive taste) 5^th out of 13. Tonight we will have a farewell barbecue at the club house and tomorrow we will make our way to the Port Geographe Marina, 12 miles to the east of here and past Busselton.

Quindalup

Ron and Marlene approaching Dunsborough Bay Yacht Club at Quindalup

Pachuca's Mainsail

Commemoration Plaque and Stanchion

Yesterday I mounted a plaque made by Trophy Choice in O'Connor.  It commemorates Pachuca's circumnavigation and rounding of the Horn, and I placed it in the "plaque" section of the bulkhead.  (You can enlarge the photo by right clicking over the photo the selecting "View Image".)

Pachuca's Latest Plaque

I also replace the stanchion bent in that knockover off the Brazilian coast.  I had two choices: a genuine one for $106 or an lighter imitation one at around $43, which Trevor of Yacht Grot did not recommend.  Trevor did not need to tell me that because I've learned the hard way that with boating only the best will do.  Trevor charged me only $90 for the stanchion, which I took to be a "Welcome Back" gift from Yacht Grot.

Bent Stanchion Next To Its Replacement

I managed to drill the required two holes into the base of the stanchion using my cordless drill because fortunately I had a good centre punch and sharp bits.  Soon I had the port rails back up nice and tight.

After this I dropped into Yacht Grot and purchased two fire extinguishers and a pack of flares. (On Monday I'll purchase a recreational fishing license, something new since my departure on the circumnavigation, but a modest $30 per year and allegedly going to a good cause.)

As of of yesterday (Friday) evening at least two boats had made it to Mandurah on their start for Bunbury.  More boats will leave this weekend and several others, including Pachuca, plan to sail on Tuesday when the winds are expected to be favourable.  Most boats stage their passage, making Mandurah on the first day then waiting for favourable winds to make the long leg to Bunbury before nightfall.  Pachuca is burdened with a skipper who feels more comfortable at sea than near land, so we'll set off early in the morning and stay out until we drop anchor in Bunbury.  If the predicted winds come to pass we'll sail well on Tuesday, dawdle along in light winds under the bright stars of the clear summer sky throughout the night, and make landfall in Bunbury on Wednsday.

Rigging is Ready

I was on board yesterday morning when Edgar showed up with the new lower shrouds.  When he was finished with the installation I felt the tension and commented that the shrouds seemed very tight.  He replied that they needed to be tight because they are shorter than the other stays, a fact that I filed away in my head.

He then went up the mast to begin an assessment of the rest of the rigging and to my relief he pronounced it all OK.  I told him that I was worried about the rust that was appearing where the wires meet the swages, which opened up a good explanation of why it isn't rust but rather staining from all of the airborne material that works its way down the wires over time.  I asked him about the American practice of putting silicone sealant at the swages, which is not recommended by the big companies probably to avoid liability issues.  He suggested that a lanolin grease would be safe to use, so I plan to treat all of the boundaries between wire and lower swages with "Lanocote" lanolin grease.

Section of Dyform wire

I am including a photo of a section of the Dyform wire of the new lower shrouds.  Note the smaller wires between the larger wires. The outer surfaces have been flattened slightly.  The effect is a stiffness half way between ordinary wire and rod, with the interior so tightly compressed that it is unlikely that any moisture or material will pass through it.

Inflatable and Outboard Motor

A couple of days I dragged the Bombard inflatable dinghy out of the garage and set it up on the verandah for inflation.  The inflatable came with the purchase of Pachuca and I had stored her in the garage during the circumnavigation.  I also transported the outboard motor to Darlington so that I could try to get it started in a water tank.

Bombard Inflatable Dinghy

I got the outboard motor running on Saturday with little trouble.  This was of great relief because I had not used it since the major maintenance that it had received when I first arrived in Brazil.  Ricardo had done his work well because the engine had plenty of kick and idled beautifully.

On Sunday Brenda and Stephen drove up to have a look at the new kitchen counter and after lunch we inflated the Bombard.  It came up well and held its pressure.  We prefer the Bombard with its inflatable floor to the Zodiac, which went downhill fast after its floor slats broke.  The Zodiac now holds its air pretty well but the floor leaks badly around the seams, and I have placed it in storage as a backup. 

Radar and Rigging

Lower Port Shroud

The guys form Maritime Electronics fitted the new radar cable on Friday morning and got the radar working again. 

I found a card at the companionway when I arrived at the boat and it was from Edgar Vitte, Pachuca's rigger here in Australia.  He gave the the surprising news that I had broken wires in both of my lower shrouds.  As luck would have it Edgar was working at a nearby boat so I asked him to drop by when he was finished at that boat.

I started off by complaining that the rigging was only about 20 months old, installed by what was reputed to be the best rigging team in S America, and using top quality materials.  I then told Edgar that the riggers in Argentina had told me that I could expect 14 years of service from that rig and I recalled telling myself that I would be happy with half of that expected time. 

To my untrained eye the shrouds looked OK at the swage, though on closer inspection I could see that the pattern of the wire was not quite right at the wage.  Edgar leaned over and picked the broken wires out with a small screwdriver. 

Edgar told me that there was nothing wrong with the rigging: the materials were good and the proper tools had been used.  Given what he knew of the history of my rigging problems he had to concluded that there is a design problem.  First of all, the boat is very stiff with her heavy keel and tumblehome hull.  This means that she resists heeling which results in a lot of load on the rigging.  This exacerbates the fundamental problem, which is that the deck fittings of the lower shrouds are not far enough from the mast (1.1 meters in fact).  He told me that having the shrouds so close in results in enormous loading and that moving them even 200mm out from the mast would have huge reduction in this loading.  

Lower Starboard Shroud

I told him that I had blamed my earlier problems on running the rigging too loose, but since Argentina I had kept everything tight with a carefully maintained log of the number of half turns at what date.  Edgar shook the rigging and told me that it was just right - tight, but not too tight, and certainly not too loose.

Edgar presented me with 2 options. The first option was to replace the 10mm (3/8") wire of the lower shrouds with heavier wire.  However, this would require larger toggle pins and turnbuckles, which would cost serious money.  The second option is to use 10mm "Dyform" wire (see http://www.s3i.co.uk/1x19-Dyform-stainless-steel-wire-rope.php) which is a guaranteed 30% stronger than conventional wire.  This is achieved by filling in the gaps between the wire strands with smaller wire strand, resulting in a more solid wire. 

Edgar will replace the lower shrouds with Dyform wire in the coming week and will also check the rest of the rigging for me.

I consider myself lucky because I felt so confident in my nearly new rigging that I had not bothered to check it closely, either personally or through a professional.  It was by my good fortune that Edgar had enough interest in Pachuca to have a quick look at her rigging.

Instruments Now Working

Sunday was also Australia Day (Think USA 4th of July) so I took the day off from the renovation work.

I spent an hour at the boat trying to mount the wind and depth instruments on the teak panel that I had sanded and varnished over the previous few weeks but one of the 3 wires to the depth instrument broke at the connector.  I returned to the boat with Brenda and Stephen late in the afternoon to see the fireworks display over the Fremantle Harbour area and I had a quick stab at crimping on a new connector but managed to hash it up, so I put the work away and enjoyed the evening.  And a pleasant evening it was, in the comfort of the cockpit of the boat in the clear summer night, chatting with the people in the next boat, glass of white wine in hand, nibbling on light snacks, with the boat well positioned for a great view of the fireworks. 

Lowrance and Trimble GPS's Working OK

But all was not lost with the boat preparation.  During the evening we checked out all of Pachuca's navigation lights and found them to all be OK, including the deck light.  We also ran the refrigerator to chill the drinks and verified that it is OK.

This morning I returned to the boat and located a set of 20 of those precious hard-to-get tiny connectors for the Raymarine equipment.  Peter of Maritime Electronics had replaced all of the 4 connectors on the wind display and I decided to replace all of the 3 connectors on the depth display.  That all went well and within an hour I was getting wind and depth data both on the display and on the chart plotter.  I then turned on the venerable Trimble and Lowrance GPS's and found them to be working OK.  They had been on Pachuca when I purchased her and somehow had survived the 5 year circumnavigation.  Before leaving the boat I flushed the marine head and found it to be squeaky but working OK.  Flushing the system with a few drop of olive oil in the toilet water stopped the squeaking and gave a smooth action on the pump.

The last repair job that I am aware of is the radar, and I will telephone Maritime Electronics this week to see if the new cable has arrived.

Wind Instrumentation Working, Radar on Way

I met Peter, the principal of Maritime Electronics at the boat on Thursday.  He had brought a spare masthead unit but started by looking at the electrical connections at the panel.  I had missed something.  I had connected 3 wires to the wind display but had not noticed a 4th wire, which had sheared off at the insulation so was showing no wire or connector.  Peter replaced all of the connectors and voila! I had wind speed and direction.

He then climbed up the mast to look at the radar with me managing his safety line at a winch and his assistant managing the chart plotter and passing up tools.  Peter found the repair work on one wire that had been done in Argentina, which had parted.  He joined up the wire, climbed above the radome so that he would not be cooked, then asked his assistant to begin transmitting.  The radar came up OK and worked fine.  Peter has ordered a new cable and will contact me when he is ready to make the swap.  Fortunately I routed the radar cable with practicality rather than appearance in mind, and from my recollection of the cable swap in Honolulu I figure that we can do the task in about an hour, particularly since I will be doing the pre work of loosening all of the cable ties.

We discussed the fact that this was the second cable failure since the radar unit was installed in 2007 and his analysis confirmed what I had already figured out.  I had gone to the trouble and expense of having the mast removed so that a conduit could be installed for the radar cable, the idea being to eliminate points of chafe and ensuring a long life for the cable.  So far so good.  However, after the radome was installed with the cable passing directly across from the opening at the mast to the dome, Edgar the rigger complained, and I'm not sure if the problem was interference with the inner forestay or the effects of pumping of the mast with the radome that high.  (The mast is so heavy that I have never seen it pump.)  So the radome was moved down the mast which necessitated the removal of the baby stay and worse, resulted in a U-bend in the cable as it passed up the mast, out through the opening, then down to the radome.  Peter could feel the entire weight of the cable as it passed through that opening. He will do what he should have done when he first installed the radar: put a heavy sheath around the cable to protect it as it passes through the mast.

When the radar is repaired the boat will be 100% ready for sea as far as I can tell.  All major systems are ready, e.g. sails, rigging, electronics, engine, refrigerator, stove.  In the past few months I have visited the boat at every opportunity and have removed all superfluous equipment so that it has plenty of room and is ready for provisioning.  The gas cylinders and diesel tanks are full.

Bunbury Cruise here we come!