Here are some photos to give you a flavour of the last few months.
Stormy weather
Back in May we had a really big storm in Adelaide with nearly 50 knot winds - over 85 kph. That's called a "full gale" in meteorological-speak, or Force 10 on the Beaufort wind scale. No rain, but the wind was ferocious! We ran around the marina helping other residents secure neighbouring boats. One of our fellow marina-dwellers was frantically securing lines and fenders while swearing "Damn these weekend sailors! They never prepare their boats for conditions like this!!!"
I dont remember ever being outside in that kind of wind before, let alone while by the water. It was actually really exciting. Made me think of what it would be to be faced with that kind of wind while on the ocean - yikes!
Once we had doubled up our lines and done what we could for the neighbouring boats we camped out on our day bed below watching Master and Commander as the boat rolled and the wind roared around us - very atmospheric!
The photos don't do it justice, but remember, its usually a millpond inside the marina! The waves are all due to the wind - there was no swell at all.
BV's new hat
When we bought Bass Voyager we knew that some pretty major work would need to be done to fix the rust which had accumulated under the solar panels on the roof. Back in May we took her around to the Royal SA Yacht Squadron which has excellent maintenance facilities and spent a few days stripping, cutting, welding and then painting her new roof. Graham (family friend of the Harris's) helped out with the welding, training Michael as he went. We've since bought our own portable welder which has already proved very handy making the gas locker for our shiny new oven.
And me doing my bit with the power tools... This curved length of wood replaces the rotted beam that runs across between the steel roof and the canvas canopy. I was quite proud of my efforts here - I dont have much experience with power tools.
Michael's new hat
Michael playing silly buggers...
Adventure Cat
Kitty is settling in to our new digs at the beautiful new Crown Marina. Its very quiet as the marina has only been open for a few months, although we have seen about 10 new boats arrive since we moved in. The marina manager is fabulous, and takes a great deal of pride in the presentation of the marina. Im going to post a video tour shortly so you can see how it looks.
Engine troubles
Michael might post more detail about this soon, but for now, here is Kitty helping him diagnose the problem which turned out to be the water pump. The starter motor has also been replaced by a new one from the US. There's also evidence below of the disasterous afternoon when Michael's mobile phone accidentally became aquainted with the depths of the oily bilge.... yuck!
The offending water pump. We learned that the Volvo Penta engine in BV is older than she is - much older in fact - late 1970's, while BV was built in 1989. Makes getting replacement parts ... well ... interesting.
New outboard
We also decided to upgrade our outboard engine for our tender - here is Michael testing it out. So proud...
That's it for now. I have lots more to tell, and more photos, so I will try to post more regularly from here on in!
Stormy weather
Back in May we had a really big storm in Adelaide with nearly 50 knot winds - over 85 kph. That's called a "full gale" in meteorological-speak, or Force 10 on the Beaufort wind scale. No rain, but the wind was ferocious! We ran around the marina helping other residents secure neighbouring boats. One of our fellow marina-dwellers was frantically securing lines and fenders while swearing "Damn these weekend sailors! They never prepare their boats for conditions like this!!!"
I dont remember ever being outside in that kind of wind before, let alone while by the water. It was actually really exciting. Made me think of what it would be to be faced with that kind of wind while on the ocean - yikes!
Once we had doubled up our lines and done what we could for the neighbouring boats we camped out on our day bed below watching Master and Commander as the boat rolled and the wind roared around us - very atmospheric!
The photos don't do it justice, but remember, its usually a millpond inside the marina! The waves are all due to the wind - there was no swell at all.
BV's new hat
When we bought Bass Voyager we knew that some pretty major work would need to be done to fix the rust which had accumulated under the solar panels on the roof. Back in May we took her around to the Royal SA Yacht Squadron which has excellent maintenance facilities and spent a few days stripping, cutting, welding and then painting her new roof. Graham (family friend of the Harris's) helped out with the welding, training Michael as he went. We've since bought our own portable welder which has already proved very handy making the gas locker for our shiny new oven.
And me doing my bit with the power tools... This curved length of wood replaces the rotted beam that runs across between the steel roof and the canvas canopy. I was quite proud of my efforts here - I dont have much experience with power tools.
Michael's new hat
Michael playing silly buggers...
Adventure Cat
Kitty is settling in to our new digs at the beautiful new Crown Marina. Its very quiet as the marina has only been open for a few months, although we have seen about 10 new boats arrive since we moved in. The marina manager is fabulous, and takes a great deal of pride in the presentation of the marina. Im going to post a video tour shortly so you can see how it looks.
Engine troubles
Michael might post more detail about this soon, but for now, here is Kitty helping him diagnose the problem which turned out to be the water pump. The starter motor has also been replaced by a new one from the US. There's also evidence below of the disasterous afternoon when Michael's mobile phone accidentally became aquainted with the depths of the oily bilge.... yuck!
The offending water pump. We learned that the Volvo Penta engine in BV is older than she is - much older in fact - late 1970's, while BV was built in 1989. Makes getting replacement parts ... well ... interesting.
New outboard
We also decided to upgrade our outboard engine for our tender - here is Michael testing it out. So proud...
That's it for now. I have lots more to tell, and more photos, so I will try to post more regularly from here on in!
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