What did you do to your sailing boat today ?

Fitted up my sea strainer sea level is around the lower section of the sea strainer so Ill have to top it up after any lift out as least I can see it easily now and all the hoses and clamps.
The hose barbs are Aussies made not Chinese and stainless clamps

Well well well, cobwebs are truly blown off the boat now.

Friday - sailed to queenscliff from williamstown. 10-20 knts south-south west. Arrived at queenscliff in the dark after a slow motor up the western chanel against the tide. Picked up a random swing because I couldn't find the parks Vic public mooring.

Saturday/Sunday - stood on an empty tin can whilst launching myself into the boat from the cockpit and cut my foot pretty bad. Lucky my mum was around in the area and gave me a lift to the medical centre at point Lonsdale, three stitches later all good. Made it back to the boat in time for my 11:15 departure to get the ebb slack water (3hrs after high tide for port phillip rip).
15-20knts constant south. Sailed 24hrs strait to refuge cove, thankgod for electric tiller pilots. 20minute half awake sleeps and ais alerting tankers every 6 & 3 nm proximities. Stern nav light died so I put a white bike light on the rear rail. The direct line I took did increase the amount of ships in my path, but I think was better this way getting some clearance from the coast with a south wind blowing and the direction of the slop. Highlights were the sunset around Cape schanck and sunrise at the south of the prom. Pretty slopppy seas by now, but didn't care because the views of skull rock were worth it. Rounding the lighthouse at the bottom of the prom cleared the slop and revealed sunshine and a 6.5-7knt sog downwind run to refuge cove. Wind swung around to the north upon entering refuge. Very good sleep had here, awesome anchorage from anything but am easterly. Plenty of exploring could be done here, not by me though with my crook foot and time frame.

Monday - sailed from refuge to deal. Bloody awesome!! 15-20knt Northerly with very little swell. Averaging 5.5knts sog, didn't notice any tidal movements. Deal island is a must see, bloody beautiful sail between the islands, sucked through to my anchorage of the west of deal by the tidal flow. Steep walk back in time to the caretakers lodge with plenty of breathtaking views and phone reception, first phone reception since being in the darkZone at refuge. Lots of birds and wallabys. Wish I ha longer to spend here.

Tuesday - 5-10knts and strong tidal flows, motored 3/4 of the way to prime seal island and now anchored at spit point for the night. Good protection here, just find a patch of sand to throw the anchor on. Beautiful clear water helps with that. Pretty thick bush scrub on the island, but looks to be some old farm land to the south. Plenty of big bird footprints on the sand and found a wallaby corpse.

Tomorrow - sail/motor to lady Barron, try and catch the morning tidal flows in.

Goodnight

started early and the epoxy was set before lunch thought id keep it dry as it looked like rain late this afternoon also sanded the grab rails and Feast Watson cleaner
Also sanded down the hole I filled Monday

Nope the market is rather dead.. I will wait till next year see what eventuates with our economy!

Only my opinion and I am a wanker so no offence Intended. :-)

Having gotten that out the way, I didn't dig the three ovals. Kinda looked a bit double ended or gondola or something.

Have you messed around with more square-ish shaped ovals (modern) or long strips that cover two or the whole lot or a bigger window at the back ..... (a bigger piece of tinted plexi to give an illusion its a big window but only a small actual hole over the toilet/head ) Etc etc?

I fiddled for ages on Windows paint so I know how you feel. Good fun but ! :-)

oh I see now. Wow they will look really nice!

yep ...I love training but my body is pretty messed up from it. Dunno if it was worth it. Lots of ibroprofen and panadol before training these days. Like you eluded to......if I don't train I get really fat and drink too much. Only problem is that I've got no time or energy to do boat stuff on the weekend which is annoying.

My few hours on Morning Bird yesterday afternoon was one of those great few hours when everything comes together.

I had reservations my electric bilge pump wasn't working reliably and might need replacing (it is only 2 years old). Pulled it out, cleaned and tested it, resecured the hose and wiring and now she works superbly getting 30 litres out of the bilge in about 25 seconds.

I have had ongoing issues with my gearbox not engaging properly when it is put in ahead, usually when hot, causing the engine to rock violently until it got going. It appeared to be a clutch cone issue with the clutch grabbing before engaging.

I changed the oil to a straight 30 grade which got rid of the problem, almost. It did it again, only for a second or so, when Havefun and I took MB out last weekend prior to our Lord Howe adventure in November.

I rang the Sole distributors, Headland Engineering in Brookvale who are always very helpful, and he said these gearboxes are very long lasting and to first adjust the gear lever by moving the gearbox casing to get equal movement ahead and astern. I removed the cable and found the lever had about half the movement ahead as it did astern. After adjustment, a hard to get at but simple process of loosening two bolts and rotating the side casing to get the right gear lever movement. it has made a real difference. She engages gear much better, idles along in gear ahead or astern.

It shows how important it is to make sure your engine/gearbox is set up as the manual requires it to be. It probably needs adjusting every couple of hundred hours, although the manual doesn't give a service schedule for it.

That's really lovely