Cat Play: June 2017

Day 52: Mackay Marina

First full day in Mackay and it's a busy day.

First, the windlass. The plan is to do a basic service - strip down the outside bits, clean them up, lubricate, reassemble - and see how it behaves. I got out early, stripped it down and cleaned the parts. I need marine grease and a gun for the main shaft grease nipple and other parts.

Windlass in pieces.

Took delivery of a hire car. The marina is a bit out of town and we have a lot to do. Got a Lancer, unfortunately auto.

Our hire car - with a go-faster wing!

Went into town for some parts, shopping, massage and medical - Kim needs some more drugs. Found the Caneland shopping centre, which is enormous. Even has a medical centre.

Running around, we amassed a collection of bits for the boat and a bag of banana prawns for dinner.

Back at the marina, I lubricated the windlass and put it back together. It tested OK. As the tide was in, we had 5 or 6 metres underneath and I was able to run the chain out and retrieve it without the breaker tripping once. I think I'm going to declare it ready for action but I'll still go over the installation and wiring. Best to be certain for such a critical piece of kit.

Windlass back together and working.

We were invited to combined Shaggers / WWSA drinkies at the pub, then back to the boat for those prawns.

Location

Mackay Marina

Day 51: Mackay Marina

En route to Mackay.

Another early start for the 8 hour run to Mackay. Seas not too bad but it drizzled most of the way. That's fine except when approaching the mooring fields off Hays Point. There are a couple of dozen bulk carriers anchored off that need to be avoided. Like any other vessel, they swing on their anchors. Wouldn't want to get side-swiped by something 300m long!

The mooring field off Hays Point.

Found our berth in the marina and did an average park. Still getting the hang of this but improving with experience.

Safely in the berth.

Joined a group of about a dozen people at the Thai. Great buffet.

Location

Mackay Marina

Day 50: Curlew Island

Very rolly last night so we decided to bail and head to the Percys. As I started to lift the anchor, it became obvious that there is a problem with the windlass. As I operate the winch, the breaker keeps tripping. The only way to leave, without getting out the big guns, was for Kim to keep resetting the breaker as I brought the chain up a few links at a time. This worked well in a wide, calm anchorage but there will be time when we will need to quickly leave a rough spot and the windlass, in this state, isn't going to do it. Change of plans, then - we'll head to Mackay. It's a large marina we were going to visit anyway, and there are comprehensive boat services. It's too far for one leg so we stopped at Curlew Island which is a good anchorage and right along the way.

This is a beautiful island. Hope one day to have the time to look around.

Using our stalking equipment - aka the AIS - we spotted Anam Cara coming out of Middle Percy and heading for the same place. Dropped in for afternoon tea and fishing tips.

Location

Curlew Island.

Day 49: The Dukes

Left Island Head Creek for the Duke group. Variable day, started lumpy, then calmed down for a nice sail before getting rough again close to our destination. The latter probably due to a shoaling seabed and strong currents around the islands.

We made our way to Hunter Island, a good anchorage we've used before. Hear that there will be live firing on some of the islands so we'll need to ask permission before going ashore from the Marble Island Homestead on channel 83.

The beach on Hunter Island.

We're also out of 4G signal so we'll be getting the weather from the same channel at 4.45pm.

Getting the weather when there's no phone signal.

Location

The Duke island group.

Day 48: Island Head Creek

Domestics day. Kim did the washing and I made water.

Washing day.

The sides of the water tanks are accessible in the bilge and there is a fitting top and bottom for a clear plastic tube to be used as a sight-glass to measure level. The old tube was opaque with age. I got some new hose at Emu Park and, due to a mixup, it was a larger diameter than the original. With a bit of botching, I managed to make it fit and I reckon it will be better than what was there before. I swapped out the port tube - don't have enough hose clamps for the starboard - and it reads depth well. I'll need to calibrate depth vs volume at some point - the shape of the tank is irregular so volume is not obvious.

Sight Glass. Calibration to be done.

This really is a lovely anchorage. We're not leaving the boat due to reports of crocodiles but there is a sandbank that could be useful for a walk. Maybe next time.

Dusk over the creek.

Location

Island Head Creek

Day 47: Island Head Creek

Leaving Great Keppel Island and heading north. First we need fuel which means a visit to the fuel wharf at Rosslyn Bay Marina. We have to pay at the fish coop so that needs to be open. There is usually someone around after 7.30am. Textbook docking, we got the fuel, and set a course for Island Head Creek

It's a 10 hour passage so I amused myself fishing (no fish, lost a lure - the fish are winning), and sewing my Ugg boot. The boot had a hole so I made a patch out of some material lying around. As it goes, the material is red and it's the left boot. If I hole the other one, I'll have to do it in green.

Ugg boots fixed.

Got into the creek at 5.30pm, just in time for sundowners.

Location

Island Head Creek

Day 46: Great Keppel Island

Provisioning day. From GKI, there are a few options. You can hire a berth in Rosslyn Bay Marina and get a bus / use the marina car to shop in Yeppoon. Alternatively, you can put a delivery order into Coles or Woollies. They will deliver to the GKI ferry and you can pick it up on the island. But no grog.

Or you can do what we did which was to anchor off Emu Park. This needs calm conditions and you have to respect the tides. Also, there is no convenient dinghy lockup spot so you may end up just leaving it on the beach. If you're not long, this should not be a problem.

Emu Park has a big IGA, bottle shop, servo with swap-and-go, small hardware store, pharmacy and a number of other shops and cafes. On top of that, it is a really lovely town with parks, a museum and a couple of clubs.

Emu Park town centre.

We went it for a big shop - two full trolleys - booze and a few other odds and sods. A long tiring day dragging the dinghy around the beach - every time I came back from the shops, the tide had gone out another 50m!

Priorities sorted.

Went back to GKI for the night.

Location

Great Keppel Island

Day 45: Great Keppel Island

Another job knocked off the list; the Anderson plugs. We have two batteries for the PowerDive hookah system and the need to be charged. Each battery gets its own plug and these are wired across the starter batteries. I intend to plug them in mainly when we're underway on the port engine.

Me, working the magic.

Anderson plugs installed.

Had afternoon tea with Caroline and Walter. They are going into Rosslyn Bay Marina tomorrow, leaving their boat for a short trip home. They also need to finish a couple of repairs while there. We will go north and hope to catch up with them later. They have been great company.

Kim made a cake for tea.

Location

Great Keppel Island

Day 44: Great Keppel Island

Checked crab trap early - nothing.

Started the morning with a short walk along the beach with Caroline. Walter stayed on Sea Change trying to arrange remedies for a couple of his own problems; he has a leaking fuel tank, and his auto-pilot gearbox has barfed. They will be putting their boat into Roslyn Bay Marina in a few days so, hopefully, they can sort it out then.

Leekes Beach.

Went to the pub for lunch. Normally we would anchor the boat nearby but there was a very low tide and the bay is already shallow, so we went in the dink. Had a job dragging the dinghies out to deeper water to run the engines.

Mooring field at Leekes Beach.

Back on the boat, I tidied up the way we hang the dinghy on the targa bar. Bit more convenient now.

Dinghy passage-ready.

Location

Great Keppel Island

Day 43: Great Keppel Island

Tried to sink the boat today. We have a speed sensor, aka speed log, that is a little paddle wheel that sticks out of the bottom of the boat. The higher the speed of water over the hull, the faster the paddle goes. This information is very useful for sailing the boat efficiently. They are also notorious for getting clogged up with weed and crap. In our model, the sensor can be pulled out of its hull mount inside the hull for cleaning. A flap closes over the hole to slow the inflow of water, and a blank piece can be inserted while the sensor is being cleaned.

Combined fish-finder transducer, speed log, and water temp gauge in the port bilge.

The readings from this instrument appear to be a little low so I decided to clean it. I pulled out the sensor and inserted the blank without problem. The sensor had a few growths so I cleaned them off. When I went to put the sensor back, it all went south. For the life of me, I couldn't reseat the sensor. It went in about half way and just wouldn't go any further. I spent about half an hour struggling with this unit before pulling it out and checking the shaft. Against the incoming water, I could feel the flap had jammed across the hole. Not only wasn't it really keeping the water out, it wouldn't let me seat anything that would block the hole. , which took the flow down to a trickle, while I swam under the boat to deal with the problem. I managed to knock the flap off its mountings so that it could be removed. Once it was out, I could get the sensor back in and screwed down.

Failed flap.

Not sure I would try this again, even after it has been fixed. Others, it seems, either only clean the sensor during a haul out, or get in the water with a toothbrush. I will probably do the same from now on.

Caught a couple of mullet for the crab trap and I set this just on dark.

Crab country.

Location

Great Keppel Island

Day 42: Great Keppel Island

While Kim cooed over her washing machine, I made up the anti-chafe tubing for the bridle. I bring the lines back to the center cleats for maximum spring but this does allow some movement under load through a fairlead. The tubing should stop any chafing on the line.

Anti-chafe hose.

Also made up the lower part of a gate in the safety lines. I had some dyneema lying around, so I used that.

Dyneema gate.

Dropped in on Gary and Penny for tea and date scones. Yum. On the way back, it was time to check the crab trap. After all this time, I finally scored a keeper - in large part due to Tim's pointers. It was big enough to eat and enough for a snack for two. We made it half of dinner.

Nice big crab.

After a deadly fight, it cooked up a treat.

Location

Great Keppel Island

Day 41: Great Keppel Island

Mixed bag of domestics. Made water for us and Sea Change. We're expecting a bit of blow for the next couple of days so we went around to Putney's Beach for lunch, bread, and a swim. Anchored with 1/2m under the keels in a rising tide - because we can.

That dot is us. Anchored off Putney's Beach.

Went back round to Leekes Beach and dug well in. I put a crab trap into the inlet, with a pointer from Tim off Lazy Bones. I'll check for the payoff in the morning.