Seen better days .....

Wednesday 2nd November 2016

We are stuck in a very expensive marina, and have been for 3 days now.

Having sailed off the anchor in Greys Bay, something I was feeling pretty chuffed about, we then sailed down to Abell Point, Airlie Beach on Monday 31st October. This was a pleasant enough sail though there was not much wind - which worked very much in our favour when we arrived here as getting in on one engine was going to be enough of a challenge let alone if the wind were howling as well.

But we did it !!! Number 2 big pat on the back for today - first sailing off the anchor then getting into an unknown marina on just the port engine. We felt good!!!

Arriving at 3pm the first call was to AllMarine Repairs here at Airlie Beach regarding our starboard engine. They sent a really nice young chap, Justin, down pretty quickly. He assessed it and found the problem to be with the exhaust water lock box - this is a part of the exhaust where the mixture of engine gasses and cooling water are before being pushed out of the boat. Because we had an issue with ours, the filthy exhaust water was not leaving the boat, (luckily bilge pump working well). But this was not the entire problem, as we discovered the next day.

Water lock box innards, supposed to be a nice round pipe
not a screwed-up mess!

New water lock box had to be ordered Tuesday - it would be here on Wednesday's courier (God willing) - Justin would fit it Wednesday afternoon. That sorted, we asked him to do a complete service - then we'd have a start date for the future and know just when things had been done. It was Melbourne Cup holiday in Victoria - lucky for us we were in Queensland else everyone would be closed !! Then he discovered the next problem - or maybe this was the reason for the entire problem. The water intake hoses that had been used on SOL were actually not proper suction hose - so when they heated under use and were put under load they just "sucked" in on themselves and this meant no water getting in to cool engine - engine got too hot - water lock innards melted - exhaust going into engine bay not outside - lots of mess and black smoke !!!!! Then when it cooled down and we looked - the oil level was fine, the coolant level was fine - there was nothing for us to see to diagnose the problem. So - we needed proper suction hoses.

Abell Point Marina at Airlie Beach have a concierge car for tenants use - marvellous as we could use this, race off to ENZED and get hose and joiners while Justin continued on SOL.  And the next problem came to light - the port engine water pump shaft and bearings were on their last legs so this needed rebuilding - Ho Bloody Hum - this would not be ready till late Wednesday afternoon.

Birds perched on top spreaders on yachts
Abell Point Marina

We got organized to leave Abell Point first thing Thursday and decided to head back to Townsville. We would leave SOL there at Breakwater Marina for the next couple of months, till the house settled, then come back up to her and do the trip south again - maybe we'd get further next time. 

At first light Thursday we left - and what a good feeling that was, after a totally unexpected and very expensive three days. Even an unscheduled trip up the mast outside Airlie Beach to fix an aerial did nothing to dampen our spirits.

Sunrise just out of Airlie Beach



Very happy captain as we leave the most expensive marina !!

We overnighted back to Townsville, covering the 136nm in 27 hrs averaging just over 5 knots  - not racing speeds, we used the engines a bit as the wind was very fickle - but we were content with our first overnight sail and arrived back at 0800 Friday. 

Time for a sleep !!!

We now had to "Cyclone Proof" SOL as cyclone season runs 1 November to 1 April.

To do this we took down the screecher, the jib and the storm jib and stowed them in the spare cabin. We will tie the main even though it is fully covered with a boom bag but it is advised to tie it as well. We have tied the wind generator blades so they can't fly around especially as the wind increases. We took the outboard motor off the dinghy. Nothing loose can be left outside - there is the likelihood that things can take off in the high winds. Basically it entails stripping as much as you can from the exterior of the boat and securing it inside. We leave extra mooring lines that can be attached should it be necessary.

SOL stripped and ready for cyclone season

PLAN FOR THE WORST - HOPE FOR THE BEST seems to be the motto.