Just to follow up on our engine failure the other day. The cause was a faulty relay (the one driving the starting solenoid). There is a young sparky (Marcus Edwards, 0405 248 854) here at the Coffs Harbour marina who found the cause quick smart and had it going again in a few minutes. Today I rode the bike into town to get a spare relay, just in case the starboard engine wants to play the same trick.
At first light tomorrow we’re hoping to set off for Yamba/Iluka. Another adventure awaits…
Recently, our house battery was clearly on its last legs, barely lasting a night. Te Moana had two 140 Amp hour (Ah), giving it a total of 280Ah. When I started looking for a replacement, I was taken a back by some of the prices I found for direct replacements (approx A$2000).
It's been a pain not being able to fully use the boat for the past few weeks (yes, it sails without a full tramp, but anchoring or picking up a mooring was a little insecure, so we took it easy).
Thanks to Barracouta Sails, Te Moana now sports a new Trampoline. Back to sailing!
On Saturday evening, I was talking to Ken (Red Undies) over a drink at sunset in Jerusalem Bay. "Now that Te Moana is six years old", I said, "it will need some additional preventitive maintenance".
On Sunday morning, Joy and I were taking our time taking up the anchor, washing the anchor chain as we went (Jerusalem Bay has good holding, but very sticky, thick mud), all 60 meters of it.
Unfortunately I lost my balance standing near the Anchor locker, took some heavy steps on to the trampoline to regain my balance and consequently gave it a solid stress test. The result is clear, we need a new trampoline.
I'm still recovering from our Queensland cruise. While we had a largely trouble-free time, on our return from Mooloolaba, we struck a problem at Trial Bay. A southerly with gusts over 40 knots came in around midnight. While we had expected the change, it was uncomfortable and we decided to pull into Trial Bay to let it blow over.
Unfortunately, while we were setting the anchor, a gust of wind combined with the swell proved too much for the anchor winch. The gears stripped and we put out 60 meters of chain in water 2 meters deep. Sigh... A couple of hours later, as the weather settled down, we manually retrieved the anchor and had a further trouble free (motor) sail home to Pittwater.
However, the anchor winch needed repair, so I took it out of the boat and had someone look at it. They pulled it apart and confirmed that the gearbox had failed. Unfortunately, the quote for a repair kit was $1900 plus shipping from France, which I politely declined. I'm fitting a new Australian made Muir winch for the around same money instead.
Lesson learnt: When setting the anchor, don't allow the anchor winch to do all the work. I'll be fitting a chain stopper as well as the new winch.
