Bluechip's 2016 Winter Adventure

[Insequent]

Important thing was that you were able to fix it, and keep on with your cruise. A PITA to be cruising without AP, that's for sure.

I'm at GCCM. Doug is going to get started on my mast mods next week so I am removing all the wiring into it at present. The Sat dish is now going to be on the mast, which will also become 900mm higher.

Jim came by yesterday as well, and we have a plan to improve my solar set up. I am changing from 7 x 260W to 6 x 345W, and will need new mounts as they are slightly different in size. Also moving 2 lower panels forward to avoid part shading. But another key element is to add an Outback Mate3, a remote management console. At present my 2 FlexMax 80 controllers operate independently, which can mean one goes into float early. The Mate3 can synchronize them, and that should give a little more output over the day as well.

 

[Tidahapah]

Brian,
See you there, I am going down to the boat today and intend to move up to GCCM tomorrow afternoon with some help from Doug.
Will only be there a short so will probably pinch Jim for an hour or so.
See you soon.

 

[Insequent]

Benn
Jim is off to PNG next week for a few days, so make sure you give him heads up on when you need him. Like Doug, he is really busy at present too. I'll probably catch the train home in the morning so I can bring my car down to GCCM, should be back late afternoon. I'm likely going to be here for 2-3 weeks.

 

[Tidahapah]

Yeah , all good Brian, spoke to him as soon as I got of the plane from Paris. We just have a couple of small outstanding jobs. Will catch up this week.

 

[Hickers]

I reckon he owe Benn a freebie after referring So much business to him!


Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Hickers]

Brian, 6x345 watts, you could run your engines on that, Friday we picked up 2.6kw for the day from our two panels leaving me with a full battery banks even after running everything all day (about 25 amps per hour)




Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Tidahapah]

Hickers,
I'm away, left GCCM this morning , now at the Sandhills and into Mooloolaba tomorrow. Weather permitting depart for the Swains at the end of the week.
Things are looking up.

 

[Hickers]

Glad to hear, enjoy the journey, catch some fish and have a beer or two. We will see you once the fish are all gone!!

 

[Tidahapah]

Nice run up from the Sandhills this morning and with the tide, trying to go slow so that I could get into Mooloolaba at least 1 1/2 hrs after the low tide.
The Gardner was just ticking along and I was still getting 8 knots
All tied up by 1400 hrs ready to store up , a couple of oil changes and then to go chase some fish.
Check the screen shots 1061 RPM, 9.4 lt/hr, 1.03 lt/NM @ 8.32 knots wish I could do this all the time.

 

[Insequent]

Brian, 6x345 watts, you could run your engines on that, Friday we picked up 2.6kw for the day from our two panels leaving me with a full battery banks even after running everything all day (about 25 amps per hour)

Hickers
Clipper 45
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Hickers

The Amp-hours get gobbled up somewhere. My theory is that you can never have enough solar charging capacity, but 6 panels is all I can reasonably fit without getting into shading issues. And no, I'll just use the John Deere's to move along.

The plan is to be able to make extended stays on the hook without needing to start my little Honda 2000. I'm hoping for a bit over 700Ah on a good day.

 

[Hickers]

What a great time we had in the Whitsundays, such a beautiful spot. Of course being a boat Bluechip, after her perfect run up the coast, had a hissy fit. Maybe she just wanted to stay there!

The carnage included:
Autopilot pump seal blew spraying red atf all over the lazerette.
Muir anchor solenoid died after 120 anchorings
Cummins 90 degree raw water hose split spraying salt water around the engine room. To add insult to injury the replacement cost for the short piece of hose was $135 ?
Davit 2 button control switch failed.

On our way to Townsville now and expect to spend 10 days there before heading further north to stay ahead of the winter.

You do wonder about the inverse relationship between price and quality in the marine industry.




Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Insequent]

Ah yes, winter! Temp in single digits down here, not nice! Hickers, at least you haven't had any serious problems, at least nothing that some time and money can't fix!

Jim has my new panels finished and its all looking good. Not sure of output yet as Gary's boat next to mine, a larger version of Benn's boat, is shading the panels part of the time. Another week at the GCCM and I can 'escape" the marina. Work is well advanced on the new mast, a cut down portion of the old one that will be mounted onto the hardtop rather than onto the boat deck. It has a new radar platform as the old radar mount will be home for the sat dome. Very happy with the work, but not so much with the time it all takes. I need to be getting up north too!

 

[Hickers]

Yes the warm is wonderful, look forward to seeing you up here.


Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Hickers]

Passing Abbot Point coal terminal where we export the cleanest coal in the world from.

Absolutely lovely day, under 10 knots, warm and not a cloud in the sky, where are you all??


Hickers
Clipper 45
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[CPseudonym]

Hickers those photos tell the whole story. Got a beautiful boat too. Love packing along, thanks for the update.

 

[Hickers]

Head off for Breakwater Marina tomorrow after a lovely 4 days in Horseshoe Bay. Magnetic Island rates pretty highly, lovely walks, great beach and scenery, good pub, sheltered anchorage, warm and only an hour from the second biggest City in Queensland. We've been told it gets even better as we head further north, like to see that!!




Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Hickers]

Day 79!! What a lovely time we have had in Townsville and Magnetic Island in spite of a few days of cold ?. We are heading off tomorrow for Cairns and will be stopping at Orpheus and Dunk Islands, the first real tropical escapes on our quest to avoid winter at all costs ! Total distance to Cairns about 170 nm and we are planning 5 stops on the way with 10 knot winds forecast for the next 4/5 days!! Winning ?




Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Hickers]

On track for Dunk Island today and will stay there for a few days before making the 70 mile run for Mission Bay, just off Cairns.

Economy from our Cummins powered Clipper is great averaging 8 knots for just over 2 litres per nautical mile. The wine bottles per day has lifted to 1.5 ?


Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Rhinoc]

Thanks so much for sharing this adventure. This is the sort of trip I would love to do with my family. I'm on the Gold Coast so we are well placed geographically but I'd love to leverage the knowledge and experience you've gained from your trip from vessel preparation to travel routes and suggestions.

I've done a lot of boating over the years including sailing a tri from Melbourne to the GC but the majority has been as crew rather than as captain.

Thanks again,

Ryan

 

[Hickers]

Thanks Ryan. It's been great fun, biggest thing we have learnt is to avoid commitments to be specific places at a specific time. That way we can travel when the weather is pleasant, makes it great for all on board.


Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Hickers]

We ended up spending a few nights at Fitzroy Island, a great place to stop with good walks, a bar on the beach and snorkeling off the back of your boat. With strong winds forecast we headed into Cairns Marlin Marina, not cheap but great location right on the edge of town. A week there was enough and a good chance to catch up with some of the new friends we have made on the way up the coast.
We left Cairns this am, stopped for lunch at Double Island then headed for the Reef Marina in Port Douglas. Learnt some new lessons, not good to arrive at the same time all the tour boats return nor is low tide with the marina berths being pretty shallow, even our thrusters were stirring up the water! Again an awesome location with plenty of bars and restaurants a short walk away.
We will stay here for the next few days (at almost $70 a night)to let the strong winds forecast blow themselves out before heading for Lizard Island via the Low Isles and Hope Island.




Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Hickers]

Yep, about 1.29 meters in B29 at the Reef Marina.


Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Star0210]

Beautiful photos....thanks for sharing! I'm quite jealous!

 

[Hickers]

Thank you Port Douglas for a lovely 8 days, a great town with some good bars and restaurants, it's a bit like Airlie Beach for rich people. We have a two day window where the winds are predicted to be under 20 knots so we are making a run for Lizard Island via Hope Island which will see us there early tomorrow afternoon. Pretty calm now but I'm sure that won't last!!
By the time we arrive at Lizard we will have covered over 1150 nautical miles for just under 3000 litres of diesel inc genset use. What a great adventure we are having!




Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Tidahapah]

When you get there say hello to Dot and Allen Murgatroyd. I think Allen is the mayor of Lizard these days.
have a good run.

 

[James P]

Hi Hickers, What a fantastic trip! You are a couple of years ahead of us but definitely the way we want to go! We've bought our boat and are working on her now - whoever invented the concept of a 'floating bank' was a genius! What better place to put your money lol.
Here is our story so far:
Home
Enjoy the sunshine. Regards

 

[Hickers]

Lizard Island, wonderful, but only for yachts? Where are all the powerboats? Ratio is running at about 20 to 1 ?.


Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Hickers]

Day 123
Heading south again after a great, if windy, three weeks at Lizard Island. Fantastic clear water, great snorkelling, good walks and the Marlin Bar open three nights a week. If you go to Watsons Bay go close to the beach to avoid the wind waves and high tide surge, so many anchor way out yet the bay is 3 m plus almost all the way specially on the western end.



Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Hickers]

We are back in Cairns and Blue chips 1st major service is under way today with intercoolers and heat exchangers being removed so they can be acid bathed and pressure tested. The amount of buildup is about what you would expect for 4 year old engines that spend their life in hot salty water though the oil coolers were quite blocked with scale pieces. The added pressure in the hoses from this is what may have caused the failure of two elbow hoses between the intercoolers and the fuel cooler. I would suggest you check these regularly if you have Cummins QSB 5.9's, they only cost $135 each but they make a terrible mess when they split ? Glad I have the Cummins extended service plan so I have already paid the extravagant cost of all this activity!

Hickers
Clipper 45
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[Hickers]

Cruising the beautiful warm Qld coast is not always a joy, owning a boat means you supply and manage power, water and sewage systems. Today it's the not so good option with the Jabsco sewage pump needing replacement, an unpleasant task compounded by it being in the very bottom of the boat, surprisingly all my requests for assistance have gone unanswered!! Such fun ?




Hickers
Clipper 45
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