idlerboat

As to "the facilities"...coops never had a problem. He would "Riif" when he wanted to go up forwards for either a crap or a wee...In really rough weather we would go aft and I would ...harnessed on"...hold him tight. No stress...no embarrassment...he would do what he needed to. Wagging his tail when finished....and we would both stagger back below to towels and a lower center of gravity. ...ps...and when he got off the boat he would "forwards backwards"...until he lined up with the cracks in the jetty to piss !!! and that is the truth with many who have seen it to vouch for it.. I didnt t

Well...its with a little "head lowering.. n slow wag of me tail..." that i tell you about Cooper. He has gone now...But he did a circumnavigation around Tassie at 18.... All dogs are different......n not all dogs are water dogs......Now me Cooper..he aint exactly what you would call a water dog...in fact ...unless it was warm n still he was not at all impressed with the stuff.. But he loved to be on it....not in it. Several thousand nautical miles of it....He knew what Rough meant"... As blind as... deaf...he was way more comfortable in the last few moons on the boat than anywhere else

May they have fair weather and very smooth seas.........

It is important to keep this in reasonable context. We are talking about first aid / emergency medical equipment on an ocean going vessel. I can tell you that having the original doctors prescription, proof of the vessels medical officers credentials (and no it dosnt have to be a doctor,) declaring any and all such drugs on entry is acceptable and normal. (and a criminal offence if not declared).. Importing a class "a" drug such as morphine is a crime. ...only if it is done illegally.. I'm not sure being "qualified to administer" the drug would make any difference at all. It makes a

This is also ridiculous ! If it is declared, authority to hold showed and then inspected, it should remain on the vessel. A serious Knowledge and ability in first aid along with self reliance is encouraged by all marine safety authorities, and indeed part of commercial tickets.... Making life difficult unessesarily risks a lowering of those standards... " but last time we arrived via picton and had morphine and various other restricted drugs confiscated." I am qualified to administer these drugs as a big ship master,

....We set off large quantities of old flares (several hundred) that have been handed in to various authorities. We do it as part of our normal training schedule. ( I have never heard of flares being confiscated from inbound vessels (anywhere) unless they are of the "Gun type", as in the ones that use something that looks a bit like a shot gun cartridge and are loaded into a hand piece. These are classed as guns in some countries) If the confiscated flares were normal flares and in date, then it is both odd and dangerous to remove them from the vessel. A simple lack of local paper work (i

. This put us over like wheels pic.....we were on anchor. over 60 knots...and not at all funny..It hit about four minutes after this pic was taken... (A similar cell was recorded at 169 KMH at Brisbane airport at the same time)

.. nice pics Its a shame about Harrison. He was treated so badly for such a craftsman.... ...in fact so much more...he really understood the whole problem, both from a mathematical point of view and from a practical point of view...

Huge difference if you are an Australian vessel or if you are clearing out from Australia. Please do take this seriously...the fines are in the thousands.. They process may be a pain but there is no corruption and the rules are clear.. You also (unintentionally ) come under Australia,s "boat people" legislation. I have cleared in and out of Australia and had extensive talks with Border force officials. Mandatory detention is even a very real possibility if they believe the laws have been flaunted.

......if you do call in to Lord Howe, dont forget that you need to observe ALL the Oz inbound protocols. Including and importantly the advanced notice. Its very expensive to get it wrong... Inward clearance is not particularly hard, but is strict and using old information is not considered an excuse. The cost is about $400 at the moment. Lord Howe is not a full clearance port so it is well worth ringing Coffs Harbour Border Force for the current rules. after leaving Lord Howe you will need to proceed directly to a full clearance port with no stops or crew disembarkation. The fol

...I have spent many months sailing Tassie waters and the Bass Strait Islands. (Including a circumnavigation.) Well worth a visit if you have seen one to many palm trees : ) There is a cruise in company called the VDL every two years but I dont like crowded anchorages so have always gone it alone. The weather on the little bit of south coast and the large west coast demands respect. Seas of 8 metres are not at all uncommon. Avoid the colder part of the year not least because ti can rain for 200 days a year ... The biggest problem on the west coast is the lack of all weather anchorages. Ha

For extended cruisers.. Trackers are great when on anchor.... but when sailing the sails blanket the panels.....about half the time anyway. Other sticky uppy bits....like wind generators or even GPS can throw enough shade to effect some panels efficiency. If you do make one, make it strong and light. - I agree with eruptn...a lot of people vastly over estimate the REAL output of their system. To get an honest appraisal you need to try it for an extended period of time while drawing off a proper load (under a variety of conditions including being on the move)... Dont expect it to

Im not sure what is the normal haul out period in NZ but in Australia it is usually every two years.. ...Anodes are checked and/ or replaced at this frequency. There are several anode size and number calculators on line. Recasting block anodes from old anodes is easy. (....picking up all the dumped ones, often on the ground in a larger yard can save a lot of money) Shaft anodes are a bit harder.. On metal vessels the spacing is also important. All other materials need too have good clean bonding straps to everything that you want protected. Dont expect a bronze through hull in the bow

Hey BP have a look at the actual specs of the panels, not just the nominal watts. Generally the actual output is about half of the rated specs (on a bright sunny day). So your 480 watts nominal will probably show around 20 amps true... I like to run a head room of about double so a 40 amp regulator will have buckets of safety..

...and just for interest...and to illustrate how quickly the wheel is turning with Bat tech, I was talking to a ryobi sales dude...he said that they are no longer producing Nicad stuff... That peoples expectation and inability to follow charge regime, meant a switch to liIon2 quick smart was essential.. I think wheels has mentioned some of the emerging techs ...these may happen very quickly.

NAME PRICE QTY TOTAL 12V 300AH LITHIUM ION BATTERY Item #: SB300 $3,499.99 $10,499.9 (sorry I copied your referred information but it dosnt seem to want to come through same as on the web site) that is three of the batteries you are after. ...Anyway... wow lots of money.. What are using them for ? Is space and weight a premium ? At a slightly better Amp hr rate but nearly four times the weight (and space)...and less than half the price you could do it in AGMs.. There are a few house bank solutions coming on line right now. If you can hold off even for a few months you may

You can use a nice bit of gear called an isolator / combiner.. This is not a VSR. try this http://www.hellroaring.com/battery1.php Good information on their site. I can attest to the reliability of their gear. I have mine between my engine crank bat and house (600 AH of AGMs) and prefer to do it this way on installations. As soon as the Engine bat is happy it starts to pulse power across till it fully connects. Engine alternator and solar via engine crank bat ...then to house. (You never get a flat crank Bat). Wind direct to house.

OK ..now that I am grumpy... lets talk about bilges... after all it is more fundamental than the bilge pump. What sort of bilge do you have on your boat ? How many ? If more than one, does one drain into the other ? If a long bilge does it have a sump, or baffles ? If its a tiny little bit of plastic....how long do you think thats going to hold water before it travels through the rest of the boat....or are you relying just on the magic bilge switch and electric pump.... to turn on...off...on...off..on...while moving a bats pee.. How long does it take you to access it ? Is it deep

.......Strange as it may seem.... a small amount of "back flush"...that is water returning back down the suction hose after the pump turns off is a very good idea. It clears the accidental debri (such as stuff like human hair, paper towel) that is in most normal boats, that has been drawn up against the strummer box grill.) Yes it is still in the bilge sump, but it stops the ever increasing cover of the strummer box. (Or in most commercial ready mades the clip on plastic grill around the impeller) You do of course still have to do bilge yoga from time to time to clean it out : ) A lot

....make your own float switch !.. In-water rocker type float switches are as above....they fail often. Nearly as bad is that they collect debri under the hinge when running and then simply dont turn off. This means that they can either burn out or in a light battery/solar panel combo, kill the battery. Which in turn means that the boat stops pumping and starts filling. This is more common on a swing mooring due to the boats movement than one might think. In essence you have a piece of pvc pipe with a few holes drilled in it standing upright in the bilge. I use 32 mm but you could go smal

....so...best place for a dingy in a crap sea is on board...tha rule...get it on early. I cant stress this enough...dont be lazy...if you want to keep your dingy....put it on board.. No you dont have to fit it perfectly either...lashed across the fore sections...sticking out either side looking completely stupid....will last WAY longer than being towed...Its even piss easy when coming along side...just push it out the off side until it drops inside the stauchions. You can then always push it back over or pack it up. And dont give me hard time about it fouling sheets etc....work it out for y

Sea drift amazes me ! I have seen many beaches with LOTS of crap on them. The sorting effect of current and wind on objects can be truly remarkable with some beaches having almost exclusively one type of object... Turtle suffer very badly from floating plastic because they have difficulty in distinguishing thin plastic from Jelly fish. (The aquarium in Mooloolaba has a tank with plastic in it, in the Jelly fish section to prove the point !!) They cannot disgorge it either. On a huge percentage of beaches, if you run your hands through the sand and look closely you will see that it is f

Hi cj..I will try and find a link.. One was published in the American "metal boat building society magazine" .. I am no longer a member because they wanted to charge me to access my own intellectual property. Another....Metal boat building. org the free website that a few of us ran has now folded... I am in Townsville at the moment working on a boat but when I get back home I will try and find the original pdf,s..as well..

(Decorative sennits are a long standing maritime tradition, they can be extremely complex and often take the form of "mats". Most detailed knot books will have a few chapters on them). I have a stretchy rubber loop (they use them as an addition to rope in some truck tie downs) as suspension when dragging the dingy. I tie it on with a bowline on the bite...leave a little slack and then tie the end also to the mothership..(just in case it beaks). It is a great addition also if you have the dingy along side with fenders and a stern line as it lessens the shock load when those pesky jet skis

.....The thickness of the tape is important. If you have long windows the expansion and contraction is quite high. It is best to create a "frit" with silicone based paint (Like exhaust paint) if the bond is exposed through the acrylic / poly-carbonate . Have a look at most modern cars , fixed windows and you will get the idea. This stops UV exposure on the tape / sealant interface. Mask all except the frit area, lightly abraid with 180, and spray. Goop by itself can work on fiberglass boats and smaller windows but is not a good idea on other materials and definitely not steel boats. Af