April 2021
April 1st: South Australia’s Police Dog Squad put out a video today. They were talking about a new batch of canine intakes; Sausage Dogs designed for searching under beds and lifting into roof spaces – hahaha.
The COVID times continue:
I do like a book shop with a sense of humour.
We continue to work through the eternal list of boat jobs while we wait for our slot at the Boat Works. One we have been putting off for quite some time was replacing the insulation on the covers surrounding the generator.
Neon realized Daddy was playing with nasty chemicals, so he headed home.
The sheets of sound insulation foam, on the inside of the panels that box in the generator, are sloughing off (they also smell of diesel from an unfortunate leaking incident some years ago). This requires using some impressive-in-a-scary-way solvents for stripping off the existing insulation. The solvent also stripped off the paint around the edges of the metal panels (I would have expected that it was painted in 2-pack, but no). Funny how one job seems to beget another – add ‘repainting generator box panels’ to the To Do List.
Peter took Neon’s hint and purchased a gas mask to finish stripping the panels. Large sheets of new insulation were purchased (heavier than the original), newspaper templates made to ensure the new insulation sheets would be a good tight fit and a few nights of abusing my sewing scissors (they turned out to be the best tool for cutting the insulation) and another job could be marked off the list. I’m not sure that it is actually quieter, but it certainly makes removing the covers easier and the smell has gone.
We received our first distance pennant from Nordhavn for having travelled 5 000nm with ‘Opal Lady’. PAE Group, the manufacturers of Nordhavn boats, are very proud of their product and have come up with a multitude of ways to promote their boats. One of these is the Distance Pennant Program. 2021 saw the group move past 7 000 000nm of travelling for the 514 boats registered (the program is voluntary, so not all Nordhavns are participating). I spend a lot of my time sticky beaking at other boats and I thought it only fair to put ourselves out there too; so ‘Opal Lady’ is a part of it. ‘Opal Lady’ has done a total of 26 000nm, 6 000 of those with the Beilbys. [PAE’s promotion programs obviously work – the reason we became interested in this lifestyle is because Peter saw the video of the first Nordhavn Atlantic Rally from back in 2004 and thought “I like the look of that, now just to convince Suz”.] FYI – most of the boats have around 25 000 – 30 000nm under their hull, so we have a ways to go (not Opal Lady, but us). Wolfgang and Heidi Hass on ‘Kanaloa’ have travelled 123 321nm – pretty much legends!
On the rather long list of works to be completed at Sanctuary Cove was replacing the carpet in the salon. Between an old cat, excited fishing people, wet weather and humidity, the old carpet had suffered. The new carpet (a nice grey berber style) was installed with a thicker underlay (we’ll see if it helps with heat and noise that comes up from the engine room). Because the carpet was higher than the previous, Pugwash had to adjust the drawer under the oven so that it would still open. Typical for a boat job, it was not as easy as just shaving the bottom edge off the drawer. Fortunately, when we had installed the new fridge, we had raised it up on a sheet of rubber composite to dampen vibrations, and the door swings just above the carpet (else that would have been another job).
Our trolley is getting a lot of use here – I think the tender motor is possibly excess to her rated loading, but she coped well. The poor motor had to be deep cleaned after that unfortunate water-in-fuel situation back at Fraser Island.
The trolley herself needed a strip back, rust treatment and repaint too. I’m using drop cloths and cardboard sheets I found in the skip to ensure that there is no chance of any overspray ending up on the any of those ‘little’ boats we are surrounded with.
This is our Sanctuary Cove group. Peter slipped into my chair when the photo was taken, but this photo really doesn’t do any of us much justice. The tall chappy and the lassie behind me are The Mac’s (boating for 30+ years). The couple on the far right have just bought a Nordhavn 60’, ‘Last Samurai’ to be renamed ‘AraRoa’ – they are Kiwis so the name makes perfect sense. The set of eyes glowing in the background is one of their Burmese cats; another boat with cats. Neon is not impressed as he thought he was unique, and worse still they also have a dog!
I host coffee on our boat at 10ish each morning and the other two (bigger boats) host dinner and cards a few nights a week.
Neon Notes:
Not much happening here while we wait for something called the Big Lift.
I swear I was just checking the fenders and then coming straight back.
And it’s not like Mum and Dad are staying home all day twiddling their thumbs; Mum found a bakery at Surfers called Bam Bam’s that makes ‘to die for’ Portuguese tarts, Dad is forever heading off to Paradise Point on his bike for brekky at Café 7 and they have both really enjoyed jumping on the tram to head down to the huge Pacific Fairfax for some retail therapy.
Boat Works
Oiled teak cap railing
Repainted trolley
Installed tool holders in engine room
Replaced soggy sound insulation on generator panels
Had seat cushions reupholstered Had carpet in Salon replaced
