And So The Journey Begins

Hope you are OK Paul!

Here are some pics from Cyclone Yasi:

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mega3.jpg



wind2.jpg
 
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Holy ship! :wow: That bring tears to me eyes :smt089
 
Hi All,

Well I am a beaten man, my wife and I have decided that after spending a lot of money on getting the boat ready and then finding that we need to spend even more that it is time to be realistic about this boat. So it is going back on the market here on the Gold Coast once we have done the repairs to get it marketable. It has just been a never ending cycle of events which have all come together to make this decision.

We have now spent close to $20K in repairs and still need to spend another $2K to get the boat back together as it currently has no starting batteries for either engine or genset plus all the power cabling has to be redone.

Along with this I discovered today that the technician I employed to put in the new VHF radio failed to do a basic radio call check cause if he had he would have noted that the radio was not functional due to the antenna being unserviceable. New antenna going in tomorrow.

The same, so called technician, also walked away from the new autpilot install leaving it totally unuseable. I am appalled at the way this person installed the system and it is being redone. I found why he could not manage to sea commission it and that was because he failed to do the most basic of tasks of aligning the flux gate compass at the dock so it read the correct magnetic heading.

So at the end of the day we repaired the hull and had it and the running gear antifouled, new autopilot system, new holding tank and plumbing for the head and shower, new VHF radio and antenna, 3 X new batteries, new power distribution cabling, new tender, new outboard motor for tender, new davit points for tender, new C-Map NTmax for Navman Tracker 5607, new EPIRB, new PFD's, had Navman cabled into the new autopilot, boat waxed and bilges detailed, new risers on both engines, both engines 100 hour services done including new plugs and new filters on everthing, heat exchangers serviced.

Genset being worked on tomorrow to get it functioning again. I worked on the entertainment system and got it fully functioning again. Cleaned the boat on the inside to get it looking and smelliing good again. Cleaned all the topside vinyl covering on seats. The u-line ice maker is still dead.

So that is the end of this journey, not the ending we were hoping for but the end just the same.

We came to the realisation that after spending what we had to to get the boat repaired and ready that we would not have the funds left to relocate her to Port Stephens which we estimate to be around $3K in fuel.

So someone is going to get a great boat here on the Gold Coast in the near future hopefully and then we can move on too.

I will be here for a few more days until the rest of the work is done then I will fly back to Port Stephens and collect my 4X4 and drive back to Alice Springs.
 
Paul,
So very sorry to hear of your not so great journey. I hope you and your wife find a bright side to all of this. Truly sad.
 
Wow ,I hope the marina ,surveyor ,or friend didnt recomend that guy.Unfortunately there are plenty of people willing to take our money without knowing what they are doing.I hope you dont hate boating for this ,i know you and your family have put a lot into it and you must know its not always such a let down.
 
Searaybio270 said:
Paul,
So very sorry to hear of your not so great journey. I hope you and your wife find a bright side to all of this. Truly sad.
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Well as sad as it is we are putting it down as a learning experience. We will still get a boat but I think we will look at something smaller and one that can be dry stored to cut down on maintenance expenses. Plus something that is more economical to run. Oh I forgot about the $600 worth of fuel I put in last week on the request of the mechanic who thought the genset problem was a fuel take up problem. Strike one on that one as it is actually a couple of faulty relays on the start/run circuit board.

Actually I have seen some nice late model Sea Rays on the market here which I reckon will not last too long. We will not be buying now till after we sell this current boat so it could be sometime as we all know what selling is like.


1956olds said:
Wow ,I hope the marina ,surveyor ,or friend didnt recomend that guy.Unfortunately there are plenty of people willing to take our money without knowing what they are doing.I hope you dont hate boating for this ,i know you and your family have put a lot into it and you must know its not always such a let down.
Click to expand...

I don't know about the way it is in the USA but here with all the fine print in the survey report it is basically not worth a damn when it comes to finding problems not picked up by the surveyor. Same as the mechanical report, which failed to pick up the sticking starboard transmission shifter. I called the mechanic to come and take a look at it and he proceeded to use both hands and all his strength to move the shifter from neutral to forward to reverse and back. Then he turns to me and says "Oh the cable could do with being replaced soon." I did not know at the time that he had sheered off the morse connector that attaches the cable to the lever when he had used his strength to move it. I found out the next day when I went to move the starboard shift lever and it was moving quite freely with no cable attached. Once I chased all over the Gold Coast to get the new part and install it I was back to square one with a stuck starboard transmission. I managed to get another mechanic in who found the problem and rectified it, turned out the detant ball had worn to the point that it was fitting inside the detant recess on the shift lever attached to the transmission and causing the jam. He removed the detant ball as the morse controls have their own indiction of where you have the lever positioned.

Anyway, onwards and upwards as the saying goes.
 
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Paul,

I'm so sorry to hear about your horrible experience and tough decision. This thread was one of the most interesting I've followed. I was really looking forward to following your journey. Your enthusiasm was contagious and entertaining so I really hope we don't lose you from this forum.

One question, all of these repairs you're talking about, I assume are mostly damage related to the storm, correct? If so, won't insurance cover some of it?
 
copb8tx said:
Paul,

I'm so sorry to hear about your horrible experience and tough decision. This thread was one of the most interesting I've followed. I was really looking forward to following your journey. Your enthusiasm was contagious and entertaining so I really hope we don't lose you from this forum.

One question, all of these repairs you're talking about, I assume are mostly damage related to the storm, correct? If so, won't insurance cover some of it?
Click to expand...

No not damage from the storm, that storm was a long way north of where I am in fact we did not even get the predicted large swells from it. The marina in the photos above was the Port Hinchinbrook Marina.

These repairs, some of which were noted in the survey, were depicted to be minor and not going to cost a lot to fix. These were bold faced lies as they turned out to be anything but minor repairs. Some problems were not found by the survey or mechnical inspection such as the power cabling or the non functioning bilge pump in the rear engine compartment. The genset was said to probably be a minor problem that will not cost much to fix, how wrong they were on that one.

The autopilot was noted to have a faulty LCD on the control head but it was thought to work and just needed a new control head, again the autpilot had a bad rudder position sensor and both parts are now no longer available for the system that was on the boat. Therefore a new system needed to be fitted to retain this function. Considering the trip ahead I decided that it was worthwhile to retain the autopilot function and ordered the new system.

The hull work was predicted to cost around $1000 to be done, $4000 latter and it was completed. Engine work was predicted to cost around $2.5K and again $4K later the work was completed. The genset was predicted to cost very little to repair and yet it is still unserviceable and will hopefully be functioning again tomorrow at a cost that is anything but trivial. I found that the genset battery was bone dry and of course the mechanic had been trying to start the genset with the battery in that condition and the plates had buckled. Both engine start batteries were not in the best condition when I looked at them and were vintage 2005 so both were past their use by date.

I forgot to mention that I had to put a new battery charger in as the piddly charger that was there was only hooked up to charge the engine start batteries and not the house batteries or the genset start battery. With cabling and charger plus labour it came to nearly $1100.00.
 
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Paul,
I am truly sorry to hear of your plight and ultimate decision. What a letdown for you as well as the rest of us who were eagerly awaiting your journey so we could follow it here.
Unfortunately there are low skilled part swappers everywhere and you happened to stumble across one. It also sounds like there were alot of issues, some misrepresented, on your survey. On your next purchase, once you've recovered from this one emotionally & financially, I would look for something with less issues to begin with. Without a competant mechanic that you can trust you don't want to leave youself to likes of these jackyls again.

Again, I am sorry to hear the unpleasant outcome to such a promising beginning. Be well!
 
Me too Paul. I wish we could all just come down and help. Chin up and put a smile on as something better will happen. Things happen for a reason, so better days ahead.

Good luck mate!
 
Terrible end to what was to be a great journey... so sorry. :smt009

I hope you can get your investment back.

Cheers mate!
 
Like the others I was looking forward to your journey. The GOOD thing is that you didn't have
a major melt down whilst at sea which could have easily have happened.

I have done the trip down the coast a few times and can tell you from a pleasant start to
whitewater over the flybridge every second to 3rd wave to every wave can get a bit worrying.

Ozzie
 
Well it will be the cheapest and best boat on the market here as all the work has been done so hopefully we can get most of investment back. Not in a real hurry to sell it so no need for a fire sale so to speak.

Had a pretty cool thing happen yesterday, I was on the swim platform and I noticed a disturbance in the water in one of the pens opposite me. I kept looking then I saw this grey shape coming at me under the water and it was a dolphin with it's baby. They came right up to the back of my boat and popped their heads out as if to say hello. Then they went out of the marina.
 
I'm pretty sure the dolpins were a sign that you should reconsider getting rid of a boat where all the work has already been done to it. ;-)
 
Can anyone tell me if it is normal for the deck wash to drain into the bilge? I find this to be a really stupid design flaw. Should the bilge pumps not be working for any reason then it is all over red rover. If the SR's do this too then it makes open ocean cruising a dangerous proposition IMO.
 
There should be a hose connected that goes to a side through hull.
 
Paulkarlsven said:
Can anyone tell me if it is normal for the deck wash to drain into the bilge? I find this to be a really stupid design flaw. Should the bilge pumps not be working for any reason then it is all over red rover. If the SR's do this too then it makes open ocean cruising a dangerous proposition IMO.
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All that I have seen go through the hull. The two SR I've had have a gutter around the engine hatch with a drain hosed to a thru-hull fitting.
 
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