2018- February to June

Now I'm back at home I seem to have countless other things to do, so K'Gari has only had a few runs.

One in February to Garrys anchorage and return.
Then a couple of marina visits only in March, one for a night on board when a low pressure system  was looking a tad ominous.
Another when I had noticed another battery appeared to be warmer than the rest-.....'.hmmmm'! Took the battery into Gympie for a load test, I was told it was within the parameters , and probably just need a good charge,' hmmm' I say again. Peter the wonder leccy came up and battery was reinstalled with a change in the circuit ,so that the warmer battery was not first in line and taking all the load. Not much changed, it just held a steady 10 degrees hotter than the other two.

April, great few days with Jo up through the Great Sandy Straits and into the southern end of Hervey Bay. The battery didn't misbehave.

May: Sailed the boat to Coomera to see the wonderful Craig and his team at Signature Yachts , to finally put paid to an issue that had been plaguing me for some considerable time.
We left the marina at 0900 and crossed the Wide Bay Bar- a crossing undoubtedly well known to many yachties in Australia as it the entrance to take one through the protected waters of the Great Sandy Straits (GSS) into Hervey Bay and thence northwards. Or of course, you can just sail up outside Fraser Is rounding Breaksea spit and thence northwards, but that way is passage with nowhere to stop, hence most yachts take the inside route, unless they can't get through the very shallow Sheridan Flats in the GSS.
I have only once before crossed the bar and that was many years ago on the South Passage - I was not the skipper on that occasion.
Easy crossing in benign conditions, and hence we were motor sailing.

Positively balmy

At 1300hrs that rotten egg gas smell  reappeared and this time quick as a flash, the now second troublesome battery was disconnected and we continued on our way. Another job to be added to the list in Coomera was dump all of these batteries and replace them with another brand.
All I can say is that having had two go and knowing that I wouldn't be able to mix n match brands, the new one replaced in Gladstone was now an expensive misjudgement.On the upside, thankfully none of these battery issues had surfaced in Indonesia on the way home.At least the failures had occurred where the fix was relatively easy, albeit bloody expensive.
We tootled to Coomera over 4 days ,stopping for at night in Laguna Bay, about halfway down Bribie Island,Raby Bay and finally off Boatworks. We did get some good sailing in , mixed with motor sailing. This is as far south as K'Gari has been and at the end of May , as you can see by the photo it wasn't warm!

Almost forgot- finally got my HF radio back. The keen reader may recall that I parted company with it way back in October '17 when in Darwin. From that time until the end of April '18, its whereabouts seemed a mystery to the agent who had  taken it. I eventually gave up even trying to contact him as he rarely returned my calls after the first couple of months.The last time I conversed with him he said my HF was in Dili- yes that's correct Dili East Timor. It was at that point that I started dealing directly with ICOM in Melbourne, initially to enquire if this guy was in fact really an ICOM approved agent! Eventually the HF did make its way to Melbourne , where the entire motherboard was replaced. As the thing had never worked properly since I picked up the boat, I was not entirely surprised.I was miffed that the warranty had expired, but I had not wanted to part with it for an extended period of time in SE Asia , in case it got lost/mislaid- which ironically is exactly what ended up happening in good old Oz!! However its back , it is reinstalled  in place and it bloodywell works- hooray!

Anchored off Boatworks 

June : The required work, which I wont bore you with as it was warranty stuff , was carried out incredibly efficiently and apart from all the facilities available at the Boatworks yard, (my only comparison being SE Asia to date), my lasting impression of Craig and his team,(who are just one of the businesses in the yard) is that no question I asked was too stupid, an explanation was always cheerfully forthcoming. The 'how do I do  things',that I need demonstrating were demonstrated, and then with things like applying the prop speed to the props, they were happy to keep a watchful eye on me whilst I tried it myself  after watching the first one being done. I can't recommend them highly enough. I will return!
Whilst there I also had the seacocks replaced on the engines.Why on earth Yanmar supply the ones they do, which after 12months (of use , ie opening and shutting) are so clogged up with verdigris internally they can no longer  be opened or shut fully, is beyond me. I now have far more simple to operate ball valve variety.
A dodgy stay was spotted and replaced.
Three new batteries installed,and the alternator checked, hopefully these will give me closer to the expected 7 years of life than the gazillion dollar ones did!
All in all , definitely well worth the trip.

Emerging from the shed

Great antifoul job.

On the way home, a stop over off Scarborough, so that  Peter could help me with installing a new bilge pump, as the port side one seemed to have a mind of its own of late.It would pump only occasionally when activating  the remotely located switch. Not much use really! I had purchased a new replacement  bilge pump , which of course was a slightly newer shaped model and I needed help to install it, because equally 'of course'  it wasn't exactly the same dimensions - nothing ever is I have found! What seemed like umpteen hours later, and with needles having been stuck in every wire  connected to the bilge and tested for current , the search moved to the fuse. Yes I had checked the fuse - days ago and yes it was in tact. As it turns out the fuse was in tact ,but the fuse holder was no longer making contact with whatever it is  a fuse holder need to contact! Well that would be an easy fix, just replace that part of the panel instead....
The nearest chandlery, which I tactfully wont name, seemed to think, that asking for the "equivalent of an average down payment on a house" , would have us interested in purchasing- instead Peter elected to drive 45 mins to Brisbane and return, to pick up exactly the same fitting for an economical and realistic price.
Guess what - it wasn't an exact fit either- surprise surprise , but a few drill holes later, and the new bilge switch panel was installed. Thanks again Peter.

Overnight stop (both directions) off Noosa in  Laguna Bay

Next day an early start to catch the tide out of the bay , an overnight stop off  Noosa in Laguna Bay again, followed by an early start to ride the morning offshore breeze north. About 5nm south of Double Island Point , we saw our first pod of whales, which were also making their way north for calving . the presence of these magnificent creatures making their way north was why i was only doing day hops up the coast as I didn't want to have to worry about them at night.

Back in the marina  K'Gari was put through her shut down for a couple of months routine , as my next voyage of excitement was going to a spot of sailing around the Turkish coast, with Steve and Jo, on Steve's catamaran..