Picking the weather

So this is what makes a nice smooth and safe trip.  I’m looking for the swell to be less than 1.5 metres and in a favourable direction.  The bar at Swansea is open to the North East so really the only bad direction is a North East swell.  Anything from the South or South East is protected by Moon Island.  Ideally a cross wind from the West would allow us to sail down there but hey sometimes you have to take what you get, if the head wind is less than 10 knots then it’s not too bad. 
The other thing we need to take in to account is that the water is still coming out of the lake 3 hours after the low tide so we’ll leave the marina at Newcastle at 0600, be rounding Nobbys head on the way out of Newcastle at 0700 and then be down to Swansea in time for the bridge opening at 1000.  By that time the water should have finished coming out of the lake and be just about to change round to going in. Means a minimum of current in the channel.  And you thought it was easy .

Mooring in Lake Macquarie

This morning we had breakfast at

Toronto before catching up with Glenn from NSW maritime.  We went out with him on the maritime boat so we could pick a spot for a mooring where we’ll leave the  boat semi permanently.  About half an hour while we toured up and down the foreshore and then we’d picked the spot.  We’ll get in contact with a mooring company tomorrow and by the time we’re ready to leave Newcastle it’ll be in.
The spot we’ve picked will give us a reasonable amount of protection from the winter South Easterlies but not much from the summer North Easterlies.

Easy run from the F3 freeway and we’re only 100m or so from the shore so it will be a pretty easy commute from Canberra.

And the alternator needs fixing as well

So the starboard (on the right if you’re standing at the back of the boat facing forwards) tacho has not worked for ages and I finally got around to looking at that last weekend.  The tacho reads the slight changes in voltage from the alternator and the needle moves based on how fast the alternator is spinning.  That is of course assuming that the alternator is putting the right output on the wire going to the tacho.
You’d think that the alternator is working fine if you’re able to get 50 Amps out to charge the batteries but all indications were that the alternator was the problem.  Unfortunately there were no markings visible so I had no idea what type of alternator I have other than 12 volts.  Anyway, cutting a long story short I've now removed the alternator and found that it is a 90 Amp alternator (which explains why one of the three phases is not working and I can still get almost 60 Amps).
On Tuesday it’s off to the shop for that to be repaired so that the tacho will work again but probably more importantly we’ll be able to get 90 Amps in to the batteries when we need it.

Woohoo! Newcastle at last

Yesterday we finally managed to leave Lake Macquarie and get up to Newcastle.  Mel arrived just after 0800 and we left the dock at Marmong Point at 0900 so that we would make the 1100 bridge opening at Swansea.  I was hoping that by then the low tide (0837 at Swansea Heads) would mean  that any current would be pushing me back in to the lake away from the bridge. 
This is the channel that I needed to get through before crossing the bar.

As it turns out there was still about 2 knots of current going out of the lake.  Not unmanageable but still more than I would of liked. Anyway, timed the run to the bridge to perfection and we went straight through. Concentrating on getting through the channel.

And the bridge we’re about to go through with a green light for me.

Uneventful crossing of the bar and a very pleasant 3 hour motor sail up the coast and we get to Newcastle.  And then to finish off a very good day we get welcomed into Newcastle harbour by these guys.

(Wasn't that nice, a whole post with nothing about engines )

The other engine while we're here

While we’re here I figured we might as well do another couple of jobs on the other engine.  Changed the water pump impeller which was pretty easy.  Still had six out of six vanes on the pump but the rubber was starting to harden so I decided to change it anyway.  Pulled of the exhaust elbow because if it’s blocked it can drastically reduce power.
No prize for guessing that this shouldn't look like this.  Its the exhaust elbow and this bit bolts onto the exhaust manifold and gets sea water injected into it to cool the exhaust.  Instead of 35 mm diameter we've probably only got 10 mm.

Engine going in

Our new (second hand) engine arrived late last week and we were scheduled to have the engine replaced today. This is the new one going in.

Almost finished by the end of the day and we’ll have the finishing touches tomorrow.

Not the way you want to see an engine

Apparently there is an indentation on the top of the piston that’s been caused by the valve impacting the piston.  The real bad news is that there is nothing wrong with the valve which means that the piston has been moving on the gudgeon pin or the conrod has been moving on the crankshaft.  Both of these are really bad and now the engine needs to come out.
After the engine has come out it goes off to Sydney for a rebuild.

We’ll be here for another couple of weeks.

Marmong Point Marina

Organised a berth here while we get the engine looked at and because we wanted to do some of the things land lubbers do.  You know, have electricity by flicking a switch, hot water when you turn the tap, those sorts of things.

We managed to get a berth at the end of the arm so this is the view from the back veranda

Engine Maintenance

Sounds like the problem might be worse than we thought.  I’ve replaced both the primary and secondary fuel filters and then attempted to bleed the air out of the fuel system as per the manuals and any other info.  No luck on bleeding the system however the engine does run.  Unfortunately the white smoke is still there and the noise is still there.  Took a video on my phone and managed to show it to a Volvo diesel mechanic this afternoon.  He didn't sound enthusiastic but he does have time to look at it next week which is a bonus.
Potential is that we have had water in the fuel which has caused a problem with an injector or valve.  Anyway, the beauty of having two engines is that we can still move with one.  Tomorrow we’ll move over to the other side of the lake and get a berth in a different marina and he’ll be able to look at it during the week.  We’ll run the dodgy engine at idle just for maneuvering and then cross the lake and go north under one engine and sail.  Turn on the dodgy engine at the other end again for maneuvering into the berth where we’ll stay for the next week.
More on this later.  Perhaps I need to change jobs and become a diesel mechanic ??

Week 1 finished

We've been commuting this week from Marks Point up to the TAFE in Newcastle.  Not quite the 30 minute walk we were hoping for but instead a 30 – 40 minute drive in the car.  Anyway, we've done a couple of days of first aid, a couple of days of survival and one days worth of seamanship (ropes, anchoring, etc)

Yep, spoke too soon

Started early this morning just after 6am so we could get to the Swansea bridge by 7am for our booking.  Got as far as ‘the dropoff’ which was only a couple of hundred metres and the port engine stalled.
Fortunately we weren't in the channel which made things heaps easier to navigate with one engine and we came back into deeper water and anchored for an hour or two while I tried a few things.
Symptoms are (apart from the engine stalling obviously):

• small amount of white smoke
• hard to start
• loud (much louder than normal) knocking when starting the engine [only happened once]

and it’s been quite a while (18 months) since we changed the fuel filters.
End result is I've decided that the last time I filled up I may have either got some dodgy fuel (unlikely because I’m not seeing the same issues with the starboard engine) or the tank on the port side has crud in it and has clogged the fuel filters.
Anyway, we went back to the mooring at Marks Point marina where we’ll stay for the week and commute to Newcastle via dinghy and car until we've had the fuel filters changed.  When I've got time in Newcastle I’ll set up a fuel polishing system.  More on that later.

Going north (well a little bit anyway)

So this morning when we left Canberra at 7.30 it was 4 degrees.  At least it wasn’t minus.  Fog around the airport but we had a good run all the way through to Pennant Hills Road where things came to a stand still for a while.  Anyway, all up it took us 4 and a half hours to get to Swansea.
After the hassles I had last time with the bilge pump in the port engine bay I was keen to see how much water there was this time as I’d seen reports of rain up this way.  Hardly a drop in the port side however this time I had a fair bit (couple of inches) in the starboard engine bay and the bilge pump wasn’t working at all.  Broke out the emergency bilge pump to see how that works and found it sort of worked but had two splits in the hose.  It’s kind of like a vacuum cleaner hose with an internal diameter of about 40mm.  Anyway, got enough water out and then decided that both engine bay bilge pumps are number one on the priority list.  Number two on the list is a new hose for the emergency bilge.  Next weekends jobs!
Certainly wont stop us leaving in the morning, we’re booked for the bridge at 7am which is right on half way between low and high tide.  Once we’re through the bridge we’ll pick up a mooring on the sea side and have breakfast while waiting for more water before heading up to Newcastle.
Sunset at 5pm over Lake Macquarie.

Volvo Maintenance!

So there we were ready to cast off and sail from Pittwater up to Lake Macquarie and when I engage gear nothing happens, increase revs, still nothing.
Cutting an even longer story down by a bit, we have Volvo sail drives that work kind of like a car automatic transmission and they make the prop turn forwards or reverse.
Anyway, according to my owners manual I have 2 x MS 25 SR reverse mounted sail drives.  According to the Volvo documentation they should have automatic transmission fluid in them.  Reality is a little different, thanks Robertson and Caine.  I actually have 2 x 130SR-A sail drives. One has what looks like some really old engine oil and it works perfectly, the other has some milky looking transmission fluid in it and it doesn’t work at all.
Reading the manual is a good thing, right?  Check the internet, it says for that model we should use transmission fluid.  When the sun comes up we go shopping for 5 litres of transmission fluid and replace the lot.  Now reverse works great but it’s still a hit and miss afair with forward.  Eventually, David (my brother) finds this link http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f114/volvo-s130-saildrive-issue-clutch-slippage-41659.html# and then one to the service bulletin itself.  Apparently the one with engine oil in it is correct.  Off to the shopping center again for 10 litres of engine oil this time because we figured we’d need to flush all of the transmission fluid out and we might as well do the starboard side as well.
Thanks Volvo, 5AM start delayed, worked until 3PM and then had two working transmissions.  Quick run around Scotland Island to make sure we’re happy and then leave at 2AM the next day.

Coxswains course in Newcastle

So, I've decided that I want to spend some time not doing IT and I’m going to take a couple of months off.  After looking around at what jobs I can do I've come to the conclusion that working on boats will need a coxswains certificate.  Roughly speaking you spend some time doing theory and practical and then have a log book to keep note of your hours.
End result when I have the certificate is that I can be in charge of vessels up to 12 meters long and take them (with passengers) up to 15 nautical miles off shore.  Also means that if I’m bumming around in a marina I can drive the commercial tender legally and therefore would be insured.
Anyway, we looked at lots of options and I’m going to do the 8 week course full time at the Newcastle TAFE.  Belinda is going to do the General Purpose Hand course which is a 2 week course and then she’s going to do some sewing.