My little piece of peace

[sabahcat]

Originally Posted by masalai

Hi sabahcat,
Nice piece of engine, - at 700 pounds (317.5kg), a bit on the heavy side for my boat

Which is why I went 50
I have about the same accommodation as you, on 50 ft and Cockpit BH to transom is 5.6 metres.
All that 5.6 metres has to carry apart from floor and roof is:
motors x 2
dinghy (4 metre tinny with 20hp 2 stroke)
Plastic table and chairs for 2
Proper domestic 4 burner BBQ

[masalai]

Originally Posted by sabahcat

On a 50ft powercat?
No, Cummins B3.3 65 hp x 2
Same as these http://www.tadiesels.com/cu-B3.3M.html

http://www.pelenaexpress.com/links.htm - Your engines should be good to run straight coconut oil as well as mine - Cummins have certified as OK for the 'Pelena Express' engine....

http://www.pelenaexpress.com/news.htm more on the boat... http://www.pelenaexpress.com/boat%20information.htm

[masalai]

Well State and local elections are over for a while in Queensland... Next hurdle of selecting from a bunch best defined as having a total lack-of-credibility, is Australian Federal 'tom-foolery'... And USA is dragging out their political band-wagon - Oh what a load of BS we all must endure...

When I was a youngster, those presenting themselves for local government election were NOT PAID and it was seen as the civic duty of retirees, by putting back into their community what they got from the community as business leaders... I would do that but the greedy bastards of today's crop of politicians do not have the words "civic-duty" in their vocabulary... I think 3 levels of government is TOOOO much but then the logical selection is to delete the state level but there are some things that need a better large regional overview and some Federal issues that need to remain federal - so ELIMINATE DUPLICATION... That could be done and it could easily and significantly reduce the financial burden on taxpayers... Think about it....

On that note, we all deserve to have a bit of a "confused laugh"......
Link http://www.caseyresearch.com/gsd/edi...c-sprott-and-d cartoons:-

[masalai]

http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2012...ll-in-markets/ "Only bards do well in markets " - - any comment as to the voracity of this claim? - - - Seems to be a partial explanation, but fails to acknowledge the fraud and manipulation by HST computer algorithms as other reading attests to about 16% is all that remains true market action - - and the rest a result of electronic fiddling, money creation, 'fantasmagorical' debt, distortion, manipulation, lies and BS...
137139

[downunder]

Originally Posted by masalai

Hi Manie,
I am watching your build progress with interest (especially the mast at the moment), Thanks...

Rain is appreciated here (normally rain here is a "summer thing" but climate change (warming) has upset the apple-cart of consistent weather patterns... I look forward to the PV panels being washed of seagull guano, [B]Time to go on the hard soon (the winter maintenance & storage layover)... [/b]Once the fuel tankage is done the only excuse will be "RO watermaker" and travelling solo I am tempted sometimes not to worry about that and bugger off..... Planning late 2012 to early 2013...

Prediction is for colder winters in continental USA/Canada, increasing extreme weather events, and some confusion on Australia (more or less rain), - the latter - drought - is not a comforting thought... Our winter is earlier and the rain is streaming from the NW as opposed to the usual winter of the past, with the occasional cold front sweeping up from the Antarctic and up across Australia with cold dry air followed by cold rain... I cannot abide cold weather...

Queensland and northern NSW used to have reliable Summer rain and 2 to 4 cyclones a year. All has changed??? - - Northern NSW used to be a prime sugar-cane, banana, and other sub-tropical crop growing area.....

http://www.caseyresearch.com/gsd/edi...et-john-butler - The links are most worthy of perusal...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-2...infall/3977656 "Climate change altering oceans, rainfall: study" - - Interesting and I will keep an eye out for further analysis and raw data...

DO YOU WANT A SPECIAL BOAT?
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/t...-1226340934941 "DARPA puts its $195 million Tomorrow Never Dies stealth ship on the scrap market" here http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/a...1QSCI12129001#
136758

Time to go on the hard soon (the winter maintenance & storage layover)...

Come on now Mas. winter layover in Queensland. All the Southerners and vessels are heading our way now.

[masalai]

Yep, all with little ken of the rules of the waterways, - - - - Occupying all my favourite anchorages, - - - The fuel suppliers up their prices to screw the "mexicans", - - - supermarket parking rage as the Queensland drivers get left with mouth agape as a 'Southerner' smoothly glides into a parking spot and is inside shopping whilst the s-l-o-w-t-h-i-n-k-i-n-g local tries to find reverse...

Oh speaking of casting aspersions hither & yon... - - Bumped (metaphorically) into a Queensland Highway Patrol Cop and asked what gives, - for a driver doing 20kmh BELOW the speed limit? - - - ANSWER - - - up to Au$3000 fine and 12 months loss of drivers licence.... So I suggested 3 of those a day and you have your weekly target and get a day off to be in court and prosecute the case... Do they want to subcontract that activity out?

Not really, but lucky to get time on hardstand - to lower the height of the 2 x aft berths (and decrease their width from Queen to double+) and install 2 x 600 litre fueltanks under the forward half of those berths and remove one of the 180 litre freezers to replace with something a bit smaller as a refrigerator, and desperately save up to install an RO watermaker - then - no excuses? for xmas / late summer departure assuming that the SOI is friendly............
I go up on 22May...

[WestVanHan]

I was on Bribie Island last year,and IIRC those are the Glasshouse Mountains...nice area but too hot and humid for me.

Give me 10C-20C and all is well in the world for me...

[pdwiley]

Originally Posted by masalai

Not really, but lucky to get time on hardstand - to lower the height of the 2 x aft berths (and decrease their width from Queen to double+) and install 2 x 600 litre fueltanks under the forward half of those berths and remove one of the 180 litre freezers to replace with something a bit smaller as a refrigerator, and desperately save up to install an RO watermaker - then - no excuses? for xmas / late summer departure assuming that the SOI is friendly............
I go up on 22May...

Good luck with it. Getting cold here so epoxy paint is taking forever to kick off, which is annoying because I'm almost done with it. As soon as the last coat goes on in the keel recesses, I've got a tax deductible reason to be in Sydney and Brisbane for a while. When the days start getting longer again I'll get back to building.

I'm keeping my eye on those RO watermakers but I won't need one for another 2 years or so.

What sort of money are you looking at in round figures for the fuel bladders? I wrote to them once but never got a reply.

PDW

[masalai]

Have not priced the turtle packs yet as I need to measure the space... - http://www.turtlepac.com/en/home.html - - (made at Currumbin on the Gold Coast)

and RO will be from http://www.waterwitch.com.au/contact.htm - - (127 Diamondfield Rd., Amamoor QLD., 4570)

[masalai]

Not Sean, but another Heron , is owned by a very proud builder, who has done a beautiful job of bringing this plan to life...

[Manie B]

Beautifull
and just look at that smile

[masalai]

Son (in the background) is the owner/builder - 5 years of tender loving part-time care - going on a cruise up around the Whitsundays... Beautiful workmanship and nearly everything is made including by the looks, the beautifully crafted blocks for the sheets and halyards... I was spectating and lending a little hand occasionally as father was there at the request of the son to stand the mast and rig her up...

[masalai]

I love this story. . . . . . from here http://www.caseyresearch.com/cdd/bionic-man - - May I be so bold as to suggest that this is copied and posted on shopwindows that have offended - - (your right to be - "a grumpy old bastard" who is an original NATURAL greenie - because there was no other way). . . .

Friday Funnies

This is not so much a funny, but I thought it worth sharing because it might give those of you who have so far resisted the "green panic" that various educational, NGO and governmental institutions have worked so hard (and with no small success) to inculcate in the world's youth.

Checking out at Tesco, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The assistant responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right – our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soft drink bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed, sterilised and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs because we didn't have a lift or escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocers and didn't climb into a 200-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 2,000 watts – wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back then. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV or radio in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of Yorkshire. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working, so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.

When we were thirsty, we drank from a tap instead of drinking from a plastic bottle of water shipped from the other side of the world. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor when the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest fish and chip shop.

But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish, grumpy old git who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-arse young person.

Remember: Don't make old people angry.

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off!!!

[masalai]

CNO is now parked on the hard till around Xmas (sooner if I get a cash windfall, later if not)... chores include:-
- - Replacing a propeller that got a bit bent whilst recovering an anchor that got too firmly embedded when I departed the anchorage...
- - Lowering the two aft berths by about 15 inches...
- - BUYING & Fitting a turtle-pac fuel tank below the berths...
- - Checking all wiring - ready for the "big voyage"...
- - Buy and install an RO 'watermaker'... - Too many sharks and crocodiles searching for a feed now that the oceans have been so disastrously overfished that silly human fish are the only easy prey left....

- - I may fit (optional subject to money) davits to lift the rubber-duckie more easily out of the water?

[masalai]

142266,
Tis steady rain all day - light and annoying... CNO is sitting nicely on the hard, and I thought you may like a laugh at my expense - a damaged propeller - last image ... - achieved whilst trying to free the stern-line anchor from a heavy crab-pot ensnared in the sand-anchor and the chain became too close to the propeller and - - OoooOOops there goes lots of $$$$ I would rather were to remain in my pocket...

Looks like the RO watermaker is excluded from my list (lack of money)...