Manie's Microcruiser

Picture no9

Saturday afternoon across from Bayshore Marina, calm, warm and beautifull.
Jeez what happened ???
Had a good lunch and sleep, and headed back into the harbor as it was getting dark.
Had a beer with Bill and in bed by 8.

But but but - cant wait to go back there again. A couple of lessons learned.
A new Bruce main anchor, lots more rope on board, a spare anchor, Raymarine ST1000 tiller pilot ,
and a couple of modifications to the boat.

Now for the good news, the boat is fine, dont ask me how that works, just minor dings.

 

The boat is fantastic, as a microcruiser it does the job 100%
Very stable, considering it still has no ballast or centreboard.
Was I scared during the night, yes I was really crapping myself.

But it is so beautiful out there, that you simply cant get enough.
Mile upon mile of water with not another boat OR human in sight.

Just for interest sake:-
The river that I was going up is called the Wilge.
This river basically runs deep into the Freestate. The general area is very flat and the Freestate can be called the bread basket of South Africa. Vast fields of corn. Really big farms.

So this trip was 4 days that I lived in my boat.
I could go back right now and live in it for 40 days.
Maybe that is not even enough, maybe years not days.
The old saying is so true: go small but go now!
The harbors are filled with richmans toys that only go out once a year.
I feel like a king, hundreds of kilometers of water all to myself.
Eat and drink and love life

 

Yes well you see what happens to okes that do not invite their friends

Manie all I can say is well done. I'm not really sure why you were so worried because you had my anchor there.... right ???!

 

The trip was 41 nm there and back.
on 12 litres of petrol at speed of between 5.3 and 5.7 knots.
My fuel consumption will improve a lot when I have the tiller pilot.
Hanging onto a tiller and steering for hours is lousy.
Raymarine ST1000 here we come

 

Map of the trip.

 

Maybe you should invest in a fishing rod and reel as well.

 

Well about time, Mannie. I was going into withdrawal, scratching around for my next MMC (Mannie Microcruiser) fix....

Sounds like the little ship came through with flying colors. Which is even more impressive when keeping in mind that it's minus ballast and keel at the moment.

 

Very nice boat. "Helluva" job. Nothing better than reading about a man building a boat of his dreams and taking a nice trip. Nice pics too. I have taken to studying birds and other wildlife on my river/lake/ocean excursions.

Cheers,

Joe

 

Manie
Looks like you had an awesome time and am sure you were not exspecting a storm like that wow .in pic 7 looks pretty wild out there for inland waters and one bonus of it all is you got to test your boat in some rough stuff and she came through with flying colours . Well done manie

Cheers

 

You make me yearn for the wild places. It seems that that are so few accessible wild places in the world. Everytime I see a barrier to natural places, I feel a part of me torn away. Sometimes these barriers are put up by those that can afford their piece of natural beauty and steal it away from everyone else and sometimes it's the government in the name of progress. A recent loss for me was the narrow strip of land that provides access to the Florida Keys between the Mainland and Key Largo. The highway is a busy two lane road with access on either side to the waters edge for fishing, lounging or just jumping off from civilization into the undisturbed areas of the Florida mangroves. In recent years, the government felt the need to put up an 8 foot fence along that whole section of highway, restricted any kind of parking and has effectively blocked any kind of water access along that whole section of highway. I'm sure there are motivating circumstances for such an act of progress, but I still take it as a personal loss because that section of the wild now has a fence between it and myself.

Great adventure. I glad everything worked out for you. I'm also pleased that you are enjoying your boat so much. You've earned it! I look forward to your further adventures and also your progress with the rig.

Fair winds.

 

Guys I posted this video of the storm on Youtube.
But it asked me if it could correct my video because of bad light, focus and what not.
The waves are real but the colour is not. The colour is more of a muddy brown than this blue.
Next time I wont let Youtube do funny things and "autocorrect"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nho3RekLW8U&feature=plcp

anyway enjoy, you get the picture

 

Glad you survived or rather Fargo survived that blow intact...

That said, Id been on the Vaal in a big storm, but also on Bloemhof dam on a bad day at a few occasions, believe me, Bloemhof is a very bad place to be in similar weather - waves up to 1.5 meter average and jy bekak jouself letterlik, as I can attest to. Shifting winds bad due to the geographical layout between koppies etc.
I believe Fanie will echo my sentiments as an old Bloemhoffer himself.

And this brings me to this - when are you and I go for a nice weekend cruise (and some fishing) on Bloemhof - I will supply the firewater and contribute towards your costs getting Fargo there Maybe old Fanie can tag along and wise us up to fly fishing.

 

Wynand I would love to cruise Bloemhof dam, never been into fishing, more of a sight seeing man
At the moment I am working on my rudders.
My xmas present came early as I ordered a Raymarine ST1000 tiller pilot, which will be here next week.
Steering for up to 6 hours a day gets boring, I want to "cruise" and look around and take pictures and videos.
The mast will be here within the next 2 weeks. So once this lot is sorted and fine tuned and working the way I hope, I will come your way so that we can also do the next certification anyway.
I want do do the Frankfort cruise next, then Villiers and then the Vaal River - Barrrage to Riviera and back.
Then it all should be working well enough to attempt Richards Bay and short trips into the Indian Ocean. That is where the next lot of certification will come into play.
Please believe me I have never ever underestimated the Mozambican current running south at 4 knots. I have no intention of being swept of to Antartica

 

Not that it would matter much Manie, you are so short, you would not be spotted amongst the penguins

 

Some nice blood sweat and tears.
As you get older the sanding gets kinda hard but the rewards is just oh so sweet.
They are 240 wide x 20mm thick and shaped BY HAND to a NACA 63-010
this was just the first coat of epoxy to seal it all and I will finish them later in white paint.
First want to get everything working properly before I go and spend days and days on "finish"