ST21 'Skinnydip' build, and boating adventures, Noosa, Australia

[Fuzz]

I just remember GB talking about some boats that had been trapped in Noosa for a long time. Seems like the reverse could happen.

[TomW1]

Yep GB you as always have to plan your trip out on the tides. I can remember your first trip when you almost did not make it and had to get a little help. Correct me if I am wrong. You were dragging bottom. Maybe it was the second or third trip. I think you have made about 4 or 5 trips since you joined our little group of builders and we always enjoy what you are up to..

Tom

[glossieblack]

You've got good memories about the Noosa bar and crossing challenges Fuzz, Jaysen and Tom.

Every year to get out over the Noosa Bar in Great sandy we need close to king tides in daylight hours, combined with calm seas outside.

First we need to prepare Great Sandy to be ready to go (what I’m doing currently), then we have to wait for the above conditions. Some years the wait is a week, some a month, sometimes months. Same coming back in.

No biggie, just part of the enjoyably challenging mosaic of blue water cruising from and to Noosa.

Another rainy day here today, so I worked down below in Great Sandy replacing the primary and secondary fuel filters, and checking all the fuel system’s clamps, joints etc.

[cape man]

...enjoyably challenging mosaic...

[glossieblack]

Still raining. Frustrating.

Spent this afternoon on Great Sandy checking tensions on all bolts/nuts in the drive train, engine mounts, and engine beds. Most ok, some had worked loose and needing re-tensioning. Typical result from annual checks.

Ready to start scrapping back to bare wood varnished external timber, then revarnishing, after my COVID 19 induced varnishing neglect last year. I need dry weather to get started though.

Really looking forward to going cruising again.

[glossieblack]

The sun gods turned it on today, so I've been able to make a good start scraping and sanding back to bare wood Great Sandy's four coach house window trims. It's a number of years since they've been properly wooded.

I was sufficiently preoccupied building Skinnydip that I did annual patch-up varnishing on Great Sandy, knowing that eventually they would fail big time.

This started to happen last year, and given the time and effort required sell our home and buy another, I decided to let Great Sandy's varnish deterioration run its course, knowing I'd have to bite the bullet and do a full wooding and revarnishing this time round. The coach house trims are the worst, but the cockpit trim requires attention too.

Feels good to be now getting it back to Bristol bronze.

[cape man]

Enjoyable challenging mosaic...

When was the last time you took it down to the wood?

[glossieblack]

When was the last time you took it down to the wood?

Ha, I could remember where the wooding took place, but not when.

So I've gone back through this 580+ page build tread, and the last wooding of Great Sandy's varnished timber trim was in October 2016, recorded on page 56, and 58 with a pic (text and pic reproduced below). The last wooding was done 1/10th of the way into this thread. No wonder a re-wooding is required

Oct25 2016
Nobody has yet invented a maintenance free marine varnish for bright work, particularly in tropical conditions. So I've decided to do at least four days of wooding, sanding and varnishing to keep up with my annual maintenance schedule. We're anchored in Nara Inlet where there is plenty of protection from winds from around the clock, to make life a little easier getting the job done.

Oct 27 2016
If you've got to do some bright work maintenance, doing in a scenic anchorage while cruising is not a bad way to do it. Have now completed the wooding and sanding of the timber portlight trims……
Using traditional varnish, I usually take about 3 to 4 hours once a year to lightly sand back and give a fresh coat of varnish to the port light trims, and this sees me through five or so years before I have to take it back to bare wood again. But this year I became preoccupied with building ST21, and didn't revarnish soon enough. So I'm now reaping the rewards of BBV.

[glossieblack]

Another nice sunny day in Noosa , so I've now got all four of Great Sandy's coach house window trims wooded down, and roughly faired with 60 grit sandpaper.

Tomorrow's weather forecast is a bit iffy rain wise, but hopefully I can get all four up to a 120 grit finish.

[glossieblack]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Had just got to Great Sandy today to get her coach house port light trims sanded down from 80 to 120 when the rain started bucketing down.

So hit the phone and booked Skinnydip in for a haul out and arse clean tomorrow. Then rowed over to her in the rain and prepared her for the haul out.

Stand by for pics of an oyster encrusted Skinnydip arse tomorrow - someone should shoot the bastards who are rebuilding oyster reefs around here.