Yes, it's been a VERY long time since words sprouted forth on this Blog, but it's just been that kind of year, which we're sure everyone who reads this, will agree to.
Shakedown is still on her mooring in Crab Creek, Tin Can Bay, Queensland, Australia. After we returned from our Jan-Feb adventure north, it's been basically a daily routine aboard Shakedown until we decided that, since there is zero COVID floating around Australia, and all the borders were once again open, we would attempt a "walkabout" with the Rav4, spend Christmas in Brisbane (capital of Queensland), then head south for New Years in Sydney (capital of New South Whales), then, if we still had it in us, head to Melbourne, catch a car ferry to Tasmania. And then points west, north, and back to Tin Can Bay.....WELL....the "tide" came in, and the plan (written in the sand a low tide) simply disappeared.
COVID's ugly face showed up, and the short of it is, borders closed, like a gigantic thump, two days after we arrived in Brisbane. We've decided that it wasn't meant to be, so we'll be heading back to Tin Can Bay after we check out on the 3rd of January. We're off this evening to Rainbow Shadow to celebrate a fireworks-less New Years Eve and pray for a better 2021.
Hats off to the Australian people and their government though. Thoroughly aware Christmas plans had more or less been tossed to the trash trucks. In just one day, 40+ thousand people got tested, tracing went into effect (attempting to find who started it this time) and (at this writing) 90 people have tested positive. Sounds like a paltry amount, but when an entire country has been enjoying 0 (zero) cases for the past several weeks (months in some states), this is a HUGE HUGE HUGE issue here and in need of quashing immediately. We are totally impressed with the citizenry of this "island nation"!
Thus far, we've extended our hotel (top floor-9th floor) room another week to spend New Years Eve here at a dock party aboard s/v Rainbow Shadow at Dockside Marina on Kangaroo Point on the Brisbane River. We were also invited by our really good friends Adrian and Christine (s/v Rainbow Shadow crew & cruising buddies from Fiji, to Vanuatu, to Bundaberg, Oz) for Christmas dinner with Adrian's Mother and his Sister here in the city.....
Going back a bit (to February)....having arrived back aboard Shakedown on a very wet and rainy Wednesday early on the Feb 5th, we noted a number of areas that were failing to keep the rain outside of the boat, the inverter had shut down (rendering refrigerator useless) and we had a mess in the freezer where an entire frozen chicken had thawed and leaked chicken blood out the freezer door and into the refrigerator below. The blast of really foul (fowl?) air from an opened freezer door made us want to exit the vessel and swim away with all haste! Not the welcome we'd hoped for....
Anyway, got things squared away as best we could and sat through several more rains, with sun peeking out eventually, giving us the opportunity to find the sources of the leaks....and try to patch them up. We bought tickets from Air Canada to fly back to San Francisco area in mid-March, and spent the rest of February hanging out and making repairs, like fixing drain pump in the Maytag washing machine, the drive shaft in the toilet flushing pump, getting carb cleaned in the outboard, new fuel filter installation, replace broken dinghy seat in the RIB, and repair the Hooka-Max diving pump pressure valves. We took a quick trip to Coomera (Rainbow Shadow) to pick up some paint and supplies from Adrian. On the way back, we stopped at Aussie World (an amusement park), which was closed. But the huge restaurant out front was doing business, so we popped in. And all this time running in 1.5 kilometers to the water spigot to fill 3 x 5 gal water jugs to the boat by the jug while awaiting delivery of new membranes for the water maker....which finally arrived, were replaced, allowing a stoppage of hauling water to the boat..... we also celebrated son Steven's 33rd birthday from halfway around the world!
 |
| Aussie World |
 |
The surfboards rock back and forth to create
an overhead fan! |
March brought a lot of wind, so we basically just did daily chores and getting ready to start packing and making the boat ready for another extended absence during the third week of March. As you may surmise, THAT plan went up in a puff of smoke. Queensland got real serious about this thing called SARS-CoV-2.COVID-19. The world changed and things were not going to be normal. We cancelled our hotel reservation at the Brisbane Airport (which was no easy feat), and we had numerous communications with Air Canada about cancelling our "non-refundable" flight. We finally came to agreement that they would keep the money and we would have an opportunity to reschedule our flight any time during the next 24 months. Then cancel the hotel reservations at SFO airport, and then cancel the SFO car rental agreement. What fun - NOT! Starting a couple of repair projects and back to sitting back and watching the world turn...
 |
| Random shot of salon from lazy boy. |
 |
Take the little boat out of the picture...looks like
we're back on the ocean |
 |
| Much calmer waters |
 |
| Cockpit repairs begin |
 |
| More patches of rotten wood being replaced |
 |
| Cockpit project moving along |
The only thing of note in April was the total teardown, cleaning, and rebuild of our Lewmar 50-3 Ocean ocean racing winches. (I fondly reminisced about scoring these on eBay with a last second winning bid about 2345 one evening on the boat back in Washington. I got the pair for $1800, and after peeking at what they were selling for retail at the time ($6,800...each), I was pretty pleased. They had come off a racing boat in Hawaii and were part of their planned swap out for new after three years.) Fire season seems to have started, and we got front row seats to one of them here in Queensland. It rained ashes on us for a day or two. Nothing a few buckets of water couldn't wash away. The Maytag washer stopped pumping water overboard, resulting in pulling out machine, tipping it over, removing and dismantling the drain pump. Found an unusually large rock stuck in there (how the H did THAT get there?). Reinstalled pump, lifted up the machine, and plugged it back in. Works fine. Also got in a shipment of LED strip lights, so thought we'd try some out over the galley stove. Pretty happy about them. The rest of the month was keeping up on the news as the pandemic spread throughout the world and borders (state and national) were shut down.
 |
| The LED lights. Now we can see what's cookin' |
May saw a new shower faucet installed, installation of two brand new Lazy-Boy recliners gifted to each other for our wedding anniversary (19th), living through Queensland's coldest day in 100 years, making a temporary drain plug for the dinghy, which disappeared into Davey Jones' Locker, and watched lots of movies.
 |
| The new and improved faucet |
 |
| What they looked like at the store |
 |
What they looked like being transported to
Shakedown |
 |
| What they looked like aboard Shakedown |
June heralded a waste-pump repair. It's a shitty job, but somebody has to do it, right? Galley sink drains need replacing, so all the piping below the sink got upgraded as well. Found an introductory package of 3 x 3-cheese frozen pizza for AU $6.50. Can't go wrong there. Well, got one out, preheated oven, added chopped onion, sliced hot dogs, and a good dose of sliced black olives, baked for 12 minutes and ended up with a superb US$2.00 pizza, more than we could eat at one sitting! Hauled the Tohatsu 8 to a local shop to replace two rubber bumpers which I could not get to. I had ordered and received the bumper/brackets and provided them. Cost was very reasonable and knuckles were saved for certain destruction.
 |
| Out with the old drain system |
 |
| This looks and works much better |
 |
| The new look from the sink (no rust!) |
 |
| Our first $2.00 pizza |
 |
The old Lazy Boys head-
ing for a new home |
 |
Pulled cap rail off a portion of gunwales...rot.
Enough work (entire boat) for the season! |
July was spent attempting to get the boat in shape enough to perhaps make a trip up to the Great Barrier Reef before the cyclone season visits Australia. Got the engine started, after purchasing a new start battery, then found hydraulic oil leak, which required emptying out the entire lazarette, only to find that the hydraulic steering ram shaft had pitted badly, causing a leak at the seal. So the unit had to be removed, hauled into Gympie (50min. drive), and have a new shaft installed and pressure tested (only $380). And of course it had to be hauled back to the boat and reinstalled. The stay sail tracks had to be removed and reinstalled (one had partially ripped loose and broke). New mountings fabricated and fastened down either side of main mast. The watermaker decided to stop making good water. After troubleshooting, found out that one of the two membranes were leaking salt water into the fresh water product. Had to remove from mountings and removing membrane. Did not go well, as the nipple at one end broke off into the end plug. Ended up having to carefully drill out the plastic without damaging the surrounding aluminum. Rearranged the piping so a single membrane could make water, and called for a new membrane. The hoses from engine coolant system to the water heater were finally reconnected. Started engine to test for leaks and left engine running long enough to get some nice hot water. So we took showers. Towards the end of the month, the old (given to us) lift muffler for the genset finally rusted enough to warrant removal. Messy job...lots of rust chunks to clean up afterwards. Now the search for a replacement awaits completion. |
Random shot...one of our neighbors cleaning
his bottom while tide is out (about 300 yards
from our mooring.) |
 |
The new Dremel attachment
which helps drilling
vertical holes |
 |
| The cockpit workshop/garage |
 |
| The new slide track mountings |
 |
| Making new holder for belay pins |
 |
| Prepping deck boxes for new 200W solar panels |
 |
| Random shot...Pelican Patrol |
 |
Staysail travelers secured
to new mounting boards |
 |
| New solar panels mounted |
 |
Port staysail travelers mounted
to house roof. |
 |
| New belay pin holders up |
 |
| New aft belay pin holders |
 |
| Random shot...rainbows are far and few between |
 |
| Water maker (2 membrane) 30gph |
 |
| The offending culprit |
 |
What needed to be drilled out
|
August started with a little road trip down to Coomera (a bit south of Brisbane) to attend the wedding of our good friends (and boating buddies from Fiji to Oz) Adrian & Christine. It was held at Gold Coast City Marina and Shipyard, where Rainbow Shadow is parked and both of them work. The previous day, Adrian took me around to numerous shops in search of a replacement lift muffler. We stumbled upon one (that had lots of dust on it) that fit the bill perfectly! After we checked out of our hotel, we stopped at the Australia Zoo on the way back north towards Tin Can Bay. What a great place! We were there so long we decided to find lodging nearby instead of getting back to Shakedown well past "the darkness". We found a great little place near Glass House Mountain. First place either one of us had seen with no TV! Didn't miss it one iota. Back aboard Shakedown found us a bit worn out and under the weather. So we did what we've done every year since we've lived aboard....we rested and watched movie after movie after movie. Our annual "creeping crud" over, managed to get a new mounting built for our folding stainless steel boarding ladder. Now we can jump overboard and have a way to get back onboard (go figure).
 |
| Adrian and Christina wed |
 |
| The new Mr.&Mrs. Cruse |
 |
"Home of the
Crocodile Hunter" |
 |
| Nancy's new petting animal |
 |
| Our lodging made from old train cars |
 |
| The shared galley |
 |
Our room door just to the right
out of camera range |
September marks the beginning of Spring here. Our #1 fresh water tank (50 gal) was found to be leaking. Attempted a patch, but although a whole was filled, tank was still losing water. Since these tanks have three baffles (walls) to keep water from shifting too much, the other three parts of the tank are not accessible to do any work. So....took the tank out of the four-tank group. We now have 150 gallon water capacity instead of 200. Nice to have a water maker, that's for sure. It was time to begin the process to renew our Visas (12 month) to extend our legal presence in Australia. It's all an on-line process, and since we'd been here for two years now, it should have been a breeze, right? In the past two years, we'd had to get physicals, which we were hoping we wouldn't have to go through again (costs lots of money on top of the visa application fee), and were pleasantly surprised that no further medical check required. But (there's always a "but") they decided they wanted character references, from the National Policing authorities from each country we'd lived in in the past 10 years! And because they knew it would take more than the standard 30-day renewal period, we were issued a Bridging Visa until such time as all the investigations were completed. The Australian National Police responded quickly, no problems with these blokes. Then we had to get U.S. fingerprint card blanks, get to an Australian Police Station, get fingerprinted, mail to the FBI in Virginia ($38 for traceable mail), and we got electronic notification a few days later that, no problem with these folks. Last, but not least, and certainly the hardest, was Mexico National Police Certification....long story short, after some 30 documents were produced, we were informed the section in Mexico City that performs that function was shut down due to Covid. All this was uploaded to the Australian immigration office. Have heard nothing from them since. We believe they are probably busy with other things. But we still have the bridging visa, so we're safe from eviction. An engine oil change in portable generator closed out the month.
October was a working month, except for those days when it was so windy or rainy that not much could be done except watch movies....but we did manage to get our cockpit canvass zippers repaired. Finally mounted the new water lift muffler and installed a new Sani-loo waste water treatment system, which allows us to legally pump out our newly treated waste water overboard (cost: $2,000). Found new starter battery was defective, so shipped it back to vendor for warranty replacement. Meanwhile, over the side into the small dinghy and sand and primer-paint the hull. Of course this took a total of about a week, mostly done in the early morning before the wind kicked up too much. Although we had them fabricated over a year ago, finally got around to replacing the chain plates for the whisker stays. The last week of Oct was nothing but storms until Friday, allowing us to head down to Coomera for Christine's birthday party on the 30th aboard their boat Rainbow Shadow.
 |
Nancy slaving away at
the sewing machine |
 |
| New lift muffler installed |
 |
New starter motor for genset (only waited over
three years to locate it) |
 |
The new Sani-loo (yellow
box) and new starter batt. |
 |
| Sani-loo |
 |
Took small dink to sand
bar. More of a sink-in-the-
MUD bar |
 |
Shakedown on her mooring with coat of white
primer paint |
 |
The shiny chain plate is what's
to be mounted both sides |
 |
A start on re-surfacing (paint)
the shower/head floor |
In November, a new fresh water deck fill was installed, replacing a rusting, leaky one. The
new warranty replacement battery arrived, and now all is well in that department. The main engine needed paint job, so rust brushed off, sealant brushed on, and high-heat paint sprayed on. Nice and shiny once again. We started walking again (for exercise 3 miles every other day). The VHF radio stopped receiving voice. Found the antenna cable a bit loose. Removed, cleaned, and fastened it back onto radio. Works now. Pulled stove top (grill) off, took it to welding shop and had loose grill strings welded up. Finally got up the courage and dove into the clean-out and repair of the holding tank. The boys in Fiji broke the top seal of the tank while reinstalling the main engine. It was "temporarily repaired" using copious amounts of gorilla tape, which now had to be pulled off and glue removed from the poly tank top edge. Of course the interior needed to be as clean as possible to keep one from pinching one's nose by a laundry clip. Cleaning done, fiberglass used to repair the seam, all good again. Had two extra ladder rungs welded into bottom of the stainless boarding ladder, allowing much easier exit from water onto the boat.
 |
| Old deck fill "receiver" |
 |
| New deck fill "receiver" |
 |
| New deck fill cap |
 |
Just another rotten patch to
be made |
 |
A new season, a new fire (Fraser Island) which
made international news (we got the smoke) |
 |
| Patch installed, awaiting fiberglass coating |
 |
Waste water pump joker valve
replaced and rusty electric
motor scrubbed and painted...
the put into service once again. |
 |
| New roof rack and basket for the RAV4 |
 |
| Random pic...sleeping quarters |
We are now in December, and we found (online) and bought a huge Christmas present for down the road (if) when we get back to the States. We plan to turn it into a very basic RV for getting around when we want to get off the boat for awhile. The seller has been kind to let us store it where it is in Arizona. We also, finally, have a fresh water connection outside the cabin now, which will allow rinsing off salt water after we swim and enable us to use our pressure washer on the exterior of the boat. It was a really windy first two weeks, as we averaged 30-40 knots during the hours of around 0900-1700. Even clocked a 52 knot gust one day. Got the boat ready to sit alone while we went on our "road trip"....back to the top.
