New Tarpaulin boat cover

 My old silver 18x12 foot tarpaulin (several years in Sun and wind) was developing allot of holes in it, this was ok for shade but the first rain showers of the early wet season arrived and leaked into the cabin.

The old 12 x 18 foot tarp

Bought the replacement at Bunnings this time around. Decided to try a larger sized tarp, 20 x 16 feet and this has proven to be far better. It's heavy duty, has a 4 year waranty and cost $129. The D rings for guy ropes are close together, 90cm apart.

Tarp specs

Folded up

Before putting the new tarp on strong plastic was taped over the mast fittings. (cut up/upcycled old bleach container) 

Cut plastic taped over mast fittings the reduce tarp chafe

It's working well. It's longer than the hull length, so the boats really dry having some overhanging tarp front and back now. It's got 8 feet each side of the mast ridgepole, so dry walking outside the boat too.

Nice and wide

Front overhang

Dry area along side, shorter guyropes to fence

Overhangs the ends

Sun can't reach the hull

Trailer maintenance

 I was going to take Teria out in Early October, but discovered that one tyre was leaking air.

So the trip was cancelled, the tyre and spare were removed and tyrefitter at Tuff tyres, in Currajong consulted.

He fitted a new tyre to the deflating rim and replaced my old spare tyre with the re-used slowly deflating tyre (it was a rim glue/sealant leak). $100 was good value. 

It was just as well regarding the spare tyre. It was decades way too old (fitter read the codes on tyre, have the date produced in them) and it was developing sun cracking on one side (north side). It may have failed if it were to be used.

Boat trailer tyre cover, facing winter sun side

Spare tyre cover

To avoid future sun damage i bought three vinyl tyre covers at Road Tech Marine. Two of these are used for the trailer, one on the spare tyre and one on the north facing tyre while in the yard (Being southern hemisphere most of our yearly sun come from the northward side). Also put the shade cloth over these tyres as well, to protect the covers from UV damage and IR heating.

The 3rd tyre cover is for my towing ute's tyre which is exposed to some morning northerly sun that gets under the car park shade cloths and shade trees. just need to remember to use it and take it off when leaving.!

UV sun damage is severe in the Tropics (between tropic of Cancer 23N, and tropic of Capricorn 23S) It takes a huge toll on rubber things like tyres and car window trim if the vehicle is left exposed. 

Electrical upgrades 2024

 Did some 12 volt electrical system upgrades this year. 

The addition of the tiller-pilot's extra power draw also meant the battery storage and solar charging system needed increased efficiency to keep up with increased power demands. 

Installed two LED dome lights in the cabin. One for the forepeak stowage area and another above the galley area. Both lights also have integral "red LED" night-vision switches too. They run cool, very bright and consume about 10% of the power that than the two original incandescent dome lights use.

Forepeak LED dome light

Galley area LED dome light

Galley LED dome, stainless body, ply backing.

Forepeak LED dome, plastic body, ply backing.

The LED dome lights have 10mm plywood backing pads as i didn't want to screw into the cored fiberglass deck (could leak/rot etc). The pads have silastic sealant holding them onto the fibreglass and the dome lights screwed into the plywood.

LED dome lights in red "night vision" mode (old domes still on bulkhead)

Next was the main deep cycle battery replacement. It was 4 years old, but got discharged/damaged while away overseas in 2022. Bought another Century N70T 102 AH flooded lead acid, made in Qld ("Anaconda" on special/ club price) It has 6 separate screw on cell filler caps which are larger and easier to see inside to check plates condition. It's dimensions are a couple cm thinner and a bit longer than the old battery (same height) and it fits into the old spot ok. 

New battery in sailing postion, clamped down.

New battery (top) old one (below)

New battery in shore maintenance position (electrolyte top up)

The solar recharging needed an upgrade, to pump more juice into the battery faster than before. So bought a 40W mono-crystaline solar PV panel from Bunnings. Found a 3m solar power lead with matching fittings at Supercheap auto. Added a watt meter with anderson plugs from Tentworld. 

Re-arranged electrical cabinet

40W solar panel stowage, with power lead

 The core of the system is a kings MPPT 20A solar charge controller from 4WD supercenter. This reletively new (to me) type of controller can output about 50% more juice than the ageing PWM type controller aboard. Once hooked up about 2-3amps at 14 volts were going into the battery at about 2pm (similar performance to my 240v shore power smart-charger on "medium" setting) Not being too electrically minded, hope it does the job.

MPPT solar controller

Solar charging battery

The problem was the MPPT controllers dimensions were reletively huge. Which required an enlargement of ply backing board area inside the electrical cabinet. This inturn required moving the master switch and lenghening/re-doing/ using some heavier sized wires etc.

Learnt how to use my very old multimeter in the process. (Installed a new 9v battery to it got it going again.) Then u-tube tutes to learn it's correct usage. It was needed to re-use/identify/check continuity of some old wires going to the forecabin (they were not color coded correctly. red=positive, black=negative) saved ripping everything out and starting from scratch. Used the old "steaming light" wires, that once went through the deck and lit up on the mast (removed it long ago, as bad for the boat cover tarp chafe), now these wires light up the forepeak LED dome light.

The 3 gang switch/fuse board remained inplace. Just added the LED dome lights circuit to it (separate from the old incandescent dome light circuit). 

Fuse board and watt meter

Tide watch and Tide clocks

 Bought a "tide watch", a casio G-shock (A$160).  The tide watch indicates the phase of the moon (neap or spring tides) and also a graph to indicate what the tide level was doing in present time (rising=flood tide, falling=ebb tide, high tide, low tide) 

Casio G-shock tide watch. 

It's really just a general indicator and tidal accuracy is plus or minus 30-60 minutes around around my area. The tide tables still need to be read, for accurate high-low times and levels. But the watch is great for general critical tide information at a particular time/date, which can help influence navigation decisions for the better. 

A caveat before rushing off to buy a tide clock/watch. They only work in certain regions and are useless in some areas. A tide clock map of the world need to be looked at first. My sailing area is on the borderline of where tide clocks work. They need to be in semi-diurnal tide zones. These are two highs and two lows per day with similar low and high levels. My area and north to Cape York peninsula (Cairns etc) has "mixed tides", the two lows and highs per day are different levels. The tide clock still works but isn't as accurate, could be plus or minus an hour or so out, but its still good enough for my needs.

Referring to the tides types map below. It looks like Australia's east coast/Tasmania and all of NZ coasts are good. Most of the Atlantic ocean coasts are ok. A fair bit of SE Asia is ok too.

Don't get a tide clock or watch if you live in Perth, Western Australia. Gulf of Thailand. Gulf of Mexico. Diurnal tides occur in these places (Only one high and one low tide per day).

Mixed tides are in Southern Japan, west coast USA, Carribean and Indonesia. So the tide clock watch won't be as accurate there and you might want to talk with locals/fishermen etc in those areas about it first.

Tide clocks only work accurately in the "green" semi-diurnal tides areas. 

TIDE CLOCKS (quartz, analog)

A few month's earlier...

I was looking into "tide clocks". These are also a good way to go and can be bought online for around $60-350 AUD. Some trailer sailers have them on a bulkhead where they are easy to read, as most of them have a 4" to 8" inch (100-200mm) diameter clock face.  They have a specialised clock mechanism that has 12.5 hour half days which is in line with the moons cycle.

I'm old school and like to see the product in a shop, however up in the reletively "remote" coastal cities/towns of NE Australia, with mixed tides, they are very rare items in stock. On a road trip to Cairns, 400km north of home base, visited "Whitworths" marine chandlery, a very well stocked sailors dream store. They had a plastimo keel boat tide clock, for long distance yachties, a very well built  heavy, solid, high quality piece of kit with a matching $350 price. Its face was only 4 inch but it was a bit too bulky heavy for a small 18 foot TS, it would be great in a bigger boat like a 25-40 footer.

Plastimo tide clock - 10cm chrome, Whitworths.

There were some nice ones online too. Like 20cm budget stainless steel case ones made in Northland, New Zealand. Cruising electronics - Rarity and Hansen. They also have a nice "time and tide" clock, very well priced. 

Rarity and Hansen 20cm tide clock, NZ.

Rarity and Hansen 20cm "time and tide" clock, NZ

(NZ a world cruising hotspot area, especially during the south Pacific cyclone season, so its well serviced for marine gear and yacht refits). (They also have "Royal Mariner" the heavy-duty good stuff, on par/price with the plastimo one).

TIDE WATCHES (digital).

As a TS is so small with limited space, i discovered and looked into digital tide watches. These range from economic simple $100-$160 eg Casio's. to complicated bluetoothed computers for surfers and Rolex challenger athletes, costing many hundreds of dollars on upwards.

The 2023 G-shock tide watch was the only budget one i could find in jewllers up here, it has a stated 2 year battery life, but it might last longer if the red LED light isn't used much.

(Tried to find the cheaper/simpler superceded 10 year battery life 2022 model, which was a nice round shape one advertised at BCF, but as usual nothing in store) They can be found second hand on ebay etc, if willing to take a punt.

My G-shock watch is very lightweight, so it's almost unnoticeable to wear. However it is very robust, takes 20 bars underwater pressure (200m = 666 feet) and is an accurate time piece. It's 52mm width makes it easy to read.

It has far more functions than the earlier WS1300H, most of which i will probably never need or use (stopwatches, timers, alarms etc) (Casio, please bring a simple cheap tide watch back..) I just like seeing what the tide is doing at the present time, and where i am in the tide cycle, how many hours to the next low or high tide). Usually that time is when aproaching anchorage or a tidal estuary, places likely to run aground in the near future (and how much caution to apply to navigation, eg more cautious on a falling tide)

(For tide/trip planning say day or two ahead,  tend to use my mobile phone app's or the hard copy tide tables while resting at anchor, sometimes the coast guard tells you weather/tide info on VHF radio) Still all the inbuilt functions might be good for others who love tech and don't have tide tables/VHF's etc on them.

G shock tide watch. Comfortable to wear and easy to read.

 G-shock tide watch. waterproof strap design

It's also handy having this tide watch for any beach related activities. From walking the dog to going for a swim or surf,  fishing, snorkelling or travelling around on 4WD coastal road trips.

Tiller pilot extensions

ST1000+ with extension arm

 Finally got the ram arm extensions on order, it took a few months to get here and they arrived in October. They are strong and precision engineered from the finest alloys known to man. These ones were manufactured in Hungary, to the highest quality and precision, nice work. They screwed onto the ST1000 perfectly, adding 8 inches to the ram arm length. (Received two x 4" extensions, they don't make 8" ones. The available lengths were 1", 2", 4" and 6".)

Black extension arm, suitable for Investigator 563 TS

However it was a long saga to get the extensions operational. Flashing back, to earlier in the year before ordering these in.

I tried to buy them locally, but strangely no-one in North Queensland, even marine electronics specialists, stocks such specialized parts. Perhaps no one in Brisbane or even the whole country Australia had them in stock either? (Surely Sydney, NSW our sailing central, might have a few spares? who knows) 

So tried to get an 8" extension fabricated. Took the tillerpilot to a small Engineering workshop in Townsville who can fabricate most tricky things on boats at a good price if needed. However it turned out that the tillerpilot uses very rare and bizzare thread types, not the usual ones. It could be done but the bizzare thread tap and dye kit to do it would cost over $300, then fitter and turner labor/skills costs on top. so about $500. The "tap and dye" kit would not be used again for ages, if ever. So had to ditch that idea and order in the genuine parts (for $90). 

I'm wondering if Simrad tillerpilots have similar issues for their tillerpilot arm extensions? 

Simrad TP 10 tiller pilot

There is a good case in Australia for buying second hand tillerpilots with extension arms and other hardware pre-fitted. (with the downside of possible mechanical problems, getting spare parts/repair done)

One Investigator owner picked up a TP10 with 4" extension for A$100 second hand online. He lengthened the extension to 8" by cutting the old solid extension arm one in half and tapping a stainless steel threaded rod into the old extensions halves. 

Another part to Teria's tillerpilot extension arm saga. About 2 weeks after my parts arrived, the business I ordered them through, a "Boating and RV" store (formerly Bias boating) and my favorite sailboat chandlers here for over a decade, sadly had to close down.

Mast roller crutch

A proto-type mast roller crutch was built a few months ago. 

It's made of recycled timber and has a 4 inch blue keel roller (blue is for aluminium, it's a harder-longer wearing compound than other roller colors). It's bolted to the aft rail and through the transom.

It is an A-frame design which straddles the tiller cutout. The tiller and rudder can be shipped and used to steer, while the mast is lowered, sitting on the frame roller crutch. It should make for easy motoring/manoevering at the ramp/dock while the mast is in it's lowered position.  

The roller height is the same as before, so the mast is 2.2m above ground level (to fit under standard 2.4m clearance shed doors or carports)

Mast roller crutch

 I have to raise/lower mast after getting past the port bridge. The roller should make rigging/mast raise and lower much easier and faster than before in the "mast raise anchorage" seaward of the bridge. The bare wooden construction of the frame has the ye olde pirate vibe too. ("one day" the stainless version of the roller A frame may be fabricated?)

I guess future sail boats in Ross River may have to harken back to the "golden age" of sail (such as in the already overbridged ports of Europe, UK and Europe) Built with lower and lowerable rigs, such as two masted gaff riggers, with decent mast tabernacles and mast lowering bow frames. There are some modern classic designers around but these boats tend to be rarer and more expensive than the average 1970s glass TS.

 In the photo above, i have a new tarpaulin to cover Teria for the upcoming wet season. The tops of the mast crutch needed to be sawn off so the tarp would hang well,  good thing it's a wooden prototype still in its design itteration phase.

Silky oak wood posts bolt through transom.

Mast roller, crutch jaws trimmed back for tarpaulin.

Hardwood rail clamps with stainless bolts. Treated pine fence paling for top cross brace.

The concept of the mast roller crutch has been around for awhile and is sometimes seen on a small number of other trailer sailers. I couldn't find a design to suit my boats setup, so designed my own. It was just old school sketch pad, then build it and trim to fit. No computers were involved (or harmed :-) ) at the design stage.

It's not apparent but the trickiest part was matching the wood posts bases to the reverse transom angle. Some strange angle cuts were needed here. It's one of the reasons to use wood for the Mk1 frame.

If this design proves it's self then it would be easier to fabricate one in stronger sleeker stainless steel one to similar dimensions.

Other possible ideas, with this as a base frame..

1) Solar panel mounting

2) Extension crutch (to get standing headroom in cockpit, with a slatted "boom awning" over it)

3) VHF radio antenna mount..(higher off water, more range)

4) White LED stern light mount (higher, longer visibility range)??

Original mast crutch

Above is the previous mast crutch for road trailering, it was attached to the lower rudder pintle and aft safety rail with two guy ropes to the sides to stop swinging about. The mast extended further aft, about 3 feet past the transom. This lengthened the total trailing length and was a bit fiddly/time consuming to set up and remove each time at boat ramp.

An additional benefit of the new roller crutch is the mast can sit further forwards, in-line with the outboard bracket board. So the total boat on trailer length is reduced by a couple of feet, making it better for backing up and fitting into carports or sheds.

Mast sits further forward on crutch