June cruise 2024, (Trip #20) Day 1.

The weather forecast looked good so launched Teria on Sat 8th June, early afternoon at Ross River. 

Ramp B launching

Car-trailer park

Ross River motor out

Favorite tea towel - Also a cabin window curtain

Ramp B lee pontoon wasn't too busy, but being a weekend with lighter winds meant allot of power boats were already out although plenty of cars/ boat trailers were parked at the recreation boat park, it was still only about half full (Its a big facility, run by city council). ( Could have tried the coast guard boat ramps at Ross creek in town (Run by Port of Townsville), it's good but bet it would have been 110% full, with cars up on the grass nature strips)

At the mast raise spot, seaward of the port bridge, there were allot of boat wakes rocking Teria about. A shoulder injury had kept me landbound for ages but had finally healed enough, so was happy to be able to rig up between boat wakes, and held on when they rolled Teria around. Good weather weekends are not good times to go out, couldn't get away from the "hell swarmers" fast enough. It's a good motivation to launch/retrieve only on Monday to Fridays in future, if possible.

Rigging up spot - Ross River entrance

Motored out into a 10-15 knot eastery and unrolled the jib only, to motor-sail leisurly over to the Duckpond anchorage not far away.

Motor-sailing

Townsville port

Port of Townsville -  HMAS Adelaide docked.

This trip was a test run for 3 new things aboard. A tide watch, Trangia 25 cooker, and fully fledged ST1000 tiller-pilot with it's extended arm.

The combination of tide watch (and tables) and fishfinder was great for selecting the best anchoring position. Very little chance of "drying out" at low tide anymore.  Found a shallow spot inshore of the anchored fleet of cruising yachts, near a couple of cruising ecatamarans and a motor cruiser (the "2-foot draught club"). It was closer to the protective rock breakwall and further from any wave action. 

Tested the Trangia 25 stove in galley box in cockpit. Used the gas burner mode, which was very fast to boil water and re-heat pre-cooked food. The gas can be turned down and there was excellent flame/heat control from the gas valve. It was outside the cabin because didn't want to risk gas getting inside/staying in the bilges (explosion hazard)

Safe anchoring depth, fish icons activated.

Tide watch, Spring tide low but rising.

Crescent moon at sunset

Day 1 - Ross River to Duckpond, Townsville, Qld.

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.