Sunset on the Mooloolaba River
After spending a night at anchor at Bums Bay near the Gold Coast Seaway, the team continued their progress 60 miles northward, to the tip of North Stradbroke Island, leaving bright and early for their 10 hour day sail. They rounded Cape Moreton in the middle of the afternoon, and anchored at Yellow Patch, so named because of its sand dunes. With the water now 22.5ºC, the boys had no hesitation jumping overboard for a dip… a bit different from the frigid 10ºC in Victoria!
The next morning, Wednesday, they were bound for Mooloolaba, where Grenville our rudder builder lives, and where they will stay until the rudder is ready, early next week. The boys met and everything is underway.
Peter & Ann Snell, designers of the Easy catamarans, came for a visit! It was lovely for Wade to finally meet them. We have often talked to them over the phone since buying Take It Easy, but it is so nice to see them in the flesh! The impromptu visit was good for Mike too, who is also building an 11.6m Easy. They were suitably impressed with how our boatie is presented, although Peter said “a bit low on the water line, isn’t she?” That would be the 200 litres of fuel, topped up water tanks, and cupboards full of food! Nobody is going to get stranded, or starve on this cat of ours! The rudder will take nearly a week to construct, but it’s only a two days’ sail from Mooloolaba to Tin Can Bay, so even with the break in the flow, the team will arrive at their destination ahead of time! You see, there is a bit involved:
- The steel for the shaft had to be ordered
- Lugs have to be welded onto the shaft (to affix the rudder onto the steel)
- The rudder has to be made in 2 halves of laminated marine ply
- The two blades have to be shaped, both on the outside and the inside, to fit around the shaft and be bolted to it
- Then it is epoxy and fibreglassing time
- Faring the surface follows, so it’s nice and smooth
- The rudder then has to be undercoated
- Two-pack paint is applied
- Antifoul is then put on
- Finally the rudder has to be fitted!
In between every step, you have to leave a day for the stuff you’ve worked on to dry! So to all yachties out there, if you bend a rudder running aground, don’t bother having it straightened, save yourself time, angst and money and have a new one made straight off! For now the boys have a few days’ rest ahead of them, and can relax for a bit. After all, they have been going fairly hard. Wade has been busy doing ‘the end of financial year’ accounting for his business, changing the engine oil and cleaning up the boat. On Friday, there’s laundry to do, surfing, and loitering around town. Unfortunately Friday is also the last day on board for Merv who is catching a plane home, as his mother in law is very ill and has taken a turn for the worst. Mike however is staying on with Wade till the French contingent arrives! Thank you Merv for your help, and thank you Robyn for letting us borrow him. We are thinking of you.
The next post on this adventure will show you the successful rudder fitting and departure for the last leg of the delivery trip. Here are a few images to share, courtesy of Merv and even Wade!
Sv-Anui 
Glad to hear all is going ok. Water at 22 deg is so much warmer than the thick ice on a bucket of water at our back door this morning. Regards to all
You certainly can see it’s warm up there, the guys are in shorts!
Good to hear the news about the new rudder, and sounds like you are having good weather….
Hi Sue – yes the guys are now in shorts and going for dips! A bit of a change from Victorian waters! Can’t wait to get up there!
stunning shots and the adventure continues- wow so it’s warm there though winter?. We are having a heat wave here on Canada’s west coast!!
Yes they have reached the sub tropical areas so although the days are short in winter and cool at night and early morning, it’s warm during the day and the water temperature is nice! They are in shorts while I freeze in Melbourne!
😦