North again

The journey is continuing on from Townsville with the new motor being much quieter than the old one. We headed to Magnetic Island’s Horseshoe Bay where we had been before when the issues with the old motor were going on. We only spent one night here before heading off to Palm Island. Palm Island is an aboriginal owned island and permission has to be sought to go ashore which we hadn’t arranged prior, we looked around for a good place to anchor but decided that we would continue on to Orpheus Island where we could go ashore without any issues. On the way there the motor stopped, we couldn’t believe it not with the new motor. Ian found that there was air in the fuel lines, he got the air out and we were back in business. We later found out that the pipes had been put on wrong and the motor was running on the return pipe back to the fuel tank.
We arrived and stopped the motor as always Kathleen told us that she could hear water running into the bilge. Ian stuck his head to the motor room and found that water was coming out of the air filter which didn’t make any sense. We quickly turned off the sea cock and the water stopped coming out. What was going on??? It took until after midnight to fix it. The fuel injectors had to be taken out so that the water could be blown out without causing any damage this wasn’t the hardest part of the night. When the motor was turned over by hand with the injectors off the little caps inside and washers were blown out of the engine and into the bilge or somewhere in motor room. Kathleen said she would go down it and try and find it. The adults can’t fit down along side the motor. She found the cap after a while thank goodness. Ian put his hand over the other 2 injectors to stop anything blowing out of them when they kicked the motor over but the force was too much and both caps and washers from the other injectors went flying. This time Michael and Kathleen got dirty as Kathleen was having trouble finding the bits. Michael was lucky and found one almost straight away. It turned out to be a long night but what had happened was when the motor stopped the fingers on the impellor had spread out and water was able to travel through the holes and the valves must have been open which was very unlucky we are going to put a siphon break in so this can’t happen again.
We didn’t go ashore that night when we arrived but did the following morning. Orpheus Island wasn’t as attractive as the places we have been. There were heaps of mangroves and no real beach to speak of. We did go for a walk around the back of the mangroves to check it out as we had time before we would have enough water over the bar at the Hinchinbrook Channel our next destination. We found some interesting shells on the mud flats a lot of the shells there were black and old there wasn’t really new looking ones. The kids were looking for mud crabs in the mangroves but didn’t find any they did however find a hole that they thought might have a crab in it. The hole was in a sand/mud bank which wasn’t in a muddy spot, they thought that they would try and smoke out what ever was in there with dry grass. I don’t know if this would have worked if it was crab but the kids had fun trying.

We pulled up anchor which was stuck firmly in the mud and headed to Lucinda just inside the Hinchinbrook Channel. We had no trouble crossing the bar following the huge sugar loading wharf in. The wharf goes out across the sea for almost 6km as there isn’t enough water for the transport ships to get in, it is an amazing sight. We dropped anchor to check out the town of Lucinda which basically has one shop a general store/takeaway/hardware, a pub, and caravan park. We had hot chips in the park for tea before having a drink in the pub. We decided to stay the night here as it was getting late and couldn’t really be bothered pulling up the anchor again today.

Lucinda jetty, 5km long

Motor is in

Well after we got the old motor out we had to wait for the new Yanmar motor to turn up. We had to wait almost a week to get the new motor trucked up from Newcastle. We had time to kill so we went for a drive to Bundaberg with a friend so he could get stuff out of a storage shed and we took our old motor down to the storage shed so we can use it on the farm when we get back home to maybe drive a pump. We hired a mini bus and had organized a trailer to bring the stuff back in. We left early we were all in the bus by 3am we stopped a few times on the way down. We tried to stay in a caravan park near Bundaberg where the turtles come on the beach but they did not allow dogs so we stayed in Burnett Heads in the tents. Our friend camped in the bus in the night while we had a bit of a camping break. We were gone from the boat for 3 days in total which was a good break from the boat and helped to stop us going stir crazy waiting for the new motor to arrive.
We got back and returned the bus and went shopping for Amy’s birthday present and some special treats for her birthday the next day. Amy has been excited about her birthday for the past few months so this was a great time.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY, she was very excited and had fun opening her presents and having bits of paper everywhere. We went and saw the movie Shrek 3 in the morning. Then we went up the park for a few hours, the ABC was also having a 75th Birthday so there was some entertainment on in the park. We then had a birthday party for her with balloons, streamers and party poppers. We had her birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to her a few times. She had a great day it was funny watching her tell everyone it was her birthday and now she is 14 instead of 4.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN, he did really well for his birthday his new motor was delivered in the afternoon. The kids all sang and gave Ian his presents in the morning and I cooked him bacon and eggs for breakfast. We then went up town for a walk and had some morning tea. Then it was the waiting game for the motor. It didn’t take him long to unwrap his new toy. Ian didn’t want a cake so Kathleen went and bought a heap of iced donuts and snakes and arranged them on a plate with 39 candles all around.

Well the new motor went in without and major problems from the time we lowered it into position everything pretty much lined up. It was great that everything just went so well with nothing much to cause stress. The new motor is a much quieter than the old one and much cleaner. We are currently at Magnetic Island again giving the new motor a run in. The motor has been working wonderfully and we are very happy with it, lets hope it continues like this.

Magic at Maggie

We got our parts back from the workshop and we got the motor going again. There was some water in the engine which caused all the problems to start with. We flushed out all the sludge and put new oil in. After a quick test run there was water getting in the oil. We worked out that it was getting in through the water pump, so after we bypassed that we went for a test run out to Magnetic Island, Maggie to the locals. We had a glorious time there with perfect weather but we had developed an oil leak. We tried to reseal some gaskets but no luck. Then as we were about to leave the starter motor wouldn’t work. After an hour or so it was going but it was enough for us to decide to get another motor. So now we are at the Breakwater Marina at Townsville waiting for a new Yanmar 29Hp. The motor now is a 20 Hp so there should be a bit of extra to spare and it’s got to be quieter.

Yesterday we pulled out the old motor. Altogether the motor and gearbox weighs 200kg but after taking the flywheel and gearbox off the weight was reduced to 150kg. It was a 5 person job. We used the halyard and toping lift to take the weight and slowly inched it up. Then today we degreased the bilge and pumped and scrapped out all the crap and lost tools that have fallen in over the last 20 years. Kathleen jumped in and got the very bottom as she was the only one who could fit.

Pull harder Wendy!!

Kathleen fits in the keel.

A productive day.

This houseboat belongs to Bob on Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island. He has been here for 22 years. The people that own water front properties are making it uncomfortable for him so that he will move, but I don’t think he is going anywhere. He has got to know the local wildlife intimately and feeds Whistling Kites, spangled Jacks and any other birds that come down.

With sunsets like these I know exactly why bob is staying put. That’s Daniel and Amy. Michael took this photo with Hayden’s Nikon D2X, a very expensive professional camera. We have some great shots of the Whistling Kite with this camera.