So, let's call him a "business acquaintance" then. Bondy made him rich, if that counts.Quote:
Originally Posted by V8Ian
And, he kept his.
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So, let's call him a "business acquaintance" then. Bondy made him rich, if that counts.Quote:
Originally Posted by V8Ian
And, he kept his.
Bondy didn’t make money, he just redistributed money from the many to the few, leaving the many broke and on the street while the few took a dump in gold toilets.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tins
Thought that was the definition of entrepreneur, at least in those days. A certain "Mirage" comes to mind.
I had never been really interested in boats until I was posted to Kavieng , New Ireland PNG A lovely tropical island and there I met my wife to be. She was dead keen on yachts and had a shedful of magazines on yachting. I was reading these and the subject came up . Lets build one. Kavieng is probably the last place to build a yacht but we chose to build in Ferro and chose a Hartley South Seas ketch which we altered to a centre cockpit.
I would never do it again but we got there. This was early 70,s and no Internet etc. All comms were by phone or mail. Anyway ordered all the bits and set about building the frame to hang it all from. Then welding up the frames , hanging them, tying on the high tensile steel work then eight layers of chicken wire. Four inside and four out. Then the whole lot tied together with thousands of ties about 4 inches apart.
Then plastering time. Inside first then outside after it cured. I was on the Ag station about2 kays from the coast and had to work out how to get it there. Found an old wartime truck chassis , put an extra axle under it , made up draw bar steering linkage and we were nearly set. Had to dig a couple of trenches under the hull for the wheels and backed it under the jacked up hull. Public Works kindly towed it down to the beach and we finished it off enough to launch.
Now I was on a 2 year contract. Work 21 months and 3 months leave. This was all done in free time and we stayed for our 3 month leave to get it finished as my next post was Bougainville. Got it afloat then motored to the public wharf to step the masts courtesy Public Works crane.
Got it all done and had to build a ply dingy too, Sailed to Bougainville , finished our contract there and decided to pull the pin and head for OZ.
Cruised the islands for a bit and ended up in Mooloolaba and bought a canal block. Lived on board while we built a house. Only sold it when we decided after 20 years to retire to the country. New owner was happy to sail to the Gold Coast but knew less about yachts than I did. Often wonder if its still going.
https://live.staticflickr.com/7808/3...04ddc20c_w.jpgKavieng 03 by Keith Cree, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b2f63b89_c.jpgyacht 02 by Keith Cree, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ac505e80_c.jpgyacht 03 by Keith Cree, on Flickr
We've had boats in the family at various times throughout my lifetime, earliest memory was a wooden hull speed boat powered by a red 6.
First launch at St Kilda marina some time in the early 70's saw it taking on water and quickly returning to shore and never seen again :)
When we had our farm on the Murray we had tinnies and canoes, one year my younger brother who was maybe 12/13 at the time was motoring upstream toward our beach when the near new outboard jumped off the back of the boat into the depths and never seen again and SES divers couldn't find it.
We then had a small catamaran ,that was good fun on the bay, Lake Eildon and even on the Murray.
Maybe 10-15 years ago we had a small trailer sailor but after a few trips decided sailing wasn't for us even though i liked the idea of it.
I'm quite happy sticking to my double and single kayaks and SUP board.
I spent today under our caravan rebuilding the slide out step. Back in July we had to pull off the road in a hurry and whacked it on something solid. This bent stuff, tore a weld off and generally made a mess. I've been putting this job off because it required welding and I can only make credible welds with a TIG. I don't own a MIG and my arc welds look more like seagull **** than a weld. They stick about as well as chewing gum to teflon. Been meaning to get onto a TAFE course to learn how to do it properly but they're always full. Anyway, TIG and wind don't go well together. Today was the day.
I have 2 welders. An AC/DC and a small DC only. Due to nothing going wrong, I haven't welded for a few years. First off, the argon reg had **** the bed, so when I turned it on it put 2000 PSI into the welder (which it actually put up with without exploding). I have pneumatic quick connects in my argon lines, so I could blow that off relatively quickly. Off to the shop to buy a new argon reg. Then I tore 2 welding gloves because they're old. Had spares but not ideal for TIG. Hooked up my big welder (the AC/DC one) to find it decided that it'd supply arc current and gas as soon as it was turned on. The HF start was controlled by the TIG torch, but I had to snap out to break the arc. Tried the second welder to find it was working but wouldn't flow gas. A small wasp had built a nest in the torch socket, so a small drill bit by hand and blast with compressed air got that working. I have one working welder, but I don't need to do Aluminium so I'm ok.
What has that got to do with boats? Nothing. Except while this was going on I had multiple calls from my brother. "The RO system pressure is fluctuating, what do I do?" "Have a look at the supply pressure gauge and see what it is doing". It was all over the shop, so I suggested he replace the primary filters (20 & 5 micron). We always have spares on board.
Cue more fabrication and making welds that while structurally sound are not at all pretty even after cleaning them up with a grinder (my shake and eyesight have both deteriorated since I last welded). Then another call. "I replaced the filters but didn't notice an o-ring had dropped out of the filter housing. It got stuck when I did it up, and I couldn't undo it, so I put the filter wrench on it and hit it with the mallet. Now it's ****ing water everywhere and I think I might have broken it". Sounds like he's cracked the join between the two housings, the screws/bolts holding them together are corroded, he can't get the hoses off and it's all a bit hard. I can't see an icon for a facepalm, but bloody hell. A mallet? Really?
This van is a bit low. Last time I had to repair a weld on the step it was on the rear support. I dropped the drawbar on the floor, slid under and had barely enough room. Had to contort myself so badly that I ended up with a shocking weld UV burn on my neck. This weld was further toward the wheel and I was never going to get in there, so I bought ramps. What a pleasure. Backed the thing onto the ramps and had ample room to position myself any way I liked.
Left it hitched to the D3 so it couldn't move, backed it up, dropped the D3 into access mode and the hard bit suddenly became easy. I just had to remember how to weld in tight, windy spaces again clearly using the wrong tool for the job, This would have been a 15 minute exercise for a competent arc welder. Welding to the angle that is screwed to the plywood floor is a challenge. I drenched the plywood before I started and had a hand sprayer to put out the inevitable fire after every weld. The bit I had to fabricate was ok as it was hanging on straps, so no heat near sensitive stuff, just hanging in a stiff breeze.
So I phone mum and got her to dig out the details of the bloke who fixed the RO system a few years ago and said pass it on to him. I don't have time to do it before I go away, but if it isn't fixed in 5 days to allow pickling of the membranes we're going to be up for a grand in new membranes. Not my problem.
Bloody boats. Caravans too, although I shouldn't complain as this step and it's assembly was probably marginal when it was first assembled and that was back in 1963. It has done exceptionally well to make it this far, and the fact I belted it pulling off the road given it has done the Gibb River Rd in both directions indicates I must have done something dumb.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 123rover50
Great story and photos. Really enjoyed this. Cheers
Brad, you’re having a great time I see [emoji23]
I don't mind when my stuff goes pear shaped. Nothing goes to plan, but being asked to clean up someone elses mess while in the middle of dealing with my stuff going pear shaped just pushed me over the edge.
One of these things does not belong : Plastic water filter housing, plastic water filter housing spanner, mallet.
On the other hand it has again poked me to go and do a decent arc welding course.
Could have been worse I suppose. At least with a new argon reg I got one welder going so I could complete the repairs. I might try those ramps next time I'm doing an oil change on the D3. An extra 200mm without having to jack the thing off the ground would always be welcome.
I did MMAW and TIG at TAFE as an adult, to enable me to weld for practical reasons around home and for the fun of it. I have used both ARC and TIG many times since doing projects at home. Both have been very very useful (everything from welding hinges on posts to gates and general repairs to welding up a side console for my boat (that with TIG as its alloy). CheersQuote:
Originally Posted by BradC