Monday, November 14, 2011

A New Start

Well, been a while - have to change the title of the build to Building A catamaran in inland Queensland.

We have relocated from Gove Northern Territory to Kingaroy in Queensland and now working a 7on - 7 off roster (Which is sooo much better than a 5 on - 2 off (if you are lucky)) out at Chinchilla. This means that I am spending 7 nights away from my home and family but have a full 7 days off at home. So far, my time has been taken up with un-packing, settling in and building all my work benches again.

Things are due to start in earnest, more than likely after xmas now, boy where did the year go????, and am looking forward to finally getting work done. So, where am I at???
  • New house on an Acre up in Kingaroy
  • No shed/workshop
  • Tools but no benches or work spaces.
I have a really good spot picked out for the build in the back yard. It is reasonably flat ground that will eventually house my workshop/shed but for now I will be going with a shelter along the lines of Puremajek and Martica. If money permits in the future, I may just build a shed around this.

Many thanks to all of the positive comments from everyone and especially to my wife for coming on board so to speak. Now I am in the real world, I will be looking forward to meeting a few of the other Easy Builders and being able to just duck down and see someone. (I am 2 hours to the Snells and about 2.5 hours from Marticia and Kjay (See www.diy-yachts.com ) and also only 1 hour to Dalby where there is an Easy 10.5SS being constructed. (Nice job too)

Friday, January 21, 2011

Home - Safe and Sound........

Hey all, 

Well, what a nightmare.  We were up at Kingaroy getting some much needed R&R for a week.  Was great to just relax and not do anything for a bit.  We tried to go to Dalby to have a look at Mike's 10.5SS and to catch up with some ex govites living there but the road was cut....

When it was time to go back to Brisbane, we made Nanango (just down  the road) and had to turn back - twice - due to water over the road.  We were in an XR6, these do not look like a 4wd at all not that they were letting them through either.  Well, we made it through on the Monday via a back road around a back road and back onto the highway right until we got past the town of Blackbut - landslide across the road - 2 days minimum to clear.  A quick look at the maps and we decided to backtrack to Yarraman and headed for Toowoomba.  Just our luck (And what luck) we came across a road closure, that is, they were in the proc ess of closing the road just as we pulled up.  about 1/2 hour later, they re-opened it for 4wd and trucks, and 15 mins later for cars.  We were the first 2wd across - water was still deep.  On the outskirts of Toowoomba, a small rock slide blocked the two outgoing lanes forcing the inbound lanes to merge into one, another 5 min delay...  Well, we came around the corner to a devestating scene - cars piled up on top of each other, horns blaring, fire trucks, police cars etc everywhere.  We were directred up a street and worked our way around the main street, dodging chunks of road and concrete.  The short story is that we ended up staying in Toowoomba all week, watching the floods and rescue effort right through to Brisbane on TV, not venturing out much or stiky beaking.  Late Thursday, the road south opened with care.  Friday was spent getting to Brisbane - 300Km in 7 hours.

After all of the excitement of the previous week, we ended up in Brisbane for the grand total of 3 days prior to returning to Gove.  This was spent using our pre purchased passes to the theme parks with all of the famly we have in Brissie.  (who also took a week off work to spend with us....)  So - No visits to anyone this trip.  There is always next time. 

Now that we are back home, all of the normal stuff is getting back in swing.  The Ice Cream Van inside was stripped and stored inside the house.  This is nearly back together.  My shed was filled with Motor Bikes push bikes, garden implements etc, this is slowly emptying out.  Life is returning back to pre annual leave status........

Friday, January 7, 2011

From then to now

Hey all,

It has been a while so I thought that I would update all on where we are at the moment.  We are up at Kingaroy QLD at the moment having a second Christmas with family.  I was looking forward to getting out to Dalby and having a look at Mikes 10.5SS but with all of the rain around and having a very low hire car, I have decided not to risk it.  There is always next time...  I have been thinking about all of the builders in the flood areas of QLD - hope that the floods are not affecting you.  I will be getting in touch with Peter and Anne when we get back to Brisbane and hopefully getting a look at Sarah, and if lucky, James as well (Pure Majak).  We also have an invite to look over a hull that would be ready to come off the strongback.  It will be great to meet these people and see the finished as well as in progress product.

The only place that we can build within our yard is in three separate (adjoining) areas that will need to be modified to get enough open area to work in.  As we are living in a company owned house, we have had to jump about 200 hoops to get the approval to extend the retaining wall by 3 meters (our front yard is split level.  When we get home, I will take some pics and add them...) 

A few of the big jobs have been done, I have built a new bigger pond for the fish, yabbies and plants, emptied the old pond and filled it in and have moved a few garden beds around in preparation of removing about 6 cubes of dirt.  We also are big in the Christmas lights, so all of the lights have been set up and packed back up.  We only had a small display compared with previous years, but still very effective.

We get home later in the month and I have about 5 days off prior to going back to work, so dependent on the rain, work on moving the retaining wall should start or if the weather is good, time spent on RenĂ©'s ute to get it ready to sell.  (anyone got a spare fuel pump for a holden ute - hahaha)

Anyway, off to the shops - I want to have a bit more of a look around this wonderful town.
Cheers and happy boat building
Scotty

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Pre-build starts

Well, Here it goes..  This is the first in what I hope will be the on-line record of SV Dreamtime, an Easy Sarah catamaran designed by Peter Snell in Brisbane Qld (Austraila)

So - who are we??  We are a couple (2+3)  living in the middle of a boating/sailing paradise.  We are located in the town of Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula with access to water within minutes of where you are in town.  I have always wanted a catamaran, for as long as I can remember, but the cost of them was a deterent. 
About 18 months ago, I was looking for a new project.  I have flown RC planes from my teens but I was looking for a change - Radio Controlled Boats called me - Yachts looked like fun, no motors to contend with etc.  While surfing the web looking at clubs and designs, I found a full size design by Roberto Barros - based in Perth Australia.  The Multichine 28 looked very good, and in ply, a medium that I have delt with in the past.

Well - things turned then for a while - we went into business - Mr Whippy style ice cream van was purchased and shipped in, many mods including a new genset and ice cream machine later - we were on the road.  This was a steep learning curve for the two of us to say the least.  A few months ago, we were passing Inverell Bay (Gove Harbour) when the yacht subject came back up.  I pointed out a 30' mono and my wife - a 40' cat - so I started looking for designers.  I stumbled on a forum that was just for people like me, and it was all about catamarans, mainly the Easy's with some others thrown in at first glance.  What a site.... 

Well it must have been fate - a set of plans came up for sale on the forum just as I was getting to the final stages of my study, at a good price.  With my wifes blessing, I purchased them... So here I am.  Set of plans and only half a place to build.