Now begins the launch sequence . . . crain me up
Now begins the launch sequence . . . crain me up
And onto the "trailer" for transport to the launch ramp . . .
"Well, I finally launched UHURU with the words, “I return UHURU to her element, Gold bless her and all who sail in her.” Then I smashed a bottle of “Champers’” on her bow, climbed aboard and in she went . . ."
"We warped UHURU over to the fuel wharf and tried to fill her up with diesel."
"We filled her up OK, but it was with sea water. I had left the engine raw water intake seacock open and the pipe not connected to the engine.
Yikes! (not quite the word used) – We’re sinking – Get those cowardly women and children out of the way – Save the crew! The good new is, the bilge pump works perfectly
"Hey, there's water down here . . ."
"The next shock came when we tried to fill the fuel tank. The breather system didn’t breath and we couldn’t get the screw-in inspection hatch to un-screw. We couldn’t fill the tank, so no engine. Since we couldn’t mess about on the fuel wharf, we used the dingy to move UHURU to a marina pen."
Here comes the rescue dinghy . . .
Towing UHURU to a "pen" . .
"Next, when the sailmaker arrived to fit the new sails, he found that he had used the wrong set of measurements. He had made the sails for some other boat!
As you can imagine, things at this point were definitely not going well. And, I was due shortly to sail in the annual “boy’s only” cruise to “Swains Reef.” [The reef is 120 miles out and some of it still not surveyed.]"
Last edited by Bill; 12-11-2006 at 09:41 PM.
And the frig was already loaded . . .
"As if this were not enough, or should I say, because of all this, I had a heart attack while at the marina.
"I'm now recovering a bit and have the go ahead to drive and do “light air sailing,” so me and my mate will be getting back to UHURU next week and try to solve some of her problems. There are still sail track and winches to fit and hopefully I can get UHURU out of that expensive marina pen without killing myself. On a positive note, the sailmaker says everything will be finished by the end of the week. And to make up for his "stuff up," he will fit lazy jacks and a boom bag into which the sail just drops."
"UHURU looks OK, don’t you think? The “helipad” and doghouse don’t look too out of place? She floats well to her marks, tanks empty and no supplies or personal stuff on board. She is a bit high, level in spite of the weight in the bow. I’m happy. BTW - The boat weighed in at 2.9 ton. I was surprised."
Forepeak mattress
"As I’ve mentioned before, trial and error and pure determination to get things to work is my style, no training, no education to speak of as far as boats are concerned. The only things that I’m not happy with on board, have been done by so called tradesman. My work might be a bit rough, but it works. I now have to fix what the shipwright installed and tidy up stuff that should be already tidy. A mate, who is some sort of technician, looked over my wiring and asked, “are you sure an electrician did this? He must have used an apprentice.” Oh well, I’m alive and my boat is floating. I’m not complaining and even if I was, it wouldn’t make me a bad person -
"Well mates, you’re up to date. The plan now is to take UHURU up through the “narrows” (think African Queen country) and into the Fitzroy river where she will be put on a mooring. I will then go out to the gem fields and potter about at my mates mine looking for emeralds and sapphires. I hope to get rich while I’m recuperating!"
We're looking at photos but realty would be more revealing.
Not sure who did what inside UHURU but the shipwright couldn't have done much wrong
- we have here some of the finest smallboat interior carpentry imaginable.
I have not seen, for example, this treatment of the cabin sole befor, clever and absolutely beautyful! (pg 10/147 - pg 7/93/94/95)
To me the shipwright saw the interior job as a whole and hardly missed a lick. Working for an owner is always difficult, especially with strong personalities involved.
'This ain't no grand piano!' we used so say. But UHURU, down below, comes pretty close.
To be candid, Geoff's dodger cab has taken time for me to get used to. Latest group of pictures from various angles have helped me accept it as part of the whole Ariel. It adds a huge amount of livability to a tiny boat, nearly doubling the living space. Not hard to imagine surveying a chaotic storm - with a mug of strong steaming tea in hand - from under the protection of the porch.
I've noticed that yacht designers when faced with the dodger vs streamlining simply make the dodger a darker color. Sunbrella blue is often their way out. Disappears to the eye against the lighter color of the cabin.
Last edited by ebb; 01-16-2007 at 12:41 PM.
Geoff Reappears!
It's been a bit over two years since we last heard from Geoff, but a letter arrived today. We'll transcribe and post the pertinent parts shortly. "Stay'en alive" is the word, while progress on UHURU has remained in stasis during Geoff's recovery from his heart attack.
G’day,
I haven’t put pen to paper for over a year. In fact I haven’t been doing much at all since I had my heart attack, not much fun are they. I got a stent in the L.A.D. I then went on to develop internal abscesses and got a blood condition – white cells too big and too many of ‘em. Lymphocemia something or other – so I’ve been a bit crook, but I’m coming good now.
I’ve been working all year on my old mobile home, a Toyota Coaster bus, 92 model LWB. I have been fixing rust, sprucing her up for sale. I have nearly finished it. I will sell it and move onto my boat full time.
The boat is in pen H22 Gladstone marina. She is covered in coal dust from the huge coal loading facility close to the harbour and has a coral reef on her bum. There is a bloke in the marina will dive on her and scrub her for $100. I want to get her up to Rosslyn Bay Harbour as soon as pos’ and out to the islands. I can run a mainsail only at the moment. Not deck gear for a jib and I still have to fit winches. I’ve got two new 2-speed winches, so the plan is to get the engine started, which is pretty involved. I have to cut open a seized aluminum inspection part on top of the tank and sort out the filler-breather problem. Then I can put to sea motor sailing with main only. I will probably head up the Fitzroy River and pick up a mooring to fit the deck gear and winches and I will save $540 a month in marina fees. It was $520 – then $540 and now it’s gone up again. But! I have to sell my old bust first to make it all happen.
It costs money to be crook and between doctors, surgeons and the boat I’m a pauper until I sell my bus.
The gem mine was a non event. Bit of a cock up all round, but a stroke of luck as it happened. The gem fields got more rain than they have ever had, the whole place got washed out and the mine I was going to buy was made unworkable “like start again.” I am still interested in doing it, but I will get on my boat first and wait until my projected disposable income of $1,000 per month add up a bit - HA!
I have been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. I have E-mail and send and received my first E-mail the other day. I can’t type and the letters are not in order, HA! I will take a typing course.
The year started crook for me. I had to have a cyst cut out from under my thumb nail. I had a huge wound to the bone which had to be packed every other day so I spent most of January something like – (drawing of huge thumb) so I didn’t get much done. The weather isn’t helping. It’s 8:00 AM at the moment and the temp is 30c (85f) with 78% humidity. The worst it’s been this summer is 41.5c and 80-90% humidity, mid to high 30's every day. Sweat drips onto your work in buckets and runs into your eyes, so things are moving pretty slow at the moment.
All the best to you all, sorry again about the long silence. Do you know I have never seen the association’s Website? I’m not Fick. I’m just uneducated. HA! See-ya, Geoff.
Last edited by Bill; 02-14-2009 at 01:23 PM.
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