Tidahapah Refit

[Tidahapah]

Guys,
I don't know how this will transpire but over Easter the Boss and I delivered Tidahapah down to the Gold Coast City Marina.
My intention is to possibly do the following.
Convert my flopper stopper system into a full paravane system.
I have renewed the arms and have a couple of sets of fish to try out and modify as required. These are all yet to be fitted.

This process will require the fitting of either an aft mast and if so a main mast with furler.
Or a small set of gallows to carry the paravanes.
Still working on the mast set up.

Redo some cosmetic fiberglass work around the wheelhouse roof.

Sand and paint the hull topsides. Timber boat so it will be done as usual with International Interlac gloss white.

Fit a new Bow roller to better suit my Sarca Excel. see attached photo.

Over in WA working at present so should be back to continue about mid May.

 

[AusCan]

Good luck with the refit, Benn. With the paravanes and possible sail, it should really stabilize your ride nicely. You'll be ready for anything.

I assume you are an a rotational work schedule. It works well for doing projects and longer cruises. It's a bit tough managing projects from afar, but worth it overall. Just having weekends off just isn't enough.

I've got 5 days left on my hitch. I'm hanging out to get home.

 

[Aquabelle]

Benn: Twin bow rollers....are you planning to have twin anchors ready to deploy? If yes, same or different types? What is it about the SARCA Excel that requires special bow rollers?

 

[Tidahapah]

No mate it doesn't require a special roller.
My original bronze bow rollers had smaller cheek plates and I wanted something with a bit more side cover and a security bar.
After all they were 17 years old and I had them cast when I built the boat , the rollers were also bronze and had just about worn out.

Have allways had twin bow rollers but only ever have one anchor riged for deployment.
There is a reef pick rigged with retrieval float , 15 mts chain and 500 ft 22 mm silver rope stored in the port half of the anchor locker.
All other spare anchors and chain are stored in the lazzerette.
Cheers
Benn

 

[Tidahapah]

OK it looks like we are on our way.
Boat hauled out on Monday , blasted and in the shed.
Ain't sheds good, it has rained every day since haul out but we have not lost any time.
Old chain plates have been removed as they are to be repositioned.
A fair bit of grinding around the wheelhouse top to be carried out and all to be reglassed.
The old crane has been removed as the mizzen mast boom will be my new dinghy crane.

The rigger came down yesterday with the rig plans and we now have something to go ahead with.
Main mast will be 11.5 mts (38 ') may even be a bit taller depends on the section supplied, mizzen will be 1 mt shorter
I have added a few photos , a few of my mates rig, and mine should be very similar but probably not quite as heavy and a few of Tidahapah going in the shed.

 

[Insequent]

Benn
I can tell you that as nice as it is to go into a shed, it is even better coming out of one! Hope all goes smoothly, no tricky surprises.

 

[Tidahapah]

Well all the bits and pieces are coming off.
Old dinghy davit, TV ants etc removed, Funnel removed as mizzen mast will be set into it slightly. Found a bit of rot in the funnel base timber so a good thing it has been removed.
All the wheel house top edges have been ground back, epoxied , filled and now to be faired. In the original build this was polyester and the edge was under a brass strip, now will be a nice clean edge.

Electrical work, shore power inlet box all renewed, house bank and main engine start batteries being replaced with Full River AGMs. House Bank 8 x 250 A/Hr 6Vs as a 24 V system and Eng start 2 x 120 Amp/Hr 12 volt.
All wiring being tidied up after 17 years of additions and subtractions.
New gen set start and radio battery charger being fitted.

Rebuilding my hydraulic steering ram and replacing hydraulic hoses after 17 years of use.
When I get a chance I will add a few photos.
Cheers
Benn

 

[Insequent]

Good to see you are getting stuck into it.

Is there a local supplier for Fullriver?

 

[Tidahapah]

Brian,
Jim from Odyssey Electrical down here at the Gold Coast is supplying the batteries and at a pretty reasonable price the 250 A/Hr 6 V at about $355.00 each..
I got over 5 years out of my Trojan T105s so not to bad and these should go a lot further.
Spent the day sanding and sanding.
Cheers
Benn

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

Got to love that cross planked bottom !! (Planking ala Maryland.) Strong as a Brick outhouse.

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

Ben
Is your anchor pulpit a solid 1 piece of timber or a laminated assembly?

 

[Tidahapah]

Sailor, the bow sprit is a solid piece of Spotted Gum an Australian hardwood. Same timber used in the frames and planking except for the keel which is an 8" x 8" piece of Iron Bark another Australian hardwood.

Ripped into a bit more of the electrical work today and have decided I may upgrade the inverter /charger. Step up to a 24V/3000W/70A unit mainly to increase the charger capacity and also install an isolation transformer.

Cheers
Benn

 

[Tidahapah]

Well as of today 5 days out of the water and we have achieved a lot and found a heap of new jobs.
Some suspected rot in the aft main deck has been confirmed and we are now in the process of cutting this out, some more rot in the fwd deck break and this is now in hand.
Electrical work completed except for installation of new Inverter/charger
Had a chat with the electronics guy this afternoon re repositioning all anteneas radar scanner etc, install new Stero unit and tidy up 17 years of wiring additions and subtractions.
Main mast step pad is installed and mizzen mast compression post will go in next week
Repositioning of main mast chain plates in hand and mizzen mast chain plate position worked out and drilled ready for plates.

I am back to West Australia to work on Tuesday so will leave it in the hands of the shipwrights.
Boat may even be back in the water by the time I get home.
Will post some disaster photos tomorrow.

Cheers
Benn

 

[maxhopper502]

G'day Benn,
Good to see the progress and I especially look forward to seeing the stabilisers go on and getting a report on what you think. Hope to have mine on by the end of the year but you cant rush these things. Are you going with chain down to the fish or solid pipe?
cheers, Adam

 

[Tidahapah]

Adam,
S/S chain from arms to fish. Rope for all else.
I would imagine the fish for your vessel are going to be quite large & heavy.

By the way how is your conversion going, I imagine it is quite a big job.
Cheers
Benn

 

[Tidahapah]

Progress report and some photos.
The transom corners are being ground out so that they can be bi axially glassed, this has always been a problem area, I had it braced with a s/s angle piece but water still seeped in and this is how the aft deck corners got rot, along with original deck glass job being polyester.
The wheelhouse electronics and cables will be tidied up, 17 years of growth and the ants etc are to be repositioned on the masts.
Some of the problems are my own fault as I got a bit lazy over the last couple of years. Boat should be in great shape after this refit and ready for full use.

 

[maxhopper502]

Adam,
S/S chain from arms to fish. Rope for all else.
I would imagine the fish for your vessel are going to be quite large & heavy.

By the way how is your conversion going, I imagine it is quite a big job.
Cheers
Benn

After talking to a few prawnies and shark fisherman I decided to go with pipe down to the fish and all the fish is a 700mm round plate with 10mm round bar welded around the edge. Been told they are quieter at anchor and work in both the up and down of the roll but there are a lot of different opinions on whats best.
Copying a 75ft prawn trawler and got a semi retired engineer building them for me but I think I need to poke him with a stick as its been 3 years in the making.
Refit going well, got the outside done minus the fence and canopy over the top and a crane just like the one you just replaced to lift the dinghy up top.
Insides another story, kitchen and a lot of finishing to be done there.

 

[Andy G]

maxhopper" got a semi retired engineer building them for me but I think I need to poke him with a stick as its been 3 years in the making."

You can borrow my old dad's electric cattle prod if you like.

 

[Tidahapah]

Had a progress report yesterday afternoon but as yet no fotos.
All the repair work is completed and primed.
All hull seams , gouged and Norflexed where required. I have progressed from traditional putty this time and will start on the Norflex (epoxy) putty treatment
Boat should be ready to splash in about 10 days.
masts etc will still have to be fitted.

In the meantime I am over in Dampier docking my bathtub(Z Tech Tug), a couple of fotos of this included.
Cheers
Benn

 

[AllanY]

Benn


Was that tug ever at Groote Island?

Allan

 

[Tidahapah]

Allan,
No mate she has been in Hedland all her 5 years.
It is a standard Rob Allen design Z-Tech harbour tug.
Heaps of them around the world.
You probably saw a sister vessel.
Cheers
Benn

 

[AllanY]

Benn i thought it was one i took to Cairns and back many years ago for some refit work
The name sounded similar

Allan

 

[Tidahapah]

Well if you took one to sea you sure wouldn't forget it.
One thing they are not and that is a sea boat, strictly a harbour.
When the docking is completed we have a 12 hour trip back to Hedland so I hope it is flat seas.
The Azi pods are good to drive and handle, highly manoueverable but please stay within the harbour limits.
Cheers
Benn

 

[Tidahapah]

A few photos back from the yard today.
I am thinking of putting the dinghy across the cabin top, it should be better to handle in and out of the water with the mizzen mast boom.
It looks like it will stick out a bit, most of the time this shouldn't be a problem and if it is I will remove the outboard.

The compression post in the aft cabin will hardly be noticeable, so slowly it is all coming back together.
Cheers
Benn

 

[AllanY]

Benn


This was back in 2000

Allan

 

[Tidahapah]

Wow it's hard being away when a shed load of work is being done on the boat.
Anyhow the rigger was down today to finalise the rig set up along with stay and chain plate positions.
All chain plates and stay brackets are fabricated and ready to be fitted.
2 coats of undercoat on topsides and 1 st coat of gloss going on tomorrow I hope.
Ordered an extra winch as required and the 2 x 90 watt lay flat solar panels..
My mate hauled his 60' Norman Wright in the same yard today sohe is giving Tidahapah a bit of an inspection for me.
A photo of chain plates attached, not good quality.

Sounds like it is all coming together nicely.
Cheers
Benn

 

[Tidahapah]

Thank god for the shed. Apparently it has been raining over home again but work still carried on in the shed.
All timber repairs now done and topsides are undercoated. I think maybe this is the best job done on the old girl for many years.
yachty stuff like winches etc have now turned up and ready to be fitted.
Topsides get glossed on Monday, after that all the fittings go back on including the paravane arms and fittings.

 

[Hendo78]

Thank god for the shed. Apparently it has been raining over home again but work still carried on in the shed.

Yeah yeah rub it in lol haha

Sent from my iPhone using Trawler

 

[eagle419]

Looking good Benn,
I'm looking forward to seeing where you're positioning your rig and winches.
cheers, John

 

[Tidahapah]

John
Fwd mast is just in front of the wheelhouse eye brow (50 mm)
Mizzen mast is virtually on the aft eng room bulkhead.
Winches will depend on Cookie the rigger as I am not at home to have much input.

Attache are a couple of photos of todays gloss 1 st coat.
using standard Dulux exterior Gloss enamel.
I used International Toplac last time ( Brightsides replacement) Now they want $80.00 per 2 lt tin , like bloody hell.
This is a timber plank boat the paint job is not going to last more than a few years.
Cheers
Benn