All the engine excitment the other day was caused by this coolant hose getting chaffed through by an oil pan bolt. So I pulled the hose, patched the hole, patched another not-quite-hole being chewed by another metal part (what the heck, Volvo), ground down that bolt a bit, and then re-attached everything and refilled with fresh coolant. Luckily the engine wasn't seized, and the problem was easy to patch once the part was removed for access. Huge thanks to our rallymates on Indigo IV for the spare coolant! I made some very scientific measurement marks before realizing it had a measurement window too... #keepingcool #volvopenta #md2030 #fixins #DIY #patchcollection #battlepatches #boatprojects #Condor40 #sailing
Had a wonderful passage to New Caledonia! The first few days were light but very pleasant, then the wind shifted east and we got a bit caught out on the sailing angles - it was a wet, messy sea and we had to slow way way down. But Iria handled it all great! Had a few minor breakages, a lot to wash and clean up, and the political situation in Noumea is a little tricky so we'll be staying out in anchorages for a while yet. Top speed: 14 knots Miles sailed: 872 miles Broken: jib furler foil, radiator hose, beam sealant in a few spots Had some trouble with the cellular hotspot and satellite email here, so only getting back online now. But it was a great trip and it feels incredible to have made it here under sail! #trimaran #Condor40 #sailing #newcaledonia🇳🇨 #passagemaker #downunderrallygoeast #islandcruisingrally2024
Farewell Australia!!! It's been great, but it's time to move on - off to Noumea today! Hoping for fair winds and easy conditions! #trimaran #Condor40 #sailaustralia #upandaway
Well this one's been a long time in the making. Back in March I put together the foam and carbon for a full-width crossbeam to support the inner forestay, then just last week used some Gurit Spabond to glue it into the forepeak, and finally got the double padeye installed today. The old setup had the inner forestay just mounted to the deck cleats, which didn't feel secure enough, and now it's solid enough that you could probably lift the whole boat off of it. Maybe overkill, but since it's a heavy-weather sail it feels good to have it extra solid. Alternated layers of double-bias and unidirectional carbon on both sides, with a ~30mm foam core. Thrilled to have a solid attachment point for the hank-on staysail. #DIY #carbonfiber #stayfocused #forestaycation #trimaran #Condor40 #boatprojects
These are the plants started on board and how they look today! Basil is definitely the happiest, though I'm proud the rosemary even threw its hat in the ring by existing in my presence. Swipe if you want to go back in time! Thanks @picoplanter for designing something that works in small spaces! If you have any advice on my current array, I would be excited to hear it! #picoplanter #basilonboard #condor40 #sailingthefarm #butlessseaweed #boatsboatsboats
Passage Prep Stew, crossing the Wide Bay Bar, sunset and a brushfire over Fraser Island, dodging a giant cruise ship, and a slow, slow drift in to Moreton Bay. Had a nice, easy trip back, with a fairly painless bar crossing followed by such nice reaching conditions we were mostly trying to slow the boat down so as not to arrive by midnight into a new anchorage. Just settling in now at Tangalooma, unusually dry and well-rested. #sailaustralia #trimaran #everywherestew #widebaybarcrossing #sailing #Condor40 #gottagoslightlylessfast
Wanted to be sure we escaped Southport and the Broadwater before Easter Weekend and its droves of boat-partiers. Left Southport around 9am, arrived Scarborough around 8:30pm, under the most amazing varieties of cloud textures. Had an easy broad reach across all of Moreton Bay, with just a little bit of giant commercial traffic to dodge. #trimaran #Condor40 #sailing #moretonbaywatch
One thing the new mainsail didn't come with was dogbones or any other way to make sure the reef points on the luff reached the reefing hooks on the mast. So, fabrication it is! I keep some dyneema webbing in my rigging kit, so picked up some rings, measured the distances, and sewed it all together! then added some idiot-proofing because it's always nice to be sure which reef you're putting in. #reefexplorer #sailsmanager #trimaran #Condor40 #boatprojects #DIY
Back in Southport for a hot minute, on the dock for a few days to pick up crew and get a few off-boat projects done. Highlights include: 1) the friendly neighborhood steamboat! you should've heard its horn! 2 & 3) St. Patrick's Day shenanigans! 4) leak-test gang signs 5 & 6) fabbing up a bulletproof carbon fiber crossbeam for the removable inner forestay. #Condor40 #trimaran #boatprojects #carbonfootprint #forestaycation
They won't teach you this at boating school, but the trick to leaving a dock solo when the breeze is blowing you onto it is to leave so early that nobody's awake to see your incredibly ungraceful but effective maneuvering. Saw a big fast neighbor again on the way out. And now I'm camping out up near Tippler's for a few days to finish up a few projects and wait for a weather window. This weekend is a little spicy for trying out the new sails, but it looks like calming down by next week. #Condor40 #trimaran #finallyoutoftheboatyard
New sails!!! Got word from my sailmaker that they would be ready today, so I pulled the old sails off, and spent the rest of today fitting the new ones after he dropped them off. There's some mainsail hardware missing, so no imminent test sail, but wow are these pretty. The main is DCX, and the jib is X-Drive - both on the "cruisey durable" end as far as their options, but on the performance end as far as materials go. I've never had brand new working sails before so I'm super excited to sail something not all blown-out and tired. Big thanks to @uksailmakers for the shiny new wind-catchers! #sailsmanager #cutofmyjib #newthreads #boatprojects #trimaran #Condor40
While "uhhhh about there looks right" is fine for me and other experienced crew setting the daggerboard, it's not a good, replicable setting. So, on go the numbers! I really love taking out crew who haven't sailed or haven't sailed much before, so being able to say "put the daggerboard on 3 in these conditions" is a huge plus. #trimaran #boatprojects #Condor40 #boardgames
Been working on a bunch of not very picturesque projects lately. Among them, this watermaker has been about 45% installed since July, and I'm finally finishing up the plumbing & wiring of it. It should put out about 4 gallons per hour, and only draws about 4-5 amps DC! Really excited to have this working, since the boat has what I'd describe as "good for a race boat" tankage - the freshwater tank is only about 54 gallons. #DIY #plumblife #thirsttrappin #trimaran #Condor40
I initially pulled some stuff apart to get to the tiller quadrant to fix an issue where the autopilot rudder position sensor (the little ball & socket thing in these photos) kept popping off. What I found was this sizable crack in the quadrant itself. Welder to the rescue, and I made a little webbing cover-strap to hold the sensor arm on. All better! But glad I found this before that crack got worse - much easier to fix here in the yard than underway! #tillerlife #fixins #trimaran #boatprojects #Condor40
removing the windlass. the folks who installed it glued in the backing plate for some reason, which was a whole project. Got it though. Never underestimate the power of a good wedge and a deadblow hammer. #DIY #boatprojects #trimaran #Condor40 #anchorage
Trim >2 lbs off the rigging with this One Weird Trick* *: dyneema and some tedious splicing Replaced my old polyester lazy jacks with fancy 3mm dyneema, and it ... actually shaved a lot more weight than I expected it to. I weighed all the bits, added them up together, and it was over 32oz shaved off! #DIY #DIYneema #lazyjackprovisioning⚓️ #boatprojects #Condor40 #weightwatchers
The weather's been bouncing between unpredictably rainy and way too hot, so I've been poking at small projects the last few days. re-varnished some trim pieces, gave the windows a polish, and added some setting numbers on the main traveler. Gotta start digging into the bigger stuff soon, but the easy warmup stuff's been nice to get done. #boatprojects #Condor40 #trimaran #shinysideup #sweatingthesmallstuff
Well, that was almost as much fun as when I replaced the nets and tied a million bowlines all day. But it's all worth it for the sake of taming the spaghetti. #noodlesoup #baggedlife #outilsoceans #whoselineisitanyway #boatprojects #Condor40
well, that's sure not what the radar's supposed to do. Santa delivered a new one, as everything I could find about this specific problem suggested it was a "replace the unit" kind of issue. Basically, the old radar showed nothing at all until the gain was turned almost all the way up, and then it showed roughly-uniform nonsense noise. Which most likely means the receiver part of the radar is busted. Unplugged the old one, plugged in and attached the new one, and now it acts like a radar should (and shows the giant rainstorm about to roll in.) I don't think it's what caused the old unit's demise, but also replaced this o-ring on the power cable just for good measure. #radar #boatprojects # #Condor40 #trimaran #fixins
Solo trip back up to Coomera today. Definitely the tightest spot I've squeezed Iria into solo, but it was the last dock space they had left! Thankful for hands ashore who helped catch lines. Despite those very threatening clouds, didn't get a drop of rain either. Other than the route being 90% right into the wind, it was a nice easy trip. Not a bad view from the restaurant here either. #Condor40 #trimaran #moving day #dockers
solo sailor breakfast of champions underway: cockpit coffee, a meat stick, and a granola bar. these little single-brewer packs are great, too. I wouldn't dare juggling a normal pour-over while at the helm, but these do alright. #caferacer #trimaran #Condor40
Had an awesome two weeks with @brahman0 as crew. He flew back on Tuesday, and since then I've been chilling at anchor here in Southport. Whipping some lines, lucking into a front-row seat for the @southport_yacht_club Thursday afternoon race, a nice sunset cockpit shower, and (not pictured] meeting the keen folks on Yana/@floats.like.a.witch shortly after they cleared in -- been really loving anchor life here. About time to move on, though. Next stop, back to Coomera to store the boat for a bit before its 3 month shakedown check-in haul. #trimaran #anchorman #Sailing #Condor40 #lazygram #hotpants
Finally rigged up the staysail & removable inner forestay that's been half-done for months. Needs a few final tweaks, but all the tricky splicing is done and it sets pretty nicely! #staysailing #splicing #forestaycation #Condor40 #trimaran
After being buzzed by half the jetskis in the region, we got to Tippler's and discovered the anchor windlass had a mind of its own. We dropped anchor manually, explored ashore, saw a big lizard and someone doing stunts on a water-jetpack, then walked over to the Pacific side of South Stradbroke. Then got back and tore out the cheapo wireless windlass remote I got off ebay (It worked about twice after being installed). That seems to have solved the out-of-control windlass issue, so back to chilling here til tomorrow! #mowindlassmoproblems #trimaran #Condor40 #sailing #23skidoo
THE VIEW / THE VIEWER Staying out of the sun on the way down to Coomera today. It was a great run, able to sail about 80% of the Narrows & Broadwater with the wind behind us and current with us. Hit 7.8 knots under jib only, which might be a new record for that sail plan. #Sailing #trimaran #Condor40 #lookoftheday #hidingfromthesun☀️ #bigdoofyhatclub
Upgraded the mood lighting aboard, re-rigged a friend's mooring with new lines, swapped the heavy bow lines for light dyneema mousing lines, and replaced the giant leaky foredeck hatch with a not-leaky one. All in a day's work. #fixins #Condor40 #boatprojects #trimaran
Been chasing leaks and fixing some small details around the boat during this downtime. One of my favorite little tricks is these peel-ply bandaids for small holes. Squirt some thickened epoxy in, until it's just barely over-full, then smooth the bandaid down on top of it to hold everything in under just a bit of pressure. Also, put a new sealing layer on the forward beam interior space, and some clear epoxy on the companionway entrance (its varnish before lasted about 3 days before foot traffic tore it up) #Condor40 #fixins #DIY
Knocked out a handful of small jobs yesterday. The biggest was swapping out a dumb voltage-sensitive relay for a proper DC-DC charger that'll keep the lithiums happy. Also some new cockpit gear for taming the line spaghetti! Then I meant to chill out and have a quiet evening but instead I went through ~20 years of hardcopy boat documents aboard and culled out the old, redundant, outdated, and dilapidated stuff. Check out this sweet old AT&T High Seas Radiotelephone coverage card though! Shame that's no longer operating. #Condor40 #boatprojects #sparky #weightwatchers #radiotelephony
I like to have everything aboard clearly labeled, such as this small canister of planting soil. Also, testing out a new way to dry out the outer hulls while stationary. #undermyumbrellaellaella #trimaran #sailing #Condor40
Dock time - some stormy weather blowing through, and deep-clean day aboard today. Taking it a little slow for now, but lining up a few quick projects for next week. #Condor40 #trimaran #boatprojects
Left the rolly but gorgeous anchorage south of St. Helena Island (the small one in Moreton Bay, the tri isn't *that* fast) and found whales! Then 5 knots of wind became 20 and it was a wet, fast upwind sail to Deception Bay. Berthed up at Scarborough for a bit to tackle some smaller jobs and rest up. First time docking in an inner slip! And look at the beautiful schooner Iria is parked next to! #CetaceanNeeded #Sailing #trimaran #Condor40 #schoonin #moretonbaywatch
Only got two photos from the departure from the Gold Coast up to Moreton Bay. Left bright & early to catch the tides, and hit everything from calm sunny summer weather to a severe thunderstorm gusting 29kts and dropping thunder, lightning, and tons of rain right on top of us. A good shakedown sail though - all systems working well, and arrived safely to Russel Island. #Condor40 #Sailing #shakedownthursdays🔥
Finally on the move again! Departed Boat Works this morning with lots still to do, and the boat overloaded with project parts & tools still. Next few days will be working at anchor and then offloading more weight to get the boat floating right again. New rudder is performing well so far! Hoping to give it a good shakedown in the next few days. #Condor40 #Sailing #fixins #trimaran
SPLASH DAY!!! #Condor40 #splashfashions
Pro: the new holding tank is in, and should be high enough not to ship seawater into the tank now! Con: this makes twice in 6 months that I've been literally stuck behind the holding tank. #shitposting #boatprojects #DIY #Condor40
starting to get the hang of this flax fibre material. It sponges up a lot of resin, and would really benefit from vacuum or infusion, but all I've got here is hand-layup tools. The tricks seem to be: • loooots of resin (use too much, then add more once it soaks into the flax) • very careful and copious spreading out of that resin to get the air out, and • a top layer of surfboard cloth to keep it all sealed & contained and voila! a new bulkhead is born. #Condor40 #boatprojects #DIY #compositing
Sometimes progress is a repaired rudder, a mast going up, or the engine finally starting. Other times, progress is cutting out a pound or so of deteriorated battery tray wood, destroying some zipties, and wiring up the tiny new battery charger. Getting close now - aiming to splash in about 5 days if all continues on schedule. Just need the weather to keep cooperating. #Condor40 #sparky #boatprojects
Pulling all the old rotten marine plywood is a big task, but I can't wait to get it all replaced with fresh foam-cored paneling - less weight, no rot, and should be much stronger too! #boatprojects #bulkheadcity #foamparty #Condor40 #DIY
Foiled again! and finally all antifouled! #Condor40 #boatprojects #foilagefriday
me: "I think I'll finish up some fiberglassing, a bit of paint touch-up, and a couple projects on deck" the weather this week: 🤣🖕 #boatprojects #Condor40 #welp #weathered
Been working hard here at the last few pieces before splash-day. Vaseline for the hatch seals to get a bit more life out of them, fixing some busted rivets and re-sealing the crossbeams, paint touch-up on a few parts, and getting the windvane trim-tab fitted on the refreshed rudder. Looking on track to splash this week, if the weather cooperates enough to get a bit more painting & fiberglassing done! #Condor40 #boatprojects #fixins #splashback
problem: bowsprit tack is heavy, clunky, and the block is starting to corrode. solution: dyneema, tarred marline twine, and a low-friction ring. #softshackleallthethings #boatprojects #Condor40 #rigging
I like to keep some little projects handy for days I'm tired or lacking focus, so that's at least some progress and it doesn't feel too demoralizing. Today, that project was cleaning up the bowsprit tip, and putting a rainbow holographic nautical star on it. (the photos don't do any justice to how rainbow-oil-slick the vinyl is.) This does triple duty: I love little nods to traditional seafaring, it'll hopefully help people see the black bowsprit in dark anchorages, and it roughly triples the boat's #ｖａｐｏｒｗａｖｅ cred. #Condor40 #boatprojects #ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ #starstuck
Came back from an errand yesterday to a rudder hanging off the back of the boat! So naturally I rigged up the steering cables, popped the tiller on temporarily, and tried it out. It turns both ways, and (importantly) stays attached to the back of the boat, just like it should! I'm so excited to have a helm again. #FoiledAgain #rudderducky #steersofinstagram #cableworkout #Condor40 #trimaran #boatprojects
There's two main floorboards on the Condor 40 - one covering the water & diesel tanks, made of nice light foam core and a nice teak veneer, and another covering the batteries that - on Iria anyway - is made of 7/8" (~22mm) plywood and weighs a ton. So I'm replacing that. The tricky bit is it's also the nav station & galley sole & the first place you land off the companionway stairs, so it's got to be strong. The plan is to use two layers of foam core, 400gm double-bias fiberglass, maybe some stringers sandwiched in if needed, and then a finishing layer of flax fiber on top. The weight to beat is 10.5lbs (as measured by my increasingly glitchy luggage scale - I swear it's heavier than that). Here's part 1 of fabrication! One layer of foam core, 2 layers of 400gm glass, and butt-tons of epoxy resin. #glassart #weightwatchers #foamparty #trimaran #Condor40 #boatprojects
I'm behind on updates here, but on a recent very short trip back to the U.S. I had a chance to stop by the best used boat parts shop ever (thanks @bluepelicanmarine !) and found a replacement for these ancient, busted traveler control blocks. And they were brand new, never used! Swapped those over, and now the sheaves spin again. Might try and do something later to keep the mainsheet block from crushing them again, which was probably the root cause of the damage. #boatprojects #Condor40 #fixins #traveler_stories
By far the happiest you'll ever see me to be adding almost 100 lbs to the boat. Just a test fit to get the bearing angles set up, but it's almost a rudder again! #steerwrestling #rudderducky #Condor40 #trimaran #fixins
Fixing up the mounting area for the rudder, both to add strength and repair the damage back there from where the rudder chaffed on the glass. Fun facts: the boat was originally fire-truck red, and they went really really heavy on the gelcoat. #riseandgrind #grindcore #sternlooks #grinddontstop #fixins #boatprojects #Condor40 #trimaran
Gloomy, rainy days here slowing up some other progress, but that broken block was an easy fix at least! #trimaran #fixins #Condor40 #boatprojects
As the last step before checking "Mast!" off the to-do list, resealed the cable passthrough, reconnected all the lights (they all still work!), re-spliced the VHF antenna wire, and then trimmed and re-connected this tricky little wind sensor cable. Now Iria has a mast again, with all its mast lights and an accurate wind transducer! #fixins #Condor40 #boatprojects #wirewrapped
rudder rudder rudder rudder rudder rudder!!!!!!! The metal shop stopped by today with the last few pieces done being fabricated. Now it's back to @multimarineaustralia for some final fitting details, and after that (& once I finish the transom repairs...) then it all goes back on! I'm so excited to be steering again. #rudderducky #boatprojects #fixins #trimaran #Condor40 #heavymetal
Finished re-wiring, replaced the old lightning rod, touched up the paint, got a proper toggle onto the removable inner forestay's mast fitting, inspected everything, and moused the lazyjacks so they'd be retrievable, and then back up goes the mast! It's sure nice to have that up again. #boatprojects #Condor40 #trimaran #thisisastickup
One of the most important repairs so far was discovered when the mast came off - there was no coin under the mast! This egregious breach of superstitious propriety was remedied quickly though: I found a U.S. quarter from 1987 (the year the boat was built), polished it up until shiny, and epoxied it to the mast step with ol' Georgie Dubs looking skyward. Feels better already. #luckyquarter #boatprojects #Condor40 #sailorstitions
Some more quick rudder updates: crawled into the very tiny very aft bit of the boat and we got the lower bracket off! Now every last piece is with the metal shop so they can fabricate up a beefier replacement. Also, learned this bolt-sorting trick from my car tinkering days. If the part is complicated, make a sketch on cardboard and punch the hardware in where it goes. That way it's easy to keep track of different bolt sizes or other weird details. #boatprojects #reruddering #Condor40 #trimaran #bracketchallenge
While down in the Goblin Hole (aft lazarette area, affectionately renamed) I saw this little tag on the copper mesh for the HF radio's ground-plane. Guessing it's original from 1987, as Gary is the original owner's name! Looked them up, and ol' L.E. Jones is still cranking out wire mesh today! #wiremeshmonday #aftereffect #boatprojects #ssbmemes #Condor40 #copperdecor
Removing a few last pieces of steel rudder mounts for replacement and reinforcement, and trucking the repaired rudder (thanks @multimarineaustralia) over to the metal shop Just a few more steps to go! #rudderducky #boatprojects #fixins #Condor40 #trimaran
When life gives you broken wind transducers, make a spare parts collection. Took the sensor apart to see what was wrong, and it's badly corroded in several places. Got a whole new transducer on the way, but pulled whatever looked good off this old one so I'll have a stock of bits to fix it with too. #boatprojects #sensorydeprivation #fixins #trimaran #Condor40
If you listen closely, you can hear my internal screaming as the mast comes out. Had a wind sensor to replace and some paint touch-up to do, and wanted to get a close look at the mast & mast step while here for a while anyway. Wild to see that much carbon mast fly through the air though. Big thanks to the riggers for pulling it off so smoothly! #boatprojects #Condor40 #trimaran
A few more snapshots from the last few whirlwind days of passage prep! Got new running backstays to replace the old ones. They weren't in terrible condition, but showed chafe in a couple spots and I'm a fan of replacing anything that holds up the mast if it looks even slightly suspect. Lots of weather watching - both local skies and the broad forecasts for the trip have been all over the place the last few days. Hoping a good window appears soon! And finally, I'm no longer showing as a pilot vessel! Thankful for the prompt assistance from @electronic_marine_solutions to get that fixed! Not quite counting down to departure day yet, but the weather is looking good sometime next week. Just not yet sure quite when. #trimaran #Condor40 #Sailing #voyageprep
Not a lot of photos from the last week - it was a whirlwind trip from Scarborough back down to Coomera without a working alternator, getting caught up with the @down_under_rally and meeting all our rallymates, a solid bon voyage party (despite a bad weather window meaning several more days before casting off), and today's work getting the new lithium batteries in! We'll be here at the Boat Works for another few days, hopefully time enough to finish the last few pre-departure projects! #trimaran #Condor40 #boatprojects #downunderrally
At some point I'll have to go through my photos for better before & after photos, but this one is as close as I've got right now of the cockpit. Hope this faux-teak decking holds up, it's a joy for long hours at the helm and chilling at anchor. #Condor40 #beforeandafter #cockpitchallenge #trimaran
Did a little renaming ceremony down in Southport yesterday night, and this morning did all the careful application of the new name & hailing port decals! Feels good to have the new name on there. And, fun fact, my understanding is that USCG documentation isn't technically complete until the hailing port is visible on the outside of the boat somewhere! So, legally good that it's done too. #Condor40 #trimaran #nametagging
Bit of a motor down the Coomera River, then got the main up for the first test sail! This boat is ridiculous. With just the main up, 2 reefs in, it's doing 7.5kts effortlessly, and up to about 9kts in the gusts. (For reference, it was blowing about 10-15, gusting to 20ish.) Can't wait to get into more open water where I can safely open the throttle up some more. #Condor40 #trimaran #gottagofast
Didn't take too many photos, but after a few late nights wrangling wires large & small, I've got a working windlass! Even the extremely dodgy looking eBay remote control works! #anchormanagement #boatprojects #Condor40 #DoAndroidsSingOutElectricCapstanShanties
take the jib that came with the boat out, inspect it, patch it up, pack it back up, put it on the new furler ... then hoist it and discover it's a staysail. Welp, new jib time I guess. #thecutofyourjib #sailsmanager #Condor40 #trimaran #boatprojects
Great news! A good grade in rig condition is normal to want and possible to achieve! The folks at JCMS Rigging came by today and gave the whole rig a look-over. I've got a few "keep an eye on this" notes but overall a clean bill of health for the rig. They were super helpful and informative about how it's set up, what to look for, and things that may eventually need replacing. #rigamarole #Condor40 #trimaran #boatprojects