Ooooh ...that looks nasty

Hey Stuman. What kind of material did you use for this bad boy companion way hatch??? Planning on the same sort of thing for my TS and getting handy with the sewing machine now.

Hi HAIL

I used Marine Vinyl, got it from an upholstery shop but im sure Clark rubber or eBay will have what you need.
the press studs and zips were hard to find though. I did get some clear plastic i was going to sew in as a window but i decided against it as iit was going to probably over complicate things and if i want some extra light in the cabin ill just open the cover or turn the lights on :)

tips for sewing
* Use a Leather needle
* Use good Quality synthetic thread
* Go Slow
* Pin everything in place

Also HAIL what kind of sewing machine are you using?

Already made new cushions with some pretty nice waterproof material and the machine ate it up easily. Just got a $100 Aldi special machine but seems to be doing the trick so far. Where would be the best place to get push buttons and large plastic zippers???

BCF Sells the Press studs but there not cheap

unfortunately Ebay is the best place to get them, just make sure you get the correct tool for installing them.

as for the Zip's a lot of haberdashery places sell Exterior UV resistant zips. i think all up my cover cost about $100

I found a nice old 1950's Singer, gave it a good service and now it sews perfectly.

Well after a late start I've got 95% of the carpet in and all 4 mattresses in. Hopefully get the final flooring in tonight as Well.

And that's the floor in!!

Got a bit done today starting to just tidy a few things up now

Unfortunately im off to Rottenest tomorrow for work. a whole 11 days staying on the island

been packing, Mountain bike check, snorkel check, fishing road check.

ohhh well someone's got to do it... :) (makes up for all the years working in the bush)

Work on Rottnest is awesome.

Got a few Photos of smiling Quokkas

would be nice if i had the Boat here, could go do some free diving further off the beach.

Well Back from Rotto For the weekend

Hard life having to live and work on an island. Especially when you don't have any free time :(

Ohh well only one more week of work out there, Hopeing to work through a few items on the punch list this weekend.

Main 2 items will be finish the Companionway cover and locks, and fit the Radio Aerial
Maybe start looking at mounting the batteries.

Looking to start with 2x 39 Ah SLA Batteries ( My Fridge cooler draws about 3.6 amp so that alone could run for almost 22 hours ) Plus a Solar panel or two
May Even Hide a small 9Ah SLA for use as a backup bilge or Radio power source with its own tiny solar charger

Ill get around to sitting down and working out what i want to be able to run off the system so i can work out the required Battery bank and Solar Input.

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Stuman92 said..


Looking to start with 2x 39 Ah SLA Batteries ( My Fridge cooler draws about 3.6 amp so that alone could run for almost 22 hours )

I wouldn't recommend draining your batteries below 50% Stu, so that's more like 10hrs and even less in hot weather. If you're planning to use your fridge regularly and for days at the time rather then a few hours in the weekends you're likely to need something like 2x130Ah to allow for partial cloudy and hot days. How many panels do you intend to have ?

I used 2x 135Ah batteries charged by and 2x 64W Unisol panels to run a 90Lt Engel drawing about 3.5-4Ah, couple of lights, radio and GPS and realistically I could have done with another 2-3 panels but had no room for them so I bought a small Honda genset instead. Every couple of days even with blue skies and full sun on panels I'd have to start up the genset to charge the batteries and I ended up getting a 30A charger to speed up the process.

Have to remember this is a Red Witch Harb. The battery sizes will have to fit in side somewhere and the panels will have to be smaller than the sail area!

Yeah space will definitely be an issue.
I do plan on using a variable voltage shut off switch so I can set it to cut everything once the voltage drops below say 11volts.

I will try and fit as many amps as possible the 38ah sla are good size that can fit in tight places.

Panel wide not sure but probably one main panel say about 200w that is removable. Then a couple of small panels that keeps the batteries Maintained whilst parked up.

Fair enough setting the cutoff at 11v or even 10.5v but that won't give you any extra capacity. Just means your batteries are safe and your fridge will stop working much sooner. With large panels you stand a better chance of getting them partially shaded by the sails and not getting any output at all so maybe consider a few smaller ones instead. Then again as Ramona said, the space to put up the panels is an issue.
Glue some closed cell foam sheet on the back of flexible panels, tie as many as you want together and have them floating behind you ?

If you're only doing small trips of 2-3 days maybe you'd be better off with a tropical esky instead of a fridge. Once full of ice it will last you for days and double as a table, seat or flotation device and then only need a battery and a panel to run the lights, radio and nav gear.

Got the Tiller Arm Mounted up yesterday, must say pretty happy with it.

Don't look at how dirty the foot well is :)

I will be swapping it from a single Pin to individual Bolts on the swivel brackets so i can adjust the "friction"

Bilge Pipework in just needs fixing up against the cabin wall


Companionway Hatch now fitted with Lockable latches, the whole cabin can now be locked and secured.


The Original Bow Rail was..... DISGUSTING!!!!!!
So i started on making my own from scratch

Was a bit high so dropped it by about 100mm

Now at the perfect height


Starting to take shape now

All lines up nicely, now that im happy with size and placement ill be shaping and rounding the timber to match the tiller arm style.

Hit the Bow Rail With the sander yesterday, trying to match the same shape as the Bow of the boat


Blends in a lot nicer now

Got These From Jaycar today, they fit good, hopefully they sound good to.


Well Finished the Bow Rail Tonight, Oiled up well


pretty Pleased with how it all went. Feels solid as a rock too.

Looking good.

At least one of us is making some progress.

Yeah its slow going with the rain currently

Made a bit of progress today, cupboard doors cut and tested.
Started soldering the LED strip.

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Stuman92 said..

Well Finished the Bow Rail Tonight, Oiled up well


pretty Pleased with how it all went. Feels solid as a rock too.

Better than new

Looking fantastic there Stuman, I really enjoy reading your updates. Keep them coming

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nebbian said..

Stuman92 said..

Well Finished the Bow Rail Tonight, Oiled up well


pretty Pleased with how it all went. Feels solid as a rock too.

Better than new

Looking fantastic there Stuman, I really enjoy reading your updates. Keep them coming

Cheers Nebbian
The original Bow rail was poorly made from new
the bends were kinked and it lacked rigidity and personally looked too high

Cupboard doors and speakers fitted.
Not bad for a rain day.

Hey guys

Any Advice on how to get 12v Power to the top of the mast where the Anchorage Light is?

Run a cable in side the mast or outside?

I'd go inside the mast if I was to fit one but personally wouldn't bother with a light on the mast as its not required for under 7 mtrs. Not only unnecessary extra weight added to the mast and more things to go wrong/look after/trip over as you lower and raise your mast but also unlikely to use it very often on a trailer sailer.
Even if you plan to go night cruising a 1mtr plug-in white light near the transom should do the trick and is easily removed out of your way most of the other times when you have no use for it. I'd leave it out for a year or so and just use a lantern or plug-in for now until you see if you really need it , you can always add a light later on.

Cheers Harb some Good Points.
Ill have a look and if i can do it easily i might run something up but if it looks like too much hassle ill go with the Pole approach.



Well Made some Electrical Progress Finally :) Im Probably way too excited to finally be on to the electrics but its my favourite part and it means im almost done!!!!


It was Pitch Black outside and it was actually about 15% brighter in the cabin that this photo shows!!!
Super Happy!! Will need to use some extra glue to fix the Lighting on though.

Well Had my Blonde Moment Today

Setup my AIS Receiver and got it all working with the RPi

Then went, no theirs something wrong its not detecting anything......

being 35km from the cost generally does that hahaha oh well gotta laugh

Finished the RPi nav system today.




Just needs to be mounted and load up a few more charts.