So while I was having a great time yesterday tacking South and thinking how well the yacht was going and how wonderful life and the Whitsundays is a flexible bladder water tank that I had installed was quietly rupturing under a cabin setee and flooding that compartment, the setee cushion above and hull carpet above plus an adjacent compartment as well as a battery compartment.

Thankfully the battery compartment contains a battery which I don't keep connected but use as a spare (and not the lithium) but the water was up to the terminals.

More interestingly the adjacent compartment which contains a water pump and unsealed and uninsulated connections to the pump was more than six inches underwater.

I firstly looked in the compartment where the bladder was and started sponging that out and then decided to run the pump by turning on the tap to the sink in order to fully drain the bladder which was still well over half full and hence very heavy and impossible to remove.

At that stage I had not opened the adjacent compartment that contained the pump and so didn't know that it was full of water up to about 11 inches deep. The pump did sound a little strange but worked just fine and emptied the tank into the sink.

After getting that compartment nice and dry and disposing of the bladder into an outside locker I then looked into the adjacent compartment to see it too was totally full of water. The picture of that compartment is below. The little connector can be seen in the middle of the picture and despite this connector being under at least six inches of water and the positive and negative joins fully contacting the water only about five millimeters apart (most of) the current chose to go down the wire to the motor rather than short across 5mm of water. The pump is fused and the fuse did not blow. Who would have thunk it?

Thankfully today was a very warm day with very little wind so perfect opportunity to dry everything out. No harm done although I'm glad it was fresh water not salt and that the underwater battery was not the lithium.

Good luck story Jules that it wasn't salt water! Pure water is actually a good insulator, its the ions that get in it that conduct. In electronics manufacturing its very commonly used in cleaning. Good sailing photos, post a Vid

You need to check out Trump's speech about the sinking boat and the shark and the battery. It's on Youtube.

Select to expand quote

Ramona said..
You need to check out Trump's speech about the sinking boat and the shark and the battery. It's on Youtube.

Ha ha just listened to it. Petrified of sharks myself.

Select to expand quote

Ramona said..
You need to check out Trump's speech about the sinking boat and the shark and the battery. It's on Youtube.

Ha ha just listened to it. Petrified of sharks myself.

Select to expand quote

Trek said..
Good luck story Jules that it wasn't salt water! Pure water is actually a good insulator, its the ions that get in it that conduct. In electronics manufacturing its very commonly used in cleaning. Good sailing photos, post a Vid

Unfortunately this site doesn't host videos.

Post it to YouTube (free) if you feel like it and post the link.

Select to expand quote

More interestingly the adjacent compartment which contains a water pump and unsealed and uninsulated connections to the pump was more than six inches underwater.

It may be worth replacing the cables whose ends were exposed if they lead outside that compartment. They have a tendency to suck water up by osmosis and corrode over time, though obviously not as bad with fresh water. Ask me how I know...

Select to expand quote

JonE said..

More interestingly the adjacent compartment which contains a water pump and unsealed and uninsulated connections to the pump was more than six inches underwater.

It may be worth replacing the cables whose ends were exposed if they lead outside that compartment. They have a tendency to suck water up by osmosis and corrode over time, though obviously not as bad with fresh water. Ask me how I know...

In a submarine fibre cable, this is the biggest elephant in the room. Water will eat glass at an amazing rate, If we get even the smallest nick and the glass core is exposed to water, by the time we get a cable ship out there (few weeks) you have to cut out a good few hundred metres of cable to get ahead of the capillary action . Water is just munching its way up the glass cores.

I feel your pain Jules,

After the end of my trip to Exmouth in the Magnum, all was good. I prepped the car and lashed everything on the boat for the trip south. The boat was in good order and I had a comfy bed to sleep in on the way home. I drove a thousand km's and stopped in the dark for a sleep at about 9pm.

I descended into the cabin and stepped into an inch of cold water in the boat. WTF? AFter spending a couple hours sponging the boat out I crashed out. The water was brackish in taste, so couldn't figure where it came from. I checked the under bed bladder which still had 40-50 litres of water in it.

On arrival at home, I stripped the boat and cyphoned the water from the bladder, removed it from the boat and filled it on the dry driveway. Withing a minute, there was a spreading wet patch on the pavers. Sure enough, a pinhole in the underside of the bladder. Old age, hardening plastic and a now permanent crease had exposed a pressure point which had abraded a hole from the vibration and movement of the bladder on the way home.

Like you said, luckily, it was fresh water. The brackish taste I believe came from the salt embedded in the carpet which had been down for a couple of years.

The upshot is I now have squeaky clean bilges, washed carpet and compartments, oh, and a new bladder and filler hose.

Glad you got out of it reasonably scott free too

DM

Bummer.
We live and learn.
Irritating thing with mine was was that it was a new bladder which in fact is a bladder inside a plastic protective sheath. I wasn't going to refill and test it whilst away so it waits in an outside locker till I get home to see exactly where it leaked.

Meanwhile the first 660km leg of the trip home today. Involved the car turbo hose blowing off twice and another small pressurized intake lead blowing off once (the boost is up 1.5lbs over std). Far more disturbingly a trailer tire totally shredded itself so that the only thing left was a couple of thin rings of rubber and steel belt with the rim a bit messed up where it had been contacting the road despite the other wheel of the dual axle behind it still being okay.
The concerning thing was that I did not notice it and only stopped because the little pressurised line blew and presented an error code with loss of power. I may have been driving like that for 200 kilometers on really potholed bumpy FNQ roads. In hindsight I did notice that the trailer was pitching a little more than normal but nothing too severe. Guess I know what to look for now. A tyre place told me the tyres are 12 plus years old although they don't look perished and certainly aren't worn.
In hindsight there was a warning when an nipple blew on the launch ramp on a previous trip three months ago apparently because it had perished and just let go of the valve.

That's the problem with boat trailer tires. They will almost always die from age rather than wear. Luckily the other tires held together until I could get to Rockhampton where MyCar fixed me up with the new spare.

Select to expand quote

JonE said..

More interestingly the adjacent compartment which contains a water pump and unsealed and uninsulated connections to the pump was more than six inches underwater.

It may be worth replacing the cables whose ends were exposed if they lead outside that compartment. They have a tendency to suck water up by osmosis and corrode over time, though obviously not as bad with fresh water. Ask me how I know...

Thanks for the heads up on that guys I will replace fully when I get home.

Select to expand quote

julesmoto said..
Bummer.
We live and learn.
Irritating thing with mine was was that it was a new bladder which in fact is a bladder inside a plastic protective sheath. I wasn't going to refill and test it whilst away so it waits in an outside locker till I get home to see exactly where it leaked.

Meanwhile the first 660km leg of the trip home today. Involved the car turbo hose blowing off twice and another small pressurized intake lead blowing off once (the boost is up 1.5lbs over std). Far more disturbingly a trailer tire totally shredded itself so that the only thing left was a couple of thin rings of rubber and steel belt with the rim a bit messed up where it had been contacting the road despite the other wheel of the dual axle behind it still being okay.
The concerning thing was that I did not notice it and only stopped because the little pressurised line blew and presented an error code with loss of power. I may have been driving like that for 200 kilometers on really potholed bumpy FNQ roads. In hindsight I did notice that the trailer was pitching a little more than normal but nothing too severe. Guess I know what to look for now. A tyre place told me the tyres are 12 plus years old although they don't look perished and certainly aren't worn.
In hindsight there was a warning when an nipple blew on the launch ramp on a previous trip three months ago apparently because it had perished and just let go of the valve.

That's the problem with boat trailer tires. They will almost always die from age rather than wear. Luckily the other tires held together until I could get to Rockhampton where MyCar fixed me up with the new spare.

Lucky the rim survived ,and proper aluminium mudguards protected the hull ?
? Reversing/Dashcam, as obviously out of sight - you are a long way from nowhere out there,if you have a breakdown .
Went through there in the 70s,with a Hobie,in the dark, following semis as they rolled the roos away. Had to pull up as could not keep up with them. Was vacant then,and surely unoccupied now,but more traffic ?
Mason

Yes thanks sturdy galvanised guards protect the boat although the wire to the side lights above was slashed.

I went up there in the 70s as well but the isolated stretches are nowhere near as long now. It was weird walking past the resort ruins on south molle as I went there when it was pumping as a uni student in 1975. Topless yacht races and all! Apparently it was operational until Debbie wrecked it in 2017 but to look at it you would think it had been abandoned for 25 years not just 7. Rocky night in Bauer bay there with bullets of wind coming down over the hills.

Yes + took a sightseeing flight out over the islands in wee pushprop flying boat,to see where to go . ? still operating in some guise ?
No Hamilton Island Resort,and pulled the Hobie upon beach to sleep on,then 200m to the water,so waited for the tide to come in .
Landed on South Molle,disturbing couples magic moments,then capsized - pole roll reaching back to Airlie = soaked,but survived !
Sold Hobie at Noosa,so no tow home in Renault 16TS - Ramona - which had been great to sleep in. ( still have a French Van )
Mason

Bad news on the tyres Jules.

That doesn't look like the Whitsundays we saw - it blew for 6 days and when we headed in to see friends we packed up and headed south to Keppel. We got some nice weather there which would have been good in the Whitsundays.

When I got my trailer looked over before the trip, the trailer guys said my tyres were no good. They looked really good to me but I replaced them. After your story I am glad I did. We had absolutely no issues on the whole road trip. The Colorado drank about 13litres per 100km which wasn't too bad at all and we found the Bruce Hwy to be okay but the single axle trailer was fine.

We may do the whole thing again next year - it depends on jobs. If I get a full time job for the year then we may try to get further than Cid harbour and in inside of the islands - but it sure was nice to go and visit the islands again.

We did about 6 days at Whitsundays and about 5 at Keppel. We were going to sail off Fraser but it came in souwest so we dropped the boat off and went over in the car for 2 nights and 3 days. So we ended up doing a bit of a greatest hits tour of the Whitsundays, Keppel and Fraser. Back home tonight and pack up everything in the morning.

cheers

Phil

To drift the tread a bit further. We fly out for Airlie on Tuesday, no Bruce hwy this year. Air fares, parking & shuttles is the same or less than driving. Chartering 2 vessels, 8 days a piece. Bring on Tuesday.

Select to expand quote

julesmoto said..

Meanwhile the first 660km leg of the trip home today. Involved the car turbo hose blowing off twice and another small pressurized intake lead blowing off once (the boost is up 1.5lbs over std). Far more disturbingly a trailer tire totally shredded itself so that the only thing left was a couple of thin rings of rubber and steel belt with the rim a bit messed up where it had been contacting the road despite the other wheel of the dual axle behind it still being okay.
The concerning thing was that I did not notice it and only stopped because the little pressurised line blew and presented an error code with loss of power. I may have been driving like that for 200 kilometers on really potholed bumpy FNQ roads. In hindsight I did notice that the trailer was pitching a little more than normal but nothing too severe. Guess I know what to look for now. A tyre place told me the tyres are 12 plus years old although they don't look perished and certainly aren't worn.
In hindsight there was a warning when an nipple blew on the launch ramp on a previous trip three months ago apparently because it had perished and just let go of the valve.

That's the problem with boat trailer tires. They will almost always die from age rather than wear. Luckily the other tires held together until I could get to Rockhampton where MyCar fixed me up with the new spare.

We seemed to have eerily similar issues. Mine was a bearing that decided to kark it within first 450km. I was monitoring bearing temps and felt the RR was getting hot. Swapped it out in Geraldton before the more isolated and remote stretch.
the bearing inner had cracked the land of the inner race. It wouldn't have lasted and I reckon I was lucky to get as far as I did.
my previous trip I blew a tyre which took out the guard as well.





This was in the middle of nowhere. I removed the wheel, pumped the other tyre up and drove at 70kph for three hours checking tyre temp every 30 mins, to make it to Carnarvon for a new tyre.

Bloody trailer boats ??
DM

Select to expand quote

ActionSportsWA said..

We seemed to have eerily similar issues




This was in the middle of nowhere. I removed the wheel, pumped the other tyre up and drove at 70kph for three hours checking tyre temp every 30 mins, to make it to Carnarvon for a new tyre.

Bloody trailer boats ??
DM

Bummer,
Yeah it's kind of annoying as it detracts from the main focus- SAILING and means that in addition to all the sailing gear you have to take you should also have a comprehensive car and trailer repair inventory and tools.
I notice Noelex 30s use triple axle trailers. Do you think a Magnum is maybe a bit too close to the load ratings for regular dual axle trailer set ups?
Still the freedom to go to places far away when you still have a job or kids at school is great.

For popular places like the Whitsundays tho I now think the charter boat idea may be better given the price of fuel at 17.5 l per 100 km plus other wear and tear and aggravations. Mind you I wouldn't like big brother coming through on my radio and saying sorry it's too windy for you to sail today and tracking my every move.

Hey Jules,

Yep, the trailer hassles do detract from the enjoyment. I had scatter brain before leaving and neglected to bring my tool kit. When in Geraldton, I bought a Repco tool kit which was on special in case I had further problems.

The previous trip was with a Noelex 25 which had a tyre with a slow leak and I just forgot to pump it up before leaving Exmouth, it had lost a fair amount of pressure and the side walls over heated leading to the blow out.

I think the load on the trailer is fine except for doing tight U-turns where the rear and front tyres are trying to pull sideways in opposite directions. The side load when on bitumen is intense and I'm guessing that's why the bearings are failing. I've consciously avoided tight turns with the trailer and have opted to make wider turns or go around the block rather than side load the trailer wheels.

We don't have the option in the west to hire a yacht almost anywhere but in Perth. I'd prefer my own boat in any case coz I know every inch on it and what it can and cannot do. As trailer sailer owners, we have no pen fees, less wear and tear from not being in the water 24/7 and no haul out/cleaning fees, but we must endure trailer upkeep. The Break Out Another Thousand applies to boats of all shapes and sizes

My repair bill was just $225 for the bearing replacement but the upshot is I have a brand new toolkit for going away now.

I'm looking forward to going sailing again.

Select to expand quote

ActionSportsWA said..
Hey Jules,

Yep, the trailer hassles do detract from the enjoyment. I had scatter brain before leaving and neglected to bring my tool kit. When in Geraldton, I bought a Repco tool kit which was on special in case I had further problems.

The previous trip was with a Noelex 25 which had a tyre with a slow leak and I just forgot to pump it up before leaving Exmouth, it had lost a fair amount of pressure and the side walls over heated leading to the blow out.

I think the load on the trailer is fine except for doing tight U-turns where the rear and front tyres are trying to pull sideways in opposite directions. The side load when on bitumen is intense and I'm guessing that's why the bearings are failing. I've consciously avoided tight turns with the trailer and have opted to make wider turns or go around the block rather than side load the trailer wheels.

We don't have the option in the west to hire a yacht almost anywhere but in Perth. I'd prefer my own boat in any case coz I know every inch on it and what it can and cannot do. As trailer sailer owners, we have no pen fees, less wear and tear from not being in the water 24/7 and no haul out/cleaning fees, but we must endure trailer upkeep. The Break Out Another Thousand applies to boats of all shapes and sizes

My repair bill was just $225 for the bearing replacement but the upshot is I have a brand new toolkit for going away now.

I'm looking forward to going sailing again.

Yes we all suffer brain fade from time to time especially when there are too many things to remember and we are anxious to get going.

Good point about the tight u turns as you can see the stress on the tyres but sometimes they are unavoidable like in service stations and the like. Imagine the triple axle set ups used for heavier boats!

Yes I'm sure it's a whole different ball game you face over on the West coast as although there is considerable isolation in far North Queensland there is also good infrastructure at the tourist spots.

At a coffee stop just over an hour and a half from home now and suffered a new trailer experience with really severe wind gusts the first of which totally took me by surprise.

Cheers
Julian

Select to expand quote

julesmoto said..

ActionSportsWA said..

We seemed to have eerily similar issues




This was in the middle of nowhere. I removed the wheel, pumped the other tyre up and drove at 70kph for three hours checking tyre temp every 30 mins, to make it to Carnarvon for a new tyre.

Bloody trailer boats ??
DM

Bummer,
Yeah it's kind of annoying as it detracts from the main focus- SAILING and means that in addition to all the sailing gear you have to take you should also have a comprehensive car and trailer repair inventory and tools.
I notice Noelex 30s use triple axle trailers. Do you think a Magnum is maybe a bit too close to the load ratings for regular dual axle trailer set ups?
Still the freedom to go to places far away when you still have a job or kids at school is great.

For popular places like the Whitsundays tho I now think the charter boat idea may be better given the price of fuel at 17.5 l per 100 km plus other wear and tear and aggravations. Mind you I wouldn't like big brother coming through on my radio and saying sorry it's too windy for you to sail today and tracking my every move.

It depends of how long you want to be out in The Whitsundays. If all you have is a week or two holidays I agree that chartering is probably more cost effective than trailering your yacht all the way up there. I have chartered 4 times and trailed up there on 5 occasions once from WA, three times from southern NSW, once from Brisbane having purchased there and recently from southern South Australia. The latest cruise we were out in the islands for 9 weeks! I calculated the cheapest possible charter option as about $15,000 more expensive than trying to account for every possible attributable extra expense in towing up trailer sailer up there! Also we got to places out of charters allowable range, sailed when the entire charter fleet was banned from even moving and ignored the incessant check ins except occasionally turning it up to catch the weather and what I call comedy hour!:)
For those with cruising oriented trailer sailers check out the Facebook page Trailer Sailer Cruising Australia.:)


On our way north camped beside the road. We used to sleep in the yacht doing this but now have our land yacht as well!

Hill Inlet Dried Out. No charter boats here!

Hardy lagoon Outer Barrier Reef No charter boats out here either!

Burning Point Shaw Island Hiding dried out for several days of 30 knot winds and reflected swell.
PS Have previously had issues with bilge water submerging electrical connections but have moved away from flexible water tanks for this reason.

Definitely the way to do it . The effort of the travel is only repaid ,when you have the time to settle,and wait for the weather .