Storms and Repairs

We have just moved to Svenson's Beach on GKI after sanding and filling the front beam and mast rotator.

Moved to Long Beach for the coming Northerly.

Just moved to Long Beach to shelter from the coming Northerly.

We are not alone with many boats out here social distancing in style.

The only problem is with these idiots who want to go flat-out beside the boats.

Queensland law suggests that PWC should not exceed 6kts within 60 metres of anchored or moored vessels.  This clown was less than 10 metres on one of his passes by us.

New Solar Panels Installed

Recently we bought two 405W Sunpower solar panels on our new Bimini.

Today we hooked them up to the batteries with incredible results.
The 3 x 325W array on the back of the boat was struggling with the introduction of a 60-litre freezer and icemaker, particularly on a cloudy day, but these extra panels face forward and are free of shading from the Bimini, so they have made an enormous difference with full charge now being achieved even on cloudy days.

Very interesting how they negotiate the charging duties throughout the day.

Leeke's Homestead and Beaching the Boat for Repairs

Still anchored off Fishermans Beach on Great Keppel Island.

For the last few days, we have been doing repairs, installing extra solar panels and doing some walks around the island.

Easter Sunday

This morning we went for one of our extended walks around GKI.

Also last time we returned to the mainland we changed over our tender dinghy so gone is "Ducky McDuck" with the 2.3hp moor and hello to our ex-surf lifesaving boat "Biffy".

Biffy is a bit longer, much more stable and has a beast of an 18hp 2 stroke motor that gets her where she is going quickly.

Back to port to resupply

On  Sunday we returned to port to resupply with food, water and repair items.  We also were able to have the rest of our cockpit shades measured up and our window shades fitted.

Many thanks to Aaron from Keppel Coast Marine Upholstery for his great service and workmanship.

I also had the opportunity to fit 2 x 405W SunPower P19 commercial panels on the new bimini which gives us an all-up charging power of 1800W or 1.8kW.

We have come back out to our island home today and are now anchored off Fisherman's Beach on Great Keppel Island.
Back to paradise and with a much cooler boat thanks to the shade on the windows.

We also brought aboard our new icemaker which is awesome for drinks and esky ice.