A Beneteau Oceanis 46 cruising yacht based in Hobart, Tasmania
S.V. Ariel has had a Facebook presence at https://www.facebook.com/Sailing.with.Ariel/ since 2014 but older posts have become harder to access and the very oldest may have disappeared completely. We will continue Ariel’s story here and hopefully can migrate some of the older FB posts to here as well.
“Under Construction”, as they say!
We slipped Ariel at the club’s yard on this calm and misty Hobart morning for its routine hull clean: a pressure-wash and fresh antifoul below the waterline and a wax above. The sacrificial anode that protects our propellor and shaft from electrolytic corrosion, and another that protects the keel will be replaced. The propeller will receive a fresh coating of a specialist silicone paint that stops marine growth attaching.
Its two years since the previous slipping and we decided the hull looked pretty good except in places where it looked bad. Well, that’s the Irish version.
On our last trip down the Channel, we had noticed some minor vibration when motoring and the captain had fretted that it might be caused by a worn cutlass bearing. This is a grooved, seawater lubricated, hard rubber bush supporting the propellor shaft where it exits the hull. A quick lateral back-and-forth push and pull on the propeller revealed the cutlass bearing was fine. Unbalancing, caused by a patch of small barnacles on the blades, was most likely the source of the vibration.
We have left Ariel and the work program in the capable hands of Mark and offsider Lockie, from Bilge Rats Marine, and, weather willing, will be back in the water next Friday
This Queen’s Birthday long weekend (not that public holidays mean much to us now, since every day is one for retirees) we did our first cruise with the Cruising Yacht Club of Tasmania. It was their regular June long weekend cruise to Kermandie/Franklin on the Huon River.
It was spread over two events, the first a BBQ on Saturday night in Dean Mark’s boatshed at Kermandie and the second on Sunday evening was a three-course meal in the Living Boat Trust’s shed at Franklin and catered for by Trust volunteers.
We have been members of the CYCT for over two years but, with the club being Hobart-centric and us living in NW Tasmania, this is the first time a club cruise has fitted into our always busy schedule when visiting Hobart.
We enjoyed the trip up the Huon River to Franklin and, like a lot of new destinations, we wondered why we had waited so long.
We’ve had some crisp weather in Hobart over recent days, with snow down on the flanks of Mount Wellington, but the light at sunset last night is the pay-off we get from time to time. On a calm evening, it lit up boats in the marina against a startling backdrop of the blackest of clouds to the south-east. No need to photoshop this one!
