27TH AUGUST TO 5 SEPTEMBER 2012
After we arrived
at Abel Point marina , Airlie Beach , we cleaned the boat and Capt Barry spent
the next day organising a service on LAST WORD'S engines whilst we returned to
Sydney for a family visit and small break.
Capt Barry
organised a quote for a service through Hastings Deering , the Cat agents in
Qld.
The work
specifically requested involved MORE oil samples, oil changes for both
engines, valve lash inspection and adjustment , if required, changing the
crank case vent filters ( CCVFs to those like me that needed to work it out),
inspecting (and more likely changing) the two raw water pump impellers and the
several anodes , checking the fan belts and a general look around and
report.
After giving LAST
WORD a wash so she would present well whilst we were away , Capt Barry
visited the marina office to hand over the keys and authorise the service
fellow to access the keys and specifically organise to have the boat and
power checked, daily, whilst we were in Sydney.
The rear admiral ,
Julie , and Capt Barry then hoped on the ferry (from the finger wharf behind
where LAST WORD was moored ) and set off for Hamilton Island for our
connecting flight.
The ferry drops
airport passengers at the airport marina, which is 70m walk from the
airport checkin, and takes about 50 mins to 75 mins to make the ferry
trip, depending upon whether there is a stop over at Daydream Island on route.
Back in Sydney,
Julie ( who is only a rear admiral when doing something connected with LAST
WORD ) worked like a ........worker bee, ( sorry for the stutter
there , but I had to think of some now more socially acceptable
description ). In fact Julie went direct from the airport, on arrival in
Sydney, to her place of work at BEAD THEM UP, and did not return home until
about 8.00pm ( after Capt Barry and Graeme (Capt Barry's brother , who flew in
from Surfers Paradise at the same time ) had cleaned the house and organised
dinner.
That is right
folks, after being away for 6 weeks , we organised a family night BBQ for about
8 people.....so all was back to normal.
The week at home
allowed Capt Barry to procure some spare parts and hard to find bits and
pieces, catch up with family and friends, go through the mail, pay some bills ,
top up the house account ( for Shelly to administer ), reassure the cat we were
still alive , try out Capt Barry's 4 month old rotator
cuff/shoulder repair with a round of golf with a dear friend, Jim
Gale, and WASTE TIME (EARLY) VOTING IN TWO COUNCIL ELECTIONS.
Meanwhile Julie
worked....worked.....and worked....and worked some more , and was even
late for her own birthday and fathers day dinner at mum and dads place. Ohhh well....you know what
they say....happy wife....happy life.
We said our good
byes.... again, and flew back to Hamilton Island on the 5th Sept and ferried
across to Airlie Beach, and rear admiral Julie let out a big sigh of
relief when we boarded the ferry, at leaving behind 12 hour days, and was
looking forward to just 5 hour days of beading by phone and internet and
cataloging product for the website.
On arrival at
Airlie Beach , Capt Barry telephoned Hastings Deering (HD) and discovered that
there were some issues with the service ( which had been carried out the day
earlier), and organised further rectification work ( under warranty ) to be
carried out the next day.
 |
| welcomed back by a sting ray in the berth next to LAST WORD |
HD said that the
dip sticks were incorrectly calibrated as there was only about 23 L of
oil in each engine , including the oil filters and residue in the sump and
lines, ( and there should be 31L , according to them ), the air filters needed
oiling, one of the valves was open way to far (2.5mm instead of 30 thou - and
they were amazed that the push rod had not fallen off) and a water pump
locating bolt was missing.
 |
| the old unoiled or insufficiently oiled air filter in the box , the new pre-oiled filter to show as a comparison. You can see where the service fellow oiled two ribs of the old air filter ie where it is pink. |
According to them
, LAST WORD has just done 280 engine hours approx. 7 to 8 L short on the
starboard engine oil. Luckily,I had organised three oil changes in the first
130 hours, including the first one at 20 hours, so this should help with the
viscosity issue of the oil .
The HD service
fellow turned up the next day and did all the warranty work required,and
removed the oil ( only changed 2 days previously ), added new oil as per their
recommendation ie 31 L, and re-calibrated the dip sticks to
31 L during this process.
I queried ,
the dip sticks re-calibration when it was being done ,
(and several times by telephone and email since ) ie what was the correct
amount of oil , pointing out that the Cat service and maintenance book said
28 L on page 55, and describes the calibration procedure on page 80
saying 24.6 L is full (which is about what Cat in China did when they installed
and commissioned the engines - which included marking the dip sticks) ,
and that HD are saying and re-calibrating to 31 L.
I still have not
received any answers to my queries from HD (in two weeks ) , but note
that WesTrac ( Cat's NSW agent ) has responded in a timely fashion and said
that according to CAT ( media number SEBU7599) the correct quantity of
oil is 28.4 L and includes the sump and oil filter.
If WesTrac
is correct , LAST WORD , now has its dip sticks incorrectly calibrated
for approx 31L of oil and too much oil in the engine.... which is just as bad
as too little....??????.....
Well moving on ,
the rear admiral discovered that the power had gone off while we were away, and
must have been off for several days , as the quiche , which was sitting on top
of the ice cubes was now at the bottom of a solid 20mm deep block of ice.
 |
| something is not quite right with what i am looking at.....what could it be???? |
We bagged the off
food , and called the marina office with advance warning of the complaint
and left the bagged food for the marina manager to see , but he was
not there that afternoon - which was probably a good thing, so went
shopping that evening , and restocked.
The next morning
Capt Barry ironed and put on his cleanest board shorts and paid a visit to the
marina manager. The marina manager was very professional, lunch was enjoyed,
and an acceptable arrangement agreed.
That afternoon I
had a visit from the Whitsunday Electronics rep. about my less than
satisfactory Raymarine radar performance ( ie it does not display all targets
on the screen - and we play "find the rock at night").
I was given a
clean bill of health on the radar settings ( and my use of the radar) , and he
said he would report to Raymarine , and come back to me re the next step.
The next morning
the Whitsunday electronics fellow paid us a flying visit before we
departed for Hamilton Island and upgraded the software. Alas the software
upgrade did nothing for the radar and the missing targets.
We arrived at
Hamilton Island, on a slightly windy trade wind day ( 10 kt SE ) , and found
our allocated berth GN09, and tucked LAST WORD into her new home for the
next several weeks. The berths are a little tight with no center
pole between boats and only about 4 m of swing room back and front when
pivoting to slip in to the stern first berth, which LAST WORD has to do ,
so we can get on and off the 18m finger.
 |
| looking down on the harbour at Hamilton Island from the hill that goes to the airport. LAST WORD is the first boat you would come to if you drew a line down from the middle of the entrance to the harbour. |
After arrival, we
did a G arm walk ( to renew some new acquaintances) then
settled into a glass of wine, or two, as the sun set, and sent massages to
confirm who is coming north to join LAST WORD, so we could
reschedule visits and LAST WORD'S passage, further north, to
Hinchinbrook Island.
 |
| pic from the bow of LAST WORD looking towards Hamilton Island harbour entrance with Dent Island in the background. A good spot for a glass of wine. |
Trip 20 NM ,
2.6 hours ( including playing with radar ) , total fuel 80 L ( av 9 kts and
30.7 L per hour total fuel burn ).
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