Thanks for the feedback. I enjoy the challenge of editing a good video so its good to know its appreciated. Cheers Mark

Always happy to share the experience, love my sailing. With a name like Scorpion 7 sounds like your new boat will be a fast one. Hope you get out on the water soon to enjoy. Cheers Mark

Hi Tony, would have been better if I had a bit more time but I wasn't sure about leaving the car at the boat ramp for more than 5 days. General rule with boat ramps is mid morning is the quietest. When I arrived at 8am there were boats launching 4 abreast and others waiting to launch. by 10am I was the only launcher and once in the water another boat arrived to retrieve. It seems to work at most ramps. Western Port is a great place to sail especially if you have the time to work the tides. I really enjoy finding places to dry the boat out, something only TS's can do when it comes to yachts. I hadn't had a chance to try my drying out legs so it was a bonus to be able to do that as well and very happy with the way they worked. The tides were wrong for me to investigate Red Bill Creek some more. A TS would settle onto a soft bottom at low tide and it would provide shelter from all weather. The tide was already too low for me to get far enough upstream to get past the mangroves which I have been told you can do when the water is high enough. Will definitely explore that one again in the future. The other bonus of Westernport is an easy access to a 20 mile ocean sail around Phillip island which I will also do some time in the future. Cheers Mark

Hi Aaron, Its been a while between videos, haven't had enough time for travelling to new locations so a lot of my sailing has been to places I have already made videos for. Working on another video about additions to the boat getting it ready for the Kimberleys trip this year covid willing. Cheers Mark

@@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES The unprecedented events of last year may have afforded more time for projects and planning, I look forward to watching the upcoming video. I'm sure sailing the Kimberley's will be worth the worth the wait. ps like the channel name change too. Regards Aaron

Thanks Bret, always adding to and improving Neringa. Hopefully she will be a great home away from home if we get to go to the Kimberley for 3 months starting July.

Hi Mark, I thought I would dress up the channel a bit, retiring at the end of the year and should be posting more regularly and doing more trips. Wow, scuba diving in westernport, that rock looks like it would have to be slack water by the turbulence around it. Its funny how the deep water often looks the roughest, same in the Kimberley. Cheers Mark

Always glad to share the experiences so others can get ideas and enjoy sailing. Cheers Mark

@@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES Nearly finished fitting my drum winch.

@@mikehogan9265 Fantastic. I love mine and despite the occasional issue with the anchor coming up the wrong way it makes life so much easier especially when sailing solo.

Glad you enjoyed it. Cheers Mark

I had 5 days on ppb and the plan was to do a circuit. Sadly the weather shortened the circuit to Geelong - Swanbay - Williamstown - Werribee River - Limeburners. Was intending Queenscliff, sorrento, mornington in there as well but you cant beat the weather. Have plenty of footage so might still put a video up. I like to make the videos new things. I sail the bay reasonably regularly but no where new so dont often make videos of those trips. I will see what I can do. Back to work tomorrow so less time again. Will be doing another video on the boat some time soon too. Cheers Mark

Yes the dinghy motor is a 60lb cheapy of ebay. The larger is a Pelican 80lb motor, supposedly an australian company but definitely made in china still. Nicely built unit and alot more robust than the ebay one. It is suspiciously the same as a watersnake brushless 70lb motor and in using the pelican their claims of 80lbs is probably overstated and is likely to be closer to 70lbs. It can push Neringa along at 3 knots in ideal conditions but wont handle stronger headwinds or currents like most electrics on the market. I am concerned that the cabling on the motor is only 11 guage and not really rated to the 60amp 12v draw at full power. The wires get quite warm. At least they are only very short. 90% happy with it but if I had to buy again I would go for the brushless 70lb water snake instead which is around $200 cheaper. Cheers Mark

Not sure what you mean by the bow. The base of the anchor well was very thick with a ply sandwiched in the fiber glass for memory. Other than that the thickness of the fiber glass up front was always very generous and never gave any indications of lack of strength. The only issue was the drain from the anchor well which was a fiber glass tube that cracked occasionally and needed strengthening. Cheers Mark

I’m referring to the area of the bow you placed the water bladder. You also placed some floatation foam on either side of the bladder. On the yacht I looked at there was a hatch under the forward birth which gave access to a craven is space with little in reinforcing. One wouldn’t want to place to much stuff there of course

Should read a cavernous space with no reinforcement.... Have now watched the video three times. How about an expblore up the Bass river next time

@@tonywoollcombe1799 Yes I looked at Bass river on the charts and decided it would have to wait for another trip. It would be a single destination trip as waiting for the tides would take time to do it justice. Back to work at the moment so my trips will now be back to 2 full days and 2 part days sadly. Sounds like the Southern cross had the wall to the bow floatation tank removed, probably to give more storage at the expense of safety and strength. Cheers Mark

Not sure, it certainly is a prominent feature in that part of the bay. If they cant settle it ashore and not one will buy it I suspect it will eventually rust enough to sink! Cheers Mark

It takes around 2 hours either end if I am setting up or packing up in full cruising mode, dinghy on davits, solar panels on bimini etc. 1.5 hours otherwise so its not something you would do for an afternoons sail. I generally go our for a minimum of 3 days at a time. The lightest tow weight would be around 2200kg but with any amount of gear for cruising and water etc it usually comes in around 3000kg. I tow with a 2016 Mazda BT50 which tows it easily and very comfortably and the low range on the 4wd comes in handy on slippery or steep ramps. The RL is one of the equal biggest TS's that can be towed without a permit. A nolex 30 is bigger but requires a permit and oversize signs when towing. I could open a whole can of worms comparing the RL to Magnums or Nolex's. I would say they are all great boats with strengths in different areas. Firstly the RL is the only one with full 1.8m standing headroom inside. The magnum is a bit shorter so for a 6ft bloke requires an uncomfortable stoop. The Nolex 25 is much shorter inside and requires the pop top. So space wise and general roomy lay out the RL is probably in front. Sailing wise the Magnum and the Nolex are faster boats generally so if racing is your thing they are better. Having said that the RL can put on some speed especially when reaching. Looks wise many like the Magnum and Nolex because they have the sleek fast boat look. The RL is a nice looking boat but lacks the classic lines that seem so important to some. Sea kindliness the RL in my view is in front with a more vee shaped hull it tends not to pound in heavy seas as much as the others. As I love my cruising and that is what my boat is for the comfort, room, good all round performance and sea kindliness of the RL is what made the choice for me. Cheers Mark

@@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES thanks for the reply. Just confirming yours is the RL 28? Also, when are you heading to the Kimberleys?

@@zarasadventures7519 Yes, Neringa is an RL28, same length as a Magnum at 8.54m (28ft). I used to sail a 23ft Southern Cross 23 that I took for a shorter trip in the Western Kimberley out of Derby. I know people who have sailed the Kimberley perfectly well in sonata 6 (18ft) Plan is to head up to Derby at the head of King Sound late June to launch from Derby early July. The plan is then to sail to Darwin exploring the coastline arriving mid to late September. I have detailed plans drawn up with all the tidal calculations, tide charts and aboriginal land permits organized. Its a huge logistical exercise and will be carrying nearly 300 litres of fuel on the boat and in the dinghy being towed as most previous places for fuel along the coast will not be available. The tides can be frightening but once used to them they just become part of the daily planning. With only 3 months leave we decided on 2nd half of the dry season as the trade winds are generally lighter in the west and the east end of the trip is into September when the winds at that end get a bit lighter. It was a calculated risk as this wet was predicted to be more cyclonic and wet increasing the floating debris risk and dirty raging falls/rivers early in the season. We didn't get the cyclones predicted but had the best rains in many years so it is probably going to be the best choice. All we need now is for covid not to start up in Victoria in the next 3 months and have the borders closed and permits cancelled as they were last year right at the start of our cancelled trip.

Hi Nick, The electric is a brushless 80lb Pelican trolling motor. Nicely built unit but I am dubious about the claims of 80lbs as most brands only manage 60lbs on a 12v motor. It is definitely better than 60lbs though. It looks suspiciously similar to the 70lb watersnake motor which has all the same features and is $200 cheaper. Pelican claims to be an Australian company but the motors are definitely manufactured in China like the watersnakes. The charger should be a MPPT type, mine is an Epever 20amp MPPT but other brands are fine. MPPT just converts excess voltage to charging current so are more efficient. I have 2x180w panels (true 180w not the false claims you get on ebay, should be 1 square metre each to be 180w) on my bimini for charging 150ah battery for the pelican, and 100ah for the dinghy electric. On the westernport trip I used them both regularly but never got to a fully discharged state on either battery. Both batteries are Lithium Iron Phosphate which run at a slightly higher voltage than lead batteries and keep their voltage until nearly flat. It is important to remember that the electric is a supplemental propulsion source and not a full replacement for an fuel motor. In ideal conditions it pushes my RL28 at 3 knots and in average conditions around 2.8knot at full power. It can cope with light headwinds and currents but will soon be overcome by them as they strengthen. I use it in no winds to keep moving or in light winds where I want to supplement slow sailing speeds and improve pointing. I originally installed the system to extend fuel supplies on a 1400 nautical mile trip through the Kimberleys later this year where there will be many light wind days with passages made with the huge tides. Having said that I love the system and use it most of the time out on the water now when conditions allow. I have mentioned the system in other videos but would be difficult to make one long enough for youtube on its own. The above pretty much sums it up. Hope that helps. Cheers Mark

@@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES cheers Mark, good tip about the Pelican.. I’m surprised it’s 12 v. They advertise higher voltages which may be more efficient/powerful. Some have an alloy prop I think which has to be better. I’ll check out more of your channel. Nick P

@@triplesweeney Space is at a premium on my boat so 12v was the way to go for me to only need the 1 battery. 24v has some efficiency gains and certainly allows for higher thrust motors which for an RL34 may be desirable. Even though more efficient it doesn't make a lot of difference to the watts per pound of thrust. Running at higher voltage means less amps and this avoids the problem of wire resistance to high DC amps. But the run times for lbs produced are not that different to 12v motors. Cheers Mark

Hi Brian, its one of the great joys of sailing a trailer sailer with a retractable keel. Nothing beats finding and isolated beach, tying up close at high tide and then spending the next 10 hours or so with a water side apartment on the beach. Depending on the spot you can stay a few days with the boat floating and resettling. Cheers Mark

Hi Manfred, Sorry, didn't notice this comment until now. The viper pro is designed for boats 8m and up so the RL28 fits in that category. I cant remember the model but I am sure you can see it on the video. Yes its a big winch and probably designed for large boats. It was the largest one Whitworths sells, probably the Viper Pro 1500. I chose this winch for several reasons. The first is for the drum size. It was the largest that would fit in the RL28 anchor well. It was mainly for the capacity, I can fit 70m of 12mm anchor rope and 12m of 8mm short link chain. I felt that was the minimum for the Kimberley trip I did recently. The installation has proved to work well and the anchor well floor has held up very well and tested continuously for 3 months on the Kimberley trip. The things shown in the video I think made it sturdy. These are the additional arm welded on the bolt plate that spreads the tortional loads. This was also attached to the stainless cross beam installed across the anchor well floor behind the winch which was bolted to the hull on either side and bolted to the welded on plate under the anchor well floor. Fitting it in was challenging but not impossible. My requirement was to leave enough space behind the winch to store 3 fuel jerry cans for our Kimberley trip. When not carrying fuel it leaves enough space to stand and work behind the winch. Ideally the winch should have been further back from the nose of the boat as it helps the rope and chain to lay on the winch better when winching. In the position I have used it winds on ok most of the time but occasionally the chain will bunch up and require a bit of input to help it wind on evenly. The deck roller ideally should be convex (outward curve across the roller) as this also helps to lay the rope and chain more evenly. I know all this sounds difficult but its not as hard as all that. The winch sits nicely in the RL28's anchor well and certainly makes retrieving the anchor a whole lot easier. My wife now takes charge of anchor hauling when onboard, something she just couldn't do before. The last thing I like is it keeps the anchor line and chain neatly rolled and very secure when underway. Cheers Mark

Forgot to say, yes you would have to move the forestay. Mine attaches to the side of the anchor bracket which was well attached to the the nose and stores the anchor. Having the forestay off center slightly has caused no issues an allows the anchor to pass by into the bracket. My anchor bracket was installed by removing the original aluminium flanges on the nose cone of the RL and then bolted the new bracket on top of the now flat nose cone with decent stainless bolts and using an isolating past on the bolts and between the bracket and the aluminium nose cone.

@@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES thanks a lot Mark. I was worried being too much weight and stress on our bedroom ceiling.

Yes the Kimberley is booked in for late June to late September covid willing. We chose the second half of the dry to allow more time for covid to settle. The plan is to sail from Derby to Darwin weather allowing and as the NW winds start later in the dry as we move along the trades will settle a bit and not be an issue. We have even installed a watermaker on the boat to provide drinking water should it get harder to find water to refill tanks. Cheers Mark.

@@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES Thanks Mark. I'm currently building a Farrier F22 Trimaran and I have dreams of sailing around Australia when (if!) I finish it. I'm thinking of leaving Brisbane about Easter time and take 4 months to get to Darwin. Put the boat in storage, back to work. Fly back to Darwin the next Easter, and maybe 1 month in the Kimberlies, around to Broom. I've heard that the end of the wet season is a good time to see all the big waterfalls running, and plenty of fresh water to be found. I don't know anything about the prevailing winds at that time of year though. Maybe 3 months to Freemantle, 2 months to Bass Straight, 1 month around Tas. 1 month home. However I wouldn't have enough long service to do all that, and prob couldn't afford to take long service at half pay to double the time. I'll just have to keep thinking some way to make it happen.

@@frodosadventures8757 Nice boat you are building, I did consider a 30ft farrier but the bank just didn't stretch that far, even for a 2nd hand one. I will be the first to encourage you to follow the dream of circumnavigating Australia. Had go back in 2012 but didn't do more than Melbourne to Eden. Foul year weather wise with a long procession of easterly gales. After 2 and a half months I put back on the trailer in Eden and headed up north including to the Kimberley. Your plan of breaking it into years could be a good one as you would only be away from family for a few months at a time. Speed would be better in the tri but with a 22footer you would have to pick weather windows which is what killed my trip time wise. Across the tropics of Australia the Winds are predominantly E to SE in the dry season (May - Oct) and NW to SW in the wet season (Nov-Apr) with the strongest winds mid season and lighter more varying winds in the change over period. Always exceptions to those rules of course. April is not a bad time to the Kimberley depending on how wet it has been. A strong wet season often sees late cyclones in April but the winds are far gentler otherwise. Strong wets also leave logs in the water that takes time clear by early May, but then the strong trades kick in, especially in the northern Kimberley. I hope your project progresses well and you get out there and live those dream. Cheers Mark