SIZE MATTERS!!! APPARENTLY!

 G'day All, As the opening foto shows itz bean anuthu very busy week in Catland!
We've been dealing with the Biggest and Smallest of boats. "The Goondaloo" arrived early on Monday for her yearly treatment. All 50-60 tonne of her, with Kenny away both Noah and Myself took on the task of a complete strip down and antifoul of this monster. Unfortunately late on Tuesday afternoon I put an angle grinder through my left hand requiring a trip to the place  they keep the doctor type people. Several hours and 7 stitches later we arrived back in the yard. This effectively put me on light duties (supposedly), however we busted our humps and with lotz of help the job was finished by Thursday. Instead of spraying the antifoul on we took it upon ourselves to hand paint the biggest boat of the year, a decision that I'm still unsure of. At the same time the smallest Yacht of the year waz on the little cradle all 25' ft of her.
So apparently size does matter as this yacht was out, painted and back in the water same day.

 As you can also see in the adjoining pictographs the internal repairs to Galleycat are continuing as well, just a little slower than I'd hoped. The new "soft-rider" pedestal has arrived for the Skippers chair and both are now installed along with a new section of floor to stand on. The hydraulic hoses have all arrived along with the mounting brackets so the wheel (helm) is also in place (temporarily) this allows me to sit in the chair and thunk about final locations of the electronics and gauges and stuff. This task is still proving 2B very difficult as I know what I want to build but the physical act of building just seems so perplexing. I think it'll sort of go together like a race car with all the gear bolted to a sub frame then a modular curved shell will fit over the lot to give both the required strength and functionality I'm searching 4.
 A modular cabinet making artist I"m definitely not ! The process will continue this week and as my hand getz stronger I hope 2 have the unit ready for sanding, shaping and glueing by next week. That will depend on yard work of course, with a 9m wide Tri-maran due.

 The culinary scene has been well received this week with several lunch thyme salads, chilli crabz, fresh pasta and Fridays' Pizza's. Once again I took one of my favorite dishes and just upsized it. Noah and I had these pizza's for lunch on Monday with everyone at the table drooling it waz decided to make lotz of them for Friday. The field mushrooms were a little smaller when I went to Lamberts on Thursday but still at 6" they turned out to be a really good lunch size. Double Yummo with a dollop of sour cream and a fresh grind of black pepper.
If I made 20 they would of all been eaten.
Dinner 2nite is a big piece of Spud shed scotch fillet that'll be slow roasted during the V8 telecast this arvo.
The Yot resembles a junk yard a the moment during this construction phase and itz starting to  wear thin with my mind drifting towards the ocean again.
I'm planning a Big push over the next few weeks then as a test  trial I'll once again point the Yot towards The Gr8 Barrier only this thyme I'll end up in The Whitsunday group. The number of cruising yachties I'm meeting now and the places they speak of and stories they tell has renewed my drive towards ocean cruising very soon. Alby Mangles world safari adventures are on Tv each weekend at the moment with him cruising tropical islands on his catamaran, this 2 is driving me to return to sea. The adventure has only just begun and I can't wait to visit the countless Island and passages I'm learning about.
This foto is an interesting project for the guy's in the yard next door. They've removed a big diesel motor and fitted a new 300hp outboard to the rear of the Magnetic Island fishing clubs boat. This is a trial I'll be watching carefully as  they have  doubled the speed of the boat while nearly halving the fuel consumption.  Perhaps West Coast Angling could look in this direction. I'll keep you posted with the results after a few more trial trips.
Thatz all for now
Until next week!
Captain Felix