Boat Works

21st February to 2nd March, 2021

They say you don’t know Moreton Bay unless you’ve grounded your boat…well, we now consider ourselves locals.

Summer Breeze was due some warranty work so our plan was to sail via the Gold Coast waterway (inside Stradbroke Islands) to the Boat Works on the Coomera River. This was a new trip for us with multiple sandbanks and lots of traffic identified as hazards. We left Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club marina at 8 am, the best time for tide and

distance to travel. It was hard to find the channels in some places. John hit the first sandbank near Russel Island because we got of the way of 2 ferries. Thankfully the bottom was sandy so we didn’t hear any crunchy noises.

John and I ate lunch as we passed Jacob’s Well. It was interesting to see from the water with swimmers on the beach side and house boats on the other side of the channel. There were some dodgy looking boats on the water. At one stage we passed underneath some power lines; not sure how many meters between our mast and the lines but we made it.

With the high-rise buildings of the Gold Coast visible we turned into a lagoon on Brown Island which is on the west side of South Stradbroke Island. Bump, bump, bump … we hit the bottom again, luckily it was mud. The lagoon is full of liveaboard houseboats. I’m

sure their entertainment involves watching groundings at the entrance.

The following morning, we moved back out into the main channel for breakfast so we wouldn’t be trapped in the lagoon at low tide. It was quite uncomfortable with the constant wakes from power vessels and jet skis – it was obvious we were now in Gold Coast waters. To get to the Boat Works on time we started down the Coomera River around 11. We motored through Paradise Point with all very ostentatious mansions. The river had well marked channels and was very easy to travel.

We got to Boat Works on time and were tied on to the jetty. We hopped off and watched a huge travellator roll into the water and two huge padded lifters manoeuvred under the boat. It then rolled back

out of the water taking our boat to its position in the work yard. Very efficient and professional and much less stressful than the Burnett Heads Mad Max experience. Meanwhile we had lunch at the café nearby. The Boat Works are very impressive – all the boat trades are in the one location and there is good working space as well as facilities to shower and eat for those working on their boats. It was very hot and humid so we climbed the stairs to our boat and had an early night.

Lots of work was done on the boat over the next four days. The work we wanted done – re-finishing of fibreglass finish on the roof of the cabin could not be done as no-one had arranged templates from Vietnam. We took advantage of the time out of the water to get the antifoul done and a fibreglass polish. The workers found a couple of holes in the hull; more warranty follow up. Seawind contractors Danny

and Alex did miscellaneous work on the boat. Another guy looked at our anchor counter. We met Paul the new Seawind representative and reviewed the warranty list with him.

As John and I would be sailing back to Brisbane, we had to return our car. We drove back, it’s less than two hours and visited mum in hospital and walked Tallis who was very happy to see us. We finished up some of our medical appointments then took the train to Coomera. The guy across from us drank quite a few ciders that he got out of his back pack. Didn’t look like the type to share. Hungry from our expedition we stopped at a Bavarian restaurant and had some cold meat and cheese platters. Very nice. It was the first time we used an app to order and pay for our meal.

Finally, all the work that could be done was finished. We tried to

leave by check out time Mulithull Central had not paid the invoice as the work we came there to have done was not done even though they were at fault. Another discussion to have!

We had an uneventful motor back up the Coomera River assisted by the outgoing tide. We anchored at Paradise Point and met up with our friends Jo and Michael from Chara who we had last seen in the Whitsundays. They fed us fresh calamari and cheese and we had a great time. I think there was some sparkly involved. When we went back to our boat, we found we had lost voltage on the house batteries so we turned off all the load overnight… maybe it’s the overcast weather.

We stayed at the anchorage for another few days socialising with Jo and Michael on Chara, on Summer Breeze and on shore. The anchorage is a beautiful protected spot with parkland on one side,

mansions on the other and a small village within easy reach. Over the weekend jet skis and motor boats reign supreme with high speed and loud music. One boat played one song so many times that Jo and I learnt the chorus – “Stay off the pills, heroin kills”. After the weekend it returned to a beautiful spot

The house batteries continued to deteriorate requiring us to constantly reduce load and run the generator. Another conversation with Seawind. We had to return to Brisbane to power our fridges and get the batteries reviewed. This time we made it through the channel without any grounding. Just before the marina at Manly there were scores of small boats in one area. As we got closer, we could see they were throwing cast nets out – apparently for prawns.

After 6 hours we tied on Y jetty, same as before. Resigned to the fact the batteries were going to be a problem we caught up with some friends, visited the sailing club and had an early night.

Next: Learning Patience