tophat purchase

[BRIAN]

hi all bought topknot from brendan last month.just found this exellent site.anywho i live on lamb island qld a small island next to stradbroke,so will have to sail the boat up here from taren pt.its on a swing mooring atm.im not in any hurry to bring the boat up as i have to install the auto pilot, chartplotter etc. was just wondering if anyone has done the trip any info would be much appreciated such as charts,what month is best etc.i am going to buy alan lucas cruising the nsw coast.

[Phillip]

Congratulations Brian,

Welcome to Top Hats. When you take off you will have to call into the Camden Haven where the local fleet will take care of you. Contact me with a PM before you leave Sydney for phone numbers etc.

Best to go north just after a weak Southerly has gone through. You should be underway before the summer Nor' Easters set in as Shaun and I can testify that they can be really painful .

North of Port Stephens you will need swells of less than 2m so that you can safely cross the river bars.
You can do the whole trip in day hops or one hop of several days.

You will the the auto helm etc, makes life real easy .

Phillip
SEAKA

[Dolphin]

G'Day Brian,
I did the trip to Gt keppel in 92. I did a short write up onthe top hat voyages section, link is here viewtopic.php?f=9&t=251

Give yourself plenty of time. Don't go out in weather you don't want to go in or is too uncomfortable. If need be leave the boat somewhere safe. Buy all the charts you need, you can sell them later. Make sure you have a GPS that you can rely on, but don't, and use conventional navigation.

Drop into Laureton, its a beautiful spot. Don't go into Ballina unless you have to as the bar is dangerous.

We did it in day sails except for Ballina to southport and that was because we didn't get a good anchorage in Byron Bay.

Stay flexible.
If you want to know more just PM me. I thought I knew a lot about sailing then but I have since learnt heaps more through racing. If you can get someone you trust with experience to go too you will have a much better and safer experience.

Stay safe, Greg.

[BRIAN]

thanks for the quick replies and info good to know it can be done in day sails.ive done quite a lot of sailing but not in the last 3 years.im not on any time schedule so can pick the weather.hopefully fly to sydney in august and install the auto pilot .went a tad overkill with the raymarine x5 but use to sail a roberts 25 with the st2000 and it couldnt quite handle the job.as for the gps trying to save for the raymarine a50 chartplotter .the hardest part is installing them as the boat is on a swing mooring.all going well should be able to start heading up the end of aug or early sept.thanx again guys for your help exellent site. regards brian...

[Shaun]

Gday Brian,
Welcome to the TH site, & congrats on TopKnot.

As you know the NSW coastline is not to be taken lightly.
I was once strongly talked out of a whimsical single-handed jaunt from sydney to lake macquarie, im very grateful that they did, i then learnt to prepare properly(albeit with many mistakes along the way).
The Alan Lucas book is a must have.
check the NSW Maritime regulations for coastal , as you can bet there will be some differences to the regs you are familar with in QLD.
In my opinion you will have to do a few overnighters, by pulling into every suitable port, it will make the trip many times longer, not only that...could be safer staying out to sea rather than negotiating an unfamiliar Bar entrance on anything other than a perfect tide & conditions. As a general rule the bars get worse as you go Nth.
Your plan of not sailing to a set timeframe schedule is a good idea.
I have the paper charts if you'd like to borrow them.
Research a few ports along the way, if you have to break the trip & leave the boat somewhere. A commercial swing mooring at Laurieton/Dunbogan is about $195 a month a bit pricey but its a nice place here. And stop in if you dont mind a few enthusiastic TH owners crawling over TopKnot .
Shoal Bay at Pt Stephans is a fantastic spot to stop, plenty of free visitor moorings, but no fuel was available , you can sail or catch the bus to Nelson Bay for fuel.

There was a detailed discussion over on the compass owners website, about installing that autopilot.
My st2000 only struggles on the TH when im over-canvassed.
Marinka recently did the trip, & theres a write-up about it in the Voyages section. I'll look forward to reading any updates about your prep for the trip.
cheers
shaun

[Shaun]

just me again...

Brian, i noticed that Bias has the a50 unit on special at $1195, is that good?, as a bonus they are giving away a Ray101e handheld VHF with every unit

shaun

[bearmcnally]

Bear here

That does sound good to me,But remember there's no such thing as a free lunch !!

[BRIAN]

hi shaun thats quite a good deal.i saved about 700 dollars getting my autopilot from the states but would work out to be about the same if i ordered the a50 from there.plus you get the vhf from bias.im looking at other units also,so many to choose from.bias has the lowrance with aus wide charts for 849 but i couldnt get an answer if it would read the autopilot.garmin has some good deals out, i think they are all probably much the same some just seem more difficult to use.btw thanks for the offer to borrow your charts ill keep that in mind.my friend is supposed to give me a hand and he has the charts but he is very unreliable lol.again many thanx all for your help

[surrealbass]

Hi Brian,
I bought the A50d for Joylee last year it is a good unit, remember you are buying the latest technology with this compared to the cheaper ones, particularly if you are getting the combo- I got it last year when they were giving away vhf handhelds with it, only drawback is the size of the screen but it is very bright.. it uses seatalk ng which is different to the older st2000 autopilots so you have to hook up with nmea anyway if your auto pilot is not the new seatalk ng. not hard to do but that is the way you get the other brands to talk to the chart plotter as well or vice versa, as long as the other unit can send and receive nmea sentences in the same spec as the auto pilot you have (ie the old one is nmea 0183, I think the newest tiller pilots from raymarine may be seatalk ng/nmea 2000 but that will be in the manual for it

good luck

[SeaLady]

Hi Brian,

I just returned from a holiday and met a couple who owned a Top Hat called TopKnot from new. Unless there are a few with that name it could be yours so if you would like me to I can put you in contact. It was a Mark 3.

Diana