topknot

[BRIAN]

hi all, got topknot to qld lamb island but sadly only sailed as far as lake macquarrie.three and a half weeks of shit weather hope i can say that, leaking windows and forward hatch i presume so nice and wet berths. i spent a week in botany bay waiting for anything but n nw ne,setting up chartplotter,autopilot,finding a dingy because the 1 i was given was a piece of crap,wish i would have known because i would have had a couple of months to find another.anywho set all electronics up but couldnt get the autopilot to do final seatrial so was totally useless.sailed to sydney but had to anchor off bondi as i was starting to go backwards wind was on the nose fairly big seas tried motor sailing but she only does 3.2 knots at nearly full throttle.got to sydney spent another week at glebe crap weather again wet northerlies.met a fellow and crew sailing a 50ft beneteau from tassie to lake macquarrie.met them again at pittwater and tried setting up the autopilot again with no luck.leaving the next morning was supposed to leave around 4 am but slept in as they got me drunkish on beer wine and wiskey, paid for it all the next day with a splitting headache.so the race to lm was on.they had about a 2klm start on me. winds were perfect 15 to 20 then 25 in the late morning from the south.thier boat weighs i think he said 27 tons so needs a lot of wind to get along, anyway after 4 hours i caught up to them swellls were 10 to 14ft with a 3 to 4ft chop on top was sitting between 6.5 and hitting 8.5 knots on the chartplotter,full sail up and unbelievable sailing.never felt ever the boat wanted to broach,these boats are awsome couldnt leave the tiller as i was on my own so were pretty buggered when i got to wangi workers club in lm.more northerlies predicted all week so settled in at the wangi workers club which is 10 dollars a night that gets you power water and a shower they have a sign that says max 2 nights stay but they dont seem to bother if u stay longer.a week there and decided that i would have to truck the boat the rest of the way,so i went to lmyc and used their mast crane which is a hand operated job that costs 72 dollars.dropped the mast,then up to the very top marina cant remember the name and left it there . a week later she arrived at sampsons marina qld.now with mast up got the autopilot going finaly she is sitting on her swing mooring at lamb island.gotta get those annoying leaks fixed and do something about the prop other than that brilliant little boat. cheers all

[Marinka]

Welcome to Qld. What a great place Wangi Workers Club is. That is where I prepared my boat for the trip north. I left there and went to Laurieton and then a few weeks later Laurieton to Mooloolaba. Over Christmas will be sailing around Moreton Bay so should try and catch up with you then. Cheers

[karl010203]

Wooohooo

We have enough Tophats for our own special QLD flotilla and regatta get togethers!!! It goes without saying that anyone from elsewhere also happy to join us... if you get sick of the cold water and crap weather that is... ha ha

Brian, seriously how great are these boats in a stiff breeze and a bit of a swell... always brings a ridiculious grin to my face and a level of disbelief at how bloody capable and sea worthy they are...

I don't think any boat the age of our beauties is without work... ours had an electrical fire the first time we had it out. Outboard failed the next. Mast nearly came down after that one... etc. A lot of use, work and bucket loads of dollars and lots of frequent use - irons out all the bugs pretty quick. Changing previous set ups. Lucky Tophats are so well made it is the simple things that usually need attention... ie not structural.

I too would like to catch up at Tangalooma, Peel Island etc for a raft up one of these days...

[BRIAN]

anytime is good for me guys and any of the anchorages are all good.where are you located karl?peter is in a great spot mooloolabah,i had a roberts 25 anchored in the pond in the river there for a while used it as a holiday home.what about this weather,put some sealer around the outside windows be good to get back on board tomorrow and see if it slowed the leaks.does anyone have problems with the forward hatch leaking,the rubber seal looks a bit dodgy.the problem with the lining also is its hard to locate some leaks.will eventualy replace the windows all together and do away with the frames.looking forward to some good morteon bay sailing though and a trip to mooloolabah. cheers ............brian

[karl010203]

hi brian... I am about 30 metres south east of peter! Also on the moorings at mooloolaba... A great spot... Say g'day if you are in the neighbourhood!

[Dolphin]

Hi Brian,
I had a leak on Felicite, from rainwater. I removed the rubber seal (?) from around the hatch lip and put dust sealing tape, a kind of very spongy grey foam rubber with an adhesive backing, on the underside of the hatch. It is pliable and forms around the hatch lip. It has had waves over the bow and has not leaked since about 1992 when I put it on. It does however creep where it is bent around corners. I got it from a caravan store in a large roll. Might be worth a look at if you think it will work.
For what its worth.
Greg.

[storm petrel]

I spent most of my sailing time 'outside' on Storm Petrel. I glued some hollow rubber section (I bought from Clark Rubber) around the forward hatch and it has been effective even when the foredeck has spent most of the day underwater. As to the windows there is nothing for it but to pull them out and reseal them. When I had one start to leak I took the opportunity to replace them.

Cheers,
Mark