Yeagarup and D’Entrecasteaux National Park

Ken and I agreed we could find time for a couple of days fishing on Yeagarup Beach in the D’Entrecasteaux National Park on the south coast of West Australia.  Ken had been reading social media reports the fish in the Southern Ocean were biting.

The plan was for me to drive south to Ken’s and we would then take his Isuzu to the beach.  That didn’t quite work out as we had too much gear.  The decision was made to take both Isuzu’s.  I was slightly concerned as mine still had the road tyres rather than my off-road set.

The trip was 370km and took four hours.  Once you get south of Bunbury the area is mostly mixed farming and orchards.  Then you reach the southern forests and start meeting heavily laden logging truck.  Actually it would usually be a large truck towing an equivalent sized trailer.  The road has been built for this type of traffic with sweeping bends and frequent overtaking lanes.

We stopped for a rest at Pemberton which is in the heart of logging country.  Pemberton would be the last town before the beach.

Pemberton

A 9km drive on bitumen resulted us reaching Ritter Road and the last of the tarseal.  Although it’s unsealed, Ritter Road is navigable by 2WD for the first 11km.  At this point it’s the Leaning Marri Campsite where there are picnic tables, long drop bush toilets and a pay station for the National Park entry fee.

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From this point onwards it would be 4WD and we spent several minutes lowing our tyre air pressure from 35 to 20psi.  The first 5km were relatively easy until we reached the northern edge of the Yeagarup Sand Dunes.

Yeagarup Beach

Sand dunes in white

The dunes are approximately 20 metres high and tower over the adjacent Karri forest.  Moreover the dunes are slowly moving north consuming the forest at an annual rate of four metres. 

After driving up onto the dunes we continued south on the sand following the track marked by poles.

 

A further 8km on we came upon our first long steep descent

I started thinking “How will I get back up this slope with road tyres?”.  A further 2km onwards Ken (in the lead) gave a “WOO!” over the radio as his vehicle disappeared over the crest of  a very steep dune and down onto the beach.  I followed thinking “How will I get back up this slope with road tyres?”

After driving 500 metres on the beach we found a likely looking fishing spot and set up the campsite.

Initially we thought we had the beach to ourselves and then a couple in a Toyota Landcruiser appeared and started to fish.

I suspect they were more experienced than us as they didn’t stay more than 30 minutes before moving off.

I had packed light and was starting to feel quite cold.  Ken had packed ‘heavy’ and had two of everything. 

Ken cooked dinner.  A sausage, egg and cheese toasted sandwich.  I was snuggled into my sleeping bag by 6pm hoping for the next day to be warmer. 

Next morning the breakfast was a ham, cheese and egg toasted sandwich.

We started fishing.  The bait wasn’t being taken which appear ominous.  Ken though there might be someone fishing further down the beach and got out his binos.  I used my camera.

Can’t see the vehicle with the optical zoom.  However the digital zoom did confirm we had company

Mid afternoon one lost fish decided to suicide on my hook.

I’d become rather concerned about my ability to get back over the sand dunes and walked back to the beach entrance to have a look.  A steep exit and what looked like soft sand.  I decided to sleep on the problem.

Dinner was a sausage, egg and cheese toasted sandwich.  Nothing like a varied diet!

We packed up the campsite the following morning and dropped the tyre pressure further;.  This time down to 12psi.  I told Ken I would go out first.  My strategy would be to use 4WD low range second gear.  This would mean the vehicle would be crawling and I would also have plenty of torque in reserve.

The Isuzu slowly and steadily crawled it’s way back up the slope.  Success…..This technique was used for the rest of the sand dunes. 

On reaching Leaning Marri Campsite we stopped and pumped the tyres back up before heading home.

An expensive fish but I learned more about the capabilities of the Isuzu.  Next time I will ensure I have the off road tyres fitted.

A Little Nag and The Front & The Back

By now you will have noticed I’m not inclined to throw anything away.  That includes photos.  I kept a copy of every photo we took whilst in the UK, burning them to DVDs and then storing the disks just in case they were required.  However I’ve had this ‘Little Nag’ in my head for a year cautioning me that data burned to DVD can degrade. 

Yesterday I started the process of copying the content of the 100+ DVDs to a hard drive.  Yes, some of the photos couldn’t be copied as the data has become corrupted.  Obviously now is the time to make copies.

Meanwhile the cheap plastic case purchased from Aliexpress for the yacht electronic navigation system was delivered.  I designed the internal layout of the components and then started on the front and back panels.

The adopted technique was to cover the front and reverse side of each panel with masking tape.  This protects the plastic surface and gives a marking surface

The circular hole were drilled with a timber spade bit and the drill press.

That was the easy part.  I then needed to develop a method for cutting out the rectangles.  The method I adopted was to drill a 1.5mm hole in each of the four corners and an 8mm hole in the middle.   I cut four lines from the centre to each corner hole using the jigsaw with a fine tooth blade .

The next step was to use a steel ruler as a line guide clamping it and the plastic panel to the bench top.

Multiple passes with a razor knife on each side of the panel resulted in a straight and sharp cut.

The front panel only has the Volt/Amp meter, On/Off switch and Fuse

I’ve used Sikaflex to secure the ethernet port into the panel. 

The four circular holes are for two USB ports, power input socket and a plug for the BME280 sensor which will be somewhere on the exterior of the yacht to measure temperature, barometric pressure and humidity.

 

Birds and Rough Neighbourhoods

Continuously cruising on a narrowboat meant an ever changing environment.  Urban or rural; nice neighbourhoods or rough.

You can always tell if the neighbourhood is rough.  The birds wear an ankle bracelet and carry a knife.   See last photo

Australia is a vast land with comparatively few hills.  A land of drought and flooding rains!  When it floods it really floods.  Which is why the birds need to roost high in the trees.  This next photo is of a Falcon which roosted high in a tree just avoiding being swept away.

 

Ford Falcon

 

She looks mean

Does he need it?

If a sailor is going the manage marine risks then understanding the weather is an important consideration.  Modern satellite imagery and computers have enabled meteorologists to be quite accurate with weather forecasts up to 5 days in advance.  This means for short voyages a sailor could obtain an accurate understanding of the likely weather conditions during the cruise.  If the vessel is going to be out of range of line of sight (eg, mobile phone, VHF radio) weather information there appears to be two main options.

The first is to obtain weather updates via a satellite receiver and the second by HF radio.  The latter is the cheaper option as the broadcast data is free whilst the former requires an ongoing subscription.

One of the main means of receiving weather forecasts by HF radio is to use the WeatherFax service.  The origins of Weatherfax are based on RadioFax which was invented in the 1920’s.  Essentially it is a facsimile image broadcast on a High Frequency wavelength.  Almost everyone has seen a fascimile image which has been scanned by one machine and sent over the telephone line to another which prints it out.

The Weatherfax  system has the meteorologists scan their weather image and then broadcast it over HF radio.  The receiving radio sends the analogue data to a computer where it can be displayed as an image on a computer screen. 

To receiver Weatherfax data a vessel requires a suitable HF radio, asound card to convert the received audio data to digital and a computer to process the digital data into a weather map.  That all sounds easy but it somewhat more difficult than receiving the data by satellite.  Nevertheless, if you already have a suitable radio it’s the cheaper option.

In 1989 I was heading to Iran and during an overnight stop in Singapore I purchased a Sony SSB HF Radio.  It wasn’t cheap however I had already realised I’d need some means of keeping myself independently informed about world events during the following 12 months. 

I’d sit down at night and string out the radio aerial before listening to various national radio services such as the BBC, VOA (Voice of America), the Russian overseas service,  the Australian Broadcasting Service and on one night I actually received the New Zealand Broadcasting Service.  The latter was quite a surprise as the transmitter wasn’t very powerful and the antenna was directed towards the South Pacific.   Yes… I don’t like to throw things away which might be useful one day.  I still have the radio!

   

The radio has an audio output jack which could be connected to a USB sound card that was plugged into a computer.  Power is 6V DC either via AA batteries or 240V.  It wouldn’t be very hard to convert the radio to operate off a boat 12V system through a cheap 12V – 6V converter.  This eliminates the requirements for batteries or 240V.  A quick internet search suggests a USB sound card can be purchased for $2-3.  I could assemble a Weatherfax system for about $10.

The last question is whether the eldest grandson needs or wants such a system?

 

An Ethernet Moment

Another Australia Post delivery this morning resulted in all but the last few components of the yacht navigation system being received.

I must be getting more patient in my latter years as I’m not rushing to assemble everything and then having to repeat work because it’s wrong!  It’s quite likely I won’t start assembling the components until after my return from inspecting the yacht in New Zealand.  I need to know the exact location of the case to ensure I have all the external plugs, switches, display, etc where they will be accessible.

The brain of the system will be the Single Board Computer (SBC), a Raspberry Pi.  Not the one in the above photo.  That’s a model 2 and has insufficient computing power.  I need a model 4 and there is currently a world-wide shortage of them.  However the model 2 is exactly the same size as the model 4 which is helpful when planning the component layout.

The system will be access wirelessly but as the Raspberry Pi has an ethernet port I thought it might be useful to extend the port on the Raspberry Pi to the case which would then provide a network cable capacity.  It proved very difficult to buy one ethernet wall socket and I ended up having to purchase six for $1.75.  Maybe I can sell the five surplus and make a profit

  

I thought I was rather clever buying a socket where the cables don’t need to be soldered.  My eyesight is getting too poor for fine soldering and my hands also shake… Damned curse of old age!

The ethernet extension consists of a short length of old ethernet cable with a moulded plug.   The outer plastic casing was stripped from the cable to make it easier to position inside the case.

 

It was at this point I realised I might have an issue.  The colours of the wires on the old cable didn’t match the colour coding on the new socket?  With a magnifying glass I could see there was a code on the blue plug.

T568A

The code on the socket was T568A/B.

Then I realised the socket had the colour coding for T568 A and T568B in two rows.

Eventually I managed to place the eight wires in the correct grooves on the socket and close the lid crimping them in place.  However I wasn’t convinced I’d correctly installed the wires so I plugged the cable into the Raspberry Pi and connected the ethernet cable from the router to the new socket to test my wiring.

It works!

The Wall and The Solution

Jan had a recent request.  Could I alter the end of the front garden retaining wall?  She wanted an enclosed lower lawn and garden where she could quietly work without having to worry about Molly wandering off.

The end of the existing sandstone block retaining wall was 1200mm at one end and 0mm at the other.  Essentially a triangle section.  The existing blocks were far too heavy for me to lift requiring them being broken up in-situ.  This was achieved using a heavy duty electric jack hammer borrowed from my brother-in-law.

Triangle shape is the location of the original wall and the rectangle is what Jan wants.  The broken up sandstone blocks are being disposed of in the hard rubbish weekly “wheelie bin” collection.  Two pieces at a time each week.  It will take several months for all of them to be removed.  Time isn’t an issue in retirement!

Once I have the new wall constructed I’ll make a gate.

Australia Port delivered a large package this morning.

I correctly guessed it would be the bike trailer Jan had ordered from www.cyclingdeal.com.au

An initial test fit to ensure all the components were included.

Apart from the bearings in the hub of the 16” omni wheel sounding dry, everything looked fine.  It came with a very large strong carry bag which included a shoulder strap.  I had assumed the bag would be completely waterproof but the top is open.  I don’t intend filling the bag which means I should be able to roll the open top and secure it with elastic straps making a water resistant seal.

The connection to the rear of the bike will require modification.  The trailer connection consists of a quick”-lock” axle which is designed to replace the existing axle in a convention derailleur system.  My bike now has an internally geared hub with a solid axle which is also larger diameter.

I have identified a potential solution.  You can see the existing rear wheel securing nut (Arrow A) in the photo below.  There is also a threaded hole on the frame at point B.  I assume this is a mounting point for a bike carrier.  The threaded hole is the exact same size as the trailer axle/

I propose purchasing two 70mm stainless steel bolts and insert them through these threaded holes from the inside of the frame.  This will then enable me to mount the trailer locking nuts (photo below) to the frame of the bike.

Well that’s the plan!

Refurbish and Re-purpose

When the old roller door at the front of the garage was replaced earlier in the year I decided to keep the old door motor.  I don’t like discarding things that might prove useful at some future date.  The original door and motor were almost 40 years old and well made.  It was the roller door that had reached the end of its life.   Unlike the new door motor, which is mostly plastic, the old door motor assembly is 90% steel and aluminium.  

I refurbished the motor noting its mechanism was electrical/mechanical.  The new motor is digital with a printed circuit board.

Today I decided to fit the old motor to the garage’s existing manual rear roller door.  This door is used infrequently as I can’t be bothered manually raising and lowering it.

The first step was to support the closed door and I made some temporary shears legs for that.

 

With the door secured I was able to remove and relocate the door end bracket which then provided sufficient space to fit the motor.

Before

After

The controller micro-switches will need to be adjusted as the rear door is slightly smaller.  I also need to run cabling and install a new 240V power point for the motor.

Meanwhile……… where did I carefully store the door remote control units???

Muchea – 35km north

The instructions for the bike internally geared rear hub stated the oil should be changed after 1000km and then annually or at 5000km, whichever came first.  I’ve always done vehicle oil changes at twice the manufacturers recommended frequency and the bike would be no different.  It had reached 500km.

The first step was to remove the old oil using the syringe.  This took 40 minutes as the hub is a sealed unit and I didn’t want to apply too much suction perhaps damage the hub seals.

By applying a small amount of suction and then easing off I gradually extracted 25mls of oil from the hub.

The next step was to carefully insert the “cleaning oil” into the hub before spinning the wheel for five minutes whilst working the gears up and down the range. The cleaning oil was then drained out using the syringe and replaced with 25mls of new oil.

The old oil and cleaning oil were placed in a plastic bag and clipped to the clothesline with a peg.  I placed two neodymium magnets on the outside of the plastic bag against the oil as an experiment to see if there was any metal suspended in the oil.  Obviously oil isn’t magnetic but the magnets stuck to the bag.

 

24 hours later I took down the bag and drained out the oil before cutting the bag open to see what had been attracted by the magnets.

There was metal.  A fine gritty paste.  Obviously created during the “wearing in” of the gears in the hub.

I’ll do another oil change at 1000km.  I have plenty of oil now I’ve purchased the 75W-90 gear oil and litre of White Spirits.

The weather had changed and yesterday was a lovely afternoon.  I decided to cycle to the northern end of the Tonkin Expressway.  It’s 35km to the end, all cycleway.

North of Ellenbrook is the “Fauna Bridge” It’s two lanes wide and was built to allow the wildlife to cross the Expressway.

The recent winter rain has certainly greened up the land.  By summer this will all be dry and brown

Eventually I reached the end of the Expressway.  There is a large Road Train Assembly Area here.

There is no railway to the northern half of this vast state, everything goes by road.  Large trucks towing three long trailers are made up here before heading north. 

The information in the bottom right of the above sign caught my eye.  Next drinking water is 21km south at Ellenbrook.  I’ll need to remember that for summer rides.

The cycleway is in very good condition.  My brother informed me it cost $1000 per metre and for that money it should be good. 

On the return leg I noticed three white crosses in a field next to the cycle path.

‘Lost’ ‘Jesus’ ‘Saved’  Each sign was located at the end of a long mound of earth.  Mass graves?

The distance is steadily accumulating