Little Dragon goes motoring

The outboard had continued to play up despite being given a clean bill of health for a second time by Ballina Marine. So I wanted to check it out and the only way was to go motoring.

Many thanks to John Woods who agreed to come with me. We launched at Harwood and motored around for a full hour. No problems at all. A real relief.

Shame we had to motor, it would have been a good day for a sail.

Alina, a Farr 5000 converted into a little Titanic

Harry Brutsch has shown me how he has fitted out Alina, his Farr 5000, to be "a very comfortable little Titanic!" Here is how he has done it (slightly edited)

"Yes I am in love with my Alina"

"Inside, We like our cooking-music and comfy bed.

The little partition was a key point and opened up many options.

Having a cover- box over the keel was a must for me.

It makes it easy to step into the cabin and also works as a seat-table ect.

We are not people who need kitchen sink and porta loo.

Doing the bed conversion I covered up some storage compartments.

But others have been created with sliders left and right of the keel under the bed.

The original internal side panels, covered with some 80s synthetic mission brown material did not agree with me.

The color and smell of it one thing, but the small opening very unpractical for my liking.

Was always searching for things because I could not see into the small dark areas.

So I made my own with bigger spaces. Very happy with it.

I do not use spinnaker. Got one but not enough desire to use it. Main and Jib does fine for our sailing.

I also installed a extra rope on the mains, so when I am on my own, I can take that sail down quickly in a emergency.

I had situations with sudden strong wind gust that prevented the sail from sliding down as normal. So I had to let go of the helm and clime up the cabin. Not good.

All of it while Alina has become a wild child.

 I made flexible straps that keep the ruder in the center when I have to let go of it ......works well in normal conditions.

Now I can let the mains go and pull the sail down quickly without leaving the Helm.

 I did break the keel wire when sailing on to a submerged stump this year on Lake Wurooma. All in slow motion. Keel lifted up and then DROPPED back into its place.

Awefull noise!! Took a bit of swimming and diving-2 hours and all was good again. I will make sure that the wire has a bit of slack when the keel is down. A rubber stop in the recess will take care of that.
I also mounted the Echolot on

the inside Floor, rather than having it mounted on the back.

Great work Harry, and I am totally in awe of how pristine she looks. When was she built? Late 70s? The double berth suits a couple but I prefer my two singles. I still want a porta potty for longer trips. So I compromise by cooking in the cockpit but I really covet your galley. I also covet your storage spaces, but I don't have the carpentry skills. Most of all I wish I had put in a forward hatch (with mozzie cover) rather than my solar fan. I already have my depth sounder on the inside floor and it works fine.