id be making sure the boats sea worthy first with the right safety gear.
its not a hard sail but be prepared to do overnighters at sea some of the time as swell and wind, along with lack of light can make it way safer to stay out than come in.
check the weather windows. cold fronts will be the biggest problem weather wise for you.

cantswm4**** said...

This boat was professionally built, not a home made one,
not to say homemade ones aren't as good, but it depends who made it
So far as I know, the hull is sound, it is dry, and not taking anywater on, it has marine and 2 way radio, fire extinguishers and all the rest of the general safety gear,
flares, eperb etc.
There is no life raft, So I will invest in one
The diesel is running, last started 6 months ago
4 sets of sails, 1 set brand new
Not sure about an anchor, but thats neither here nor there
I was going to get her hull scraped and checked by divers before leaving
Thats about the limit of my knowledge for seaworthyness,
Anything I missed, please tell me,
CHEERS

I would recommend you advertise around for someone to go with you, if you get caught and have to put out further to sea it can be a few days without sleep, that's when boats become really dangerous. 2 achors is really important.

Should be fun, good luck

Well I admire your enthusiasm.
I have been sailing all my life but with only very limited off shore experience so I am speaking from general knowledge learned mostly by word of mouth rather than first hand experience and I think the points suggested so far are very valid. Even if you take on the voyage single handed you will always have one other person with you, his name is Murphy. Murphy can be a bugger sometimes but if you are prepared you can deal with him. What this means is that even though you may plan to hop from one safe anchorage to another and only in daylight hours your friend Murphy may have other ideas. Doesn't sound like you have any self steering or auto pilot aboard so hand steering for hours on end if you get caught offshore on the wrong side of a tide at a bar crossing for example, as mentioned by others, can be asking for trouble.
Having somebody with you would be a big advantage. If none of your friends are available you could probably hire somebody. there are people who do yacht deliveries for a living. I have no idea what they cost but if you were going to spend the money to truck the yacht to Melbourne you could probably spend that money on hiring a delivery skipper (even for part of the trip). Of course you still go along with the boat but you would probably enjoy the sail a lot more.
Make sure you log in with Marine Rescue.
Take her out for a good solid sail a few weeks before heading south to shake out any cobwebs. Better to find out something is going to break or doesn't work when you can head for sheltered waters than in the middle of a southerly buster with a big swell coming up the coast.
Get all your safety gear out and make sure it works (again a few weeks before you set out).
Is the yacht set up for single/short handed sailing? Could you manage having to shorten sail if the wind got up on your own if you had to?
that all sounds a bit negative I know but if you take care of things like this and what others have suggested you will have a much better chance of enjoying the journey and the new lady in your life. The alternative could be getting to Melbourne and deciding that you are so traumatised by the experience that you never take her out again and sell her after she has sat on the mooring for a couple of years unused.

Let's do things in order.
1. Is the boat seaworthy? It might not leak on a mooring but what happens when the stern gland packing gives up after a couple of hours running? How much will leak along the gunwale join when she is heeled over? Will the sea cocks handle a pounding from slamming into sea? I had one come off in my hand after a short time pounding offshore.
2. You have two means of propulsion, sails and engine. You will probably need both on this coast. Will the halyards and sheaves be OK? Can you handle a halyard jamming with the sail up? Is the compression post/keel step OK or will they compress under load and cause a rig failure. Will the mast go over the side? The engine hasn't gone for 6 months, do you really feel it will be OK for 20-30 hours running in a pounding sea? Can you do the filters if they clog up with crap from the bottom of the tank? How much fuel does it use and will you have enough between stops?
3. If the worst happens can you navigate to a position within 5 nm to give it to someone who can help you? Do you know how to make an emergency call? Can you get across a bar if needed? An anchor with adequate chain and rode is an ESSENTIAL bit of kit, as is how to use it.
Bottom line, a trip taken by a self admitted unskilled person in a boat of unknown quality is irresponsible. If you can't go to sea without relying on someone risking their life to rescue you, don't go. Things can always go wrong for even the best skipper and boat, but this proposed trip is wrong.
Get the boat properly checked out and fix any safety and reliability issues. Take someone with you as skipper who knows what they are doing. Get a truckie who will take it by road. Don't risk yourself and others.
On a positive note, if you prepare the boat and yourself properly and do the trip carefully, you could have a very satisfying and rewarding adventure.

also

Get lucas nsw coast which is a cruising guide and (not sure but there must be a cruising guide for vico )

Yep, diesel will a problem once shaken

Leave yourself plenty of time (read no eta)

Fill your pockets with $100 bills

Perhaps we should find out how well cantswim****'s vessel is fitted out first before ripping him apart! Just because it came off eBay does not mean its inadequate for sea.

Few weeks ago I sailed back into my mooring. I noticed a largish yacht had picked up a new mooring next to mine. The yacht had two blokes onboard squaring away gear. Next morning when I was back out there one of the blokes was still there and I wandered over to shoot the breeze. He asked me if I always sailed back up the river to my mooring. I said yes and he then said that he would like to go sailing with me one day to learn all about it. He had just sailed this 38 foot concrete yacht down the coast, it was his first boat and his first time sailing! His mate was no better.

I had already made arrangements to have my mooring shifted by the contractor and a couple of days later it was done. New moorings were placed near mine at the same time and a few days later one was occupied. This one is also a late starter with an eBay yacht. There are 3 other new moorings in a line next to mine. One will be occupied by a cruising yacht on its way from Malaysia, ones a motor boat and the owner I have met and he is not to confident about bringing his boat down the coast. The last one is a nice Pion and the owners are experienced sailors!

These additional points change the situation a bit but be careful, I looked at a boat that had apparently done a couple of Hobarts. When I researched it the boat hadn't gone further than Sydney to Pt Hacking.
Mate, both Ramona and I have done a few search and rescues in our Navy days and it isn't pleasant when you end up finding/retrieving a body for the family. Take my comments with that in mind.
Obviously the engine side is covered far better than I can comment on.
Get a rigger or experienced yachtie to check out the rig and mast steps. Make sure the mast, standing rigging and sheaves are OK. Give the seacocks/skin fittings a good check (hammer), better for it to break on a mooring than 5 miles out and between ports.
Try to make your test trip off the coast an overnight one, it is always a good test of the lights, batteries etc and of how well you can navigate yourself.
Research the route for suitable ports (remember barred entrances may not be any good), anchorages, Marine Rescue locations and fishing ports where the traffic will be heavier. Lucas NSW book is excellent.
I don't follow it but the old cruiser saying that you never leave port if the wind is or is going to be forard of the beam would make life a lot easier.
There is a lot of good advice in these comments, make a note of the points and tick them off.
Don't push it and don't plan to rely on others to save you.
Otherwise enjoy the trip.

Starting to sound better, you have at least one up on me , you being a pro mechanic.

I still reckon if you were originally going to truck it ,then spend some of that cash that you were prepared to splash , on a pro skipper to do the job with you as the faithful sidekick .

Some of them will take the owner along .

As a minimum, practice sailing in a bit of a gale with reefed sails. before you go ,so you know how to handle her, with a # 4 and double or triple [if you've got the third ]reefed main.

as well as the chart plotter, gps and paper charts , stick navionics on your iphone as a third electro back up.

cheers and best wishes .

I learnt by sailing with others on thier boats mate.I realy think it sounds to me that you know everything about your boat and sailing from the internet.And what you believe, from the internet.Get out and learn about sailing on someone elses boat if you can. I think some one on here can find a cheaper mooring than that.My mate has his cat at the moment at lake Mac north of Sydney for half that.Flights to Newcastle are cheap.

Learning all about your boat on a lake priceless.Once you round the corner from Eden can get very deadly.sorry your exp on reefing,furling and knots worrys me.

hey cantswim, do your home work and just go ahead & do it. worked for me, but jedibrad helped out a fair bit and that was irreplacable.
if everyone never took a chance wed all be as boring as toad sh#t.

CHEERS o salty one, (gone too far to turn back now)
LMFAO, are you's still having trouble with the canetoads up there, ?
Shame you cant eat them,

Whats in this "don't leave on a friday,"
must be a good story or three behind that I'd guess
Anyone care to fill me in?

As far as I can figure, The weather and wind direction will determine when I leave,
And if it gets too bad I will remoor wherever that may be, head home, and try the rest another day,
I will be in no rush to get down to melbourne, and have already figured somewhere between a min of 18 days, but up to maybe 40 days depending (on when murphy comes, and how long he stays)

saltiest1 said...

hey cantswim, do your home work and just go ahead & do it. worked for me, but jedibrad helped out a fair bit and that was irreplacable.
if everyone never took a chance wed all be as boring as toad sh#t.

Damn,....... now the women part,That I can handle,
But no BANANAS!!! now come on,
What do I have with my sundae then,
What other fruit can you batter and deep fry,
Ok, yeh, there is pineapple,
Thats probably on the black list too,

slainte said...
All the rest I agree with Salty......... but really, the woman, who,s gunna get your beer, cook your meals,do all the laborous choirs etc etc .
I think this one's gunna bite me on the Ass

You did not mention "Polishing the Golden Rivet".

G'Day cantswim,
I too posted a similar thread on a different forum a few years ago, I was contemplating a much shorter coastal trip than yours, I had similar prior experience to yours, the overwhelming response was to not do the trip, espescially not alone....some called it a foolhardy adventure.
That was a big reality check for me, I delayed it & I put a lot more preparation into the trip than I otherwise would have & I found an experienced person to come along.
imho sailing on the ocean is a totally different proposition than sailing in sheltered waters, normal rules & expectations dont apply(if you know what i mean?) anything can & does happen.
True being a diesel mechanic changes things considerably, but I have found its the bits attached to the diesel engine that give the biggest problems....water pumps, stern glands, bilge pumps, v-belts, alternators, starters etc etc, you'll need to familiarise yourself with all the marine specific parts of the engine.
I reckon you'll need at least five days of hard sailing/motoring time in sheltered waters to iron out problems with the gear if it hasn't been used for a while....loose bolts, loose shackles, worn out equipment, inadequate gear etc.
Sounds like a great trip tho', & if you do it right, you'll be hooked on sailing & will have found a pastime & lifestyle that could last a lifetime.

Search on the internet for "Robs passage planner"

cheers

My sentiments exactly,
Great to hear from someone else
Thanks Charriot, (your a diamond in the rough!)
I realy appreciate the offer,
There's only a few things that are worrying me at the moment, and all of them will be getting addressed with plenty of attention,

I am hoping to leave soon, end of november maybe,
But things to prepare, equipment to locate, more information to gather, means I'm not sure when yet,
Going by some of the things mentioned to me by the great crew here on seabreeze
I have allot of homework to do yet,
But having someone along who knows more than me means I can probably leave sooner, as the shortcomings I have at the moment may possibly be covered then,
I will let you know If I can get an early start,
If your serious ! how much notice would you need ?
I may need a hand with what food stuffs are best to bring, etc
Winding my small business down early will be the most difficult part,

I'm in half a mind to leave my best friend buddie behind,
As I've done some research into dogs and sea sickness,
He doesn't like motion much, or loud noise,
Here's hoping for a smooth sail

CHEERS

Charriot said...

Catswm, there is no reason why the boat like that, with basic set up and all working
under any condition. can't make it. I prepared the boat for market, took new owner for 4 hours test run. A months later he sail with crew of 3 from Spencer Gulf /SA/ to Sydney. You positively need plotter and liferaft or inflat.dingy and Lukas NSW
/you don't known the coast/ I guess charts you can get away with Crawford's Marines Atlas, you need 2 books, save you heaps. I am between jobs, can help you with one or two weeks but soon. Mid, Dec must be back in Melb.