SV Whimoway - Boat Restoration

Whimoway was purchased in Darwin for the sole purpose of taking us on a 10 year working holiday. She underwent a massive Boat Restoration and has looked after us ever since.

She is a 46 ft ferro-cement ketch built in 1974 in Darwin, NT, Australia and has had several owners, and several adventures that we were to hear about in the 10 months we worked on her in the yard of the Dinah Beach CYA.

Mike is a Shipwright which, along with help from countless friends we made in our time there, is the only reason we were able to return her to her former glory under the minimal budget we had allowed.

Unless you have a huge amount of determination and a fair amount of knowledge about what you are doing, Boat Restoration like this will break both the spirit and the bank balance of those unprepared. Ferro-cement is a great medium for boat construction and is highly under-rated!

Dinah Beach CYA also played a part as places such as this are becoming rare even in Australia, therefore rendering the average person unable to afford a wonderful sailing lifestyle such as ours.

Once the long awaited day arrived when Whimoway returned to the water, we headed to Gove, NT in Arhnem Land, Australia. This trip was designed as both a shake down run and to earn money for our cruising kitty.

Dane and I had the opportunity to work a bit today. I got the forward deck out (it had been sitting in place temporarily) and Dane painted the underside of it to get some sealant there.

While he was on that, I cut the access through Frame A into the small anchor chain well area (nearly forgot that) and reached in and cleaned up some of that. Also got some final sealing done around the chine areas under the forward deck.

When we got done with that, a slapped a quick first coat of paint in the bilge area under the forward deck. I want to at least get it semi-sealed and cleaned up some so that it is a bit more protected (and looks better). Found a few sharp places and things that needed sanded some more.

Time = 3 hours

OK, now that's out of my league. Superyacht and the world of the 200+ foot yacht.

Imagine having a second yacht cruising along astern just to serve as the kitchen since you don't want your guests to smell the cooking.

This looks like it could have a nice application on a boat...

PowerGenix is touting their Nickel-zinc batteries... looks like another possibly interesting technology.

The basic properties inherently found in a nickel-zinc (NiZn) battery make it a very attractive power source for a wide variety of DC-powered devices. Its high energy density and high discharge rate capability make it an ideal solution for applications that demand large amounts of power in a small and lightweight package. Cordless power tools, premium UPS systems, electric scooters, specialty military equipment, and high-intensity DC lighting are among the applications in which rechargeable NiZn batteries are best applied.

I got pointed to their site from this discussion of using their technology in electric scooters. We've had bicycles before (even electric bikes), but a scooter is another interesting transportation alternative for your boat, assuming space allows.

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