Engine troubles at Slaughter's Gutter



Farewell East Coast Marina.

Finally all the odds and ends had been tidied up and Arjuna was set to depart from Brisbane. The final elusive bearing for the autopilot and been tracked down and the car had been repaired.

The First Mate set off to undertake some serious Provisioning. Now that she had lived on a boat for 7 weeks she no longer had time for such phrases as  "grocery shopping" or "popping down to Aldi". Arjuna was sitting somewhat lower in the water packed to the hilt with stores enough to last for weeks (possibly months) as well as plenty of frozen bait so that we could live from the bounty of the sea.

Wednesday the 26th March the planned day of departure dawned and we woke to a strong wind warning and torrential rain which continued until Friday. The crew made the best of it and stayed warm and cosy below decks eating their way through large swathes of the carefully laid provisions. It appeared that the Second and Third Mate were going through growth spurts and required about 6 meals per day.

The First Mate abandoned ship and headed up to Mooloolaba by road on a Fact Finding Mission to stay in a flash hotel with hot running water and drink mojitos by the beach with friends for the weekend. The Captain struggled on back at the marina, short order cooking up a storm with the remaining 5 weeks worth of provisions in order that the crew might continue to grow and thrive.

After the false start, the crew of Arjuna finally farewelled Manly on Monday 31st of March and the Captain plotted a course towards the Big Sandhills on the west coast of Moreton Island. Moreton Island, like Fraser and North Stradbroke, is a sand island. The Big Sandhills are a landmark that are clearly visible from Brisbane on a clear day.

Chart me a course to that Big Sand Hill.

After a lovely sail in the 10-15 knot south easterly winds we neared our destination, fired up the trusty Yanmar diesel engine and dropped sail. The Third Mate was the first to notice that something didn't sound right and it soon became apparent that circulating water for cooling the engine wasn't doing its thing. Soon after that engine alarms started sounding. The Captain retained his composure under pressure while the rest of the crew delighted in scaring each other with many alarming theories and possibilities. We hastily made our way into shore to shut down the engine and drop anchor midway between the Big and Little Sandhills of Moreton Island in an anchorage known as Slaughter's Gutter.

While the name sounds dramatic it is yet another beautiful anchorage on Moreton Bay. The First Mate wondered whether the name was related to the old days when Tangalooma (which is further north up the coast) was a whaling station but after some more reading discovered that it was actually related to a camp that the Slaughter family of Brisbane used to have on shore on the island. The crew were extremely keen to go ashore and climb the sand hills but first the engine needed to be attended to.

Pristine Moreton Island on Brisbane's doorstep

The Captain and Second Mate spent the next few hours in the engine compartment emerging occasionally to sift through a vast array of spare parts that the First Mate had almost tossed out some weeks earlier in an effort to clear space for the crew to sleep. Fortunately the Captain had smuggled them Millenium Falcon style in one of the many subfloor spaces on the boat, where the First Mate couldn't accidentally declutter them. After much muttering about impellers and split hoses and referencing MacGyver and Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance and Repair Manual, finally the problem was fixed. Apparently the Captain had learnt something about engines at university and had not spent his whole time dreaming of the sea after all.

Vlad the Impeller

By this time it was too late to go ashore so attention turned to catching something to replenish the provisions that were rapidly dwindling after 8 hours at sea. A variety of sea creatures were caught and returned  to the ocean, none of them edible.


Not an eating fish

The next day we set out for the beach and to climb the sand hills. The water was so clear that from the top of the sandhills a number of marine animals could be seen swimming over the sandy bottom. There were plenty of turtles, dolphins and sting rays. No dugongs however.

Looking for dugongs

Three nights were spent at Slaughter's Gutter finishing up the end of term schoolwork. The Captain, Second Mate and Ship's monkey were able to squeeze in a quick visit to one of the Second Mate's classmates on the island between tides. The tides go out a long way here requiring dragging the dinghy across about 500m of sandbar if a trip ashore is mistimed.