Bunyip

[michael]

Yeah it'd be good if thwe bloody engine would work!! I've gotta take it in to get checked out cos I've fixed it so much as my knowledge. Girlfriend got me some oars for Xmas, so have taken the row locks off the clinker, will clean them up and fit them to bunyip so I can at least row properly without a shovel!

[michael]

With over 3inches of rain in the past 24hrs Bunyip filled up and nearly went under, if it wasn't for the bow rope! So this morning I've had to pump her out, she back out of the water and i'l wash her out and hopefully fit the row locks sometime this week.

[Roderick Smith]

Viewers/readers can see here the source of my earlier comment in this thread 'bridge with clearance only for a riderless kayak'.
After a disaster, modellers can always hoist their boats out of the water on a sling, and work in the clubroom or home workshops.  Owners of full-size boats have to solve disasters where they happen (see Jessie II blown ashore in a different thread).
It would have been nice to submerge lower, and cruise under the bridge to the Goulburn.  That technique is used by Rhine cruisers (AFAIK the screw or water jet ones, not the paddle ones) at low bridges: fill the ballast tanks, sink the lower-deck cabins underwater, get under the bridge, then empty the ballast tanks again.
However, it is important with Bunyip not to get the pentaphonic stereo speakers soaked.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[thewharfonline]

Reminds me of one of the vessels which brought the dredging barges into the bay. They were all stacked on top, massive things, and to get them off the boat submerges itself and they float off.

Seems like a well used trick.

Sean

[Roderick Smith]

A message from Michael 2 weeks ago: 'bought a 9.9hp outboard motor for Bunyip today, with fuel tank, also got some timber so I can build a floor inside the hull. So I should be cruising the irrigation channels this weekend'.  I have had phone confirmation that the inaugural cruise has happened.  Michael will post the full details when he is able retrieve the photos to upload with the message.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[michael]

Thanks Roderick, I still haven't got the camera off the girlfriend with the SA trip. I took Bunyip out again today, this time on the back dam, last week was on a irrigation channel. This time I brought our english backpacker with me, he was hungover last weekend! Spent a hour just doing laps up and down and a few donughts aswell just to get the fell of it all. Was a great time. Sean is due to be up this week so hopefully il get hime out on ther water.

[thewharfonline]

Looking forward to it, she looks sweet!

Sean

[steamboatmodel]

Is that the "english backpacker" in the last photo?
Regards,
Gerald.

[michael]

Over the last month I have spent alot of time and money on Bunyip, it is now registered aswell as the trailer, which has got its lights, and another coat of paint. I got Bunyips name made up aswell as 'Merrigum' the place where she now calls home! I have also given its deck a second coat of varnish and will have that fitted tomorrow, aswell as giving the top deck a new coat of varnish. The hull has been scratched in a few places so will require some touch up too.

[Roderick Smith]

I suspect that Michael is too busy boating to post.
I had a message tonight (Tues.26.8) that he had cruised Bunyip from Shepparton to Mooroopna.  This is Victoria's own mighty Goulburn River, but below Goulburn Weir.  It is good that there was sufficient water.  I crossed the middle Goulburn at Seymour a few days ago, and it was well up.  Meanwhile, Australia is having the best ski season for over a decade.  The spring runoff could be substantial, and replenish (but not fill) depleted reservoirs and rivers.
Michael hopes to have more Goulburn cruising on Saturday.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[michael]

Bunyip has been moored at the port of Echuca this past month as I have been able to use it after work and on days off.
Today being Melbourne Cup Day (state holiday) I spent the day cruising, up the Murray, nearly to Cape Horn, past the PS Murrumbidgee wreck, but nothing to see. Then up the Goulburn, stopped in at PV Florence Annie which was moored a couple of bends in, then proceeded to Stewarts Bridge, with the river up a little I managed to get through and head up a few more bends before turning around and heading back to the port (a good hour cruises).

[mjt60a]

That looks great fun  (seating looks like it's comfortble too!)

[Roderick Smith]

With Michael having moved on to PV Struggler, his first boat is no longer prime news.  However, it was damaged in a paddleboat incident, and was winched out of the water and taken back to Michael's house to be repaired.  The outboard motor had not been on the boat at the time.

Michael: Poor boat was tied up beside PS Britannia and he had the wheels turning over and crashed her arse! Had to winch her up the steep bank this morning and brought her home, now have to fix her up, so won't be going anywhere in her for a while!

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor