Preparing for an ocean voyage can be a mission, as we also have to prep the things we are leaving behind. Like cars and house (pool, garden etc.).
And we also have the business. Thankfully we now have some amazing staff that take the load off and run the business while we are away.
After returning from our adventure to Princess Charlotte Bay last year, we were hooked!
PREPARING FOR AN OCEAN VOYAGE
The longest we had spent on our 40 foot Black Watch Mood Swings was 22 days.
So this trip, with no end date, could be literally months.
Roles
Basically Ryan and I take two different roles.
I stock the boat with food and get the house ready etc. and he preps the boats and ensures all maintenance is up to date.
Plus we have all the spares we need to go.
Thankfully we have my good friend PJ who house sits for us, which takes a huge load off regarding the house.
PJ loves going fishing and often competes with Ryan when she comes along.
And this time is coming along for the first few days before busing it back from Cardwell.
Our deckie for the first leg of the journey is our mate Evatt.
Evatt came along on the Princess Charlotte Bay trip and is also one of our original Barra Basics course students.
Shopping
When preparing for an ocean voyage we like to do our shopping in batches.
Mood Swings has an upright bar fridge, an upright bar size freezer, a large chest freezer and an elongated fridge in the flybride.
Plus a ton of space to store dry goods.
- All the bulky stuff that has to be repacked and packaging removed. Possibly frozen.
- All the fresh fruit and veges on the day before departure.
Preparing the boats
On this occasion, the major issue we faced preparing for our ocean voyage was on the tender.
Our rather large tender sporting a 150HP motor.
After our last trip, we had all the injectors replaced due to a freak accident.
The fenders rubbing between the two boats, twisted the fuel breather shell upside down on the Blue Boat.
As a result, in big seas it acted as a pickup and filled the fuel tank with water.
The injectors were all replaced under insurance. But then one was faulty and a month before the trip and it leaned out and tore the top off the piston.
Thankfully there was a spare engine block in the country and Chris from Port Douglas Marine worked tirelessly to get us back in the game.
The trials and tribulations of our experience preparing for an ocean voyage is in our Episode 1 video below.
Some of the challenges preparing for an ocean voyage.
So stay tuned as over the next 10 weeks as we take you along on our adventure.
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FISH FINDER FUNDAMENTALS
Having a productive trip when going remote is easier with a good understanding of your sounder.
Sounder Skills is only $20 Australian at the moment and well worth a look.
If you don’t learn anything let me know and I’ll give you your money back.
Alternatively, there are a multitude of free resources in past blogs and free trainings.
