Airtime and Magenta in Coongul Creek.                                                                                                                                    

Interior

this is the saloon which is convertible into a huge double berth, see below

this is a very large double berth from which the occupants,( plus any occupants of the front veeberth,)
can watch the flatscreen tv on the main bulkhead. 


   
 

Progress report on development of Airwave 9.9m yacht

In the small Northern Lagoon at Jumpinpin at the Northern end of South Stradbroke Island

At Sandhills on Moreton Island dried out on the sand

sailpast with spinnaker at Green Island

Spinnaker up for the first time at Green Island

Sailing upwind at Green Island on Moreton Bay with Garrie and Steve

The Airwave at the ramp shortly after launch. It really can be motored in about 250-300 mm (10-12 ins) of water

The yacht has now been launched, and seems really good in all aspects. The helm is slightly to weather
as hoped, and the bow and stern are just a few inches out of the water at rest. Electric raisable rudder,
along with all other systems, works well.

We put the sails on the boat to check that all is ok there. As yet there is no insignia on the mainsail.

After some initial jamming caused by slight narrowing fore/aft of the centrecase, the keel is through and
goes all the way up and down with no problems.

This is the pulley system to raise and lower the keel. 4mm rope looks very thin and flimsy but apparently
has a breaking load of 2059kg and so is stronger than the winch. However we have removed one of the
four circuit breakers to hopefully reduce the ultimate strength of the winch so it can't break the rope.
Keel goes up and down very easily which makes us think we could have used a lighter winch. 

 

To see how the Airwave was adapted from the Swarbrick S99, go to this link.

   
 

we now have the trailer for the Airwave. Compare with the Ross 780 trailer on the left.

Ross 780

The Ross 780 has been a quiet achiever in the trailer yacht scene in Australia, with so far 53 boats being made since the mid eighties. The Ross in its present form is the inspiration for the Airwave 9.9m yacht, with the aim being to make the big boat a natural follow-on from the smaller one, with all the controls being in similar position.

Sirocco and Only Time in Coongul Creek

Sirocco sailing across the bay.

 Sirocco at Big Sandhills

our last Ross 780 "Only Time" crossing Moreton Bay

"Only Time" parked in Coongul Creek, Fraser Island, our favourite place in the world.

Cockpit sundowner drinks at Sandhills of Moreton Island.

Our Earlier Ross 780's

Our third Ross 780 "The Serenity" was the first Ross 780 to have 1.9m headroom and the hot shower setup.

Our second Ross 780 "Getting There" was the first Ross 780 with the open transom

Our first Ross 780 was "Greystoke"
 
 

Ross Interior

PULLDOWN TEST

While we were in Coongul creek on one trip we decided to do a pulldown test on the Ross 780. This particular boat had a 243kg

bulb as an experiment. According to the formula in the AYF Blue book the Ross should require a minimum force of 48kg to hold

the boat on its' side from the hounds. As the scale shows it took about 84kg to hold it down, so the boat far exceeds the

AYF pulldown test. The normal keel which is 300kg in a lead section in the bottom of the keel we estimate would result in a

pulldown force of about 75-78kg.

New Ross 780 e  8.2m yacht.

The first  of the new boats has been delivered to Greg Mackrodt for fitting out

Here's a few pictures

The 780 moulds have been altered to improve the cruising abilities and features of this yacht.

the hull and deck have been lengthened to 8.2m. This gives us an extra 200mm of length to the hull in the galley/bathroom area, and an extra 200mm of length to the cockpit.

The keel will be approx 125mm longer to increase stability. Another 30kg of lead will be incorporated in the solid bottom keel section.

 

 

 

On my list of things to do is to use the 32ft 6" Airwave hull to make a classic Moreton Bay Cruiser style boat like this

Seaway 25 Restoration Project

VOLCANO  rebuild.

VOLCANO is a Seaway 25 that was wrecked in Airlie Beach by cyclone ULUI

It was bounced on the rocks for a day or two, and there are many holes and areas of delamination to be fixed.

In addition the deck needs a new cockpit as the old balsa-cored cockpit went soft after being ruined by ingress of water over the years.

These photos show the refurbishment, and are added to almost every day.

Blazer 740 we recently finished off for a friend. Here it is at Inskip Point.

 

 

 

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