The
BoatWorks Boat Yard turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant experience as boat
yards and boat hauling goes…but as with everything else in Australia it is very
expensive. But as the old saying goes…”you get what you pay for” and to their
credit, everything, from the office and yard staff, to services outlets and
chandlery were world class. And the good
news was that EVERYTHING was included. WiFi and courtesy cars were available 24/7, the laundry facilities were
clean, and sufficiently numerous with large loading machines to accommodate the
heaviest of wash and dry. A cruisers
lounge was available with TV, WIFI and a small kitchen facility. We managed in a short period of time to get an
amazing amount of work done including our canvas and hawser repairs, bottom
painting, hull clean and polish and our first application of a product called
Prop Speed which is a high-speed prop and shaft anti-fouling.
To give you an idea of their attitude, the morning we splashed, we determined that we had transmission issues. One of the dock line handlers said..."no worries mate, just sit right here and we'll get you sorted"...turned out that unassuming and friendly guy was none other than the owner of
BoatWorks, Mr. Tony Longhurst. He sure knows how to take the stress out of life and we highly recommend this facility.
This is also where we met Evan.
Evan is an
awesome mechanic and a fun plainspoken man with a big heart and more knowledge
re Perkins than anyone I have met thus far.
Our relationship started with him coming aboard to do a 30 minute tappet
adjustment and ended weeks later with a complete engine overhaul…but it was
well worth the money and the time. We
enjoyed getting to know him and would highly recommend him to any and all
cruisers who share his love of all things Perkins.
Our friends Brian and Eva Sv Zofia had invited us to join them for an early morning Anzac day celebration (Australian Remembrance Day). Brian told me we would enjoy a leisurely breakfast and at 7 and continue on to the ceremony. The reality was...we left the boatyard at 0400 (0 Dark Hundred) drove an hour and a half, waited in line for 45 minutes to get on a bus to ride another 45 minutes to a crowed parking lot where we watched the festivities on a big screen because there were so many people we couldn't get close enough to actually see anything...then the buffet breakfast that he had promised turned out to be maybe the WRROORST Eggs Benedict I have ever eaten. If it wasn't for the fact that we really do enjoy being in the company of these two...it might have been a disaster...but alas, we had fun.
Our last day
at the BoatWorks we were moored next to a handsome Motor Vessel named Speranza. We were admiring their canvas and they ours, as it was quite similar.
The owners are William and Allison and little did we know at the time
just how much fun we would have with these two.
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