Portland, Victoria
3/3/15 The Great Trolley Debate
Arrival in a town or port, on each leg of our
sailing adventure, gives us the opportunity to replenish stocks of food, water
and fuel and that is usually a major undertaking.
On the completion of most legs or stages, we will
need to take on a couple of weeks of food, 100 litres or more of fuel and a
couple of hundred litres of water.
Fresh water is usually the easiest commodity to
replenish if we are in a marina. Most marinas have a tap right next to the
berth.
For fuel, many marinas have a fuel berth. Problem is
that most fuel berths are built out of tough materials like wood and steel. Not
a good mix with polished white fiberglass! They are usually built for
bigger boats and quite high out of the water. So scrambling off Easy Tiger and
passing the thick, black, dirty, heavy pump hoses down, then swapping sides is
not for the feint hearted. One of the few times Leanne and I have had a bit of
a bingle on Easy Tiger was trying to get off a fuel wharf with the wind
against us.
To counteract these problems we have 8 20litre jerry
cans, 4 for fuel and 4 for fresh water. We also have 2 jerrys for unleaded fuel
that's used in the generator and the dinghy engine.
These all have to be taken to the nearest service
station and filled. Add to this 2 weeks worth of grocery shopping, and 20 kilos
of washing, there is plenty that has to be transported back to the boat.
Fortunately, in every port, without fail we have met
some amazing, generous and helpful people who have offered to either take us to
the shops or, in most cases have leant us a vehicle. The problem then is,
getting from the vehicle to the boat. For example in Streaky Bay, I had to
completely refill our fresh water tanks which are about 600 litres, using four
jerry cans (84 litres at a time). Geoff and Heather Georgiou very kindly loaned
us their ute and donated rain water form their home tanks. But
then I had to get the full jerry cans from the vehicle to the dinghy
at the other end of the jetty, a 200 metre walk.
I had predicted this problem while we were in Albany
at the start of our around Australia Sailing adventure. There I purchased a $19
sack trolley. The problem with this was, that I could only fit 2 jerry cans on
it at a time and the weight of 2 full jerry cans made it quite hard to tip and
push.
The other problems with this sack trolley were that
it didn’t fold down at all, so one hadn’t to be a bit of a magician to put it
into the front storage locker on Easy Tiger and being $19 worth of metal
trolley meant that my $19 worth of value ran out on the jetty at Streaky Bay on
about the fourth trip back and forth along the jetty. The wheels suddenly
became the one part of trolley that folded up, pity they weren’t supposed to.
When we were preparing for our sailing adventure we
somehow came across an aluminium folding sack trolley. These are great because
they fold down virtually flat which takes away the need for magician’s skills
when storing it.
Unfortunately, with the weight of just one full
jerry can and rolling over a slightly rough service, this trolley folds down
virtually flat, ready for storage!
While we were in Crown marina in Adelaide, people
from another boat went by, pulling a four wheel tow along trolley. Thinking
that they were off a boat on the other side of the marina, we knocked on their
door and asked them to have a look. Right boat, wrong trolley. Although
these people showed us trolley was a Claxo, sort of like a shopping trolley
that folds down flat. It was obviously very well engineered and being poly, it
wouldn't rust. They were very proud of it.
I wasn’t convinced that this was the right trolley
for us though, as the wheels were only small and I couldn’t see them rolling
easily over rough surfaces with four full jerry cans of diesel in the trolley.
We were sitting out the back of Easy Tiger
“discussing” the merits of my ideal trolley and Leanne’s ideal trolley, when
the guy in the boat next to us happened along, pulling a four wheel garden cart
type trolley. We set on him with a thousand questions mostly all at once, “does
it fold down? Is it rust proofed? How heavy a load can it bare? Where did you
get it? How much was it?” After trying to answer all our questions he
referred us to the nearest Bunnings store.
We got to Bunnings not long after and wandered
around looking at wheelbarrows and sack trollies. No 4 wheel garden carts in
stock. We considered another type of folding trolley but having experienced the
folding up of the folding trolley and the difficulty of pushing and tilting
heavy loads over rough surfaces, I could see the benefits of the 4 wheel pull
along “wagon”. Without one to demonstrate though we were far from convinced.
The trolley debate went on hold as we left Adelaide
for Kangaroo Island. After Kangaroo Island we arrived in Robe ready to
replenish fuel and food and take washing to the caravan park. A walk around the
town first to track down the location of each service we required was done on
the first day.
Leaving the Foodland and looking across at the local
hardware store, I was stopped in my tracks! The perfect trolley sat out the
front of Mitre 10. It was a four wheel pull along garden wagon, with a poly
bin! Leanne and I raced acros the road grabbed the trolley and took it for a
test drive. It rolled along nicely, Leanne could both steer it and pull it with
me in it. It seemed to be easily able to take my weight ok. $105 seemed like a
good price. YEP, this was it. The perfect trolley.
The lady from Robe mitre 10 delivered it to the
boat. We had people on board for morning tea. As soon as they left, it was into
assembly mode. BUT, before we could assemble, Leanne decided to give it a coat
of rust guard. But where to spray paint? Off we went over to the sand dunes
behind the sailing club. No problems there with over spray. Then we waited for
6 hours for the paint to dry. I was really hanging out to take for a spin.
Next morning we had the super trolley assembled and
packed. Four Jerry cans for diesel from the servo and a big bag of washing to
be delivered to the caravan park a mere kilometer and a half away.
To say I got some strange looks as a I wheel my
loaded garden cart down the main street of Robe, would be an understatement.
They might have though we were homeless people, or, you know, not quite all
there. Either way they gave me a wide berth. I got even stranger looks as I
towed it up and down the aisles of Foodland with only a loaf of bread and a
lettuce in it.
When I had the 4 jerry cans in it, the young guy at
the servo asked me if I was preparing for Armageddon or the end of the world. I
said yeah something like that and gave a nervous twitch just to add good
effect.
But I didn’t care. The trolley will be super handy
when it comes to getting our provisions from point a to point b. The debate has
now changed form what type of trolley to where the hell do we store it.
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| The super trolley / wagon loaded with 4 jerry cans and 2 weeks washing, ready for it's maiden run. |
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