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Action Shorts - made for paraplegics on the go!

  I've been a paraplegic for 43 years and have spent many years sailing the east coast of Australia. I leave the wheelchair hanging off the stern rail and climb and crawl across the boat. Its hard work and pretty hard on the backside too. To prevent injuries from  hot surfaces, pressure  and scrapes I have developed a pair of shorts that mimic the cushioning that regular sailors have in their backside when sitting down. I call them Action shorts. Here I am in Ballina in 1995 coming back from the Solomon Islands on my sloop MoonPenny. I am wearing my Action shorts with a Roho Nexus cushion inside The shorts are made from neoprene and have to full length zips along the front of each thigh all the way to the waist. This allows you to sit on the shorts and zip yourself in. Inside the shorts, in the area which takes the pressure, I have a Roho Adaptor Pad which is an air cushion that can be cut into different shapes. On my latest pair I have a cummerbund fasted by Velcro. The shorts wa
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Recent posts

Woronora River

Motored for two hours to Woronora dodging the sand banks and shallows and anchored south of the bridges for the night.
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Trip to Yarra Bay

 With lockdown ending today we took the boat across Botany Bay to Yarra Bay and spent the night. It was good practice at anchoring storing the dinghy and cooking.  We were joined by my son and his mates who swam out and used the boat as a diving platform Ev cooked a delicious eggplant dish for dinner. Sleeping I found difficult as there was beach party that went all night, they were still there in the morning, amazing stamina terrible singing. It was a glorious sunset that went on forever
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Stove update

 I'm pleased to report that after a few one on one lessons, and much practice I am now proficient at operating the stove! It still has its little quirks but I'm working out those as I go. 😀 See lovely blue heat below.  My breadmaking is not going so well, however I made some pretty tasty flatbread and no bake muesli bars/cookies in preparation for cooking on board without an oven.
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Installing sound proofing

 Finally got around to adding sound dampening  foam around the engine box and it made a big difference. Its a 3cm thick foam with a layer of bitumen in the middle which absorb the sound produced by the engine. Its self adhesive and just requires cutting to size and taping the edges to stop fluid getting into the foam It was very reflective in the sun C utting the sheets to size using a sharp box cutter
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Waiting and Doing

 Stopped in Sydney by the Delta outbreak. For several weeks we weren't even able to visit the boat as it was in a different LGA to where we live. Now the rules have been relaxed to allow us to visit the boat and take it out on Botany Bay. So while we are waiting we have been installing radios and working on the engine. The boat seems mechanically fine now. I removed the turbo as the water cooled exhaust manifold and the turbo put too much weight on the engine studs. View from above the engine showing drilling jig bolted to the exhaust studs So satisfying when the broken stud comes out. Just like pulling out your teeth as a kid
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Stove 1 - Ev 0

 So my most recent wrestle with the Optimus 155 stove  resulted in me breaking it. OK I will also now confess this is the second time I've done it. The piece of the stove used to pressurise the kerosene is called a pump rod and it has an o ring attached to the end to maintain pressure. If you pump the pump rod too hard the o ring comes off and the rod just flaps around loose - therefore you are unable to build up the pressure. The first time I did this Neil replaced the o ring and all was well (when he lit the stove).  When we were last at the boat I set about making tea. Neil said "Why don't you use the little gas back up stove?" Me: "No, I need to master this thing, just start on your lunch and I'll have your tea ready in two hours haha". So off I go pumping like mad to get the little black line up into the green space on the pressure gauge. For safety, we completely let the pressure out of the stove when not in use so I needed to get the pressure up f
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