Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Working on Boats

The past six weeks I have been working as a boat detailer on Sydney Harbour. I really enjoyed the work, It was outside, on the water, and best of all,  I was actually learning something while I was working! The days went by quickly and I was always very busy. The downside to working on boats is the weather. If there is bad weather, especially rain, there is no point to wash a boat. My job had been going very well until yesterday when my boss gave me his runabout with a list of eight boats that needed to be washed. I was finished with four boats and I had to dash across the harbour to finish the afternoon in a timely manner. I was travelling from the Mossman area to Walsh Bay, which can take up to 30 minutes to drive a boat to. When I was in calm water, I decided to open the throttle and speed across there as fast as I could to save time. After only a few minutes, The engine started to lose speed and started making noises that did not sound welcoming. I slowed down only to have the engine die and a plume of smoke come out of the cowling. I should have known better.

After multiple attempts to re-start the motor, I thought the battery was dead. I was in the middle of the harbour drifting dangerously close to rocks. I had to call marine rescue, and luckily I was found by a police boat just in time. The Police towed my back to the boat ramp we use and I waited for an hour for my boss to  pick me up. Of course he was not pleased, but it was not the end of the world. We finished another boat before heading back to his house to take a look at the motor. After looking for a few minutes, I easily found a hole in the side of the engine block the side of a $1 Australian coin. The motor was worth $4000-$5000 easily but more importantly, it was the business' link to washing boats on the harbour. Without the boat and motor, most of the customer's boats cannot be washed.

Unfortunately I will not be working for my boss anymore. He still wanted me to work for him,but now I just don't feel comfortable anymore. My goal is to still work on boats in the future and I plan on taking a General Purpose Hand course in the coming months. This class is required for anyone who wants to work as a deckhand in Australia. I already have half of the requirements completed with my STCW certificate from the US, so I will only have to take half of the course. I hope to secure new work soon, it had been a stressful time since Christmas when we arrived back in Sydney.