checking out a houseboat

[Razgo-]

My wife and i checking out a houseboat for hire at paradise houseboats coomera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sag_ET1Bp4Q

[Razgo-]

as a follow up to this as it turns out they had a more appropriate boat for us. I took this video yesterday. The problem with the first boat was my wife being wheelchair bound she wouldn't get a good view from inside the boat. so this other one has a nice wide veranda we can site out on and throw a line in.

The only downside is it will easily rock about should a boat come racing by so i will have to be aware of that.

Hopefully the next video will be of me reeling in a fish off the veranda!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YRZe8jaYHs

[Fish Guts]

hope you have a good trip when the time comes. that second one i hired out yonks ago with a pack of loose blokes. is that second boat called 'black mac'. we hired out one identical to that one from same crowd, pretty sure its the same boat. went loose on it for a good week down there. you could drive to new zealand in her mate shes a goer. all the best and have fun.

just as a side note. if you decide on the company above ensure you do a full check over the safety gear on board. hired from them and found extingusihers were out of date ect. so best to double check.

cheers

fish guts

[Razgo-]

yep, it's the blackmac. Apparently they had all the 12 star sign boats but 5 of them caught on fire and burned. something to do with previous bad management and gas bottles.

The blackmac is identical to the "AQUARIUS " but with the exception that the kitchen table does not collapse into another berth. So that makes the blackmac a little cheaper but the same size 40' as the others. The "VIRGO" is the same as blackmac but it has fixed lounge/sofa which i think just means they can't be moved around.

The huge 50' "PARADISE PRINCESS " I would imagine give better stability less rocking in the water and had a lot of space in the forward area but simply lacked that front deck veranda.

Otherwise they are all good boats for sure.

I looked at several coomera boats but they were mostly over priced. They had more gadgets onboard etc... but doesn't really justify the cost for only 2 people :)

I did find one perfect boat called the Blue Horizon that has a short rear deck good enough to sit out on and it was air conditioned which my wife really needs(MS). But the biggest flaw apart from the $2,500 price tag was that the captains chair was fixed to the floor which meant a wheelchair could not come up to the helm or swing right of the helm into a perfect bedroom with good water views.

So opting for less gadgets and more practical front deck the "blackmac" seemed to be the most suitable.

I will still have to bring a generator onboard just in case. I will be buying a 100AH battery to run my wifes air pressure mattress and feed pump which uses very little power but don't want to risk the boat batteries.

The generator I would use to charge the battery if it needed it. I am also looking at making up a soundproof box for the gen too.

So a few more plans and things to do first but have to wait for cooler weather anyway.

[JEWIENEWIE]

I must comend you mate. Your wife is very lucky to have a man like you around. I am sure you will have many pleasurable hours on the water with your wife whichever boat you choose to hire.:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Jewie

[Razgo-]

Oh, i got those boats mixed up. It was the Virgo that second boat i filmed. The blackmac is the same barring colour and the table that doesn't fold inot a berth.

Thanks Jewie, Yes she loves getting out whenever we can. We spent almost 10 years indoors and over 3 of them inside a hospital. But last year March she finally stopped being too sick to go anywhere. went from 19KG year 2000 to 2004-5 until finally getting more weight on to 40KG by 2007. she has been battling the effects of MS since 1984. we were married at the age of 28(now 45), and her health nose dived a few years later so we kind of missed out on our 30's. so we are now living our 30's in our 40's if that makes any sense :)



So the last year has seen us out and about more often now. So i continually try to come up with things for us to do withing the restricted lifestyle we have. So houseboating is this years plan :)

Last year saw us hire a mobile home to visit her sick mum with emphysema and heart condition in Toowoomba. hadn't seen her for about 6 years i think. so we have been building on that ever since.

I think just being near sea water is a good thing health wise.

[JEWIENEWIE]

Mate, again i cannot comend you enough for what you and the missus must have been and are going through. I to believe the ocean to be a great healer or therapy for any and many conditions. Two thumbs up to your wife for taking up the battle, and even more for you in giving her a life that she can enjoy. Life holds many barriers that are there to be knocked down.
There are to many people in this world who are able and sit on their arse and do nothing and just as many who are unable but do get off theirs. Keep me posted on how it all goes and keep your face pointing into the sun and you cannot see the shadows!;)
Jewie

[tigermullet]

Hi Razgo can we expect to see you at Tiger Mullet channel sometime soon? Easter perhaps?

[Razgo-]

Yes i am aiming for April. Haven't booked anything yet but yeah I wanted to see the bedrooms, tiger mullet, and I wanted to go around Russell Island and back.

But i will update here when i get dates worked out. We are certainly looking forward to it :)

[tigermullet]

In that case I hope that we get an 'early' run of Bream and Jew in April.

With luck the seasons will begin to return to normal and April will be good, at least for the first couple of weeks. The bream used to come in around the first two weeks of April and then go away again until the second week in May.

I hope you do well and throughly enjoy it.