wyloyard background

A Map of Australia and NZ showing the Queensland coast.

Map2 the Queensland coast. Cairns to Brisbane. WhitSundays Islands are well located in  the tropical cruising grounds of the Great Barrier reef area.

I was living in North Queensland at the time, it was where my employment was located and had settled into the area a bit. In hind sight, a few key wyloyard selection factors were missed.

Considered a few places but finally spotted an acre block at a reasonable price, made sure that it had 240v power, town water main supply and a telephone junction box out front first..Many blocks around this area were vacant. It was classed as rural-residential and the neighbors were hundreds of meters away so you could theoretically do alot more than a residentialy zoned place. i didnt know much else about site selection but another friend had just bought a block down the road which encouraged me to sign on the dotted line and join the ranks of the landed gentry.

 It was not too far from a very small rural town with a school and police station. Near a nice beach and creek with a boat ramp and fish-n-chips shop. Not to far to drive to clear water streams coming down from forested mountains.  

The area was slowly getting subdivisions near the beach catering for retirees escaping from the cooler climes down south. The developer used the road with acres blocks to get to his golf course development near the beach. Not too many houses up at the time, a  few sheds and caravans that usually preceed a house build. The development had pushed ahead of the market demand, it had been flat for a few years and I couldnt see any reason why the market shouldnt remain like that and the area sparesley inhabited for quite a few more years.

I was later to find that the main draw back was that the  distance to the citys industrial zone is a bit too far (50km). This  requires more notetaking and planning for supplies than if it were just around the corner. One way around this is to have several jobs going at once.

Weather

Most of the time its nice NE-SE winds of the trade winds belt and winters have 25C days and sunny skies. But from November to March cyclone season is on. 

To cope with this sheds and housing must be built to cyclone regulations (or very strongly) to take very occassional hurricane force winds (for any one location). South of the tropic of Capricorn, near Gladstone it is theoretically sub-tropical and clear of the cyclone belt.

Other wylo yards in Queensland.

If you are in southern Queensland, a good place that comes to mind is in Maryborough in old timber mill? sheds beside the river. Its like the "wylo2 central" of this state. Gypsy Boots (originally named Wilpy), Ironbark and Pagan were built here. The yards owner built Ironbarks hull, sand blasted and primed, and it was moved to a 1/2 acre house block on the outskirts of town for fitout and final painting. (This system was also done with a junk rigged wylo2  being built near Cairns awhile ago) . Ironbark has sailed around the world to some very interesting to extreme places. Ironbark in Antarctica, Adventures of Ironbark.

The climate in southern Queensland is significantly cooler than up here the far north and i think this may increase building speed alot. Maryborough is also south of the cyclone belt. However, there can be riverside floods so a  block on higher ground for fittout  is a major factor there.

Car selection

To start the car needs to be a tough and/or old one that can carry or tow materials. I happened to already have an old 1970 XY Falcon 500 station wagon with a towbar.  It was a good car for it. A large straight 6 cylinder engine and automatic gearbox. It had 2 roof racks clamped to the gutters and i welded up a carrying frame to bolt to the front bumper bar. It wasnt too high so this allowed me to load on sheets of masonite (for templating) or 6m long angle irons etc. The back seat folded forwards to form a long storage bay inside.

This one is similar to my XY  (minus the venetian blinds)

The 2nd car. A 1986 Nissan E23 Urvan.  Light commercial van with 2 litre 4cylinder engine up front. 3 roof racks on top for long stuff and a large cargo bay inside. Large rear lift door and big side loading door.

I was away from the build awhile and the above 2 trusty cars above eventually slipped away in the sands of time. 

 

The 3rd and present car. Toyota Hilux Workmate ute (pick up truck). Its a rear wheel drive and has a sizeable aluminium tray at back, with 3 dropsides, which can carry 8x4ft sheets and a 700kg maximum tray load.  The singlecab has a 3 person bench seat and is simple/old style regarding the handbrake, window winders, quarter windows etc. The 4 cylinder engine is 2.7 Litres which is a fair ammount of hauling power. (sorry pic is off the net, my computers in at the tech-doctors)

Have added a rear window protection grille and ladder carrying rack (latter for long items) from Meteor Fabrications.

Today the tow bar (and electrics) went on at Bob Parkes Muffers. Their Aitkenvale workshop was damaged in the Townsville Tornado last week on 20th March 2012 (5am). The towbar guys moved to the main shop and didn't miss a beat. It's heavy duty, 180kg ball weight and can tow up to 1800kg. 

Summary

• Find a cool climate
• The yard should be near a fair sized town with industrial services
• But away from residential zones and near neighbors
• Tool shed and preferably a roof over the hull site.
• Live and work at the same site (or nearby).
• A good workhorse car. A commercial van or utility best.