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Boat work has been all consuming for
the past few weeks as we aim to get as much as possible done before flying
home. The work is a mixture of
fixing faults, general maintenance, getting the boat ready to be left and a few
improvements. On arriving in Tauranga a 'brain dump' of all the jobs to do
produced a list of 103 and we have added a good number since then. So lots
to keep us busy!
The big
fault fixing has been on the engine, fixing oil leaks and trying to check why at
times the engine is making a lot more smoke than expected. Having found a good
Volvo engineer here it wasn’t a difficult decision to let the professionals see
what they could find. The leaks were pressure hoses under the engine that needed
replacement and they took 3 weeks to come from Europe and a week to schedule the
work, so 4 weeks just disappeared. Checking the valve clearances took a day
(with our overhead cam engine) and then there was the sea trial to check it
all and check the smoke. That was inconclusive, but it could be that we are
still running it too lightly and we need to make it work much harder. That’s not always easy when trying to
conserve fuel, but we have been trying to run at full throttle for a while after
a long passage. But it would seem that we could still do better. So if you see a
sailing yacht with no sails up screaming across the horizon at 7 to 8kts under
engine, it’s probably us! It is important to find out what's going on to give us
confidence in it, so sea trials will resume when we return in
September.
The
main improvements included the addition of an AIS Transponder. We could always
receive AIS, but couldn’t transmit, so we could see all the big ships, but they
couldn’t see us. From now on they should be able to. We also moved our main
chartplotter from down below to the cockpit, putting a smaller one in
its place. That should make navigating entrances and channels much easier
and we’ll use radar much more if we don’t have to go down below to switch it on
and see it. So hopefully that will make night watches easier and safer. It all sounds simple to do, but it was a
major rewiring/re-routing job that took nearly 2 weeks and we had to empty
a load of lockers to get at the wires to do it. It's not all quite
finished, but we hope it will be next week. A stainless steel frame is being
designed to take another solar panel, but that's a long way off and a job for
when we return.
To get
the boat ready to be left, all the main working sails have been washed and dried
(by us) and along with the others (we have 7 in all) left with the local
sailmaker for minor repairs and storage until we return. Although they say the
winters here are mild (at most 6 or so light frosts in a bad winter) we have
winterized the engine, generator and outboard motor, just in case. And yesterday
the boat was lifted ashore and we’re now on hardstanding with the anchor on the
bows sticking out almost over the first lane of the dual carriageway that runs
past the boatyard. The boat shakes when heavy lorries go past! Apart from the
road, the yard is good. A nice tarmac surface, water and electricity points
right next to the boat and very friendly and helpful people running
it.
With
only a week to go, it’s panic stages to get the rest of the work that needs to
be done and sort out what we’re taking home. It’s a long way to come back if we
forget something! A certain crew member has classified the ton of (probably
not) gem stones, collected from the South Island, into bags – some to leave on
the boat and some to take home (look out for a low flying overloaded plane over
southern England!).
 One of the ships
being unloaded - we used it as a wind shield during the sea trials (to stop the
exhaust
smoke from being
blown away too quickly so we could check the colour - blue smoke means
burning
too much
oil).
Timber, a common
sight, being loaded up for export.
They have big ships
here. This one is called 'Glorious Sunshine', but not today - lots of
cloud!
On the way up - in
the travelift
The dynaplate is
under this lot! It's all shellfish, with real hard shells. We thought the water
through
the marina was too
fast for anything to grow, but apparently the fast running water carries lots
of
nutrients and
shellfish thrive here. It's well known (but not by us) for its bad
fouling.
Being lowered
into position in the yard. Note the position of the radar and aerials in
relation to the
travelift
bar ..........................
.............. OOPS!
The boat's now on the ground, but the travel lift can't back out without taking
off the
radar and aerials.
Much thought and several failed attempts to get out before plan B
was
put into operation -
build up a number of scaffolding planks for the wheels on this side of
the
travelift to go up,
causing it to lift up and tilt over as it moved out - it
worked!
Couldn't be much
closer to the dual carriageway!
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