Great Barrier Island 36 10.39S 175 21.43E
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Wed 18 Apr 2012 10:46
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The new pipes/hoses were fitted on Monday and all looked good
after an initial trial with the Volvo engineer onboard. The next day involved a
much longer trial with no engineer and the engine was given a heavy
workout. This produced a smear/trace of oil on a couple of
the 6 nuts involved, but this was considered to be residual oil
working it's way out of the screw threads when the engine got hot.
So the engine was given a good clean once again and another sea trial took
place. We've carried out a good number of sea trials now - out of the marina,
head for Rangitoto until a depth of 50ft, then turn around and head back to
the marina, turnaround again and back out heading for Rangitoto
again and so on until the hour was up - the locals must have thought we were
mad! The trial showed that the nuts giving concern were fine, but on
one of the other nuts there was just the faintest trace of oil. This
was put down to residual oil again and we decided we had seen enough - it was
time to leave. So the rest of the day was spent packing everything away and we
headed out this morning for Great Barrier Island, 43 miles distant to the
northeast.
Despite the forecast of a southeast wind, it wasn't, being
more easterly or even north of east at times. So it was a close haul sail most
of the way with a mix of wind from less than 6kts, to 15kts, but with full sail
up we were making 6.5 to 7kts during the better parts of the day and
arrived late afternoon. Great Barrier Island is a remote island with
original bush (forest) and no development. It's about 24 miles long and 14
miles wide at its widest part. With no development on the island (e.g. no
electricity) people say it's what New Zealand was like 50 years ago.
Few people live there and there are many walking tracks and wildlife trails to
explore. The main anchorages are in Port Fitzroy - an almost
landlocked waterway with joined valleys and inlets covering quite
a large area - it took almost 1 hour 40 minutes to motor from when we
reached the southern entrance to finally dropping the anchor. With wooded hills
all around, it's a beautiful anchorage and very, very quiet - once the
engine was off, all we could hear was birdsong. The southern entrance, Man O'War
Passage, is quite special, being through cliffs and wooded hills and
being very narrow - down to only 80 yards wide at it's narrowest
point.
A quick look at the engine this evening and all hose
joints and nuts were completely dry - no trace of oil. So it's looking good. But
the first set of hoses from Volvo were okay for their first 18 hours and
then started to leak, so we'll not get too excited until they've been on for 20
hours or more. For those who want to see what all the fuss was about,
some pictures or pipes, plus one of Great Barrier.
 The new Volvo pipes - the first set failed after
18 hours, the second set after just 1 hour!
 The Hose Doctor pipes that were fitted 2 days
ago.
 The Volvo crimps - the source of the
problems.
 The Hose Doctor version - considerably
more substantial.
 Port Fitzroy on Great Barrier Island. The
snaking red line shows the route we took to where we are
now.
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