On the hard at Dockland 5 Marina, Whangarei
Wind: E F3-4 gentle to moderate breeze
Weather: rain, cool

The week has been mostly sunny and I have been able to progress work on Sylph at a satisfactory rate; though we are still at the stage of pulling things apart and cutting holes in her hull and have not yet started welding things up and putting things back together – hopefully we can start that next weekend. Today has dawned wet and drizzly so a good day for catching up on some paperwork and domestics, in particular the laundry.

Most of the progress this week has been on the unplanned work, namely the corrosion down in the forefoot. This has involved removing the two house batteries, various spares, including some 15 meters of anchor chain, and some internal lead ballast from the inside so as to give me access for cutting and grinding, also to allow welding to eventually take place without setting the boat on fire. One of the house batteries I have relocated to where the dead engine start battery used to live and reconnected it so that we can still have some power for lighting and to keep the little fridge running. Once all that was done, I got stuck into cutting out the wasted steel and have ended up with a couple of large holes, one on either side of the forefoot, to get back to good steel.

With respect to the cable locker, the other big job for this refit, again while no welding has taken place, I have taken the opportunity to de-rust the locker and have started applying some fresh paint to these areas. The steel is a bit thin in places and no doubt at some time in the future will have to be cut out and replaced. I thought about doing it this time round but given that New Zealand is no longer a place where an old sailor can do his own welding on his own boat without jumping through a bunch of complicated bureaucratic hoops, I will leave this for either when it becomes a problem or when I am in a part of the world that still hasn’t quite caught up with modernity.

I had hoped to have had some welding done this weekend but, apart from the rain today, organising the welder has proven more complicated and expensive than I was expecting. I had not taken into account his charges for travel time and setting up, which are significant. Consequently, rather than doing a relatively small job each weekend, which is what I had in mind, I will prepare several jobs for him to do for a whole day’s work. I am hoping that if all goes according to plan than the work can be completed over two weekends.

The other bit of bureaucracy I have encountered this week is related to Mr Trump’s world. I was planning on applying for a USA visa while in New Zealand, but it turns out that the rules have been changed as of last year. Now, according to the relevant website, one has to apply for a visa to visit the USA from one’s country of origin. My voyage plans do not have me arriving in the USA until mid-2027, which is why I had not applied sooner because circumstances can too easily change when planning that far ahead. I intend to see if I can get an exemption to apply for a visa through the US consulate in Auckland, but, if not … well I will worry about that when we get that far.

I had estimated that this refit would take about a month but always expected that there would likely be unanticipated work arising as has proven to be the case. I am still hopeful that we will have everything completed by the end of October, but, of course, will extend as long as is required to get Sylph seaworthy.

All is well.

Cable locker: