8 December 2014 Whangarei, New Zealand
We were up early, dropped our lines and motored out of the marina, through the bridge and then a mile along the river to Norsand Boat Yard. After waiting for twenty minutes for another boat to clear the slipway, we tentatively inched our way onto the holding dock - the slipway at Norsand is tidal and they can only launch and haul boats at high tide and there are some scary mud banks either side of the small channel.
Up to now, we've been hauled out on “travel lifts” where the boat is lifted on two slings, but here they push a large trolley down the slipway and the boat is floated onto the trolley. Side arms are positioned to hold the boat vertical and the whole trolley (with the boat) is trundled out of the water using a huge tractor. It’s a bit laborious and slow, but seems to be a safe way to get the boat out of the water.
After Alba was pressure-washed to get rid of any weed and barnacles, we were moved to our home for the next two months. Glenys and I then spent the rest of the day sorting out the electrics, water supply and grey water. All of our four sinks drain out through holes in the hull, which at sea is convenient way to dispose of waste water. On the hard, it’s not good to have smelly, old dish water being dumped under the boat, so we had to push hose-pipes up our skin fittings, which drain into containers to catch the grey water.
Toilets are even more of a challenge when on the hard. Normally, our toilets are flushed by sea water and the waste is dumped out to sea. Obviously this is not going to work on land, so we have to use the land based toilets provided by the boat yard. However, this is a little inconvenient at night.
Imagine awaking up feeling short at 4 o'clock in the morning and having to get dressed, climb down a 20 foot ladder and walk 100 metres to the toilet – not a good prospect. The solution to this little problem is to use a bucket as a chamber pot. This obviously creates a minor problem in the morning as the effluent has to be disposed of. Norsand fortunately provide a big, special drain to dispose of this grey water and, every morning, many people can be seen doing the walk of shame to the drain with a bucket.
9 December 2014 Whangarei, New Zealand
This was our first day of doing jobs and we weren't very enthusiastic about it. I removed the pipework from three sea-cocks in engine room and inspected them. As expected, two sea-cocks need to be ripped out because they are seized and leaking. Despite my best efforts, there was no way that I could move either of them because there isn't enough space to get a large spanner in there, so I gave up.
I spent the rest of day pulling other things apart - removing the dodgy starter switch from the engine control panel and a broken pipe fitting from the water cooler for engine. I then sent off emails asking for quotes from UK and NZ suppliers to decide where to buy the replacement parts.
In the afternoon, I talked to the yard manager, Peter, about the various jobs that I'm doing and he offered some good advice and seems very willing to provide people to assist me to do jobs if I get stuck, which is just what I want.
Peter had a look at our anti-foul paint, which has been giving us problems for two years, with big patches falling off. He agreed with me that it was time to remove all the old anti-foul paint and start again. To get a quote for doing the work, I agreed to let one of his guys scrape off a one metre section of the paint, which took him about an hour. Our hull below the water line is 42 square metres, so Peter reckons that there’s 40 hours’ work to remove the paint and another 20 hours to sand and fill the hull to prepare for paint. He’s then given me an estimate for three coats of epoxy and two coats of anti-foul paint – the total is £2,800! I've turned to drink.
10 December 2014 Whangarei, New Zealand
I woke up agonising about whether to bite the bullet and get the bottom paint done properly now or wait until we get to Thailand next Christmas. The estimate is split £2,000 for labour and £800 for materials. Labour is probably a third of the cost in Thailand, so we would probably save £1,300, but we’ll have to spend £500 on doing a bodge job now, so realistically, we’ll only save about £800 and will have hassle for the next year with patches falling off.
After breakfast, I told the yard to go ahead with scraping the hull and putting in epoxy. I'm assuming that they will do a very good job and it’s worth paying the £800 premium to get the epoxying done properly - the last thing that I want it osmosis bubbles in the fibreglass.
I spent most of the morning running around town talking to suppliers and buying a few things. I've found a guy to make a new window for the windscreen, which shattered in St Lucia 3 years ago and I replaced with a “temporary” piece of Perspex. I've also found someone to test and tune our propeller which hasn't been looked at since we bought the boat.
Glenys dropped the anchor and chain onto the ground and removed all the anchor markers ready to switch ends. The galvanising on the half that gets used most is already starting to look a bit thin, whereas the other half looks pristine. She then started to measure up for some changes to our bimini and the various side flaps that zip onto it to protect us from rain and horrible weather.
In the afternoon, I ground off the outside of my two jammed sea-cocks. There was no chance of unscrewing them from the inside so the idea was to grind off the outside and then knock the whole assembly through the hull. The grinding went okay, but the hull fittings seem to be epoxied in place and I can’t shift them.
I took my trusty lump hammer and smacked the valve assemblies to try to loosen them and to my horror, one of the valves snapped off. Looking at the fracture, the phosphor bronze looks very red which is an indication of galvanic corrosion where the zinc is leached out of the bronze leaving behind copper. This is not a good thing - I might have an electrical problem causing stray electrical currents, which is slowly dissolving the metal fittings on our boat…
11 December 2014 Whangarei, New Zealand
I finally managed to remove both skin fittings. Peter, the Yard Manager, came over and showed me how to knock them out using a big bolt as a drift and a lot of brute force. He got the first one moving and left me to it. I managed the first one but the second wouldn't budge.
Peter came back and we got one of the yard mechanics to make up a piece of ¼” mild steel plate that just fitted inside the bore and wedged against some lugs. Using a huge spanner, we managed to twist it loose and I then hammered it out using brute force and ignorance.
I spent a couple of hours spread eagled across the engine working on our PSS seal stern gland which is in a dark recess low in the engine room. This bit of gear is supposed to be a maintenance free way of stopping water coming into the boat along the rotating propeller shaft, but it’s been spraying out a thin mist of sea water ever since we had it installed two years ago. It was also making a knocking sound, so for the past year, we've had a bit of elastic shock cord holding it up.
After a lot of cursing and grunting, I managed to get it all apart and, after cleaning it up, it looks to be in good condition. The problem seems to be that the propeller shaft is not running central in the stern tube and the bellows were put on at a slight angle meaning that the face of the carbon bearing was being forced at an angle. It looks like all I need to do is to re-align the engine and put it all back together.
Glenys has started measuring up the bimini….
We aren't able to run our fridges while on the hard because they are normally cooled by sea water, so we jumped at the chance to buy a portable cooler from another boat for only £25. It’s improved our standard of life by a few notches because we now have cold beer and orange juice.
12 December 2014 Whangarei, New Zealand
We borrowed a car in the morning and did some serious running about. I was hoping to get our empty propane tank tested and filled, but they wouldn't test it because it was too old. Instead the guy sold me a second-hand tested one for £15, which is what I would have paid to have ours tested. It’s a steel tank and no use for long term use on the boat, but we can use it while we’re here in New Zealand.
I dropped the scuba tanks off at a dive shop, who will inspect and replace the o-rings on the valve, but they can’t give us a visual inspection ticket because they are US tanks without the proper New Zealand standards markings.
I also dropped off our propeller to be inspected and cleaned up, then ordered a new window for our windscreen. Having completed our main chores, we did a big shop at the supermarket and bought a few crates of beer and other heavy stuff.
We just pottered about in the afternoon.
13 December 2014 Whangarei, New Zealand
All my Raymarine gear arrived this morning, including a new radar, a 9 inch chart plotter, a spare autopilot drive and a new fluxgate compass for our auto pilot. I spent the morning looking through the manuals for my nice new shiny stuff.
In the afternoon, I did the preparation work to be ready to lift the generator when I can get my hands on beam and some lifting gear. It was a bit of struggle, lying across the engine, but I've undone the mounting bolts, disconnected the diesel lines and freed the electrical cables, so I can lift the generator enough to get at the leaking exhaust hidden away underneath.
I borrowed a car again and picked up our scuba tanks, which thankfully passed inspection and don’t leak any more.
14 December 2014 Whangarei, New Zealand
It was appalling weather last night and early this morning, so Glenys and I declared today to be a Lazy Sunday. After breakfast, we had a little music practise session in case we decide to inflict our playing on family and friends back in the UK. We’re going to buy a cheap guitar and Ukulele and leave them with our sons in the UK because we can’t bear the thought of not being able to play our instruments for a month.
I caught up on my photographs and blog, then sent out a hundred email Christmas cards.
We spent some time researching a road trip down to South Island. Our original plan was to hire a camper van and drive down, but we've worked out that it will be about the same cost to hire a cheaper car and stay in lodges and B&Bs. We decided that a three week trip would be good and leave us with enough time to spend a week touring the highlights of the North Island a little later on. Glenys booked some flights and car hire for a three week trip in February.
The weather picked up in the afternoon, but then deteriorated in the evening and we had winds up to 40 knots rattling the rigging and shaking the boat even though we’re on the hard. We’re ten miles up a river estuary; God knows what it would be like out at sea…