Advertisement
A futuristic looking neighbour of ours
This is being created for the Dubai market - a big boys toy. Its sister vessel completed a circumnavigation on bio diesel and spent a few days in Auckland. After nearly six months of Marnie being in New Zealand we find ourselves watching the weather over Australia in order to plan for departing for Fiji soon, but we can't be more specific right now. When a pressure of 1020 is developing over Sydney it suggests relatively good conditions for a 6-7 day passage north. This together with winds from the SW and we're set to go.
As I type however, there is a silver lined gaping chasm where the fridge used to be located in the galley. For the past three weeks we've been patiently awaiting tradesmen to custom build a fridge/freezer unit and to date it hasn't appeared, hence the delay in leaving for warmer climes. People tend to leave for the islands between April and July, but the longer we wait the colder it becomes as it's autumn here with temperatures of 50 degrees resulting from Antarctic winds.
Work we've had carried out here has included a fiasco with new port lights (windows), 9 in total, made from tempered tinted glass. There's a story behind this one which you may like. We carefully took the windows out of the cabin sides with help from Corrie, and
The demolition team
The galley is dismantled and we're left for three weeks without a fridge. took the two representative sizes to the glassiers in Devonport (our nearest town) in order to replicate them. They duly sent them to be cut and tempered and had them returned within the agreed week. Phase one nearly completed but sadly two were the incorrect size as Walter had made an error in assuming the 7 large holes were all the same size. They then spent a month producing further incorrect cuts of glass until Walter decided to make a cardboard template stating, by use of arrows pointing to the outside measurement, that the cut piece of glass should be no larger than the template. He cut a hole in the centre of the board in order to place it into the allocated window hole holding it secure with his finger to double check exact measurements. The template went to the glassiers and was sent off. By now this company had produced 13 windows for use on a yacht and knew that to be the purpose. Two weeks later we telephoned to check on the progress two weeks later only to the be told that the glass had indeed returned from the manufacturers but there was one slight problem ....you've
The haulout at Westpark
Two coats of antifoul paint to reduce the number of barnacles hanging on and causing resistance guessed it, they came back with a hole in the centre of the glass. Unbelieveable. Finally the full compliment of port lights were caulked into place with little frames and the surrounds sanded and painted. As beautiful as before but without the downside of leakages.
It was time to downsize the Aquapro dinghy/Yamaha outboard combination, which we did last month. We'd been galavanting around in a 14' rib with 40hp motor (a fun, fast, dry and stable way to get around) but they weighed 400lbs in total, which can be pretty difficult to manoeuvre on windy days with the halyard! We had also acquired Snowy Waters, the clinker dinghy, and housing everything was now the puzzle to crack. We managed to sell the rib and outboard on TradeMe, the equivalent to Ebay, to a guy for fishing or more specifically for catching crayfish as its considered a diveboat. We replaced it with a New Zealand built rib from the Southern Pacific factory in Kumeu which is 12' and found a 15hp Yamaha in a local chandlery at a good price. We are now the proud owners of a shiny new 'rubber dub' with canvas covering the pontoons to protect
Our neighbour
Warren has been an award winning architect in Auckland for several decades. He's lived aboard his timber yacht in Bayswater for many years now and celebrated his 90th birthday recently. the fabric from UV damage. The canvas guys (Eclipse Canvas for anyone needing quality work of this nature undertaken in NZ) also made us a new bimini cover and dinghy cover for Snowy Waters. The clinker dinghy was the reason for the change around as she sits proudly on the cabin house, just as the original would have in 1985. However this is exactly where the 40hp outboard had been located previously and Snowy Waters just wouldn't fit over the outboard without being totally sandwiched and squashed under the boom ....something had to go. We haven't placed the new rib upside down on the bow as yet but feel confident that we can work around it much more easily when anchoring.
Our friends Judy and John Salthouse recommended their nephew make up new upholstered cushions for our saloon, known locally as squabs. Whilst there was wear in the old one's they looked a little shabby and we felt the saloon was in need of brightening up. The overall look is definitely brighter and the texture delightfully soft and comfortable on bare legs. You may as well make your environment as comfortable as possible when living aboard a moving platform
afterall. Judy and John have become good friends we socialise with locally and they've introduced us to a good selection of restaurants in the nearby towns as well as opening their home to us for cosy meals at their lovely ocean front property in Narrow Neck.
Simon at Doyle Sails made a new mizzen and headsail for us and Sailutions, Takapuna (run by Swedes) provided sheets and lines to ensure that there is nothing 'ropey' about our gear. Docking lines had taken a beating with the swell experienced at Bayswater Marina due to there being no breakwater, hence little protection from passing ferries. We've become accustomed to being woken each morning by the first ferry leaving Bayswater Marina for Auckland city not because of the sound of the engines or directions from the captain but rather the sound of shifting items in the galley as we roll five degrees in each direction.
Did Marnie get the paint job we'd talked about since leaving Virginia? In short, no. After obtaining quotes which were almost double what was considered value for money it was easy to say we'd get the interior and exterior painted in Thailand. There would seem to
Work in progress
Snowy Waters in her undercoat and the floorboards in the making. be a corrolation between the favourable exchange rate and what is considered affordable by foreigners. One company overnight dropped their price by NZ$30,000 to try to be more competitive but timing is everything and the window of opportunity had passed.
Haulout at Westpark enabled us to give Marnie her beauty treatment for the next year. Two layers of antifoul paint later and a stiff neck as an accompaniment we made our way to Robert and Elizabeths house in the middle of the countryside each evening for a hot, relaxing bath. Mornings were greeted by peacocks and rabbits on the lawn, horses and cattle on the nearby hills. They offered their house to us as a result of visiting relatives in Scotland for a month and coincidentally it worked with the haulout dates at Westpark Marina, a 30 minute drive away.
The highlight of our time in Bayswater has been live music events we've enjoyed several times a week at The Bunker or 121 Ponsonby. The Bunker is the venue for the Devonport Folk Music Club at the historic command post on Mt. Victoria, Devonport. This venue has been home to the Folk Club for over 30 years and
Snowy Waters
Painted, varnished and having taken her inaugural row around the marina. is run by Roger and Hilary. We've introduced a few of our friends to the local music scene but as yet Walter hasn't performed on guitar in public only in the privacy of the aft cabin.
Provisioning for the next six months took place at a variety of local supermarkets and deli's. A local chain of grocers called Pak and Save opened a new store in Albany after 22 years of negotiations for approval.
Coming next.....the fridge/freezer installation and fixture of counter tops to complete the galley project within one week from now, fingers crossed. From here, the docklines will be untied and we'll visit friends Lin and Larry Pardey on Kawau Island, Inge and Ernst in Whangarei and possibly clear customs at Marsden Point near Whangarei or continue north to Opua in the Bay of Islands. It's an 1100 mile passage to Lautoka, Fiji and should take approximately one week . We've keenly kept informed on the political situation there and feel that tourists are in little/no danger as their economy is entirely reliant on this revenue. Friends who arrived in Musket Cove on an island cruisers rally from Opua one week ago have fed back helpful
Sitting in her cradle
In addition to 78 hours work on Snowy Waters at the Auckland Boatbuilding School in Hobsonville, we built the cradle to house her, from kwila. tips but didn't feel the capital, Suva was the place to be so we'll avoid that. I will upload more photos within the next week then it's up to the winds to carry us to the islands for some snorkelling and sunshine.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.223s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 15; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0734s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb