Chill'n at Great Barrier Island

The view from the top, 2000ft up on Mt Hirakimata. Izzy and Sarah were troopers to climb up here.

Hatch Is Complete (Almost...)

OK, so I have a few fiddly bits like the grab-handle and washboards to varnish, but otherwise it is done, and it looks shit-hot. This was a lot more work than I thought it would be... now I just have to see if the new rubber gasket seal at the base works; we will find out tomorrow when we head off to Great Barrier Island for six days.

Racing for Easter

Working to get the hatch done before we head away for Easter, not easy now daylight saving is over. Varnishing is done, base is also done and I fitted a new gasket seal to the base today. Now I need to wait a couple of days for the varnish to fully harden before bolting it back onto the deck, and then fit the bronze plates etc. I have not varnished the washboards etc, but they can wait until after Easter.

Trip Videos

A few people have told me they can't find the videos of our trip down from the USA. The links are below.

Newport Beach to Hawaii

Hawaii to Tonga

Tonga to Auckland

Stowage

The boarding ladder has a new home which is convenient, out of the way, and will hopefully ensure it never gets demolished by a stray sheet again.

I fitted a couple of spare mounting pads into the top of the starboard side cockpit coaming, just next to the lifeline entrance gate. I then machined up some bolts so that they became screw-in pins that go into the pads. Finally, I drilled holes to match the pins into the underside of the ladder frame.

Now you can just slot the ladder onto the pins and attach a hook at the bottom to secure it all. All sorted!

Pins screwed into the mounting pads.

Ladder hooked into the pins.

All sorted!

Tiritiri Matangi

Went out to Tiri Island last weekend with friends. No sailing - no wind. Great day though.