It's terrible out here...

In other news, I am a certified world-expert at Fall Down Paddle-boarding.

Beaver on the port stern.

Boxing Day Sailing

Merry Xmas, yadda yadda.

Today we headed out and had a great reach down to the east end of Waiheke under reefed sails, averaged 9 knots. It's blowing a bit (25 knots) but otherwise (or therefore) really great out here, but there's no one else around. Harden up.

Accidental selfie.

Behold, Frankenladder!

So our beautiful, amazing teak & bronze boarding ladder gave up the fight. To be specific, the lower half that goes into the water fell apart; the constant wetting and drying does not do the wood any favors. Close inspection showed that it was a bit of a no-hope job to repair, so I had to come up with a solution quick, since we are heading out straight after Xmas.

One must use the materials one has available. And the talents of your engineering staff (thanks guys!).

So here she is, fusing old and new.

That will do the job for now.

A Stunning Day

Headed out to Motutapu Island yesterday for far too much food and drink. A stunning day, but not a lot of wind around (as usual, it seems) but we did manage to get a very pleasant sail in on the way back. Roll on summer!

 

 

Not Quite A Grand Reveal

Tomorrow Emma moves back in, and the cabin is pretty much ready. We still have a lot of finish-off jobs to do, most notably I have to construct the panels to go around the exhausts, but otherwise it's just bits of trim I have had to make up. It's certainly a different cabin now

More bits still being varnished. 

Next up: do the cockpit locker, and Sharon is going to start on the paint in the lower saloon. That one will be one-small-bit-at-a-time, otherwise living on board will be hell.

Bonzo The Clown Strips Paint

Pictures say enough.

Actually, we have just finished with painting. Looks great, but I will wait until we have completed the varnishing before posting.

Commence Demolition

It's started: we have booted Emma off the boat and have begun ripping her cabin apart. This cabin was always "the swamp" and the combination of the amount of work to be done along with the scary troll that lives in it meant we put it off until last.

Quick progress on stripping varnish, but there are lots of fiddly little woodwork jobs that I will need to do that are going to slow the pace. Focus is on what needs to be done to allow Emma to move back in, and I can finish off the other bits later.

One thing that needs to be done is the shelf besides the berth. When the new exhausts were run things were chopped up quite a bit, and a new shelf unit was built in under the main engine exhaust. However, in a bid to maximise storage space they built the shelf right out against the hull - the back panels were actually tacked onto the hull. Anyone with a clue knows this is a recipe for disaster, and sure enough, it created a lovely little moisture trap and the back panels have rotted out. Fortunately the hull itself is just fine. I will cut things back clear of the hull and rebuild so there is a proper air space around everything.

I also have to make new headliners, repairs to the forward bulkhead liner, and numerous other fiddly bits, but the main event will be constructing frames and liners to go over the exhaust pipes - still working out the details on that one.

Digging out the fasteners and readying for removal of the liner around the shelf. I was praying to Poseidon there would be no uglies in behind.   

Close up of the liner at the back of the shelf. after I prodded it a bit. Ick.

Liner under deck removed. Located the last leak, which we missed in our last round of caulking repairs by exactly 90mm. Needs a good clean under here...

Looking forward outboard. Going to have to make some repairs to the bulkhead liner.

Rear liners removed from shelf, exposing hull. The liners were the only things manky, everything else is good. Yay.

Cabinside after stripping with the heat-gun.

Commencing stripping.

Coming along nicely.

Cabinside stripped, new fastener plugs gluing. Once they have set will give it the big final sand.

It's good to have some varnish work in hand, I was suffering withdrawal.

Happy Boaties

Kamaliista Diana sent through this nice pic of us as we returned to the marina after our first trip out this season. I think the smiles (and sunburned arm) say it all. Roll on summer!

Woohoo, back out of the marina!

I flew back in from the USA on Friday, lots of jobs on the boat over the weekend, and on Monday (Labour Day) we rounded up a cast of dubious characters and headed on out to Tiri. No sailing - absolutely zero wind, but it was a beautiful day and good fun. Thanks everyone, and looking forward to many more this summer.

Who farted?

...I did.