After eleven days in the Whangarei Marina, we untied from the dock and headed down the river. It is too easy to stay in that great marina and keep spending money and tackling more projects. Plus the social times are tempting! We got a whole lot done while at the dock – cleaning the boat inside and out from all the yard dust; doing tons of laundry including all the blankets, mattress cover and curtains; getting the engine blessed by Tim who discovered a worn fuel line so that got replaced (oh the language!); fueled the boat (jerry jugging cans from the petrol station); had our propane tank inspected and filled; replaced a raincoat; re-installed the repaired SSB/ham radio; made new dock lines and a new snubber line; re-provisioned the boat; and enjoyed lots of social time with friends. We also celebrated our 20th anniversary in style with dinner out at the "Love Mussel" (perfect eh?). It was a very busy eleven days....and costly.
Today. it was a foggy morning when we headed out of the Town Basin area – pretty unusual for here. As we made our way down the river the fog got thicker and thicker. We had a bow watch the entire way. It didn't clear until we were close to Marsden and our anchorage in Urquharts.
We will make our way over to Great Barrier Island in the next few days. Tomorrow the winds look to be in the wrong direction so we will most likely wait until Thursday. Rain is expected for this afternoon and tomorrow as well.
It is nice to be at anchor in a pretty place. No place nearby to drop any kiwi dollars which is a good thing. We kind of have been going crazy with the spending! Now we have to remember how everything works, how to sail and anchor and get our sea legs back. This is a good test of the boat systems before we head back to the islands in about five weeks.
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At 3/25/2017 12:56 AM (utc) S/V Astarte was located at 35°43.40'S 174°19.53'E
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Monday, March 27, 2017
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Splashed!
Astarte is back in the water on Friday morning and in a slip at Whangarei Marina (Town Basin) for about a week. It was a bit less than two months out of the water at Docklands 5 and lots and lots of work done to Astarte. We worked just about everyday, so we are knackered and looking forward to taking it easy for a few days. We still have to get the boat reorganized – getting tools and supplies re-stored and the dirt from the yard cleaned up. The boat is mighty dusty!
On Friday, we had a visit from a former colleague of Michael's. "Hoagy" and his partner Mary are in New Zealand for some exploring and they were nice enough to come by Whangarei. We enjoyed a few bottles of bubbly and wine and a nice dinner out. Michael and Hoagy caught up on the work gossip and we enjoyed their company. It is great to have visitors we are just sorry the timing was such that we couldn't take them for a sail.
So in order to share the pain of all the work we accomplished in the yard...here's the list.
Bottom paint scraped off by hand and sanded to the hull. Blisters ground out and dried and then re-glassed, faired, and sanded. Hull washed then waxed. Anchor dropped and chain cleaned. Anchor locker cleaned out. Thru-hull replaced. Prop removed and cleaned up with zirc fittings installed. Shaft and strut cleaned and polished. New zincs put everywhere. Inside sole (floor) removed and refinished (4 coats) and re-installed after major cleaning of floor areas. Salon table removed and refinished (5 coats) and re-installed. Hydraulic centerboard ram sanded and painted. Major stove cleaning. Four coats of two-pot barrier coat on bottom. Three coats of anti-foul/four coats at high impact spots. Greased centerboard pin. Checked all thru-hulls. Re-installed prop and treated prop/shaft/strut with "prop speed." Removed air conditioner unit from boat (haven't used in eight years)- giving us some additional storage and removing about 25 kilos of weight. Rebuilt wooden wall where AC was hidden. Installed new VHF radio (after testing many possible issues with the radio problem). Fixed water heater problem by replacing a hard to get at hose.
All this along with the day to day chores of living in a yard. That means climbing a ten-step ladder hundreds of times to get on and off the boat. Using the bathrooms on land and doing most of the cooking and dishes off the boat. Grocery and supply gathering was a few miles walk away...and we needed lots of supplies for all the projects so the walk back meant we were loaded down. Laundry still needed to get done.
Tired? We are!
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At 1/28/2017 7:04 PM (utc) S/V Astarte was located at 35°44.37'S 174°20.32'E
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radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
On Friday, we had a visit from a former colleague of Michael's. "Hoagy" and his partner Mary are in New Zealand for some exploring and they were nice enough to come by Whangarei. We enjoyed a few bottles of bubbly and wine and a nice dinner out. Michael and Hoagy caught up on the work gossip and we enjoyed their company. It is great to have visitors we are just sorry the timing was such that we couldn't take them for a sail.
So in order to share the pain of all the work we accomplished in the yard...here's the list.
Bottom paint scraped off by hand and sanded to the hull. Blisters ground out and dried and then re-glassed, faired, and sanded. Hull washed then waxed. Anchor dropped and chain cleaned. Anchor locker cleaned out. Thru-hull replaced. Prop removed and cleaned up with zirc fittings installed. Shaft and strut cleaned and polished. New zincs put everywhere. Inside sole (floor) removed and refinished (4 coats) and re-installed after major cleaning of floor areas. Salon table removed and refinished (5 coats) and re-installed. Hydraulic centerboard ram sanded and painted. Major stove cleaning. Four coats of two-pot barrier coat on bottom. Three coats of anti-foul/four coats at high impact spots. Greased centerboard pin. Checked all thru-hulls. Re-installed prop and treated prop/shaft/strut with "prop speed." Removed air conditioner unit from boat (haven't used in eight years)- giving us some additional storage and removing about 25 kilos of weight. Rebuilt wooden wall where AC was hidden. Installed new VHF radio (after testing many possible issues with the radio problem). Fixed water heater problem by replacing a hard to get at hose.
All this along with the day to day chores of living in a yard. That means climbing a ten-step ladder hundreds of times to get on and off the boat. Using the bathrooms on land and doing most of the cooking and dishes off the boat. Grocery and supply gathering was a few miles walk away...and we needed lots of supplies for all the projects so the walk back meant we were loaded down. Laundry still needed to get done.
Tired? We are!
-----
At 1/28/2017 7:04 PM (utc) S/V Astarte was located at 35°44.37'S 174°20.32'E
----------
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for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Still At Work
It's been more than a month in the yard at Docklands 5 with "Astarte" on the hard getting lots of care. That means hard work for us but progress is being made.
It took a whole month of seven days a week of hard work to take the bottom paint off by scraping, sanding and grinding it down to "no paint." Then repairs on some blisters we made, by re-fiberglassing the ground out spots, filling and fairing them. Once that was completed, the paint layers starting going back on. We put on four coats of barrier coat. And as of this writing, we have two coats of bottom paint. The rain has now started, forecast for five days – so no more painting for awhile.
The hull has also been washed and waxed – more hard arm and shoulder work for Michael! The interior floor has been sanded down to bare wood and four coats of a new finish put on them. The main salon is all completed with the boards reinstalled after a good cleaning of all the areas under the boards. It looks great and no shoes are now allowed below decks! Our carpet from Michael's mom has been cleaned as well so we are sparkling fresh on the floor!
The SSB radio has been sent out for repairs and we are waiting for that to reinstall once fixed. Today's project on this rainy day in the boatyard is to clean out the anchor locker which means clearing out the V-berth and reaching into the anchor locker for a serious clean-out. Not a pretty job. We will also "work" and grease all the the thru-hulls and the centerboard pin.
It really has been non-stop work along with still getting the daily chores done (cooking, laundry, cleaning, shopping etc) – none being easy while on the hardstands in the yard. The good news is the yard has a nice community area with a microwave, toaster, grill and big sink so we do our main meal in there daily. This was particularly convenient when the floorboards were out of the boat. It was hard to move around.
We will both need to sleep for three straight weeks when this big project is done. At this point the plan is to get launched hopefully in the next ten days or so and head to Whangarei Town Basin for about 5 days and then off to Great Barrier Island or Kawau for some R&R. After a few weeks out it will be time to return to Whangarei and provision up for leaving the country and heading to the islands (still TBA). We have to be out of NZ by May 24.
So lots to still do and time is ticking away.
-----
At 1/28/2017 7:04 PM (utc) S/V Astarte was located at 35°44.37'S 174°20.32'E
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
It took a whole month of seven days a week of hard work to take the bottom paint off by scraping, sanding and grinding it down to "no paint." Then repairs on some blisters we made, by re-fiberglassing the ground out spots, filling and fairing them. Once that was completed, the paint layers starting going back on. We put on four coats of barrier coat. And as of this writing, we have two coats of bottom paint. The rain has now started, forecast for five days – so no more painting for awhile.
The hull has also been washed and waxed – more hard arm and shoulder work for Michael! The interior floor has been sanded down to bare wood and four coats of a new finish put on them. The main salon is all completed with the boards reinstalled after a good cleaning of all the areas under the boards. It looks great and no shoes are now allowed below decks! Our carpet from Michael's mom has been cleaned as well so we are sparkling fresh on the floor!
The SSB radio has been sent out for repairs and we are waiting for that to reinstall once fixed. Today's project on this rainy day in the boatyard is to clean out the anchor locker which means clearing out the V-berth and reaching into the anchor locker for a serious clean-out. Not a pretty job. We will also "work" and grease all the the thru-hulls and the centerboard pin.
It really has been non-stop work along with still getting the daily chores done (cooking, laundry, cleaning, shopping etc) – none being easy while on the hardstands in the yard. The good news is the yard has a nice community area with a microwave, toaster, grill and big sink so we do our main meal in there daily. This was particularly convenient when the floorboards were out of the boat. It was hard to move around.
We will both need to sleep for three straight weeks when this big project is done. At this point the plan is to get launched hopefully in the next ten days or so and head to Whangarei Town Basin for about 5 days and then off to Great Barrier Island or Kawau for some R&R. After a few weeks out it will be time to return to Whangarei and provision up for leaving the country and heading to the islands (still TBA). We have to be out of NZ by May 24.
So lots to still do and time is ticking away.
-----
At 1/28/2017 7:04 PM (utc) S/V Astarte was located at 35°44.37'S 174°20.32'E
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
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