FOR SAILORS ONLY III
After a year and a half in the warm tropical waters, the prospect of a haulout was making me nervous. We had rubbed some of the paint off the keel in Newport Harbor, Oregon, gotten tangled up with a float at Cocos Island in Costa Rica, and have been in the mud numerous times in the shallow rivers and marinas in New Zealand. With some of the bottom paint missing, I would dive and clean the bottom regularly, but the paint seemed soft and I was not sure about it holding up to the pressure washer at the boat yard. Luckily, the Pettit Trinidad we applied at the Anacortes yard held up very well. Only the abused parts of the hull had any missing paint.
After a quick wet-sanding (two days!), and a new coat of paint, we are back in business. I am looking forward to not having to do my weekly bottom-cleaning job. While we were out of the water, I changed the thru-hull valve and added a scoop to the water maker inlet. Now we can make water even when we are sailing over 7 knots.
I disassembled the Max prop, cleaned it, and inspected it for wear. After over 1000 hours, it still looks new inside. I reset the pitch from 22 degrees to 24 degrees to put a little more load on the engine. We have been running the engine at about 2200 rpm for fuel economy and just haven’t been in that much of a hurry. Now, max cruise rpm (3000) seems like a hectic pace. At 2200 rpm in flat water, we were motoring at 7.5 knots. The new prop setting should increase that to 7.6 or 7.7. Doesn’t seem like much when you are on the freeway going 70 mph, but after 15,000 miles (nautical) it adds up.
With everyone pitching in, the entire boat is getting a good coat of wax, and all the shiny parts polished. The sun down here is intense, and when the clouds part and the sun comes through, anything darker than off-white gets so hot you can cook your dinner on it. This is the first time we have had weather reports that include UV index, and the forecast is always “extreme”. You can get burned to a crisp on a cloudy day, so skin cancer is the number one cause of death in New Zealand. I think driving on the wrong side of the road is next. So anyway, the gel coat needs all the protection it can get. Applying the wax must be done on the cool cloudy days or early in the morning. I noticed the dinghy is starting to get sun damage, so we have to cover it up when not in use.
The out-of-water work went so well that I jumped right into next set of projects. We tore apart the nav station and added a few electronics; an autopilot control head for the nav station, and a graphic display in the forward cabin. (This is so I can see the depth sounder and GPS position when I am asleep). We repaired the wind point/wind speed unit at the top of the mast. Jeanna is now happy, as the wind speed is her favorite instrument, as long as it stays below 20 knots.
With so many gadgets plugged in the onboard computer, we ran out of USB ports, so we added yet another hub and reconfigured everything to run more smoothly and much faster. Skype is one of our latest additions. While we are in range of wifi, this saves a lot of money on overseas calls. Tomorrow I will load-test all the batteries. This requires disconnecting 12 batteries and testing each one individually. I know I have at least two bad batteries in the system; finding and replacing the bad ones will get us back to 100% of our storage capacity. While we are in the battery compartment, I am adding Blue Seas heavy-duty isolators to replace the duo-charge system that failed. This will allow us to automatically charge multiple battery banks with multiple alternators, without manually controlling the system.
I continue to add little up-grades and convenience items to the boat. I keep finding things I think I can make better. One day it will sail itself, and I can just sit back and relax. Oh, wait - it already does that! We are having a great time in New Zealand. Although the water is not as warm as we are used to, it is loaded with good stuff to eat. With all the sheep to keep the grass mowed, the whole country looks like a golf course.
I will be back home in Seattle for the boat show, January 25 thru February 4. I have a big list of things to purchase while home. To our disappointment, everything is very expensive here in New Zealand. I can’t buy 110 volt tools any where, and my number- one tool, the cordless drill motor, is getting fussy.
Stop by the boat show and say hi – I’d love to see you there! Check out some new pictures in “For Sailors Only III” in the media gallery. Jim