South Pacific « Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

A Fine Day

by steve, on November 12th, 2011 (Division II, New Zealand)

The weather here has been definitely improving. Day time temps are now usually above 20C and nice and warm. Mornings and evenings get chilly though so the blow heater bought earlier this year has proved handy here on the dock.

Scheduling for the sex change has progressed well. We now have our launch booked for Friday March 2nd with the Saturday also reserved as a contingency should we need the extra time. We’ve taken a look at flights back to NZ and it looks like we’ll aim to arrive the day the work starts. I just need to coordinate with the yard and line up a point of contact for the techs when they arrive. All is looking good so far.

I spent a bit of time researching a new radio/stereo system for the boat. The current one still works but the display is now stuck on dim so it can be seen in bright light and the buttons go a little funky at times. I’m still not sure which one to get but I like the look of the Pioneer MVH-P7300. In fact the whole range looks quite enticing. Need some time to think about this. One of the projects I want to do while the tech switch the motors is to rearrange the instrument layout on my nav station so I have options including going for a double sized car radio instead of the single. Choices. Choices. Decisions. Decisions.

We also had Dan from Division II over. Last season he worked in the yard we’re hauling out in. This year he’s looking after the kids and doing odd jobs. With the electric motors out from under the bunks we have some ideas about rearranging the house batteries and creating extra storage. Woodwork is not my forte so Dan’s help on that once we’re back in the water will be great.

We had planned on going for a long walk yesterday but hangovers postponed that. We did get out and did a little more Xmas shopping. The long walk to the falls will probably be Sunday based on the current forecast.

Haul Out Prep

by steve, on November 11th, 2011 (New Zealand, Subzero)

On Thursday we began to focus on our haul out preparations. We will need to leave the boat ready for the work to begin so Helen got on with moving things around in the boat to create space for all the things we’ll be taking out from under the bunks and in the stern lockers once we’re on the hard.

While Helen was getting on with that, I pickled the water maker for the first time ever as we won’t be making water until next year now. I also started researching and ordering parts for projects we’ll get on with while the Lagoon techs will be switching around the propulsion. I ended up ordering and VHF splitter and AIS transceiver which will result in our being able to have much greater sensitivity on AIS reception and move us into the realms of transmitting our position info too. We don’t yet know if we’re going as far as Singapore but in those parts of the world AIS transponders are mandatory so it’s good to be prepared. I’m also of the opinion that most vessels these days that are diligent enough to be monitoring radar are quite likely to have at least an AIS receiver aboard
so having a transceiver to transmit position info is rapidly overtaking efforts to make oneself radar visible as a means of safety at sea. Also ordered was a pair of outdoor speakers as we’ve had another failure. Finally I ordered replacement pickling chemicals.

In the afternoon Helen went off to find a suitcase as our old one is kaput. While she was out I went to the supermarket to buy some wine and butter. I forgot the butter.

In the evening we visited Jeff and Cheryl aboard Subzero where they shared info on Vanuatu/New Caledonia and we shared info on Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. We also shared a lot of food, wine and beer as well. This morning we both feel the effects.

Some good news has come in. Lagoon have agreed to moved their work start date to Feb 20 which is great. We may not be there on the first day but looking at schedules, etc. it looks like we can be there before the end of day. We need to set up support for them from the yard as well as launch dates. I’ve also learned that the factory who produces the wheels for our sliding door will be sending us them free of charge, including free shipping. How often does that happen? Great stuff.

Up The Hill

by steve, on November 10th, 2011 (Division II, New Zealand, Subzero)

We kind of loaded around the morning, reading, playing computer games and that sort of thing. Feeling a bit guilty, we took a walk up Parahaki hill that looks down over Whangarei. This at least gave us our daily exercise.

On the way back we visited the supermarket to pick up some food and wine (yes – it’s almost all gone now) for the evening.

Back on the dock we got talking to Jeff and Cherryl on the boat next to us, Sub Zero. Turns out this boat used to be owned by another 420 hybrid owner who I had, just that morning, got in contact with regarding possible sale of components for spares. It’s a small world. They’ve just sailed in from Australia having spent the season in New Caledonia on the way. We’re meeting up this evening to share info. We have plenty on Tonga and Fiji where they’re heading next year and it would be great for us to get info on New Caledonia.

In the evening Dan and Amy from Division II came by with their three kids, Paige, Oliver and Reilly. The kids, as is usual with boat kids, were very polite, engaging with adults but still kids and a lot of fun. I’d used the excuse to get in some ice cream for desert which we very rarely do. No doubt all the calories burned during the day were more than compensated for in the evening.

One other story that is now playing out. We received confirmed dates for the conversion work from Lagoon. Good in that it’s happening. Not good in that it was three weeks earlier than we’d requested placing it before Ben and Sam are due to fly to meet us in the Uk. So emails have been flying and it looks like the dates are shifting but we may still have some complications that will have to be managed. We’ll see.

Whangarei Quarry Gardens

by steve, on November 9th, 2011 (New Zealand)

I started getting on top of a few things yesterday. First I researched and booked a hire car for the time after we’re on the hard and up until we reach the airport. I then did some research on generators. The one we have will be oversized once we have switched to diesel so it’s worth understanding what difference a smaller one would make. Dropping down to a 9.5kW unit would save 25%-30% in fuel consumption, halve the oil required and save 300lb in weight. So I gave the Onan dealer in Whangarei a call to price up a trade in / replacement. Chances are it won’t be worth doing but now is a good time to find out.

We really needed some exercise so just before lunch we headed out. We ate sushi in town and then headed off over to the other side of town to double check our booking with the car hire company. We were assured that things would be ok.

Not too far from that location was a walk through the Coronation Scenic Reserve overlooking the town from the north west. We decided to hit the trails there. It was a good work out as it was quite a climb to the ridge. We descended to a view point overlooking the town before climbing back up to the top of the ridge to follow the trail to it’s end.

At the end of the trail we arrived at the Whangarei Quarry Gardens. This was quite unexpected and a very pleasant surprise. This used to be an old quarry but now, mostly through volunteer effort, it has been turned into some tiered gardens with a small central lake. Some of the old quarry structures/remnants remain but they’ve been incorporated quite well into the gardens.

We eventually arrived back at the boat after having walked for three and half hours. We certainly got our exercise.

Back on the boat we ran into Dave Parr, our sail guy from last year, who was sizing up some work on our neighbours. We’d had a tie chaff through at the top of our main sail. He agreed to look at it and further agreed to replace the strap, plus a second similar one, with kevlar. Free of charge. Nice service.

When we checked into the marina I rented a shore power isolation box (for a $ a day) to bring mains power aboard without having to spend $$$$ to have the boat electrically certified. We have our local power rated batter charger we I can hook up to top up the batteries and we have a hot air blower for the mornings.

What this doesn’t give us is hot water. We can use the showers at the marina office but it’s a bit of a schlepp and it’s nice not to have to walk the dock after a shower. So I set about reconfiguring the mains wiring so that the hot water immersion tank could run off the inverter. Something I’ve meant to do for two years. The inverter is up to it and the battery bank is big enough. That done we were able to create hot water and shower aboard without having to run the generator. Nice.

Whangarei Town Basin Marina

by steve, on November 8th, 2011 (Division II, New Zealand)

We’re back in town. Low tide was at noon so we waited until nearly 2pm before leaving our cold anchorage at the head of the river. This meant we had the advantage of the incoming tide to help us up the river. It also meant we might just have the clearance over the mud on the side of the river by the dock. As we squeezed into the dock we did get stuck in the mud right by ‘Let It Be’, the Belgian boat that has been here since last year. We ended up chatting while we wait for the river to float us off the mud.

Docking was a breeze – literally as the 10 knot breeze pushed us sideways onto the dock with very little effort. We had a few helpers catch lines for us and soon we were tied. Brian, the marina manager, was soon over and warmly welcoming us back to Whangarei. He helped us move the boat forward a little before we fully secured our lines so that another boat could squeeze in behind us later on.

We soon bumped into Amy, Dan and the kids from Division II who we’d completely managed to miss in Fiji bar one radio contact as they left. Eager to catch up we stood around in the cold chatting before arranging dinner together on Wednesday.

Being in town we decided to eat out. We ended up at the Aroma Indian restaurant and stuffed ourselves. I was filled with that odd sensation of totally knowing my way around, something that we’re just not used to after 3 years of travel.

We now have 9 days in Whangarei before we come out of the water. We need some exercise so I reckon we’re going to be up and down the hill a few times.

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