Shortly after writing the last blog Ben and I dinghied over to our float to raise the lobster trap. While the decomposing bag of meat at the bottom had attracted a few whelks, no lobsters had made there way into the trap. We knew the site wasn’t that good but it was worth a go. We brought the trap back to Dignity as we knew we were moving.
New Zealand has fairly thorough reporting of the local marine weather on the VHF. Here in the Bay of Islands there is a continuous loop on VHF 21 lasting about 5-10 minutes giving records of wind readings around the area plus a near / medium term forecast. Yesterday morning the forecast was predicting 25 knots from the south to south west gusting up to 35. That didn’t seem too nice so we headed for Putakokotoa Bay which didn’t have a great deal to offer bar good protection from the south. With a westerly wind we flew the job and gently sailed all the way there using the electric motors at the beginning and end. There we had our lunch.
I normally leave the VHF scanning a few channels, including the local coast guard channel. Here we heard someone asking the coast guard if 21 was the correct channel for the local area as it appeared the looped forecast was for somewhere else. It does appear to have been the wrong one because soon after the forecast changed to something more consistent to the previous days with winds forecast to be lighter and from the west/south west.
Rather than stay where we had nothing to do and (more importantly) nowhere decent to drop the lobster trap, we moved on again, this time to Waiwhapuku Bay on Moturoa Island. As well as a couple of day trip boats we found the Jacksters here and were soon waving at each other. It was another very pleasant anchorage and well protected with waters like a pond. There is a walk around the island which we intend to do. Helen wanted a rest however and I wanted to get on with changing the brushes on the watermaker feeder pump. This goes back to occasional issues we’ve been having all the way back to the Marquesas. Every now and then (more frequently recently) the feeder pump loses power. A quick tap on the back with a spanner causes the errant brushes to reseat and all is well. It gets us by but it’s no real solution.
So that was my afternoon’s project. And a pain in the arse it was. I think I’ve ranted about this before but I’ll rant again. The only piece of good news is that the motor has two easy inspection openings that permit access to and the replacement of the brushes and their springs. This good news is rendered worthless as one of the openings is inaccessible due to the way in which the motor is housed on it’s mount. So the motor has to be removed from it’s mount. To remove the motor from the mount, the mount has to be removed from the bulkhead. Once all this was done I needed to raise the whole assembly into the bathroom so I could do the delicate brush replacement work. I couldn’t raise the assembly as the raw water hose into the A/C coolant circuit looped past some of the wires going into the control box on the assembly. It seemed the easiest way to resolve this was to remove this hose which is never easy at the best of times. Swearing and cursing I tried to remove the pipe from the copper nipple. The nipple broke. That wasn’t right. Copper shouldn’t break like that. At least the pipe was off and I could raise the pump/control assembly and do the brush replacement work.
I was able to replace the brushes without too much difficulty. Then came the task of reattaching the pump to it’s assembly which involved replacing 4 bolts, 4 nylon washers, 4 stainless steel washer and locking nuts. Two of these were easy to get to. Two weren’t. I’d forgotten how hard this was to do when we last did this back in the Marquesas. Defeat was not an option and eventually I managed, with a lot of help from Ben, to get it all together.
Before putting the assembly back on the wall I turned my attention back to the broken nipple still stuck in the end of the A/C hose. With my pliers I found the stub of the nipple was quite brittle and broke inside the pipe. This allowed me to remove it quite easily but poses broader worries. We’ve known for some time there may be an issue in that the through hulls aren’t bonded. Why, I don’t know. I don’t really know enough about the pros and cons to have a strong opinion bar the fact it looks like we’re now looking at strong evidence as supporting the need for it. I’ve kept all the pieces so I can show them to a metallurgist (or someone closely resembling one) and get a better opinion.
Putting the assembly back on the wall and tidying up completed the job. The motor tested fine albeit with a slight whine which I put down to the brushes settling in.
On a complete aside, one thrill of the afternoon was having a tiny little penguin swim by. We knew there was some history of them in the area but hadn’t expected to see one. We took a few pictures which we’ll post when we’re back connected.
Dave and Jackie popped by after a walk around the island. We soon had them invited over for a bevvie and catch up later in the evening. They mentioned there was a good mussel bed around the corner and asked if we’d like a few as they were going. We agreed to just a few as we’ve had a varied history with them sometimes getting very sick. We went out with them but in our case to drop the lobster pot on the ocean side of the island.
Back on Dignity Ben and I fished for better bait for the lobster trap and succeeded in catching two fish which we left outside to rot. Turns out lobsters are garbage eaters and like nothing better than something that gone off.
After dinner Jacksters came over full of mussels. We’d eaten the few they dropped by after our own dinner. We’d enjoyed them but weren’t eager fans. We had a good evening together and caught up on a few things. We remarked on how incredible it all is that we first bumped into them in a bar in Grenada and here we are bumping into each other, yet again, this time in New Zealand.
Today we may just hand around another day. We’ll certainly check the lobster trap and put the fish in. We’ll also go for the walk around the island.
