We have been back in New Zealand for several weeks now and finally we have a boat that looks a bit different.
Just some of the many jobs we have done since putting the boat on the hard in Marsden Cove Marina in 2021 are:
Replacement Rudder Bearing: These last a long time – ours 21 years but we had a small amount of play so it was time to replace it. Not an easy job since its a custom made bearing and requires dropping the rudder. This one should last another 20 years or more so all good.
Reapplying Coppercoat. We last applied Coppercoat to the hull in 2012, so its lasted 10 years and half way around the world. We have touched it up in places along the way (mainly the keel, since our original primer flaked off the lead), but a fresh coat is now applied which should last another 10 years hopefully! We have also pre-applied epoxy resin to the lead which should mean the primer bonds much better to it.
New Mainsail: Our laminate sails we bought in 2012 were superb, but laminate sails don’t last forever and as we closed in on New Zealand the mainsail finally began to fail, so we bought a new heavy duty main from Calibre sails. We are back to our original Yankee that came with the boat, which is still in excellent condition but has been in a bag on a bunk for the last 10 years since we had bought a laminate yankee as well which finally fell apart in the South Pacific!
New Tru-Design through hulls: Ocean Blue has over 20 through hull fittings. Two are special ones incorporating the fridge and freezer cooling, one we replaced a few years back and the other one we just replaced. The rest are standard fittings that although were not showing signs of failure, had been installed for many years so time to replace them. Now we can rest assured that they won’t fail for many years.
Mast and Boom repaint: This we were not anticipating doing, but since the mast was down (and a friend had just had theirs painted and it looked lovely and shiny), we negotiated a good deal to have ours done too. It looks a million dollars and much of the cost is unstepping it and re stepping it so it made a lot of sense.
Replacement Cockpit Cushions: These get a lot of wear as they are in use every day. The UV had also taken a bit of a toll on them so we took the opportunity to replace them with fancy foam that does not absorb water, so if they do get wet they dry very fast.
Replacement Depth / Speed Transducer: The old one was getting stiff to remove so as a precaution we put a new one in whilst the boat was out of the water.
Repairs to the wrap: Ocean Blue has a vinyl wrap (since its a blue hull and blue hulls require so much polishing over time to stay shiny and not look faded). We had her wrapped in the USA a few years ago and its brilliant – virtually zero maintenance, but over time it can get scuffed by the dinghy or mucky fenders, anchor chain etc. Luckily we knew the exact wrap specification and the local ‘wrap man’ came and put some new pieces on. Amazingly unless you look very closely you can’t even see the patches – the colour match is excellent and now she looks very smart again.
Replacement integrated AIS / VHF: We bought one of the new Vesper (Garmin now) Cortex units which is amazing. It integrates with all the boat navigation equipment, has a fantastic built in anchor alarm, big colour wireless displays and a mobile and remote app allowing you to monitor the boat systems from anywhere in the world!
Spinnaker Pole Cover: Our carbon fibre spinnaker pole lives on the front of the mast but the cover had suffered from UV damage so needed replacing.
New TV / Monitor: Since we do a lot of work still from onboard, we upgraded the TV / Monitor to the latest high resolution internet connected device.
Starlink: What a game changer – this allows us to get fast internet andywhere in the world. If we want to we will be able to stream movies from the middle of the Ocean! More practical though, we can get weather and keep up to date with work wherever we are.
New gas bottles: Most gas bottles are steel and they rust over time. Not too much of a problem in Europe where you generally exchange them, but once you get into the Pacific, you refill your existing ones (often yourself by syphoning liquid gas from one to another!) and ours were getting old, so we took the opportunity to buy two new Aluminium cylinders that will last us many years.
New Dive Compressor Motor: Ours was getting a bit noisy and temperamental to start. We don’t want to miss out on the amazing diving in Tonga and Fiji, so a new motor should ensure we can fill our tanks whenever we want.
New Cutlass Bearings and prop seal: Cutlass bearings support the propellor shaft and the seal keeps the water out where the propellor shaft enters the hull. They were all quite old so again a good opportunity to update them.
The job list is finally complete (or as complete as it ever will be with a boat), we booked the hoist and had Ocean Blue put back in the water. That moment when the boat floats, you step aboard, start up the engine and cast off to the marina berth for the first night back on board is always a tense one. Will the engine start? Will anything leak? Can we remember how to drive the boat? We had briefly started the engine the day before on the hard (at the request of the yard), so knew it should start. Our engine has been amazing, after 18 months sitting idle, it kicked into life immediately on the hard so we were confident it would start.
It did, instantly as expected, but something didn’t sound right. With the loud din of the tractor that put us back in the water overpowering the unexpected rattle we heard it was difficult to pinpoint, then after 30 seconds or so all returned to normal. We motored across to our berth with no issues, started up the fridge and freezer and put the wine in the fridge to cool. No leaks from any through hulls so all seemed good. It wasn’t until the day after, when we went to start the engine for some extended pre-departure testing that we found that nothing happened when we turned the key. It transpires that the rattle we heard on launching was the starter motor not disengaging correctly and promptly destroying itself. I guess 21 years isn’t bad for a starter motor, and the local stockists can get one in within 24 hours, so not too big an issue. Other than that, everything seems to work so all good. When the wind drops a bit we can get the new mainsail on and prepare to leave for Tonga – the next chapter in the adventure.
