Yesterday we finally left the boatyard with the bow repairs nearly complete.  The good news is that we’ll be all done with a major structural repair after we apply a couple coats of epoxy paint in the anchor locker and tie the trampolines back on.  The bad news is that hiring a professional boat builder to do a 3-week repair job isn’t cheap; luckily the lady from the office had me sit down when she called with the final invoice amount.  Since they don’t take credit cards (direct account transfers seem to be the way most large transactions are handled here), tomorrow we start the process of trying to make an international wire transfer from overseas.  To be fair, the labor rates are less here than in the states, the work was done well, and it was really nice to have a boat builder doing such an important project instead of just a run-of-the-mill boatyard.  I spent the last few days working with one of the guys to finish things up, and it really is a lot of slow-going work, especially in the afternoon, when the Kiwi summer sun is out in full force.

For anyone interested in the repair details, our original problem was hull-deck separation on the starboard side of our center “bow” as well as a cracked weld on the fitting that the headstay is anchored to.  When the hull and deck separated, the 6 mm through-bolts that held the inboard edge of the starboard tramp either sheared off or pulled through.  Even though the boat in general is built like a tank, this particular area wasn’t built as heavily and it’s subject to a lot of stress from pounding into the waves as well as the effects of being doused in salt water frequently.  Those three things as well as the age of the boat are probably what contributed to the hull-deck adhesive and two thin layers of glass inside the anchor locker finally giving way.  There were a number of steps to the repair, but now we have fresh epoxy with filler in the hull-deck joint gap and six layers of glass on either side of the area that broke loose.  Just to be safe, we also added six layers of glass on the inside of the opposite side.  All of the eye-bolts that hold the tramps in place were replaced and enlarged as well since they’re bolted through the hull-deck joint.  The bow “nose cone”/anchor roller/headstay fitting was removed, re-welded, and beefed up before being carefully replaced by first using release wax on the underside to form an epoxy “male” mated area on the bow to ensure there were no voids to collect moisture.  We also took the opportunity to have the rigger replace the bearings in the roller furling as well.  They had become so rusted that I had to go out to the roller furling every few days and turn it to break the rust in the bearings loose.  If I’d left it more than a week or two, I’m not sure I could have broken them free by hand.  It’s been an expensive but productive month so far, and we only have a couple more significant repairs to complete before the repair list is down to a bunch of small stuff.

DSC_0454 Starting to put things back together

We’ve had a couple people ask us about (non-boat) work.  We’re both just slightly too old for the easily acquired unrestricted NZ work visas (we would need a job and a sponsor in advance to get a work visa), and my plans to telecommute from NZ ran into a couple hitches, so we’re currently considering a trip back to the states to add to the kitty, but nothing has been finalized yet.

On a somewhat related note, we’ve also been spending a lot of time contemplating our route back to the US.  We budgeted time and money for a 2-year trip via the Suez and Panama Canals, but our later than expected shove-off date led us to alter our plans and spend a season in New Zealand so that we could spend more time in the Pacific Islands.  Now we’re left with a couple of options.  One option is to take the Suez Canal route as we’d originally planned.  The upside to the Suez Canal route is that there’s really a lot to see in terms of different cultures – Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Middle East, Egypt, Turkey, southern Europe, and Morocco.  The downsides are the Somali pirates, rough upwind sailing in the Red Sea, poor sailing conditions across the Med, and expensive marinas with few anchorages in southern Europe.  The Suez route would also add 8-12 months to our trip due to the need to schedule the trip according to the appropriate seasons.  The other option is to cross the southern Indian Ocean and return via South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope.  The South Africa route includes several long offshore passages, but goes much quicker due to the way the seasonal timing works out. Aside from visiting fewer countries, the traditional downside to the South Africa route is the area of frequently rough seas south of Madagascar, where numerous circumnavigators have gotten into trouble among the large, confused waves.  The potentially rough seas south of Madagascar have us looking at another option as well that would take us north of Madagascar and allow us to see Chagos, Madagascar, and Mozambique while avoiding the southern tip of Madagascar and crossing the Mozambique channel in a fairly short time with a good weather window.  I’ve updated the Route page to show the different options so you can get an idea of what the timing and routes would look like.  Lauren also uploaded several new albums of NZ pics, so the Photos link has something new to see for the first time in a while.

indian_ocean Three routes across the Indian Ocean

After leaving the boat builder’s slipway at high tide and making the trip back across the river to the marina, we noticed a familiar stern right across from us.  The boat Kattywompus, with Brad and Linda from Seattle, had found their way to Tauranga.  We’d met them briefly in Ua Pou and enjoyed visiting with them there, and it was nice to see them again several thousand miles and six months later.  It turns out they were coming into Opua just as we were leaving and are now on their way to the South Island on their boat.  Talking to them reminded us how much we enjoy being on the move, seeing new places, and meeting new people.  There’s an old sailing saying that goes “ships and crew rot in port.”  So far we’ve managed to avoid both.