Tag Archives | Nordhavn

Great to see the days are finally starting to stretch out a bit and it’s now light from about 0630 until about 1815.

Although official Spring started on 1 September, true astronomical Spring occurs with the Vernal Equinox on 23 September while Daylight Saving commences a few days later on 26 September – bring it on!

Good
to see NZ except
Auckland going
to Level 2 giving the impression the Government is committed to returning us to normality as soon as safely possible. Dare we hope that next week
Auckland will go to Level 3 and a week later Level 2? Roll
on the Level
2 day so we
can get back out on the water and enjoy Spring! The on water boat show due to take
place early October has been canceled – another casualty of the
lock
down which will disappoint the boating community and be a blow to exhibitors.

As
we all know there are no qualifications needed in
NZ to
skipper a boat used for leisure. Personally I’ve never
thought
this is a
good thing
and that skippers of boats over a certain size – say 10 metres LOA or
thereabouts should require some qualification, such as a
Boatmaster
Certificate. Nowadays
there is a
noticeably
increasing trend towards much larger power boats and it’s not
unusual to see newer vessels in the 20-25 metre range. Unlike
displacement vessels, planing vessels of this length put up sizable
wakes, particularly at slow planing speeds and we’ve noticed some
skippers seem oblivious to this and
the mayhem they cause at anchorages for example in the Rakino
Channel. I
was in contact with Maritime NZ recently who confirmed there is no
requirement for any skipper qualification regardless of the vessel’s
size if used for leisure. I must admit to finding this surprising as
it means that somebody with no boating experience could potentially
buy and skipper a 25 metre vessel and while it’s safe to assume
most would act responsibly there will always be some that don’t.

We’ve
started making our post lock down cruising plans including
another trip to the Kawau area hopefully based around Labour weekend, another to the Coromandel Peninsula, Mercury
Islands and
Mercury Bay basing ourselves at whitianga marina, plus a trip of several weeks duration to Northland
and the Far
North. Before we finalise timing for the latter two trips we have to await a confirmed
installation date for our new deck crane, hoping to have it
plus our
new RHIB by early-mid
November. Even
thinking about this gets us excited.

I
also have a new writing brief for the annual Pacific PassageMaker magazine due out early next year – an article on what tools, spare
parts and chandlery the well equipped coastal cruising vessel should
carry. I’ve started researching this, finding it a very
interesting subject and already adding a few items to my Rapport shopping list.

Great to see the days are finally starting to stretch out a bit and it’s now light from about 0630 until about 1815.

Although official Spring started on 1 September, true astronomical Spring occurs with the Vernal Equinox on 23 September while Daylight Saving commences a few days later on 26 September – bring it on!

Good to see NZ except Auckland going to Level 2 giving the impression the Government is committed to returning us to normality as soon as safely possible. Dare we hope that next week Auckland will go to Level 3 and a week later Level 1? Roll on the Level 2 day so we can get back out on the water and enjoy Spring! The on water boat show due to take place early October has been canceled – another casualty of the lock down which will disappoint the boating community.

As we all know there are no qualifications needed in NZ to skipper a boat used for leisure. Personally I’ve never thought this is a good thing and that skippers of boats over a certain size – say 10 metres LOA or thereabouts should require some qualification, such as a Boatmaster Certificate. Nowadays there is a noticeablyincreasing trend towards much larger power boats and it’s not unusual to see newer vessels in the 20-25 metre range. Unlike displacement vessels, planing vessels of this length put up sizable wakes, particularly at slow planing speeds and we’ve noticed some skippers seem oblivious to this and the mayhem they cause at anchorages for example in the Rakino Channel. I was in contact with Maritime NZ recently who confirmed there is no requirement for any skipper qualification regardless of the vessel’s size if used for leisure. I must admit to finding this surprising as it means that somebody with no boating experience could potentially buy and skipper a 25 metre vessel and while it’s safe to assume most would act responsibly there will always be some that don’t.

We’ve started making our post lock down cruising plans including another trip to the Kawau area, another to the Coromandel Peninsula, Mercury Islands and Mercury Bay plus a trip of several weeks duration to Northland and the Far North. Before we finalise timing we have to await a confirmed installation date for our new deck crane, hoping to have it plus our new RHIB by early-mid November. Even thinking about this gets us excited.

I also have a new writing brief for the annual Pacific PassageMaker magazine due out early next year – an article on what tools, spare parts and chandlery the well equipped coastal cruising vessel should carry. I’ve started researching this, finding it a very interesting subject and already adding a few items to my Rapport shopping list.

So
we’re back in lockdown again from Weds 18 August and it appears
this could last a few weeks. From the boating perspective it’s
better for
this to happen now
than later, as we move into Spring next month. It seems it was
inevitable that the delta variant would hit our shores and while it’s
all too easy to criticise aspects of how NZ has handled the situation
(eg
the way in which rooms for quarantine are allocated) our infection
numbers are remarkably low. If we had the UK’s infection and death
rates, then based on the population difference we’d be having 2,665
new infections and 8 deaths daily. While there are sad stories about
people having problems returning to NZ, haven’t these people
largely created their own problems?

Back
to the subject of Cruising and
firstly engine servicing.

We’ve
used TerraCat for servicing our Cat 3208 10.4L V8 diesels as
they’ve had a very knowledgeable engineer
who knew our boat well. However he recently
left TerraCat and after
considering our options we
decided to change contractors to Marine Propulsion (MP). The main
reason for this is it’s highly desirable to have the same person
doing your servicing as they get to know the peculiarities and history
of your boat. We weren’t convinced TerraCat could offer this
continuity. So far we’re impressed with MP. The engineer who’s now doing
our servicing is actually one of MP’s directors (so
unlikely to be leaving)
and he suggested coming on board a week before the service to
familiarise himself with
Rapport and discuss our expectations – impressive service. We
wanted somebody who will not only change oil and filters, but
proactively look for potential issues and provide advice on
preventative maintenance. So far we’re very satisfied with our
move. For example he found that two pencil anodes in our heat
exchangers have not been getting replaced because access is
restricted and standard anodes can’t be used. Solution: he’s
going to cut some standard anodes down so they fit and then some
protection will be better than none. He made suggestions re filter
changing frequency to save us cost without compromising performance
as well as suggesting we use our spare filters first and replace them with new ones in order to turn the spares over. That’s the kind of engagement and
service we want.

Useful
tips

1.
Barometers

Most
of us have nice shiny brass barometers on one of our bulkheads and these
should certainly be considered useful beyond ornamentation. So how
should we use them?

The
barometer’s indicator needle should be reset each morning in order
to monitor changes.

If
pressure rises or falls 1.6 to 3.5Mb over a 2 hour period it’s
warning of a depression.

If
pressure rises or falls 3.6 to 6.0Mb over a 2 hour period it’s
warning of Force 6 winds.

If
pressure rises or falls more than 6.0Mb over a 2 hour period it’s
warning of Force 8 winds.

A
drop in pressure of 15 or more Mb in a 24 hour period indicates a
weather “bomb” is imminent.

As
a matter of interest the world’s average atmospheric pressure is
1013Mb

2.
Protection from sharp hose clips

Have
you ever cut your hands or fingers on the sharp ends of stainless
steel hose clamps? I sure have and to avoid this have fitted
Clamp-Aid hose clamp safety guards. These are flexible silicone
sleeves that easily fit over the ends of hose clamps to provide
protection. Cost is about $32 for a pack of 20.

3.
Mounting fittings on gelcoat surfaces

At
some point we all need to add fittings such as an aerial mount to a
gelcoated surface. What most of us do is drill a hole in the gelcoat,
put some silicone in the hole and onto the screw and Bob’s your uncle
right? Wrong. Silicone has a limited life of around 5 years, so at
best water will eventually find its way in to the cavity and migrate
into the substrate beneath the gelcoat. The correct way to do this is
to drill a hole much larger, in  both diameter and depth than what is required for the screw, fill the hole with epoxy and then drill the
screw hole in the epoxy. This will ensure that moisture doesn’t get
into the substrate beneath the gelcoat. In
any case silicone sealants are not suited to marine applications and
we should use marine
sealants like Sicaflex 291, 3M4000
or Bostik
Simson MSR Construction Adhesive.

4.
Paint aerosols

You
normally have some paint left in the aerosol after completing
your job. In order to re-use the aerosol hold it upside down and
press the nozzle until all residual clears out of the nozzle. Then store aerosol upright.

We weren’t planning to do much cruising during August, but hope the lockdown is over so we can start serious cruising again from mid-Sept.

So we’re back in lockdown again from Weds 18 August and it appears this could last a few weeks. From the boating perspective it’s better for this to happen now than later, as we move into Spring next month. It seems it was inevitable that the delta variant would hit our shores and while it’s all too easy to criticise aspects of how NZ has handled the situation (egthe way in which rooms for quarantine are allocated) our infection numbers are remarkably low. If we had the UK’s infection and death rates, then based on the population difference we’d be having 2,665 new infections and 8 deaths daily. While there are sad stories about people having problems returning to NZ, haven’t these people largely created their own problems?

Back to the subject of Cruising and firstly engine servicing.

We’ve used TerraCat for servicing our Cat 3208 10.4L V8 diesels asthey’ve had a very knowledgeable engineerwho knew our boat well. However he recentlyleft TerraCat and after considering our options we decided to change contractors to Marine Propulsion (MP). The main reason for this is it’s highly desirable to have the same person doing your servicing as they get to know the peculiarities and history of your boat. We weren’t convinced TerraCat could offer this continuity. So far we’re impressed with MP. The engineer who’s now doing our servicing is actually one of MP’s directors (so unlikely to be leaving)and he suggested coming on board a week before the service to familiarise himself with Rapport and discuss our expectations – impressive service. We wanted somebody who will not only change oil and filters, but proactively look for potential issues and provide advice on preventative maintenance. So far we’re very satisfied with our move. For example he found that two pencil anodes in our heat exchangers have not been getting replaced because access is restricted and standard anodes can’t be used. Solution: he’s going to cut some standard anodes down so they fit and then some protection will be better than none. He made suggestions re filter changing frequency to save us cost without compromising performance as well as suggesting we use our spare filters first and replace them with new ones in order to turn the spares over. That’s the kind of engagement and service we want.

Useful tips

1. Barometers

Most of us have nice shiny brass barometers on one of our bulkheads and these should certainly be considered useful beyond ornamentation. So how should we use them?

The barometer’s indicator needle should be reset each morning in order to monitor changes.

If pressure rises or falls 1.6 to 3.5Mb over a 2 hour period it’s warning of a depression.

If pressure rises or falls 3.6 to 6.0Mb over a 2 hour period it’s warning of Force 6 winds.

If pressure rises or falls more than 6.0Mb over a 2 hour period it’s warning of Force 8 winds.

A drop in pressure of 15 or more Mb in a 24 hour period indicates a weather “bomb” is imminent.

As a matter of interest the world’s average atmospheric pressure is 1013Mb

2. Protection from sharp hose clips

Have you ever cut your hands or fingers on the sharp ends of stainless steel hose clamps? I sure have and to avoid this have fitted Clamp-Aid hose clamp safety guards. These are flexible silicone sleeves that easily fit over the ends of hose clamps to provide protection. Cost is about $32 for a pack of 20.

3. Mounting fittings on gelcoat surfaces

At some point we all need to add fittings such as an aerial mount to a gelcoated surface. What most of us do is drill a hole in the gelcoat, put some silicone in the hole and onto the screw and Bob’s your uncle right? Wrong. Silicone has a limited life of around 5 years, so at best water will eventually find its way in to the cavity and migrate into the substrate beneath the gelcoat. The correct way to do this is to drill a hole much larger, in  both diameter and depth than what is required for the screw, fill the hole with epoxy and then drill the screw hole in the epoxy. This will ensure that moisture doesn’t get into the substrate beneath the gelcoat. In any case silicone sealants are not suited to marine applications and we should use marine sealants like Sicaflex 291, 3M4000 or Bostik Simson MSR Construction Adhesive.

4. Paint aerosols

You normally have some paint left in the aerosol after completing your job. In order to re-use the aerosol hold it upside down and press the nozzle until all residual clears out of the nozzle. Then store aerosol upright.

We weren’t planning to do much cruising during August, but hope the lockdown is over so we can start serious cruising again from mid-Sept.