Tag Archives | trawler

We’ve owned Rapport now
for a year and a half, finding her to be a great cruising vessel,
however
when you
buy a pre-owned boat you inevitably make compromises compared to your
perfect desired boat. In our case there were three compromises, which
I’ll discuss.

1.
Rapport has
a large flybridge with full headroom and our compromise here was
having plastic clears as opposed to glass. Particularly facing
forward, glass is a big plus especially in heavier seas when there’s
a lot of spray reducing visibility. However Rapport’s clears are
exceptionally good being polycarbonate which
appears to retain its clarity for longer than vinyl and
we’re
just about to treat these with RainX-Plastic which should
considerably increase visibility with rain or spray. In general we’re
pretty happy with these clears and won’t consider glass as an
option until it’s time to replace the clears.

2.
We prefer gas cooking to electric. There’s a lot said about gas
safety
issues, but we’re perfectly comfortable with professionally
installed lpg systems with gas detectors. The main plus with lpg is
you can cook without running a generator. Rapport has electric bench
top hobs and a convection microwave. It took a while to get used to
the convection microwave
and while
Di says she would still prefer a “proper oven” we find it
adequate, supplemented by an electric frying
pan. To
avoid
having
to start the generator just to make a morning
cup of tea
or coffee we bought a small bench top single hob “Gasmate” stove.
This uses disposable lpg bottles which only cost $1.35 and last one or two
days. We also use this for boiling vegetables etc. There’s
no problem using electric cooking while the main engines are running
and charging the batteries, in fact for any electrical device that uses heat like kettles, toasters and hair driers an engine or generator needs to be running due to high current draw. Using
the generator for cooking in the evening is also
not a
problem as we often need to run it to charge our house battery bank,
particularly if we haven’t run the main engines that day. In the
summer most of our cooking is on a lpg BBQ and we really enjoy using
that. So in conclusion we’ve adapted and will continue with the
present system.

3.
As you will have read in our last posting we really enjoy using our
dinghy and ideally wanted a 3m rigid-hulled inflatable with a 15hp
4-stroke outboard, lifted
on board by crane. Rapport came with an old TakaCat inflatable that
after a few weeks we literally threw away as it had so many air
leaks. In
any case its 6hp Mercury outboard was too heavy for us to comfortably
lift on and off the dinghy.

Our current small Aquapro

As
Rapport
came without
a crane and
we needed something in a hurry that the two of us could lift onto the
foredeck cradle we bought a very lightweight (33kg) Aquapro SLR 2.6m
rigid-hulled inflatable with a Honda 2.5hp air cooled outboard. We
had one of these Hondas in the Med and found it to be super – very
reliable and nearly always starting first pull. This package has
worked well but was always a temporary solution. We’re now going to
sell the Aquapro/Honda and upgrade to an approx 3m rigid hulled
inflatable with a 15hp 4-stroke outboard. This will give us planing
ability with at least two adults, more
room when we have often have four adults aboard, longer
range and better rough water capability. Not
to mention much more fun! Bear in mind that on a typical coastal
cruiser your inflatable is also your life raft in a worst case
scenario. In order to lift this dinghy
aboard Rapport we’ll need to install an electric crane and we’re
researching whether we can store the dinghy on a new rack to be built
behind the flybridge (preferred option) or on the existing foredeck
rack. Also
researching which inflatable to buy and whether to fit a Honda,
Suzuki, Mercury or Yamaha outboard. However our choice may be be influenced by what is actually available – watch
this space.

ENJOY
YOUR WINTER CRUISING

In
many European and North American boating locations Autumn is time to
winterise
your boat and leave it until Spring, however in Auckland
there’s
no reason not
to swap
shorts and tee-shirts for jeans and sweatshirts and enjoy
most of what cruising has to offer throughout
our
winter.

Average
weather statistics will
surprise you. For
example Auckland’s average daytime winter temperature is 14-15dC
while by
comparison popular
cruising destination Scotland has an average
summer
temperature
of only
15-17dC.
Also
surprisingly, on
average January is Auckland’s windiest month while the least windy
are March and May through
August. In
Auckland showers
are more prevalent than constant rain and the weather out among the
Gulf
islands is
invariably sunnier than on the mainland. For
example we often look back from Waiheke basking in the
sunshine to
see the mainland shrouded by cloud.

Auckland
is New
Zealand’s most populous boating area where
the Hauraki Gulf’s
Mahurangi
Harbour and Kawau Bay to the north-west, Great Barrier Island to the
north-east and the string of islands from Rangitoto to Ponui in the
south offer
safe shelter in most weather conditions all year round.

Cruising
in winter offers
less crowded anchorages, good fishing and
also means
using your boat regularly, thereby reducing the chances of unexpected
problems. I often see owners starting their diesel engines at the
marina during winter, however engineers tell
me there’s
no substitute for using your boat regularly and working
your
engines under load at normal operating temperature, which can’t be
achieved in the marina. In
fact I’ve been told that starting your engines without loading them
can do more harm than good.

The
winter nights are of course longer from around 1800 to 0700 hours.
We find keeping warm not an issue with heat from the galley, an
electric fan heater powered from our generator and a portable gas
heater. Other
systems such as diesel heaters are also available. Ensure adequate
ventilation when
using gas heaters to avoid dangerous build ups of carbon
monoxide.

We
had planned a ten day family cruise for late May and as departure
approaches
we watch the
forecast with some consternation. The approaching weather system
is
so unusual that the media describes
it as a
“weather bomb,” caused by a ridge of high pressure in the eastern
Tasman Sea combining with a deep low pressure trough north-east
of the North Island to cause south-easterly winds in excess of 40
knots and exceptionally high swells in excess of four metres. A
gale
warning is
issued for
the Hauraki Gulf, but only a strong wind advisory for
the Waitemata harbour, so we modify
our plans to avoid the outer
Gulf and
enjoy the Waiheke area.

We
leave on
a Friday
afternoon in a light south-easterly breeze and cruise to Owhanaki Bay
on Waiheke’s north-west-coast. Here
is perfect
for the
forecast strong
south-east
winds and we find only a handful of boats anchored here
providing
us with plenty of all-important
swinging room.
We’re
cautious about this as having
anchored many nights over the years in adverse conditions our only
problems have ever been caused by other anchored vessels coming
adrift and hitting us.
The rocks
either side of the bay’s entrance are awash with a larger than
normal swell, but where
we’re anchored there’s just a gentle lift. With the wind
predicted to increase to 25 knots we elect to stay here for the next
couple of days finding it perfectly comfortable and secure.

Winter rainbow in Chamberlin’s Bay, Ponui

By
Tuesday it’s a beautiful sunny day, albeit a bit colder as the wind
increases
and temporarily
shifts a bit to the south. We anchor off Oneroa Bay, slightly further
east, where our family members join us having arrived by ferry at
Matiatia. We
want to cruise east to the Waiheke Channel and it’s decision time.
Do we take the route to the north of Waiheke enjoying the sheltered
northern coast, but risking heavy south-east seas when we turn south
into the Firth of Thames, or do we cruise east along the Tamaki
Strait on the
southern side of Waiheke expecting a large
wind-driven
chop for most of the way but no heavy seas? We elect the latter and
cruise south
down
the
west coast of Waiheke in tranquillity before turning east at Park
Point into the full brunt of a steady 35 knot south-easterly gusting
into the 40s. Although the wind-driven chop is about two metres high
it’s
directly on our bow so Rapport’s 16 metre hull handles the
conditions well at about 8 knots with plenty of spray but little
discomfort and with
conditions
gradually improving
as we approach the Waiheke Channel.
Normally
with a south-east wind we’d anchor in Ponui
Island’s Chamberlin’s
Bay, but with
the exceptionally strong winds we
find residual
swell from the Firth
of Thames so anchor slightly further to the east in the more
sheltered Te Kawau Bay.

During
the next few days
the south-easterly is
far too strong to venture out into our favoured fishing areas of the
Firth so we seek out
new fishing spots in the more
sheltered waters of
the Waiheke Channel finding
two locations
that provide
plenty of action.

Faced
with the “weather bomb” it would have been all too easy to cancel
our cruise, but we enjoy ten great days away confirming that winter
cruising even in poor weather can be enjoyed.