SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip

In NZ there is a tradition of taking a break at Christmas. For the craftsmen that service boat stuff the break begins around Dec 15 and ends about Jan 15. Some get a little bit of a jump on the beginning, judging by events in Opua when we were just getting out of the boatyard. We got a lot of good work done by that boatyard, but now it is time to move on to Stage 2 of the refit. Stage 2 involves the sails and rigging. I did mention that we had bought a new mainsail from Lidgard (Grant Ewing is our sailmaker). We moved the boat to Auckland, close to the loft where the sails are made. It is a good thing we did. There is more than just sails to get the whole job done. We need changes to the reefing system to allow the deep third reef that we have requested to the sail. There is not enough travel inside the boom for the double acting reefing system that we've been using for first and second reefs. So we've got a rigger to add pulley's to the outside of the boom and thus retain single line reefing. We'll just have two reefing lines, one for the second reef and one for the third reef. The first reef is for racers. Panta Rhei sails just fine with a double reef or no reef....easily changed if need be. The third reef will give us an option in between dropping the mainsail and sailing it double reefed but overpowered using a "fisherman's reef" (i.e. sheeted out to depower it). The third reef will considerably enhance the ease of heaving to or alternatively, running downwind in really really high wind speed. The Navtek vang, outhaul, and backstay tensioners are all hydraulic and need service. These components need specialized facilities and trained technicians to restore them to reliable and serviceable condition. We tried getting it done in Mexico but it didn't work out long term.

We are getting the entire rig inspected and adjusted by a rigger (the bottom inner stays are too loose for sure). We also took down the head sail. A quick inspection revealed reason for concern. We'll probably be getting a new one of those, too. We are tired of sails that quit working in the middle of the ocean. We have taken to heart a lesson learned through sewing endless days on a tossing deck and our search for a sailmaker in mid ocean (Raiatea) to repair the mainsail yet again.

We've started work on the scuba compressor (which has a leak that prevents a full fill of our scuba tanks).

We've got the Max Power bow thruster rep working on how to get our VIP bow thruster working again. For the last 9 months this has been an impossible task (due to reorganization of the company), but maybe now....with a good rep....and NZ alternatives...

We've engineered a solution to the forward sump pump we had run out of spares for and whose spares were no longer available. The small world approach has saved us yet again. We met a friend of Darrell McNabb who has a husband that knows NZ AND boats. He knows it at the highest level. Smart guy. This idea is his. My first impression is that it is brilliant. The second impression will come after we test it! Because it is external to the sump, all issues of fit are made considerably easier. It has the look and the cost of a pump that will last forever. I'm not as sure about the float switch which is original equipment for the sump. I still have spares for the float switch and the pump we are using can run dry so I can use a manual enable if necessary. This pump also self primes to 10 feet. And it likely is made of gold (or it just costs like a close simulation of gold).

We've got a refrigeration guy looking for a latch that can replace the latch that broke.

We've got the switch for the power enable on the windlass being installed.

More work is underway to replace the aluminum electrode on our fisher panda gen set.

All our lines have been removed for rework (new covers and flipping end for end and cleaning)

If you are getting the impression that half the boat craftsmen in NZ are working on our boat, that's about right. Isn't it wonderful? You cannot get this help anywhere else in the south pacific.

The picture shows Karen holding our new external sump pump. See how happy she is?