Fujo

One of these would be pretty much ideal for my future boating around the inner gulf now I've sold our yacht. Do you have any more details on the boat and designer.

I had some jocker valves I order on aliexpress that I'd pretty much written off, but they turned up after sitting in NZ for close to a month. There must be a big pile sitting somewhere. Yours might just be at the bottom?

That's an interesting idea.. any links?

I was told there is no Spark cell site on the island so no reception anywhere in Fitzroy. Phones start to work out of Man of War Passage. The other problem for me was channel 19 and 20 were very scratchy and difficult to understand, so no long term 'look ahead'.

This is an interesting thread. My wife and I shot out to the Barrier four days ago on one of those real light days with out too much of a look at the forward forecast until we got there. Fortunately the fridge broke down with three weeks of frozen meat so gave me an excuse to bail out when a small window appeared yesterday. Had an enjoyable sail back to Waiheke, but a not so enjoyable motor home today with beam rock peaking at 39 when we went past. We are going to have another go at the summer cruise in a week or two. BTW.. No Spark at the Barrier and the shop has run out of Vodafone s

I used to ease the halyard tension at the end of the day, then had problems with the top bearing not rotating and a halyard rapped around the forestay next time we went out.

Inflatable now gone to a good home.

My old Honwave has been replaced due to a leak in the air floor under the rubber keel that is beyond my abilities to fix. It's about 9 years old and I suspect nearing end of life, but does include a seat, oars and a pump. If you are game to have a go at fixing it, it is free for removal plus a donation to crew.org and pickup up is in Auckland. 0211524248

RM 1250?

I would rather pay the coastguard to use Winddan. Much nicer experience.

Clipper.. I think Merlin make them or have them made and sell to others like Balmar who put their name on them. Anyway Merlin's site doesn't seem to be working at the moment, so I'd email them, ask for a price and how to pay. sales@merlinequipment.com

I've had a smart gauge for installed for a year now. I went the Smart Gauge way because I didn't want to install shunts. Read about a good testing here.. http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/smart_gauge Mine is a Merlin version that I ordered direct from the UK... cheaper than Balmar. It just confirmed to me that you can tell a lot from an accurate volt meter.

I built a Pelin Gemini 7'3" close 17 years ago that's spent most of it's time outside. It's 3mm meranti and has been painted in 2 pot urathane with no glass or epoxy. Weighs 18kgs and still gets used over the winters when it's just two of us cruising and the outboard gets left at home.

While there is a bunch slagging off Beneteaus, Riley quietly sails La Vagabond single handed into Opua from Tonga... https://www.facebook.com/SailingLaVagabonde/

This looks pretty acceptable in the lounge!

Thanks' for the feed back Guys. The gas heater tempted me because they a doing deals on them in the RV shops. I want to put the heater in the back locker and the run is at least 3M to the main cabin so that might rule out the gas versions which appear to just allow up to 1500mm of hose. My 2.2KG gas bottles could be an issue as well so I'm back thinking about the Chinese diesel knock offs again.

Island Time.. I've been agonising over the heater issue for my Beneteau 37 footer and I'm interested that you have the Propex LPG heater on your boat. I've been thinking about buying a diesel heater furnace from China on aliexpress, but haven't plucked up the courage to take the plunge yet. I've also recently realised that LPG heaters are used on boats and in fact they have some advantages like quieter and less electricity required. In addition to the Propex, I've come across the Truma heater which seems to used on RVs quite a bit. Have you found that it has enough grunt f