Frank

What was the original post about again ?? cats or something

Equipment failure and or its consequences are not outside your control if your equipment is well maintained and you are properly trained in established safe procedures such as diving with a buddy and using an Octi and a spare dive computer. etc. I have free dived and I like the simplicity of it I have immense respect for competent free divers, I also have a master SCUBA ticket via PADI but I'm no more stressed free diving than SCUBA diving, I understand the risks of both and take adequate precautions. Sometimes despite all this there are accidents both with free divers and SCUBA, nothin

You can also go as fast as you can if you are travelling through moored vessels or going over the top of the dive flag or diver. The flag should be well visible so the vessel has something to aim for otherwise they risk missing the diver or the boat with the topman.

After 12 min of pumping I suspect you will be "over it" I have used a Spare Air while cleaning a boat and it lasted about 5 min . The problem being that as soon as you start exerting yourself with cleaning you will dramatically increase your air consumption. The bottle in the Scorkel picture looks to be smaller than the Spare Air bottle I used.

The Hookah is cheaper , yes I have one and they work well.

We purchased an offshore yacht a year ago, buying.local was easily cheaper when everything was factored in and would possibly be more so now. Opua in the summer can be a good place for viewing bluewater cruisers.

He won the nationals held last week too, still got it after all this time.

Launched a new boat, in a manner of speaking

I might just use my dive torch. https://www.seatech.co.nz/products/bigblue-vl7200p-tri-color-rechargeable-led-light

I have built a few boats, mostly small but some large, so now, I'm crafting my first half model which is a Carpenter 29, just because its been our family cruising boat for 25 yrs. I have used Kauri with Mahogany for the boot stripe/waterline. Its been a lot of fun but ridiculously time consuming even though I have enjoyed the creative process. The next one, a Hood 38 will be a painted hull because its easier to fix the stuff-ups and I think they look better.

That price is ridiculous, understandable perhaps if the vessel was rundown with years of deferred maintenance, but she seemed to be very well maintained.

What did she go for ?

and south of Auckland, we don't discriminate

We switched to a new contractor at the local club recently, they have been very professional, good on communication and no complaints other than price. But that was mostly because all the moorings needed upgrading to the Harbour Board spec and most were well overdue because of continuing delays by the old provider. All the contractors have been flat out therefore unless they happen to have the barge in your particular area there will be a wait.

Good to see the possibility of a few more challengers, at least one of which can be immediately accepted, that article contains a lot of "Could be" and "Likely" words , we will just have to wait and see.

Keep Looking, its in there somewhere

A classic Mullet Boat for sure and the brutal market reality is it that it is junk

What he said , just check the oil on a regular basis, this might help

Rodger that, I built a few Chesapeake 16 kayaks , very fast and relatively inexpensive to build also light if you take care and use Gaboon plywood. Their Shearwater kayaks also have lovely lines although they involve a bit more work.

My C29 is painted with perfection , sprayed on with the recommended polyurethane undercoat, its a good product and the painter went around twice so yes two coats effectively. When all the cost and prep work is added up I figured it was worth paying someone to gun on the liquid gold. Also, I'm Just putting it out there but every person in my local club without exception and including myself has experienced failure of two part polyurethane when applied directly over epoxy undercoat (exterior finishes). Both wooden and fiberglass hulls were involved and based on non scientific observation th

North Minerva is an interesting spot the entrance is wide and clear and the lagoon itself seems to have few if any coral heads, its a very large area . There are supposed to be large crayfish in the reef pools at night but we never saw any, but plenty of Tongans collecting Beche de Mer. Diving on the South Side of the entrance is excellent. If you have decent tackle trolling the reef edge can be exciting.

Sound advice from the experienced, IMHO.

"Would I contemplate going offshore in my own vessel without going with an experienced crew/skipper first?NO" .......Talk to Matt of IT

Very sad to hear that.

Given the length of time on the hardstand (months ?) I wonder if the biggest cost element is simply the accumulated yard fees. I get the impression that most of the time the vessel is just sitting there drying out and being monitored.