DrWatson

AHhh, well Bern is going to be one of those "top five most expensive places on the continent" .... I mean it's Switzerland... Pad Thai - Thai food in Switzerland is notoriously expensive Sushi is also on my "too pricey" list. Surprised at the pizza cost though.

Wow that's a LOT! What country was that? Also, why you eating Pad Thai in Europe? lol My experiences in France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain, are completely the opposite. Even in Switz I pay only equivalent 20nzd for a great Italian pizza. Italy, 9 course meal incl. wine, 50nzd each. Greece, 14 dishes, + figs + wine enough for 5 Adults, 25 nzd each. Croatia was more expensive, and the quality (Vis, end of season) was pretty poor, along with surly service ...

Yeah let's not talk about how damn expensive it is to eat and drink in NZ compared to wages/disposable, and I don't buy that whole "it's because we're isolated" BS. Something is wrong in NZ and it will take a big player with huge balls and deep pockets to force a paradigm shift - but this topic is for a thread elsewhere. Eating aboard is what we've always done (except Greece and 2 nights in France). But if you're on holiday for a week, might as well make the most of it. Going on holiday for two weeks and dragging the same chores with you was recently pointed out to me as "THIS IS NOT A HO

If in a couple years you see a Pogo called Firefly in your bay with a flag saying "Flat Whites", you'll know to pop over in the morning... Yeah I think it's a combination of a lot of factors, a number of which you list here, along with weather (as Darkside mentioned). In the Med it's HOT, and it stays that way late into the evening - meals are eaten late, because it's simply too hot to have a decent meal at 18-20. The weather is pretty settled over the summer. There is the Meltimi, but it's all wind no rain, and it comes from one Quadrant - predictable, the odd Medicane, and y'a

Do go on... rest of the story?

So that’s pretty much half the fleet!

Yeah, I guess you need a min number of boats each night, and the charters make it easier to get those numbers. Woulda thought that in the summer there’d be plenty of boats at the barrier to make it work. Kawau would also work. Could buy an old ferry cat and run a restaurant out of that in Izzy bay occasionally...

Not saying I think we should flood our waters with charter fleets. But, the Med. style cruising, where you sail for a day, moor or anchor in a bay (or a small harbour) and go ashore to the local taberna for a damn fine meal and a glass of plonk certainly has its appeal. Place I went to on Kythnos, Greece, during the high season - tiny bay with about 15 houses, likely an hour's drive over a bumpy arse road from the other side of the island (ok i checked on google and it's more like 20 min), and getting perhaps 3 boats a night, supported two Taberna, one of which served some of the best foo

So, did you buy anything?

Master and Engineer in the dock... Rudder issues caused by s/lack maintenance? No one taking responsibility for maintenance?

Ok, here's an update. Not a big one, but something nonetheless. Got in touch with the professionals (composite boat builder and full service guys in Brest - recommended by Pogo Structures) who launched the boat in July before we got there. They essentially recommissioned after the extended winter layup. They were down there this week installing a new stanchion ... Saildrive oil level check (and alt belt tension) was part of their prestart check-list. Nothing out of the ordinary, and certainly everything within tolerance. So, although we don't know yet how much oil the Volvo tec

Klaus Metz is actually a pretty good dude and has designed some quite nice stuff. That MeTu 650 has to be one one the most meticulous plywood boat builds I’ve ever seen - the detailing and thought that went into it - took something like 4000h maybe more... guy worked full time on it in a garage/warehouse here in Zurich. Klaus built the nesting dinghy to car-top to Croatia. Seems to be pretty good. still 50kg, though...

It' a nice tender, fer sure, but at 700mm high, I got honestly nowhere to stow something like that. If the topsides were made like an SUP is..., then the whole thing could be very easily packed into a much smaller space.

Wow - spendy is right!!! And I guess that listed price is not the carbon version... How do they row? I guess they don't have a rig....

This topic, The Perfect Tender, keeps coming around. One thing we often don't talk enough about weight. Most dinghies are manageable by one person when dragging them up the beach etc, but pretty much all of them suck badly when it comes time to haul them up onto the foredeck. On a boat like BP, I guess there's a bit more space (excepting that superfluous second mast thingy), but realistically a dinghy is an awkward object to manhandle onto a foredeck, and it's a task made more and more difficult as your yacht gets smaller. What's the max. mass that people are comfortable with? I mea

hahah Yeah must have made me totally crazy. I like exploring beautiful places. I know Whangape is useable under the right conditions, but yeah the Herekino bar looks like it might be safe about once every 5 years...

Anyone been in? Even in a fizzboat? Wondered how much water there might be in there at high tide/low tide. Of course you'd need perfect conditions to get in... but if there was 1.4m over the bar at high tide...

You did indeed say to check it. unfortunately I was 1000km away by then Nonetheless, I'm kinda pissed about the level that was in there. I don't have a measure on how much was "too much" (I will ask). Was it 1L too much ? 0.5L? just 100 mL? no specifics... Mostly i'm annoyed because I paid professionals to take care of it while I'm miles away from the boat. True, I didn't check the oil level in the saildrive (I did the engine, cooling, battery etc. ) before this trip, as I expected (wrongly?) that the initial service guy would get it right, and that the guy who launched the boat only 1

The skeptic in me doubts it.... That they suggest a sea trial with the Tech onboard suggests they were not able to replicate the problem and that they don’t actually know what was/is wrong ...

An update! Good afternoon, Our agent Volvo Penta Service xxx xxxxxx has been on board your vessel They made several checks and they made running the engine during 30 minutes they have changed alternator belt which was too much tensionned.They have also drained a few lube oil in the saildrive because oil level was too high Then they runned again the engine and trouble di not appear anymore Nethertheless, what i suggest you is when you're back around our location is to contact Jet marine, and make a sea trial with them like this, you'll have an engine

Starting to like the idea of 1000Ah of 48V Li and a DC motor slapped on the top of the saildrive...

Yep, that's pretty much exactly the situation at the moment, everything except for the two guys and the van thing...

Yeah except they are unrelated incidents....

There's a dude popping down to the boat this week sometime to swap out a stanchion... might ask him to just have a little poke around...

engine idle is 800 (more or less). BBQ is ready...