DrWatson
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Posts posted by DrWatson
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I highly doubt that a ship of and size could approach the NZ coast without being detected. Customs/Border control know if a vessel is approaching. They will know if you sail in to BOI in the wee hours of the morning after being 100miles out the night before; and you're not on a 4000 tonne Frigate.
For a warship to enter the territory of another nation in peace it does require a bit more clearance and notification than sailing a merchant ship in. The respective NZ authorities would have been well aware of the presence of the FR vessel in our waters. As is usual, the purpose of the visit or transit is often classified. Not notifying and requesting permission from the host country and gaining clearance can be interpreted as an invasion. For example, Switzerland has accidentally invaded Lichtenstein on a number of occasions. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein–Switzerland_relations)
some of these incidents are technically invasions. -
They are NATO and a close security partner - invoking any parallel to RBW is misplaced and counterproductive. The rbw incident was wildly unpopular in France and toppled a government.
They are the only nuclear armed eu country and their nuclear deterrent is not only a part of what keeps Western Europe from the expansionist revisionist aspirations of Putler, but also a significant deterrent across large swathes of the South Pacific - the area that I’m sure you would all like to see remain under the liberal democratic governance that allows and guarantees the freedoms we all take for granted.
International waters are only 12nm away.
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Sarca EXCEL on all chain and a back up Alu fortress with rode and chain separate from anchor, ready to go.
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What's a Diver actually cost these days?
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13 hours ago, Enlightenment said:
I am thinking about scaling down my boat ambitions and living between a house bus and a smaller keeler or trailer sailer
around 30'. I love the concept of a transportable trailerable boat that could be towed behind the bus, that would be fabulous if it didn't have to be my permanent home(too small) I could stand a couple of weeks or so at a time then sail back to the comfy house bus.
I wonder if anyone has seen a bus backing a yacht down the launching ramp before. hmm maybe a bit too much?
I looked at Neolex 25s and ...... VERY pricy.
As a smart guy suggested, a centerboard boat offers a whole raft of advantages, like anchoring in calm bays and walking to shore. more anchoring and closer access to destinations. Not so totally dependent on the safety of moorings.
Anyone know of a well priced trailer sailer that comes with a dual axle trailer?
Something you need to consider is what is your cashflow going to be? Scaling down to a trailer sailer will definitely free up income for living and paying for other things, but running a bus will chew through a lot of that and more. Heavy vehicles are $$$. A decent size campervan is going to set you back +50k. An actual bus, in running order might be had for as little as 10K, but there are no guarantees regarding the condition. The one I linked would swallow at least another 20k turning it into something you might live in.
Do you have a heavy vehicle license? Any experience driving large vehicles? There are plenty of awesome out of the way places where you will not actually be able to drive to. Not all our roads are long vehicle friendly, esp. up North. Then you have the issue of where to hell do you park it? I know a number of people who live in buses and they are always at the mercy of someone else, be it a benevolent benefactor who gives them a spot for a while, or the council banging on your door making you move along.
Heavy vehicles, like heavy boats, suck money. Not only fuel, and maintenance but also insurance and compliance (self contained cert etc...). Now add the maintenance, insurance and compliance costs of your boat and trailer to that.
Here's a thought.
Get a reasonable towing vehicle that you can drive on a car license - even one of those little 3tonne box body trucks. Buy This Noelex 30, and find a trailer. Use the boat as your accommodation both on land and on the water - yeah there's not as much space as in a bus. But you can still do it. But you're still gonna need more than 30k.
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On 1/04/2023 at 10:16 PM, Black Panther said:
The trick is not to sail it back to NZ. But if staying in EU need to be sure of vat status.
The OP is relocating to NZ, and although originally from NZ (we assume a Kiwi) after such a long time, 17y, he might qualify to bring his ship import duty free.
You can lurk around EU for 10y without paying VAT, but you have to leave EU at least every 18M.-
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Don’t buy your boat while you’re here for only 3 months. Wait until you get back permanently.
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A mooring in Northland is going to set you back around half your budget. You will also be required to service the mooring every 3 years so there’s at least 1k/3y.
There will be semi regular inspections of your hull by NRC for invasive bio fouling. If found you have to haul and clean at an approved facility of which there are very few.
if you live on your mooring you will attract additional attention from NRC w.r.t. treatment and disposal of black water. You might need to furnish a plan and be able to prove compliance with the plan. As an example, AFAIR, there’s a local rule preventing you from emptying your tanks in the BOI or any harbour in Northland regardless if you’re 500m from shore or not. https://www.fishforever.org.nz/local-rules/sewage-discharge-laws-at-sea.html
heavy disp. The thing with heavy disp is that it’s hard to do anything with it. Anywhere you want to maintain etc means you need specialist equipment. Heavy is a PITA if you’re on a budget.
Although heavy might feel like reliable, when things get heavy, all your deck gear rigging etc. needs to be larger to cope with the increased strain and force. Then you need enough sail area to give you enough power to move around out of your own way. If you’re sailing alone, you’re bless your boat is very well setup, and you are well experienced, heavy can become a handling issue. Don’t get me wrong, I think some old heavy disp boats are awesome (Tally Ho, for example) but they cost.
If you’re by yourself, you could look for something smaller and more easily managed. Generally costs increase exponentially with length.
Something you can beach easily means you can explore further up rivers and in shallow bays. something you can haul out on a road trailer means you can save $$$ on maintenance. If there’s a storm coming, find a sheltered mangrove without a big river and park up.
Maybe even a nolex30? Lifting keel. Trailerable, good performance etc etc. charter one in the BOI for a couple days and see how you like the size.
Our boat is clearly not a Nolex, but I’ll never have a fixed keel again (touch wood), nor heavy displacement.
So my advice is to evolve your dream and think carefully about your limitations (physical, mental, emotional, and fiscal) and then consider a narrower range or appropriate boats. Single them out and inspect. Don’t waste your time, effort and $ traipsing around the country in the hope of finding the needle in the haystack.
there is no perfect boat for all occasions- if you get a good boat for one some things it will have resale and you can move it on if you decide to change your scope/activity.
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Don’t give yourself a time limit. As you near on the deadline you will feel more and more under pressure to buy and the odds of buying a lemon are massively increased.
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On 1/04/2023 at 6:36 PM, harrytom said:
. remove intake as others have said, Peace of mind. Yesterday changing engine mount on the boys Saab, thought the nuts had disappeared in to the chassis rails, odd ball size and imperil., but after a search found them. Not where one would of thought directly underneath but about 2m away on the driveway.17mm socket nut but 3/8 threads.
Saab with strange imperial fastener??? Haven't Sweden been metric since, well, 1889?
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I'd really like to see the statistics for LiFePO4 vs AGM wrt to fires.
There's so much institutionalised fear in the bureaucracies that it appears to sneak often needlessly into our everyday lives.
Our system was installed professionally by the manufacturer of the boat. There is not absolute disconnect. One has to unbolt the terminals to achieve that. An alarm sounds when the SOC goes below 30%, and the BMS turns the battery off before it hits rock bottom. I'm happy with it, EU marinas are happy with it, and our insurer is happy with it. -
We’ve a 160Ah SuperB on Firefly. Supplemented with a 68W solar panel. Set up means the battery is always full when we arrive at the boat; weirdly the superB monitor system uses about 20mA constantly, so it will run itself flat over time. Must look into it because it shouldn’t do that and there must be some other continuous draw…
We can go 4 days at anchor without running the engine with occasional use of instruments to check weather etc. the Zeus really gets hot if you leave it on and I suspect it draws a lot of power - never checked. During those 4 days primary use is fridge, lights and water pump.
If cruising place to place day-to-day it’s full just from a few minutes engine running to anchor and manoeuvre. It’ll almost always be full after motoring a little way Eg, while making a tidal gate somewhere during the morning calm.
Doing it again I would prolly go to 200Ah - I’d like to be able to run a little electric coffee machine for shots.
We have a 500W inverter that provides enough 240 to charge computers and allow me to WFH from the boat.
But not sure I’d recommend the SuperB as there’s been no support from them post fact. Asking about the continuous draw etc. a black hole. But it does have an alarm …
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I'm aware of at least 1 other boat who sheltered at the barrier during the cyclone. They had a bit of trouble dragging and also had to put out a pan pan after their steering got all mashed up.
Wasn't the easiest time for them. All worked out in the end, tho. -
So, some ideas being bandied around our home include my wife moving to NZ with the kids ahead of me, with me following a year later.
Now, she's Swiss/German and the kids are kiwi citizens. I struggle to find any info on the immigration website about the appropriate VISA for this situation. The "partner of a NZ citizen" visa only appears to work if I actually go there with her.
But surely there must be some class of visa that allows a person to gain residency based on their 2 dependant children being citizens?
I mean, what if I died? Would those kids be allowed to live in NZ but they'd have to leave their mum behind??
Tried calling Immigration NZ a few times but each time I spend 2h in a queue and then get disconnected.
Anyone got any info to share? -
Always frustrated by reporting like this that uses the term "Boatie". Conjures up images of a dude in a tinny wearing shorts 'n a T-shirt.
And then comments such as "...reminding boaties to stay off the water", which again somehow suggest that the skipper was a fool for going sailing rather than being more precise and pointing out the circumstances of this event were not "a boatie popping out for a fish".
I wonder if someone is swept out to sea in their house, are they called a boatie?
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I always wanted to but didn’t (and couldn’t) sail.
My best friend bought a 727, put her back together and launched her.
I didn’t want to race; too stressful I felt. But I ended up as regular race crew. I (we) learnt fast. By the Second season I was comfortable enough to skipper for a race with the other regular crew member and pick up a third spot to keep our series alive when the reg skipper and owner couldn’t make it over the bridge on time for the start. We took home the Richmond wed night g division trophy that season.
My advice would be - go to the Richmond and find a boat where you can crew. Regularly. Bring beer, be nice and go racing. Listen, ask, watch, do, learn. It may not be „your thing“ but you will learn damn fast. After 3 months, if you still like it buy a sailing dinghy and go out sailing every spare moment. you don’t need something flash. And keep crewing.
If it works out well, in 15 years you’ll be effectively single handing your new Pogo 36 through one of the world’s renowned tidal current passages into 25knts in the dark while your partner and toddler puke their guts out below…
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On 17/11/2022 at 10:01 PM, SloopJohnB said:
Saw sharpener.
And the winner is!
Indeed it’s for setting teeth on larger (carbide tipped) saws.
An ex Crew member helped me out. -
So was at a mate’s workshop last week and he’s picked this thing up somewhere along the way. We can’t be sure what it’s actually for…
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Morning. We’re finally heading home as a family for a few weeks over Xmas and before I hit up plunket I was wondering if anyone has a couple of kiddy seats we can borrow for a few weeks? Ages 3 &5. Something lurking in the back of the garage that your kids have well out grown?
Although we can officially fly with ours we’ll already be carting the kid’s luggage as well as our own so additional pieces pretty quickly become a major PITA, esp. when you can’t check things right though on all segments.R
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interesting that it’s only whangarei mooring holders, essentially, whore being canvassed here
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If you are moving to NZ for the first time and hold a NZ residence permit, or are a citizen moving to NZ for the first time, you may bring with you your car, boat, ship free of duty and GST so long as you have owned and used the item for more than 1 year (at the time the item is given up for shipping or departs for NZ), and so long as you undertake to not sell the item within 2y. You can apply for this relief and your application will be assessed.
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Thanks Guys,
Not too onerous, by the looks of it.
Now just to figure out if the EU company are trustworthy.R
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Morning All,
So, I want to order a relatively pricey piece of 'quipment online. It's coming from Europe, and I can get it shipped here (NZ) incl. shipping for some 30% less than the local price.
Of course there'll be 15%GST and 5%duty on top of that, I presume.What's the deal though? HOw's the customs process work? Do I just plug in a shipping address and then at the border customs call and say, "Hey buddy, you gotta pay xxx"?
It's a potential 1700 saving... so I'm certainly looking into it...
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1 hour ago, eruptn said:
11 on a 8.5m boat is a lot?
Yeah I wondered about that. Also no news yet as to how many were wearing life jackets …
What the actual??
in MarineTalk
Posted
"French Embassy Breaks Silence..." is a bit of a misleading headline. But of course the Herald (and most papers) trying to spin something into something it's not.
How about "French Embassy highlights how unobservant Aucklanders are"