John B

I just took a 12 month old 3.5 tohatsu for a trip around Tonga and Fiji and back as baggage for 5 months. Sat on the transom the whole time because the %$$%^^er broke down for the second time in its miserable excuse for a life. Same fuel tap problem that killed it at 10 months old . Tohatsu wouldn't support it at 10 months old and certainly won't now , their warranty is of no value to me. I'm fixing it by buying a yamaha fuel tap,ordered it yesterday as it happens. Buy a Yamaha.

They don't have LPG in Neiafu but would fill your bottle with butane. Locals and other boaties seemed to think it would do no damage to existing fittings . Some guys got it but I didn't as I just wanted a 1/2 bottle top up , they'd have to dump all the LPG to refill with the other. I seem to recall a comment about it burning slightly hotter. Fiji has LPG ok, we just topped up in savusavu. Turns out we get 90 days out of 9 kg.... dunno if thats good or not but its easy for this old barsteward to remember. Interesting to know about New Cal. looks like another swappa bottle in our future

I haven't ever seen it reset per se,IT, it just switches from auto to standby. Then I hit auto and it works again . I take your point about the connections and wiring,(and spike) I just know that one of the two control heads has lost some functions and want to replace it with another . Or come to think of it , a remote on a wire . I use the second one for when we're making a reef pass or through bommies, I can can stand high and have a better view of the water and bow spotter. I've been over the connections at the computer and at each seatalk junction but I suppose there's always the c

Thanks Tuffy, I suspect you may be right , there's a lot of people say the same once the subject comes up. yes it could be a spike , but for me it'll do it motoring or not , after 1 hr or 18.. doesn't seem to be a specific circumstance when it faults.

Oh thats easy , you just need the interpreter app, babelfish in the ear. Force 11 gale = 11 knots apparent on the wind gear 6 tons fibreglass= 6kg microballoons fixing the last prang.

Nuisance problem, after some research it seems that the likely reason for my oldish raymarine autopilot periodically switching to standby all by itself is likely to be a faulty control head. The boat does have 2 and one is definitely dead or dying. Didn't stop us doing anything on our 5 month cruise ,but it'll switch after an hour or maybe 12 or 24 , doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason why that I can see ( so far). Anyone have one they'd like to sell me? I imagine a few people have upgraded to newer systems...I'll use a new one to test out the theory and I'd like a spare regardless

Oh I have no doubt they've been floating around, rolling around by the looks of that weed, for 5 months.Like I said above you have to anchor outside Christmas island in the eastern Kiribati group since about 2012/ 13 or so.( never been there but have a friend who did that) Serial exaggerators though. Its getting worth telling stories now though... We were in the Lau group when the Oyster went up in the Southern Lau. Then later, about 30 miles from where that other great hopeless case Rimas 'disappeared' from ( Texas reef off Rabi island) We were around Duff reef or Weilangilala . In Savu

I think it'll be Christmas island they couldn't get into. A cyclone changed the depth there a few years ago and its a roadstead anchorage now.

My wife isn't like that really , her husband is the problem with his 20 litres of 'oilchange' oil, 1/2 in drive socket set and toolbags for 'in case'. Spare and storm jibs.. crepe like that. Pogo ? did I know about the Pogo, Doc. Whats the plan there? funny 1/2 in drive socket set story in the interests of conversation. Friends had a major fuel issue after leaving Opua and returned because of endless gloop in their keel fuel tanks . Steel Ganley. After an epic tank drilling rebuild session and big delay all fixed. One of the discoveries in the keel tank to go with the 20 or 50 l

No fast light boat is fast and light when loaded for an offshore cruise. Unless its big. You load one up , its just a fast displacement boat like any other fast displacement type boat. Watermaker or a ton of water...3, 4 or 500 kg of fuel, two anchors plus two chains.. 150 to 250 kg, food , booze.Spare parts extra tools. Guys I spoke to commented its extremely easy to put 1.5 to 2 tons on your boat for a cruise and I believe it. Even our old fashioned mid 70's boat surprised the hell out of me when it occasionally pounded. That was bearable but I just wouldn't want that in any prolonge

Might be a good one. Probably not quite right for the criteria but I just cruised a few thousand miles beside a Lotus ,( a Beale and a Whiting too) and it performed extremely well. 1280 in my case ,but I just have a giant amount of respect for Wright boats as well .Maybe a 10.6? having said that and for the record, I agree with Matt. I think its far more economic to buy a kitted out boat for more money rather than a cheaper boat you buy the stuff for. Everything you add as a unit is the cost of a small second hand car and none of that added stuff adds much value to the sell price of t

Look for an 80's Beale. Kiwi boats are undervalued and those always punch well above their weight grade speed wise.

Might be sending you the ' I can't burn as well as I used to unless everything is perfect' message too. Get new plug. I just dragged a 1 year old Tohatsu 3.5 all around Tonga and Fiji for 3000 miles as metal baggage due to a broken fuel tap( 2nd time). The POS . Don't replace your yammy with that crap.

The Keeler famous for something similar was the A class Tamatea, . She ended up with a hog in her sheer at the chainplates for life . Which ended sometime in the 2000's when she was vandalised and burnt in storage in west Auckland. I have a deck stepped mizzen in my boat, over 40 odd years the step had worked and cracked the ply under it ( the cockpit sole) I ended up cutting out about a square foot ( the kauri underneath was pristine) and just scarfing a square of kauri back in. Worked like adream and was just plain fair wear and tear for all those decades. So I reckon you just cut back

Well, at the risk of beating the kiwi built drum, there were some good old kiwi boats and designs well represented through Tonga and Fiji on our winter cruise. Mostly our buddies but a couple of Alan Smiths P38's, Navire for one and Tumua after the chainplate. Manutaki a Beale of about 40ft, ex matabele. Riada, Davidson. Taranui, Whiting. Mahia,Alan Wright.Toronui, Bruce Clark. Domino 2 at musket..Lidgard I think from memory. All 70s through late 80s boats ,perhaps early 90s,mostly wood or wood composite or early Glass ....taking the beatings on passage as well as being great cruising pla

We had our boat in the Opua marina for a couple of weeks in may waiting for window to clear out. Antifouled with 66 in feb. I hadn't realised but that place is infected with barnacles and our two year plus antifoul is ruined, we'll have to haul this season. If I'd known I could have scraped the juveniles off easily but I have to chalk that one up to experience. By the time I cottoned on the bastards had created their hard base and just leave that there when you scrape. . How you keep a boat there year round is beyond me. We had great customs and Biosecurity guys clearing back in a week a

I ran across a guy a few weeks ago in the Malolo area. I noticed he had a kiwi flag up and said hello ( thinking that his 33 ft boat was quite small for the passages these days) Turns out he has one in the BOI and one in Vuda, goes to windward at 600 knots and jumps on whichever one is appropriate.

I was advised to get the aerial B K. Been great for the last 5 months at 17 or so.and in between.

Delta.10 ft and about 50 kg but it doesn't cost 6 k like an oc. Money not an issue? Oc.

Dona Catharina rescues Avanti. I feel sick. I'd been hoping to meet up with those guys here in Fiji.

I'm sitting in Viani bay in a 1975 Davidson 4 skin kauri boat .We've been cruising with a Whiting 47 from the same period,A lotus 1280 and a 40 ft Beale from the 80s . They're all doing a very nice job of it, quick enough when you want it on passage and generally just being as good as boat can be for its purpose.That Beale loaded to the gunwale is chopping off 180 185 mile days as regular as clockwork. And like a classic car there's an intrinsic value plus the scantlings to die for which defies monetary value.

You want to see plastic rubbish waste generated by one industry? Take a walk on any western Coromandel cove this winter or summer. Here.. I'll tell you what you'll find in our so called green country. 10 or 15 or 30 mussell farm buoys, a truckload of mussell farm rope and cut off knots the bastards chuck over the side , and a few buckets of plastic bait bags and drink bottles from the amateur fisherman. Our aquaculture is an industry without care or consequence, or regulation.

The book which presents all categories and then a checklist in one format is dreadful I agree. It might appeal to people with mathmatical/spreadsheet brains but I hated it. The best thing that could be done to demystify the process would be to be able to have individual forms for each category and none of this check appendix whatever stuff. Mind you , compared to the advance notice where are you going where will you visit when are you leaving 9 page x 2 x etc etc forms you have to do for customs/NZ/ Tonga/ Fiji ,... maybe its just a test to see if you'll get through em.

Yes if you buy a boat with the permanent ship reg then its important to change ownership within the time they allow to keep it active.Its valuable. I have that and cat 1 right now and the whole cat 1 process was a doddle compared to just generally getting the boat ready to my satisfaction. In my view the inspectors want you to go and they want you to understand the risk/ reward.They want to be assured you know what you're doing. Don't treat it like a WOF, contact an inspector you've heard of or know of, and begin discussing the process well ahead of time, Its an extended interview more th

I do , I think Matt is right on the money. Whats the problem, you should have 99 % of the requirements anyway and probably do, Its not a WOF check for your car.