Ex Machina

Anyone else seen this ? https://www.marinepests.nz/news/whats-your-level At this time of year our boat easily reaches level 2 in about 3 weeks . It would be more helpful if the councils mentioned the article would lobby the EPA to approve several new paints that have been languishing in their system . One application by Altex has probably passed the two year mark now .

Any pics of viva zapata from last summer ?

Sodium percarbonate . I get the cheapest one I can find with no fragrance which is usually living earth in a cardboard box . Side note , I tried the pak n save brand benzalkonium chloride on our mouldy mainsail and stack pack it worked a treat . $6 bucks for a litre whereas wet and forget is $99 per 4 litres

I recommend this book for head maintenance ….the woman knows her sh*t 😂 she worked for Raritan who make sewclean and marine heads . Our boat no longer smells like a porta loo at a concert with undertones of diesel . She recommends a product called Noflex digestor to breakdown solids (not crystallised uric acid ) and reduce sulphur dioxide stink in the holding tank . Noflex is basically Oxygen bleach so I’ve been oxygen bleach at a fraction of the price and it works . https://seaworthy.com/book-author/peggie-hall/

I used this after a particularly unpleasant bulkhead holding tank blockage , the upstand inside the tank was blocked with crystallised Uric acid . I half filled the toilet with fresh water and added about a cup of acid to the water . The idea is to pump it through the system slowly . I did two to three pumps of the handle every 5 minutes so the solution had time to sit and dissolve the crystals . I did this twice then thumped the hose with a hammer handle to dislodge what was left followed by a good rinse with fresh then salt water . Don’t do this if you have any PVC in your system ! It’s s

You can’t beat the RNZYS youth program for bang for buck . It has churned out a shed load of pro and semi pro sailors that usually go on to work in the marine industry and race locally or overseas . It lifts everyone’s game and NZ’s standing as a maritime nation par excellence . Kudos too to those that take the Olympic path , that’s some dedication for sure .

Did mine about a month ago . A bit different to what you have but similar concept . I had to unbolt the flanges or bearing carriers on either side of the bulkhead . The bearing then needed to be persuaded off the splined shaft on the aft side of the bulkhead with moderate whacks with a hammer , very much like removing a trailer bearing off a stub axle . The splined part of my drive shaft had a clamp and grub screw holding it onto the main shaft , this also needed hammering to remove from the shaft . Once that’s off you can pull the shaft out of the boat . Wouldn’t be a bad idea to replace th

The main engine looks like an R2AK peddle power job

There was a R66 one waiting for you at RYC a couple weeks ago when I picked mine up.

You have to log in to YNZ site to access the cat3 registration . I wasted 30 mins going round in circles until I realised that important step. Otherwise it was straightforward if a tad more expensive than in the past .

We have a fixed solid line that disappears behind linings and fixtures over about 8 meters and that’s the bit I don’t trust . Until that’s replaced the gas gets turned off at the bottle .

Have a solenoid and don’t trust it , you can only blow up once . We always turn it off at the bottle

Bugger , saw that boat up close in the Lerins islands a few years ago . Not my type of boat but still a head turner for sure .

No cones needed , fatigue and the ports of Auckland light show did a fine job of putting us in a muddle .

Many thanks to Neil for talking us across the finish line . We were knackered and couldn’t see it from 100 meters away and mistook the strobe for a roadworks truck on tamaki drive .