Above-the-Fold

Connemara (Mirage 27) was new to me at the time and I had spent some time figuring out a combination of line and shackles that would allow me to keep the boarding ladder in place, but allow me to drop it from the water as well as from the cockpit. On a sunny midday week in Toronto, I was washing the deck and put the mop down for a minute. It started to slip out of the boat, so I grabbed for it. Of course, I tripped over the handle and went arse over teakettle into our basin, which is not the cleanest and most salubrious body of water in the world. After a thrash around, with no one nearb

HA very helpful. Stripper rings should arrive today and their guy said there's no need for the “special Barient tool” on my winches — just take out three screws. So all good. M

been on their site and didn't see that. will look again; that might be the way to go. m

Yes, I know about them, thanks.

I'm trying to replace/fix the stripper rings on my Barient winches. To do that I need to get the jaws apart. The manuals I find seem to suggest an Allen key to get the winch off its mounting, but also seem to say some sort of special tool is required to get the jaws apart afterwards. The name of the tool is usually something like :"Barient special winch tool," which is no help at all. Does anyone have such a tool or know where it can be found? Or even better, a workaround? My winches are 24-45s and 21-33s. regards MS

Thanks for all the replies, especially the all-you-need-to-know link. It appears the issue was under-charging. When I put the batteries on my wee 12v charger, connected to mains power, they went up to 13.6 (on the multi-meter), and lasted MUCH longer on the water. The only difficulty was that it took at least 8 hours to get there. I have now run one of them to the point that it cut out ; I'll put it on the charger and see how long it takes to get back up. And it remains open whether the supplied charging system, meant to go in a DC outlet with the motor running, will do the tric

Thanks for the comments and thoughts. The batteries come with a jack for a 12v outlet; you hook them up with the motor running. Last summer they were charging to about 13.4 that way. But this year, so far, I can't get them above 12.9. I think the mains charging is doing a better job, although it's slow with my teeny charger. But the one on charge is now up to 13.4 when I put a multimeter on it and still not "fully charged" according to the charger. We'll see how it goes. I'll post the stats on the batteries if this process doesn't solve the problem. MS

Always glad to help expand the world. I suppose I should have mentioned it's an electric outboard that I'm using for a tender motor.

I bought a Watersnake Venom SXW 44/36 last summer from Sailor's Corner. I also bought two 18ah lithium batteries, as recommended The combination seemed to work well even though the batteries didn't last as long as I'd like. This season, however, they are not lasting at all. Yesterday, with a measured charge of 12.9, the one lasted 250 metres to shore and halfway back before it conked out. I am usually running at 2 or 3; not the faster modes. It's possible I'm just seeing a floating charge (if that is the term) and they need to be more deeply charged. But it took about an hour or mor

Thanks for the insights. The charts are good but don't give the whole picture. We are pretty familiar with the Gulf and the coast as far as BOI (about eight years of summer sailing in the region) but for one reason or another have never really thought of going the other way. We might try to make the jaunt to Tauranga this summer. Thanks all MS (Above the Fold)

Well, car was the first option but the admiral thought boating it might be an idea. We usually hang around the Gulf or go north. Just thought I'd get a second or third opinion. MS

The grandkids have a cricket tournament in Hawke's Bay in January. We thought we might like to take the boat (Wright 10 in Westhaven) around to Napier to catch a game or two, visit a winery or two, and generally do family things for a week or two. But we've never been down that way by boat. Any thoughts on how long the trip would take (assuming wind and weather not too unfavourable)? We'd be double-handing and anchoring every night. No watch and watch for us. MS

Hmm. They had a lot of warning that was coming. Pretty sure I'd have tucked a reef into that main. And maybe had the guy the foredeck in a PFD. Looked as if the cameraman was tethered in (he/she was holding onto what looked like a tether) but no body else seemed to be. Lucky that nothing broke and no one went over.

Excellent news!

Has anyone heard whether there will be a restaurant at KBC this summer? Last we heard, in March, was that the operators were giving up owing to various difficulties (getting staff, renewing contract) and there were no prospects for anyone taking over. We DO like to break up the trip north with a stop there.

Not sure if this is the right place, but as they don't seem to have a website where I could leave a hearty thumbs up or two, here's a bit of praise for the folks at Aquaplumb, WE had two separate issues, one in the galley, one in the head, over about a three-week period in late Jan. and early Feb. Malcolm showed up swiftly to put the first to rights and then a pair of his juniors came (again quickly) to solve the head issue. They were cheerful, efficient, and pleasant to have aboard. Knock on wood, our water systems will not cause problems for a while, but when they do I know the nu

We were in Tutukaka for the nasty stuff at New Year's; we just moved into the marina for a few days (Pacific Bay was getting lumpy). If you're not in a hurry, you might consider that. Was nice and quiet and the Angler's Club fish and chips was great. MS

Any thoughts on prep? Pull the bimini and dodger off, and maybe the foresail? Double the docklines? Deflate the dinghy? We're on L dock in Westhaven, so ordinarily we don't get a lot of major wave action but the wind will be roaring, I imagine.

Certainly hope the border re-opening is a help. Memories of KBC dinners and lunches have helped to keep us going over the past two years. It would be horrible if the place closed down.

My Mariner Princess works fine except for the grill, which works just fine if you hold the button in but goes out immediately if you let go. My keen understanding of all things electrical and stove-related led me to conclude the thermocouple is pooched. I think there was a thread here that suggested they could be found in China. But I was told I might have a hard time getting a gasfitter to work on the stove, so didn't follow up

The Stuff piece is excellent.

It's Wednesday night round-the-cans, so probably about 7:30 pm. Lake Ontario, off Toronto. The photog (whose J24 lives just across from Connemara) caught that amazing light as the sun was lowering.

And I'll be darned if I know how I got two copies in that post. Oh, well. Technology is sent to try us. MS

I think this is a pretty glamorous picture, but it's not from Godzone, so forgive me if that's a requirement. This is my Canadian boat, Connemara (Mirage 27), racing in July. I'm at the helm and the crew, apparently doing the Watusi on the foredeck, are actually getting the whisker pole in place for the run to the finish.

Yes, IT, that was the original thought a couple of years ago when my mechanic first noticed that the device was kind of tatty: Take it to a shop and refurbish it, for relatively little money. The work did not seem urgent and we put it on the list of Things To Do Down The Line. I'm out of the country for the foreseeable future (presumably the border will re-open someday), so this fall seemed a good time. So he took it off and cleaned it up a bit. What he found changed his mind and at this distance I have to trust his judgment. regards MS