Steve Pope

scrape the paint use a dehumidifier for a day or 3 to dry out the bilge, then check for rot as Wheels suggests. Re soaking epoxy into ply or any soft wood for that matter, a local boat builder suggested using epoxy mix diluted at 75% with meths x 2 applications, this allows the epoxy to get good penetration, then 1 coat of normal strength epoxy, sand and paint if so required.

Most cruisiung Cats become displacement craft by dint of the amount of gear that gets put on board, you need to be a minamalist to keep the speed advantage.

Re max's mention of the limits of draft, Centre boarders don't have those problems.

Suggest if you are still following Hineka do check out the rust situation as rumour has it she alledgedly has had some repairs to rust holes penetrating right through the plating, from the inside, hope this isn't true. Also although she is 70' long the interior space is not much more than you would get with a good cruising 40 footer.

Hineka is a fast but tender boat, has been on the market for a while, I would suggest a very careful survey of the hull etc. before buying, and of course it is a buyers market. For me she would be too big, think maintenance, gallons of antifoul, gallons of paint, slipping charges, sail size, replacement costs. etc. etc. etc. Great for space on board at anchor, but to sail short handed and without a lot of experience is a big ask, you could find yourself totally reliant on others for crew, can't go, can't get a crew, Mid 30' to max mid 40' is a good size for a cruiser lots of good designs ou

As a simple manual pump I have fitted an outboard motor bulb/pump into the inlet line, it is so simple to use if/when you need to bleed your diesel system, it can be installed in an easily accessible place.

Most used fuel filters are just that, they have become second hand for a reason. Racor would be by far the most popular filter in NZ, Separ are equally as good (Ovlov) but lesser known, both reasonably expensive but it is money well spent. 10 micron is a good number for filter size, you can go finer but it isn't really needed. You could probably bring either in from offshore but by the time you add the freight there probably wouldn't much difference in overall price. Buy a pair and set them up so you can change them with out stopping the engine, with a simple guage connected into the system yo

Tell us more Grant!

Sure am! Great stuff.