TimB

Balls have been used often, sometimes stainless steel, sometimes even a hard wood. The mast has to be able to wobble a wee bit, as the shrouds are usually a little bit loose to allow for the rotation. The cup and curved surface should work. Need to make sure the mast can't jump off and the tube would do that but it needs clearance. Cheers

Yachts often have partial shading - masts, rigging etc. So do caravans, when parked near trees.....how do I know.....? Mine are two x 150W in parallel through an epever 40A controller. Max I have seen is 20A. cheers Tb

I have done twice via the east coast in a catamaran. We stopped at both Gisborne and Napier. Then continuously with hour on, 2 off watches to Wellington (3 of us). We waited in Napier for at least two days of favourable forecast, then went for it. We motored whenever our speed dropped below 5knots. Below. Us in Gisborne, and friendly locals escort us out of Hawke Bay. They stayed with us for over 2 hours.

Used to be able to buy folding cast aluminium ones from Brian Carter, don't know if he is still in business. (Long time Past Commodore of NZMYC, (multihull yacht club).) Cheers Tb

Port Nick web site lagging, leg two finished but no results, maybe some still out there off hawke bay...

We saw flying fish off Tom Bowling Bay last week as we went round the top. They fly a very long way....... Tb

I read a book by Wade Doak, the diver, who said that Mangroves were even planted around the Thames coast as they trap sediments and provide a fantastic nursery for all sorts of fish and crustacean life. Cheers

M12 (or at a pinch old fashioned 1/2 inch which is 12.7mm). 13mm hole provides a small amount of clearance on 12mm Tb

A bit of cross purposes talk going on here. Wireless Nation provide internet services using the cellphone networks. So no voice unless you can VOIP (voice over interent. Its a special type of modem. A cellphone booster takes the existing (maybe weak) cellphone signal, boosts it and then retransmits it so your cellphone can pick it up. No modem. We have a WN modem for our caravan and we added an external antenna (looks like a shark fin) which proves better coverage in marginal areas. The standard WN modem is a bit marginal unless you have a good signal strength (or the external a

Typically you should expect to pay about $55/m2 for preparation and paint (two coats). Unfortunately a trimaran has a lot of square meters. haulage and hard stand on top sometimes. Marlborough Shipwrights, Havelock (south island) did an awesome job on my brothers catamaran. cheers

Hi, And I started my keeler racing "career" on Notre Dame. I think they had names beginning with N tb

Don't know about current price, talk to your local steel supplier. Price is very much determined by quantity also. But note that in NZ anyway, is more likely to be 1.2 x 2.4 or 3.6m and possibly even a soft conversion from 3/16, 1/4, 5/16 inch thickness. .cheers Tb

Hi martin, I built one of those many tears ago from 4mm ply. I didnt glass it so eventually (after 20years) it rotted through the bottom. Was very stable, I could stand up just inside the gunnel and it rowed like a witch with one person, but was slow with any more. Weighed next to nothing. Cheers

Try Lloyd Price at sounds shipwright services, Havelock. Does a superb job in my experience. https://www.soundsshipwrightservices.co.nz/. 0272438047. Has haul out and two big sheds. TimB

Hi Martin, "Good idea, only snag is that there is no way to get to the top of the mast to..." Does that mean the mast is already up? If so why why can't it be lowered using the spinnaker halyard. it doesn't matter if it doesn't go to the top. I assume you mean because the main halyard is no longer there and that's the only way to get right to the top. I assume also your spinnaker halyard exit is well down from the top so you cant reach the main halyard exit if you went up on the spinnaker halyard. I see a couple of options, 1) a 15m cherry picker (commonly called a boom lift )