Fettling the Lady...

Changes made so far:

1.       We had a rolly night on Taupo (on a buoy with a cross sea) and I was somewhat alarmed at loud clonking from the centreboard and rudder.  So much so that I pulled them up, and we then rolled much more!  When the moon came up at 2am, we motored into a nearby marina.  Peace!  (On a later rolly anchorage we damped the rolling with shore-lines and a half-full bucket on each side hung from the ends of boom and spinnaker pole.)

Centreboard probably needs pivot hole drilling and sleeving, rust treatment & fairing and new shims, but not urgently.

The rudder clonks and tiller play were also due to wear.  I have improved this greatly by

a.       Initially packing out the tiller/rudder frame, and later bent the tiller u-channel back into more its original shape (fixed)

b.      Slightly drilled out the oval(!) holes in the rudder pintles/gudgeons and put in larger bolts (still some play)

c.       Packed around the pivot bolt between rudder and frame (shimmed with large plastic washers cut from ice cream boxes) & tighten bolt (still has a little play)

d.      Added a wood block to stop the rudder going too far forward.  I've just realised that if I replace this with a deeper block with a deep narrow V cut in to take the front edge of the rudder, it will help stop the side to side wobble.  Would line with carpet.

e.      Also replaced rudder holdup cleat and towing emergency holdup strap.  But I now remove rudder blade and outboard for long tows. (Outboard goes in plastic tray on cockpit floor with fenders tied each side of shaft)   

2.       Replaced battery (the old one was shot, as suspected). Fitted trickle charge solar panel suckered inside front window.  Gas cylinder recertified - well worthwhile.

3.       Added double cigarette lighter style 12v sockets to charge phones and tablet (used as satnav) & new stick on battery interior  light for forepeak & lantern for riding light.

4.       New anchor (Rocna 6kg), 5m chain and 70m x 10mm rope.  The old rope is too short for Taupo and its strength is suspect; the old Danforth & chain rust I treated with fish oil & will use as a kedge/stern anchor.  I don't like Danforths for main anchor - if the wind or current changes they drag and don't always reset. Rocna is a 'Rolls Royce' anchor to give confidence & aid unworried sleep…

5.       New much longer 2m mast support (from Surprise's boom) with roller: for boom tent and to aid raising mast.  Well worthwhile.

6.       Bed base to extend starboard bunk to over centreboard, giving 3'6" small double.  Sheet ply fits on over dowel pegs on wood strip on bunk edge, and long wedge cut from 4"x 4".   Uses cushions from quarter berth.

7.       Bed wedge also serves as

a.       Support for table when in cockpit (with telescopic leg on other end)

b.      Emergency tiller (because right size)

c.       New mast support for towing (so one less bit to carry)

8.       Bits and pieces -

a.       Replaced split rings on standing rigging turnbuckles with split pins - on my last boat I found sheets would unwind split rings - even found one lying on the deck and shroud held by loose cotter pin!

b.      Replaced long rusty bolts through cabin roof for cleats, fairleads etc. with shorter stainless ones. 

c.       New plastic tube on shrouds replacing old black moulded ones (instant improvement!)

d.      Tightened a surprising number of screws and nuts loose - some even missing - on quite important fittings.  (The centreboard pivot bolt nut was checked for tightness, but later found to be unscrewing itself, with nothing to stop it coming right off!)

e.      New freshwater pipe and 2 x 10L water bottles (bottles free with 10L spring water -$3 for water versus $10-15 for bottles!)

f.        Washboards reglued to stop rainwater leak.

g.       Cleaning up & replaced domes for carpet & popup top surround.  (Realised that the 4 little spring carabiners were probably part of simple system to lock the pop-top down.

h.      New blocks on the jib sheets at clew. 

i.         Dymo labelling for lines on the cabin roof.

j.        Shifting bits (shackles, quick release clips) around to make rigging mast and sails faster.  Now nearly shackle key free…   

k.       Retired all lethal luggage laccies to garage, and made up new with shockcord & nylon clip hooks/balls

l.         Fitted double elastic cord along boom for securing lowered mainsail.  Split into 4 or 5 sections by being knotted together, with a hook in each section, it means you don't need separate laccies.  Will probably do the same for jib/genoa, along the lifeline, or along the deck edge.

m.    Sorted through cordage for longer mooring lines, springs etc.

n.      Waxing edges of plywood locker covers stops the all night creaking.

o.      Security chain in plastic tube between pop-top padlock and padlock on saddle (next to boom sheet slider) both makes look well locked in trailer park and holds down poptop in gales.   

9.       Trailer/towing

a.       Fitted new bearing buddy & cleaned out & repacked grease.. (Found there was already a bearing buddy on other wheel, so now have a spare!)

b.      Resealed lights and junction box.

c.       Secured drooping brake pipe with cable ties

d.      Glued male garden hose joiners over upper drain holes to make it easier to flush out (not yet tested).

e.      Oiled/greased/zinc primed patches etc.

f.        Bought wing mirror extension.  Good.   Will get a second one.       

Choosing a new boat

When heading back to New Zealand, we were keen to get another boat - but it took us some time to choose one. Partly this was because we had arrears of house maintenance to catch up on, but mainly because we had to sort out the type of boat we wanted.

Boat wishlist

I was keen to gain experience with a bigger, faster, more sea-kindly and weatherly boat than Lillie, and I liked the traditional keeler shape.  Daphne was keen to get standing headroom and a loo that wasn't on full view (well OK, a curtain hid you from the calfs up!).  Both of these pushed us towards a 26'-30' keeler.  Although I love wood, I didn't want a boat that would need a lot of maintenance and definitely not a 'project' boat. I'd hoped to buy - or buy a half-share in - a friend's 10m keeler that wasn't getting enough use; although wood I knew had been well built and looked after.  Unfortunately I didn't tell him of my plans, and came back to find he'd already sold it...

'Sound, well equiped and a snip'!

Keeler: Herreshoff H28?

I liked the classic look of the H28. These were popular in NZ; as well as wooden ones, quite a lot had been made by Compass in fibreglass to a modified Herreshoff 28 design, with more room. They had a good reputation and were not too expensive - boat prices in New Zealand are low and falling. I was tempted by one like this, which had a lot of gear added for solo offshore sailing, which I felt would help Daphne and I with our limited experience.

East Coast nursery

But therein lay the rub. Disregarding (or despite) the fierce tides, currents, fogs, shoals and heavy shipping of the Thames Estuary and East Coast, we had found it a good place to sail a small yacht and to learn quickly. The many estuaries, inlets and rivers gave good shelter and quiet anchorages; we lived the marshland creeks for their birds, lovely sunsets, solitude and remoteness. Often we'd be the only boat within sight, and this in scant miles of towns and cities. Though when seeing a 4-5 knot current sluicing past when anchored for the night, you realise falling overboard there was more dangerous than when sailing!

Walton Backwaters

Mud banks eroding in the backwaters

We started off in Hamford Water. If you read Arthur Ransome as a child you know it as Secret Water. It was the perfect nursery for us, and we learnt about tides, shoals, currents, charts, buoys and withies as we explored. It helped if you liked mud! But with a bilge keeler that was happy to nestle into it if you slightly misjudged the depth, and generally good holding, mud had its good points. Exploring further, Harwich, the Orwell and the Crouch were within a short coastal trip; with the right tides you could go there and back easily in a day.  A little further still was the delightful River Debden, with a friendly harbour master giving phone advice about timing a crossing of it's ever changing bar.

Inhospitable coasts and cruising areas

The seas round Wellington are different. Wellington is a brilliant city to live in, and its large harbour (Wanganui a Tara) is great for day sails and racing 'round the cans'. Its sandy beaches and the beautiful beaches and estuaries of Porirua and the Kapiti coast are made for sailing dinghies, tinnies and kayaks. Across Cook Strait, the Marlborough Sounds are a large and brilliant cruising area, as is the Nelson Bays, Abel Tasman and Golden Bay.

But head east or west from Wellington heads and you find cliffs, rocks and steep shingle beaches. northwards there is no good really harbours before Napier on the east and (once past Mana) New Plymouth on the west. Both are long committing sails along dangerous coasts. And Napier is still a long way from the cruising areas of the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Islands.

Sailing west (not south) across Cook Strait is a delightful days' sail in good weather, provided you pay close attention to the tides and currents. In foul weather it is dangerous, demanding and to be strictly avoided. Wellington is not called 'Windy' for nothing, and gales are frequent. Many boats are kept in marinas in the Sounds to avoid sailing across the Strait frequently.

We'd love sailing a keeler in the Sounds, Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Islands. But the latter two were out of reach for us until we gained experience and had unlimited time, whilst keeping a keeler in Sounds would be expensive in marina and ferry costs and inconvenient in access.

A trailer-sailer?

So I looked again at trailer-sailers.  A TS could be trailed to Hauraki Gulf or the Bay of Islands, and would give us access to the many large and beautiful lakes from Taupo to round Rotorua. Boat park storage would be a lot less than a marina berth, and free if we bought a house with a flat garden. Taking a boat over on the Cook Strait ferry would be expensive, but once across we'd have the Sounds, the Abel Tasman and the large and lovely lakes of the south, and could store the boat there for a winter or two.

Support for this came from a friend at work, who said that they'd moved from owning an H28 to having a small trailer day boat and hiring larger boats for holidays - less hassle, cost and better boats.

A pair of stumbling blocks

A stumbling block here (a) was finding a boat that was "bigger, faster, more sea-kindly and weatherly boat than Lillie, with ... standing headroom and a loo that wasn't on full view". Another (b) was getting a suitable vehicle to pull it.  I loathe and detest SUVs - I'll write a rant about this sometime.  Utes are OK for people that need them, but not really suitable for us. But finding a boat big enough for (a) whilst being small enough to tow  (b) seemed a problem akin to squaring the circle.

A 20'-22' boat with a pop-top seemed possible, and could be towed with a 2.5 - 3l car if it had 4 wheel-drive - which we'd like for skiing anyway - and if the trailer was braked. Such trailers are rare in NZ, where the towing laws are somewhat loose.

Pop-tops got me looking again at Farr 6000s.  I'd been wary of this design because I distrusted the removable cabin rear panels, which seemed very unsafe and unBristol-fashion to me.   Plus I didn't like the futuristic wrap-around window style.

However, it had what appeared to be a strong owner group, a good sailing pedigree, and was quite affordable.  We looked at some local (not for sale) examples and then a good one came up on Trade Me (NZ's home grown e-Bay - better in some respects).

Lady Stardust sounded well-looked after, well equiped, good value and owned by a genuine guy. And red.  Plus the trailer was in good nick and had brakes fitted.  And it was currently pulled easily by the car I'd liked the look of from traipsing car-yards, an all-wheel-drive Subaru Outback.

Daphne and the wide open cabin/cockpit space

We decided it was worth a 300km each way drive, had a look and weren't even slightly put off by the cracked mast support...

Having committed to buy Lady, we now needed to buy an Outback asap.

More later...

The smaller the boat, the bigger the fun... 

Crossing the Thames in Lillie

 ...so many cruising sailers say, usually as they nurse their drink in the bar, gazing fondly at their large and relatively luxurious yacht. They tell tales of their first boat, and how tiny, uncomfortable and enjoyable it was. Though they seem in no hurry to downsize now...

Despite both of us (Daphne and William.  I'm William, a.k.a Bill) having sailed since our teens, it took us 30 years to buy our first cruiser.  We hired a few times in the Marlborough Sounds and the Bay of Islands, and the Norfolk Broads. This was all BC - before children. With children, a wooden sailing dinghy - Cirrus, a Sunburst - became part of the family. Sunbursts are safe, forgiving but reasonably fast. With a small jib, they are designed for family sailing and Cirrus came on most of our summer holidays. After a week or so tramping in the bush with friends, we'd head to a beach campsite and enjoy sun, sand and sailing, and introduce our trampers to dinghy sailing.

Later on, crewing on a friend's 10m keeler across Cook Strait and in the Sounds helped satisfy the need to sail.  When the girls grew old enough for holidays without us, we hired a Noelex 25 in the Mrlborough Sounds.  It was big enough, we thought, for D, I and our son.  We were surprised and delighted when the girls asked to come.  We were even more surprised - and delighted - when the 5 of us, all adult sized, had a great week with no arguments.

Lillie - our first cruiser

When back in the UK for some time, we bought 'Lillie of Pin Mill', a 19' SeaWych bilge keeler, and sailed on the East Coast based on Southend on Sea, on the Thames Estuary.

Like many small cruising yachts, Lillie is fibre glass, 30+ years old, and solidly built. In good condition, she was inexpensive to buy and to run - if you restrained yourself in the chandler!

Very roomy inside, Lillie was in theory a 4-berth; in practice she made a comfortable two-berth cruiser.

The porta potti lives under the square cushion during the day.  At night we put it in the main cabin and the infill cushion made a good sized triangular double bed, with plenty of headroom.

The chain locker is in the bow, and almost every cushion has a large unlined locker underneath - masses of storage room!

We added multi-position table, curtains, cushion, storage netting, plate and mug storage etc.

At first glance, the sink is in a crazy position. In practice it was brilliant. During the day it was covered by the lid to make a step. The open hatch over give full headroom when cooking or washing up.

We loved Lillie dearly, and she was a proper little ship with many big ship conceits: hawse-pipe and kingpost, chain and chain locker, jackstaff, flag halliard, life-ring, king-post, large roller-reefed genoa (bigger than the main) with winches, log and depth sounder, ventilators, big lockers, spray hood and dodgers - the list went on.

Lady Stardust - Farr 6000

Lady Stardust is a foot longer than Lillie, but much beamier and carries the wide beam further aft. This gives her a much bigger cockpit and main cabin (the two can be almost joined when sailing); the fore cabin, although about the same area as in Lillie, feels much more cramped because the larger foredeck means the deckhead comes down earlier. I don’t like that, though D likes the more private loo in there.

In theory Lady is 5-berth and can work well for a family or 4 or 5; she's comfortable for two,  iIn some ways Lady is more dinghy like - lifting centreboard, she’ll plane, no winches, built in buoyancy (and should be unsinkable) - but we day-sailed with 5 adults as comfortably as we could with 3 in Lillie, the pop-top roof gives more headroom at anchor and the fore-hatch is useful.

 I think we’ll find a big difference is that Lady was designed by a top designer, Bruce Farr, and built by boat-builders, whilst Lillie was the only boat the designer drafted, and was built at Bicester. Farr 6000s are raced as much as cruised, and Lady should be fast when we’ve learnt how to handle her. She also has newer sails which are 26% bigger (although both boats much weigh the same) and a newer, bigger outboard - and a trailer so we can pull her from place to place with our new 9 year-old 4-wheel-drive car. And I’ve already filled several pages with lists of improvements...