after many miles at sea and pleasure to her former owners, she shed her name on Friday 13th August (thank goodness we're not superstitious ....!) to be reborn as:
Mahalo on Tuesday 17th August when her new name was put on by Russ of Port Signs Nelson who custom designed a font using one we'd found and modified to be a font we felt was casual, relaxed, almost depicting waves with the scrolls at the start and finish.
The colours of Cobalt Blue for the primary colour and Teal for a shadow where vitually the same as we had used on one of our previous yachts FAZE II and closely matched the original pinstriping used by Catalina yachts.
She will also be continuing to carry the South Australian state recreational boat registration numbers SA67S with the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron Sail Number SA67 which we have held for quite some time now on all of our yachts and which was previously carried with honour by the yacht Youth.
Each year the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron awards the Youth Trophy to a fitting yacht and crew who have life-changing cruising experience .... who knows after having purchased, refitted, cruised and sailed Mahalo back almost 3,000 nautical miles from New Zealand we could well be be worthy candidates for the 2011 award !
Anyway after a week of being out, where it was gone over thoroughly, the mast is back in and the boom and main back on with the staysail & genoa to go back on shortly, during the time it was out:
- all wire rigging was replaced with the equivalent diameter Hamma (Dyform) wire which is 30% stronger.
- the wire running back stays were replaced with lighter 12mm Dyneema rope
- the main topping lift was removed completely (the spare main halyard for the trysail can be used for this although the solid vang assembly tends to hold the boom up anyway)
- another block and halyard exit was added for a 2nd spinnaker halyard on starboard (although only a lightweight 6mm mouse line was run at this time)
- all sheaves, fittings, spreaders and fastenings were thoroughly inspected, sheaves lubricated, fastening screws tightened and potential sharp edges taped over with self amalgamating tape or "glued"in place with Sikaflex marine grade sealant in the case of the stainless steel spit rings which secured the spreader pins.
- all electrical and instrumenetation cables were withdrawn from the mast and inspected for condition along with the steaming, deck and tricolour lights which were all thoroughly cleaned, checked with a multimeter and reassembled and refitted using silicon sealant on cable grommets and with gaskets lubricated with vaseline to ensure they were all watertight
- the VHF antenna was raised to the top of the mast (it was previously part way down the side) and the existing coaxial cable replaced with RG214 double screened lower loss cable
- the radar reflector below the radar scanner was removed along with the analog Raymarine Pathfinder radar scanner. The radar mount was taken away and modified by a local stainlees steel fabricator to mount a GME AE2000 TV antenna about 400mm directly below the radar scanner.
- all of the 3/4" conduit sections in the mast for the radar, steaming and deck light were removed and replaced by new 32mm conduits to accept the new cable for new raymarine Digital HD radar and the coax cable for the additional new TV antenna.
- finally all cables were re-run in the mast and the TV antenna fitted although the new Raymarine RD418HD radar scanner got held up in customs in Auckland and had to be installed later on.
- all of the crimp lugs for the electrical connections for the various cables at the base of the mast were removed and replaced with new crip lugs which were both crimped and soldered to ensure that there was never going to be a problem with corrosion in the connection between the crimp lug and the wire itself.
- the mast was finally restepped at 8:00am on Tuesday 18th August and finally secured only 20 minutes before I had to be at the airport to check-in my luggage to fly home to Adelaide !!
- the furler for the genoa was lowered around 120mm (there are 2 positions it can be located on the stainless bar at the base of the forestay)
The propshaft was also dropped out with the stuffing box to be replaced with a PSS dripless shaft seal and the fixed 3 bladed prop replaced with the Kiwiprop feathering prop (www.kiwiprops.co.nz) which according to the testimonials on their website promises not only far less drag when sailing and improved response when motorimng astern but also potentially a 15% improvement in fuel economy when motoring ..... the manager at the boatyard was so impressed with the prop when it arrived that he's decided he'll be ordering one for his own 50ft yacht that he's building at home in his back yard !!
Inevitably in my fleeting 9 day trip including an entire days travelling each way I didn't get half the things I wanted done to prepare her for the passage home but I now know the mast intimately, have learnt a lot more about the boat and have started the work for the new electronic navigation and communications equipment including having fitted the new 600 watt fishfinder depth transducer (so that it's perfectly level on the few ocassions that the boat may be !!)
Another week or so and she should be back in the water.
Then all I need is another week of work with the electronics and comms and we should be ready to set sail for a shakedown cruise enjoying the fabulous cruising grounds of the northern coastline of the South Island with all of the sounds and island groups .....
Until then, ..... Mahalo,
Jeff
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