Since we arrived in New Zealand we have been primarily hard at
work in the boatyard. It stays light late here (9 pm) so Gary has been putting
in some long days. Fortunately Dario has stayed on to help us, and he works
really well with Gary. He is a really hard worker, we have been so fortunate to
have him with us. We have also had another guy helping once in a while. Gary
has painted the topsides, the bottom and the bilge, which are tough jobs, but
really the prep work is what takes the longest. The fun job I tackled was
cleaning the bilge, which took 2 days until we found a diesel leak, had to open
that tank, which filled the bilge with diesel, and I had to start all over
again. We have had a surveyor look at the boat for a pre-sale survey. We are
also replacing the cutless bearing, and Gary is pulling the shaft and replacing
the dripless bellows. So when we are done all of this Nirvana should be looking
really good.
I find it interesting that they allow people to live on their
boats while on the hard, so we have stayed on board. It has been way less
disruptive than I thought it would be, so it hasn't been bad. The boatyard has
a BBQ and a dish washing area, so we have taken advantage of that most nights.
As Nirvana comes out of the water
Axel checking out the damage from the reef in Fulaga. Good thing
Nirvana is so solid, but we did find a little coral wedged in the front edge.
Fulaga damage
Looking like she has bullet holes from the repairs to the
topsides.
Gary painting the topsides roll and tip technique
Dario so focused while helping Gary with the topsides.
Half painted
The beautiful topside paint job.
You can see all the planks under the water, that is where you know
for sure she is a timber boat.
Silver primer on half of the bottom. It looks quite pretty.
Nice new bottom paint. Just the boot stripe to go for the outside of
the boat. Still have the bilges to paint, and the entire boat to clean. But she
is looking really fancy with her new paint job.
Here are some fun photos of an evening at the boatyard BBQ with
our friends from Fluenta.
Cheers,
Julie
The boys climbing up to the fort the kids built in the forest
Jonathon trying to give his baby brother Benjamin a ride on Axel's
bike
Max and Gary
Liz and Julie
