BRAVO Refit - Weeks 10 thru 13

As we're entering our 4th month on the hard in the boatyard, life has taken on a rather hum drum rhythm....we wake up aboard (yee-hah!!!.....a great improvement as we moved back aboard from our camper van a week ago, as there is no more work going on in the aft stateroom), head into the yard's office kitchen for breakfast and coffee (they have refrigerators, sink, and microwave for hauled out boaties to use), and then start the day's projects.  We typically work till 6 or so, shower, have a beer or 3, make dinner in the office, watch a bit of awful tv on the bigscreen there, before the saunter back to Bravo for bed.  7 days / week, with little change save one or two welcome evenings out of the boatyard with friends!

Sunrise view looking over our stern as the boatyard comes to life.

Dockland 5 Boatyard has become a sort of mini maritime United Nations.  Owners of boats from New Zealand, Australia, Russia, France, Vanuatu, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, England, Hong Kong, Italy, Norway, and the U.S.  are hard at work, sanding, painting, rigging, and welding.  The pace has picked up dramatically, with winter approaching and many boats getting ready for the annual voyage north to the tropics or west to Asia and Australia.  Nights are increasingly chilly, and the days are getting much shorter.....

We're definitely in the homestretch of this refit.  A good thing, as we must leave New Zealand by early June due to our visa expiration.  Here's the status......

Fuel tanks:  DONE!  All of the cabinetry is rebuilt, so the tanks are hidden once again, and holding fuel without leaks.  This was a huge job, one that we never want to repeat.

Port side tank behind new bulkhead and shelves in the equipment pantry.  All have now been finished and painted, and the freezer and watermaker equipment are nearly installed on the shelves.

Starboard side.  Tanks are behind the teak panel. Compartment above awaits the re-installation of the generator.

Generator:  The crane delivered the rebuilt beast, and it's now back in it's compartment.  Mechanics Glen and Jeff did a fantastic job shoe horning the 375 lb rascal into place, without a scratch to the woodwork.  Kiwi ingenuity coupled with steel cajones, these guys!  We'll hook it all back up when we're back in the water.

What could possibly go wrong???!!!

Smile of success!

Genset finally rests in compartment awaiting hookup

Rigging:  DONE!  Just waiting on one broken part of the genoa furler, but otherwise all of the spar welding, and new standing rigging is completed.

Freezer:  DONE!  We finished the construction and painting of the new box and lid, and install of the new equipment.  (An Isotherm water cooled unit.  Compressor cooling is somewhat of an experiment, as we're running the cooling piping to and from one of our fresh water tanks instead of the more typical seawater outside the hull.  So far so good, with no appreciable warming of the water in the tank.  Nice not to need more seawater flowing into the boat, and a side benefit is that we can run the unit when the boat is out of the water)  It's running beautifully, and seems to use just around 35 amp hours / day, compared to 140 a.h. for the old, poorly insulated box.  This is a major success, and will hopefully allow us to rely solely on our solar panels for electricity, without running our generator daily.

The "Sugar Shack".  Our shipping container varnishing, fiberglassing, and painting room.  Nice!

Freezer lid and frame ready for fiberglass and paint

Freezer installed, now on "fridge" setting....and used for its highest and best purpose!!!

 Galley rebuild:  This is the biggie at the moment.  Since we needed to rip out the freezer box to redo it, the main galley counter had to come out as well.  We're getting a new one made of solid surface material like Corian, and decided to do all of the other counters at the same time.  Has become a fairly big project, and the counters will not be fabricated for about 2 more weeks.

Cindi works with shipwright Steve Erlich on plans for the new galley.  This pattern then went to the shop for fabrication.

Current use of the galley.....our workbench!

Wood refinishing:  Now completing coat 9, just one to go for all of the exterior varnishing.  Nearly there!  We'll then be able to reinstall the dodger and bimini frames, removed 3 months ago to allow the crane to hoist out the generator.

In the meantime, of course, there's been no shortage of smaller but time consuming little jobs.....servicing winches and anchor windlass, installing deck hardware, welding repairs to solar panel arch and genoa cheek blocks, installing new genoa tracks, headliner repairs, etc.  But it really does look like we're getting close as another project gets crossed off the list nearly every day.  As soon as the galley counters are installed, we should be back in the water, and BRAVO's 30 year birthday refit will be complete!  

BRAVO Refit - Weeks 4 thru 9

YES, you read that correctly......Week bloody NINE !!!!!

Our refit project continues forward, albeit at a truly glacial pace.  It's a helluva lot of work.  We took a few weeks off to travel with Seattle amigos David and Diana, making it deep into the South Island.  Had some great adventures, and saw some wonderful sights.....Another blog post will follow shortly on that journey.

But there is progress on several of Bravo's fronts...

Fuel tanks: 

Mock-ups of the 3 starboard tanks awaiting fabrication.  Not a right angle in the lot!

The last couple of days have been big ones...Thursday afternoon saw the stainless steel tank installs completed.

The tanks are true works of art, we hate to cover them up.  Welding doesn't get much better than this.  I finished the plumbing in the afternoon and called a tanker truck company to deliver fuel to the boatyard for Friday morning.

We filled the starboard side first (3 tanks plumbed together as one).  Went without a hitch, and we calibrated the sight glass at 270 litres.  No leaks!!!!!  We then started the fuel running into the port tank, and immediately saw a leak at the filler.  Not a total surprise, as the filler neck had a couple of tight bends to navigate, and the hose just wasn't up to the task.  Bummer.

We had the tank welder make up a custom filler neck in stainless steel.  This morning we had the truck back, and loaded up on 210 liters of fuel....with NO leaks!  YEEEEE-HAH, a real success.  We can now start to rebuild our home, reconstructing the demolished bulkheads and cabinetry, and reinstalling the watermaker, rebuilt generator, dodger and bimini.  Should be a a few more weeks of work remaining, and the leaky fuel tank episode, begun in Ecuador well over a year ago, will be a closed chapter in the Bravo history book!!!

Painting:  The hull has now been painted from the rail to the waterline.  2 coats of primer followed by 2 coats of finish paint.  The cove and boot stripes are freshly painted, and the bottom paint awaits spraying.  Looking SHARP!!!

Exterior woodwork:  Scraping off of all old varnish is finished, and we've begun sanding to get ready for the new finishes to follow.  Hopefully if the forecast rain holds off, we will be completely sanded within the next week.  (yes, we have LOTS of woodwork)

Freezer:  Foam insulation shipment arrived last week, and we picked up the new compressor in Auckland last week.  Started this weekend on building the new box, completing the vapor barrier today.  Should complete the box construction this week.  Lid fabrication will likely take a couple of more weeks, then we'll be ready for new countertops.

Rigging:  The boom came back from the welder, and looks great.  We had a lot of reinforcing work done of weakened areas, and installed a new reefing system.  We are also replacing the rest of the standing rigging, and that should be finished in the next few days.

Sails:  Our main sail and genoa have both been repaired, and await pickup.

Canvas:  We received our new dinghy cover (old one was stolen when the dinghy and motor went on walkabout from the Whangarei town dock)  Also had repairs made on the dodger and bimini.

Mechanical systems:  Generator is in the shop, having completed a major refurbishment, including injectors, injection pump, heat exchanger, and substituting many of our new spare parts in storage for those on the genset, so we should be good to go for many more hours.....(knock on wood!!!)  Engine will get it's 1000 hour service when we're back in the water.
 

Those are the major pieces to our refit puzzle.  Lot's of minor ones interspersed, of course....tracking and stopping leaks, rebedding port holes, reinstalling all hardware removed for the painting work, reinforcing the rubber tubes of the dinghy, regalvanizing our anchor and chain, other rigging modifications, etc.  It's coming, but slowly.

Stay tuned for a photo and travel blog update on our terrific recon journey around this terrific country.

BONUS PHOTO:  Shipwright next door to us shows true kiwi ingenuity!!!

BRAVO Refit - Weeks 2 and 3

Progress has been frustratingly slow these past couple of weeks.  After the tanks came out at the end of week 1, we thought we were "off to the races".  Unfortunately, at this point, three weeks into the project, the plywood mockups to get the new tanks fabricated are still not quite complete, so we will not have new tanks for at least the next 2 weeks or so.  We also learned that our shipwright Don does not work on Mondays!!!  WTF???  This adds 20% to the schedule for any of his work.  Not good.  At all.....

Well here's where we are at this point:

Tanks:  Mockups ALMOST done, then will go off to fabrication

Fitting the structural supports that will go between the tanks on the starboard side.  These get fiberglassed to the hull and support the generator above, as well as anchoring the tanks.

 Partitions have just been glassed in.  Pretty, right?  Well hold that thought...

When the 3 tanks were mocked up in plywood, the 3rd one was slightly too big to maneuver into position in the tight space.  So it and the adjacent tank needed to be redone, and the glassed-in partition will be cut out and re measured and recut (remember, boat hulls taper from bow to stern, so each bulkhead is unique!)

That's what the mockups are for, but it would have made more sense to try it BEFORE glassing in the bulkheads!!!  just sayin'.......

Repair of old through hull fitting hole will be as strong as original.

Meanwhile over on the port side....   We've figured out how to rebuild this side in a single tank, eliminating the hassle and expense of multiple tanks like we need on the starboard side.  It means a large vertical tank, thin enough to slip in the entry, and elimination of the horizontal leg of the L-shaped previous tank.

This required moving a through hull fitting which is the vent for the propane locker.

The repaint project is well underway.  BRAVO has scaffolding all around, and is being prepped and sanded, with the all small dings and scratches of her 30 years of voyaging being filled and faired.  We're also stripping all of the varnish off the exterior wooodwork, and polishing all of the stainless steel.








Ahhh, and now on to the galley.  As you may recall, the freezer box has been a terrible energy drain for us, requiring that we run the generator daily for perhaps 1 hour.  The refrigerator box, on the other hand, has been relatively efficient.  We figured that the freezer had to have bad or lacking insulation causing the problem, and decided after 3 years in the tropics to do something about it.  This past weekend, surgery began, as we tore out the existing counter top and the freezer box itself, along with its insulation.  Not pretty.  At All !!!

Demolition beginning.  Laminate surface removed, as is the freezer hatch (freezer is in the background)

"There's yer problem, ma'am"  Poured foam insulation along the hull (back wall of freezer) is around 1/4 inch thick!!!  Recommendation is for R-28, which is nearly 5 inches!!!  Other walls were better, with around 3"

Galley today, awaiting new freezer and counters.

Back topsides, the boom has gone off to the welding shops.  We're making some improvements to the reefing system, and strengthening the gooseneck (connection of the boom to the mast).

Poor BRAVO is looking a bit shabby now.  Hopefully the next few weeks will see progress as the rebuild continues.....stay tuned!

Bravo refit, week 1

It's begun...our long awaited major work effort started on Monday, as we hauled out of the water, pressure washed, and gently set down in the cradle that will be our home for the next (hopefully) 6 weeks or so.  All went right on schedule.










On Tuesday morning the real work began.  Don from Riverside Boatworks is the shipwright we'll be working with most closely, and we began demolition to get at the fuel tanks.  Both have proved to be worthy adversaries, not totally unexpected.  In order to remove the port tank, we needed to remove the watermaker and the cabinetry that it sat on.  This (the cabinetry) was pretty much trashed in the process, and will need to be reconstructed.

We've found the place where the port tank developed its diesel leak in Ecuador, a corroded point under the tank at the low point.  The tanks were apparently installed in the hull before the deck was put on.  Nice idea for the rascals building the boat.....not so nice when you need to remove the tanks 30 years later!  No way would they fit out of the openings of the boat, so we needed to cut them up and remove in pieces.  Very smelly, messy work, using a grinder to hack up the 2mm stainless steel monsters.  But by Friday afternoon, it was done, the last of the two tanks, in pieces, lay on the ground.  We'll save the bits to make patterns for the replacements.  In order to fit them into the boat, the new tanks will each need to be built in three tanks, plumbed together to work as one after getting them below.  No fun!

Watermaker being disassembled.  Tank is behind the bulkhead on the left (with access panel opening)

Same bulkhead, watermaker and cabinetry now gone

Bulkhead cut away to expose forward face of the tank.  It's an "L" shape, with this the vertical leg, and it extends aft under a seat in the shower.  Not an easy beast to remove!

Tank has been pulled forward. 

Sparks and grit fly everywhere as the tank is cut apart with a grinder.  Large hose is for exhaust blower

And out comes the first part, into the cockpit

Finally the tank is out!

In order to remove the starboard tank, we needed to remove the AC generator which lives above it.  This was a planned project, as we need to do a full service on it in the shop.  Needed to remove the cockpit dodger and framework so that the boom truck could lift the generator (nearly 400 lbs) out through the companionway.

Cutting away the fiberglass and teak plywood panel hiding the starboard fuel tank.  This tank wasn't leaking, but we thought it best to replace the two at the same time.  The generator can be seen above the tank

Cutting up the tank.

Pieces of port tank on the ground.

We also plan to tear out the existing freezer box and build a new one with new, improved insulation to save lots of electricity, hopefully.  So we had a refrigeration tech come out to vacuum out the old refrigerant gas (protecting what little ozone is left down here!!!), and tear out the copper refrigerant lines.  We'll reinstall the gear after the new box is built, along with new galley counters.

 

Now then, just so you don't think it's all work and no play for the Bravo crew, the weekend saw us at the Whangarei rodeo....a pretty big deal for these parts...of course the usual events, bull riding, bronc riding, both saddled and bareback, calf roping, barrel races, all good.

That's gotta hurt

So does this!!!

Headin' for the hot tub....

One event unique to New Zealand rodeos was the sheep chase....just for kids.  The herd of sheep was released into  the ring.  All had ribbons around their necks.  Then a herd of kids was released from the other end of the ring, and the object was for them to get a ribbon off a sheep.  Good fun for all, well probably not the sheep, but that's the way rodeos go.

All in all a successful week.  Bravo is now totally torn apart, but hopefully next week will start the fabrication of the new tanks, as we move on to other projects.  Happily we have friends on another boat who are back home in Norway for a visit.  They wanted their boat looked after in their absence, and invited us to live aboard until our work is done or they return.  Looks pretty obvious which will come first!!!  ;-(