A Bucket of Kumaras

I’m not even sure where to begin the tale of the past two weeks. I suppose at the beginning is as good a place to start as any.

A few short hours after our last post, we were hit by a boat. Yes, while peacefully tied up to the dock, waiting to haul out again and feeling quite disappointed and frustrated due to our rudder bearing situation, a boat that had just splashed from the yard was leaving the dock and backed into us. The shrouds on that boat caught on one of our large rigid solar panels. Our dock lines strained as our boat was pulled away from the dock by the solar panel. The skipper switched into forward, and then reverse, and then forward, trying to work his way away from us and into open water. We could hear the creaking crackle of our solar panel glass shattering as we worked to push him off of us. As he motored away he shouted “I’ll be back. I’ll be back.” We sat in a fog of disbelief. The solar panel was destroyed and would need replacement.

And then we hauled out. Back in the slings on land, the forklift scooted into place and with a mighty effort of twisting and shaking we dropped the rudder again. Then the skipper returned. This was the second shock of the day (the first being when he hit us). There are hundreds of horror stories out there, some from good friends, of collisions where the responsible party simply disappears or fully denies any culpability. Before we even learned his name, he said he would pay for whatever replacement we needed. He gave us a landline number where we could reach him in the evenings and the address of his workshop. Then we fell into a slow sad procession line behind our vessel in the lift and our rudder on the forklift pallet, heading for a new spot on the hard.

We spent Tuesday researching solar panels available for purchase in New Zealand. Our previous system had our two panels running in parallel because the voltage of each individual panel was high enough to go straight to our 48-volt battery bank. The company we bought the panels from in the US said they had 1 remaining in stock, but shipping would cost more than the panel. Spending a few thousands dollars on one panel with an unknown shipping time made no sense to us. We could not find any panels with high enough voltage to replace only the damaged panel here in New Zealand, so we then had to search for two panels to run in series that together would have high enough voltage to run into our battery bank. A handful of shops around New Zealand had panels that could work, but they did not sell individual panels to people, only full system packages for powering a house. Luckily, one of the few companies we found with panels that would work and who would sell us just 2 panels, was located around the corner from the yard. We reached the decision to buy the panels that evening and out of the blue, the skipper stopped by our boat to ask about our progress and plan. He promised to return the next day with cash for the panels and to discuss an installation plan. It was a rainy Wednesday morning as we set out for the solar shop to pick up our new panels. We made two trips as only one panel just barely fit in the car with the seats down and hatch open. Later the skipper came by, as promised, and we worked out the install plan.

As it turns out, the skipper is a well-known wooden boat builder here with over 50 years experience. We spent the next 3 days with him removing the old panels and installing the new. The guy has quite the story that we learned about as we worked along side him, that probably would make for a good movie. He was meticulous and the panels are better installed now (more symmetrical and level) than when we installed the original panels ourselves just before leaving Seattle. There are pros and cons to the new panels. The new panels are the same brand as the old, SunPower, but a different model. On the upside, they are brand new instead of having 2 years of rough sea life behind them. They are also bifacial meaning they can capture solar energy on the top and bottom so we may get a little boost from solar reflecting off the ocean and bouncing up to the underside of the panel. The old panels were not bifacial. The new panels are also wider, though shorter than the old panels, meaning that they will not stick out as far behind the stern as the old ones. On the downside, each panel is only rated for 460 watts output as compared to our old panels that were rated for 470 watts (though this might be moot given that the new panels are bifacial). The larger downside is that we have to run them in series into our battery bank because they are only 38 volt panels and we need at least 62 volts to charge the 48-volt battery bank. The old panels were 77 volt panels so they could connect to a dedicated controller for each panel and individually feed into the battery bank. Panels in series are designed to match each others’ output, so when one panel has a lower output the other will match that lower output. Our previous panels each running with a dedicated controller meant that each panel could maximize output regardless of what was happening with the other panel. This makes a difference for us because at times one panel can be shaded by the sail or mast, or one panel will have less solar input due to the angle of the sun in the sky. Regardless, the system is rewired and the panels are functioning. It remains to be seen how well they perform when we’re back to sea, running all our systems and filling scuba tanks regularly. Lesson learned: If you are going to get hit by someone, get hit by an honest boat builder with tons of experience.

Meanwhile, we made very little progress on the bearings problem. The machinist who made the Vesconite bearings spent the last two weeks taking some measurements, creating an alignment tool, and thinking about the problem. As it turns out, the rudder shaft tube (the hole in the hull where the rudder shaft passes through) is misaligned, likely due to the boat settling over time. When the rudder shaft is centered in the tube at the bottom it is off-center at the top by 5mm. That’s a huge offset for something that was supposed to be within a tenth or two of a millimeter. That is why the bearings were so tight. We came to the conclusion that we want to keep the lower bearing as is, and have a new off-center upper bearing made. The machinist had other ideas. He ultimately proposed that we should crack open our rudder, machine the rudder post down to 99mm, rebuild the rudder, and reinstall the self-aligning bearings. This is not an option for us now given the weather window timing for heading north and the time we have left on our visas. Our solution was to hire a different machine shop to make us a new off-center bearing that will work perfectly fine for years to come. As of this posting, we are waiting for the materials to be delivered so the new machinist can make the bearing for us.

As we waited, we chipped away at a few more projects. Kris spent a few days provisioning for our upcoming offshore and remote island cruising. We are restocked on most of our desired shelf-stable goods, including rice, beans, pasta, canned tomatoes, oatmeal, flour, olive oil, boxed wine, and Nutella. It takes days to buy the supplies, repackage to prevent insect and water intrusion, and stow away under seats and floorboards. We’ll save the frozen and fresh goods provisioning for our last week or two here. Mark spent time completing the engine room ventilation project. As noted in our last post, the project was near completion and we were just waiting on the fan. With the fan installed and wiring completed, we expect our engine room temperature to be under better control now. Additionally, Mark adapted our shore power cord with new plug ends so we can now connect to 230 volt shore power. When designing our electrical system years ago, we intentionally built in the capability to switch from 120 volt to 230 volt to allow us to use shore power anywhere in the world (120 is common in North America, 230 is common everywhere else). This was our first time flipping the switch and we’re happy to report that everything is running just fine with 230.

We also briefly celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary with an overnight trip to the Hellhole of the Pacific (Russell), though we spent most of our anniversary with the skipper working on the solar panel install. By late afternoon, we managed to get away in time for dinner and a relaxing evening at the historic Duke of Marlborough Hotel. During our brief escape from the yard, we took the opportunity to reflect on where we were a year ago. Our 3rd anniversary was spent with our friend and salty crew member Justin in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico, as the three of us waited for the weather window to cross the Pacific. We departed for what would be our longest offshore passage two days after our anniversary. Who knows what our 5th anniversary will bring!

Late last week, the skipper stopped by again. He is also a farmer and had completed harvesting his 600 kumara plants (sweet potatoes originally brought to New Zealand by early Maori voyagers). He mainly farms for himself, putting away enough to get through the winter, and then shares the rest with people who help with the harvest. He dropped off a bucket of kumaras for us to enjoy.

And then we prepared for the arrival of our first named cyclone. A handful of cyclones have made their way past New Zealand in recent months. They have primarily stayed offshore and/or their intensity downgraded such that they did not have names. Cyclone Vaianu passed through Fiji and made her way towards us, arriving on the North Island on Saturday. In preparation, some yards closed completely, leaving liveaboards to find somewhere else to live. Our yard stayed open. We spent Friday afternoon clearing our deck of any loose items and ensuring the dinghy was well-secured. Also, at the recommendation of the yard, we used our dock lines to tie the boat down to the cradle we are sitting in. Then we sat tight as the rain and wind came through. Ultimately, our region did not have as much rain and wind as forecast, and the storm tracked a little further east (away from us) than forecast. We fared well with no damage to us or others in the yard. Time to untie the lines and hope for the best with our rudder bearing situation.

Next Stops: Still in the yard fixing the bearings….eventually back in the water