Every Now & Then

Find Chimere here … https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:4999839/mmsi:503054450/vessel:CHIMERE

Picton Marina, (Lat 41 17S, Lon 174 00E)

Sunday 9 February 2020
Our new crew member, Matt Brosnahan, enjoyed a blissful night’s sleep after a cold and windy arrival in Picton the night before. He awoke to the sound of the kettle boiling, as John and I set about the morning’s routine.

This was to be our last day in Picton, with Chimere now almost ready for the next stage … the voyage down the east coast to Christchurch, or more correctly Lyttleton Harbour.

After their brief visit to the boat yesterday, friends, Dean, Sandy and daughter Samantha would be coming aboard tomorrow morning, but as an introduction they joined us for a slap-up breakfast around 8:00am, after which we did a stocktake of the remaining food aboard. It was then off to the supermarket to stock up, along with dropping off most of their bags and gear while they still had use of their rental car.

While Dean, Sandy and Samantha went shopping, John, Matt and I had one last throw of the dice in relation to the generator. We would play with the wiring and control panel one more time, and if necessary, cut all eight wires each side of the almost inaccessible grey-plug-in switch, so as to reconnect them via a “chocolate block” wire joiner fitting that we’d bought at the chandlery.

“Try it now”, said John, after taking the back off the big control box attached to the generator engine and inspecting the wires by way of a mirror; all the while lying nearly upside down with his head down well below the floor level. Still no sound, other than a dull whirring noise, indicating that something was trying to do the right thing but lacked sufficient power, or instructions, to fully make it happen.

John persisted. “What about now?” … I pressed the START button again. At least the yellow solenoid light had stopped flashing on the display panel, and we’d already solved the power supply problem by reconnecting the red wire yesterday. Then all of a sudden, the engine sprung into life with its familiar, reassuring purring sound.
There was a collective “Yeh!!” and sigh of relief at the sound, as John explained he’d jiggled the wire loom, obviously restoring a connection that was a bit suspect. After 5 minutes of running we did what must be done – turned it off and then ON again. Then we did it again, and again, and again. Each time it worked perfectly.

With time running out we agreed NOT to pursue the wire-redirection strategy, preferring instead to stick with what we had done, knowing that we could always pursue the more drastic option if necessary, in the future.
It was a great feeling, knowing the generator was up and running again, and around this time it dawned on me that pretty much everything on board the boat was working as it should… now… simultaneously… and at the same time.

This may sound a bit strange to someone unfamiliar with boats, but it’s for good reason that in the book Wind In The Willows, Ratty is quoted as saying … “that there is nothing quite so much worth doing as messing about in boats”. That’s because there are ALWAYS things to do and to maintain on boats. But every now and then there are moments in time when everything is working.

To give you an idea, there’s probably eight or nine electric pumps alone onboard, for such diverse things as … fresh water from three individual tanks to six separate locations on board (including hot water to four), diesel fuel (from four large tanks), bilge water, toilet holding tank, grey water from the shower and basins, anchor well and also the deck-wash outlet for cleaning. Then there’s the fridge, freezer, main engine, generator, navigational instruments, lighting (inside and out) water making system, standing rigging, running rigging, sails, two outboard motors and dinghies, mobile Honda generator and sump-pump. Then there are the 16 through-hull fittings that feed water in and out of the boat to engines, toilets, drains and pumps – all of which need to be maintained to ensure they don’t seize up with corrosion, or fail. As for the air conditioner … it doesn’t work at the moment because I know it needs a new motor, but it’s not something we’ve found necessary, not even in Vanuatu … so I don’t count it.

Feeling pretty confident with everything aboard we headed out for a test-sail, out of our comfy marina berth, and down the bay to a nearby anchorage called Double Bay … where we picked up an available mooring for ease of operations. (The water is just so deep!) There was another big cruise ship in the harbour so we did a sail-by to have a squiz, returning around 4:30pm with enough time to stop at the local fuel wharf to fill up; we’d used only about 350 litres all the way from Australia.

Back in our berth once more there was time to plan for the next day’s departure, considering the expected weather, visiting the Captain Cook memorial in Ship Cove, the hope of seeing whales and dolphins down the Kaikoura Coast and where we might anchor along the way.

We all gathered together at a local eating house for dinner, with Dean, Sandy and Samantha agreeing to join us aboard at around 8:00 in the morning with a hope to be away around 9:00am

Smooth seas fair breeze and … every now and then

Rob Latimer