Eight for an Over-nighter

Robertson Island (aka Motuarohia Island) … Bay of Islands, North Island

Thursday 1 July 2021

After our big day yesterday, we were slow to climb from our bunks this morning, sleeping in to around 7:45am.  It seemed particularly late because our friendly marine electrician Chris was due to return around 8:15 to remove the low-pressure pump attached to the water-making system.

That’s where I had to leave it last night, sleep just overcame me, but fortunately I’m firing on most cylinders tonight, after our overnight adventure to Robertson’s Island.

Yesterday could really be divided into two parts … the first involved undertaking some essential maintenance and the second part saw us welcome aboard five of John’s immediate family as we headed out on the Big Blue … well, more the Sheltered Green, if truth be told.

As for the maintenance, a few things have been building up.  The main one being the low pressure pump which is an essential component of the water making system.  We’d made water the other day, topping up the tanks with around 200 litres, but then in starting the system a day later, the low pressure pump was silent – nothing, not a peep.  I flicked the switch, and you could hear the Mmmmm of the electric current trying to do its thing, but the motor remained silent.

When Gary was onboard, he looked at the 240 volt switches, one for the low pressure and one for the high pressure pump. We’d replaced one of the switches 18 months ago, this this time though, Gary figured the switches were OK and diagnosed a “mechanical” fault … in the motor.  Well, he was spot on.  There was indeed a mechanical problem, with the small threaded end of the main shaft running through the motor corroding, resulting in the nut which holds on the large plastic impeller coming off.  And even I know that loose, rattling parts inside a pump, cannot be a good thing. 

Our trusty marine electrician, Chris … that bearded, bear-of-man who looks like he’s just stepped off the set of  Game of Thrones … you see in the photos, isolated the problem and fortunately, has a solution in hand.

Then, there was the air conditioning system – with both Hot and Cold functions – which stopped working years ago and since then we haven’t bothered with it.  It’s an old commercial-style unit, still a popular brand, but unfortunately the digital-control-panel-display stopped “displaying”.  There were no more red, read-out numbers and letters anymore, suggesting the “brains” of the unit had up-and-died. Add to this, the fact that the salt water heat-transfer pump had also died, and it looked like we would have to either replace the entire system, or put it into the “too hard” basket … a problem for another day.

Our bear-man Chris couldn’t extract any life out of the unit, but in discussing all the potential issues, and the likely cost of fixing each, (in a word, prohibitive) John gained some insights which he was quick to investigate a short time later – after Chris took his leave.

“Turn on the AC breaker switch now”, called John.  His head and lamp firmly wedged into the cupboard on the other side of the control panel. 

Suddenly, the panel sprung to life.  “There are red numbers again John!!”, I called, with John declaring in reply … “Thought I’d check the wires and one of them is loose.  I keep thinking what Jon Colclough said back in 2013 on our sail to Vanuatu … John, 90% of problems on a boat are ELECTRICAL”    

Jon Colclough being one of our Medical Sailing Ministries sailing volunteers, with an extensive naval career focusing on battleship defence systems.  Despite the fact that Chimere was lacking in the armaments department, there wasn’t much Jon couldn’t fix or rebuild in the electrical and electronics field; certainly, a man whose words on the topic were worth committing to memory.

With the control unit now seemingly functioning normally we felt embolden to crawl under the floor to remove the salt water pump; which I had known for a long time was a bit dodgy.  Turns out, it was beyond dodgy.  Chris, returned to the boat after lunch to de-wire and remove the pump and after a brief test on the bench, pretty soon gave it the thumbs down. 

So, now we have two new identical Onga pumps on order, which should appear next Monday, or Tuesday.  All being well, we can get both the water maker AND the air conditioner fully operational before we head back to Oz – in less than 2 weeks!

By 1:00pm Linda and John had headed off to the supermarket, with me left behind to liaise with Chris about the pumps … AND … to basically put the boat back together, and tidy up, given we’d been lifting panels and moving stuff around to gain access to important boat-bits.    PLUS, we needed to move lots of stored “stuff” from the front cabin – to somewhere – in order to make room for our guests, who’d be arriving between 2:30-3:30.

Fortunately, everyone arrived closer to 3:30, by which time we were back looking shipshape again and John could allocate his family members to their respective cabins and bunks – daughter Rebekah and her two children Jonah and Eve … plus son Dominic – of pig hunting fame – and his three-year-old son Thybault (he’d left his pregnant wife, plus four and five year old daughters at home – up Mountain Rd, next to John’s property, in the Hokianga)

After doing a head-count, there were eight of us in all, and by 4:00pm we were backing out of the marina berth, off into the late afternoon sun, intent on finding a suitably remote and stunning anchorage before it got dark in around 90 minutes. 

In most places this would be a difficult thing to accomplish, but of course we ARE in the Bay of Islands, with a choice of around 144 islands … so, in short order we were dropping the pick at Robertson Island (aka Motuarohia Island) and settling in for the night. 

The excitement, particularly amongst the kids, was so much in evidence you could have bottled it.  It was clear they were having difficulty deciding whether to stay below checking out their bunks, (and everything else – from the toilets to the galley) or remain on deck feeling the breeze and soaking up the newness, the up and down movement and “vibe” of life on the water.

“It’s like an amusement ride” exclaimed Eve as her and Jonah bent their knees, arms outstretched on the foredeck, riding the swell up and down – testing their balance.

The weather remained kind, with the wind blowing from the south east.  The seas were flat and as the orange sunset dazzled off our port stern quarter, an amazing rainbow descended from a collection of clouds off our bow, seemingly hovering over a small island – pointing the way to our anchorage for the night.

The anchor set, along with the “Drift Alarm” on the chart plotter, the excitement aboard moved up a notch, as dinner was prepared in the galley, everyone talked about anything and everything in the confines of the saloon and the kids moved from bunk to bunk, testing the features of each – just for fun – all the while chatting excitedly.

Pretty soon it was yawns all-round and definitely time for bed and to crawl into our allocated bunk for real.  Dominic’s original plan was to share a bunk with young Thybault in the workshop cabin, but we agreed that if that didn’t work out, Dominic could retreat to the saloon bunk, which I would make up in anticipation. 

In the end, it was good I did.  Because around midnight, as I was sitting in the saloon, fighting sleep trying to write this blog, Dominic came in quietly with a knowing smile, and dived behind the curtain with his sleeping bag.     

Soon after, I gave up finishing the blog, uploaded some photos and crawled off to bed exhausted. 

Smooth seas, fair breeze and eight for an over-nighter

Rob Latimer