Haul Out in Vava’u, Tonga

Haul Out in Vava’u, Tonga

We spent our first 6 days in Tonga acclimating ourselves back to boat life, cleaning the bottom, and starting the myriad of small projects we brought the parts for.  When we sailed from New Zealand to Tonga, we discovered a few issues that would require us to haul out in Tonga.  Thankfully, there’s one boatyard…

DIY Bottom Job

DIY Bottom Job

The last bottom job we had was at Nanny Cay in the BVIs in November 2015.  As that was our first bottom job, everything was just given a soft cleaning and then paint was applied over the existing stuff.  We were launched in Nanny Cay on November 27th, 2015. When we hauled SH out at…

Haul Out at Norsand Boatyard in Whangarei
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Haul Out at Norsand Boatyard in Whangarei

Most boats cruising the South Pacific Islands come down to New Zealand to hide out from cyclone season.  With easy access to the international airport in Auckland and plenty of marine services, it’s no wonder most cruisers haul out in Whangarei. Why We Chose Norsand Boatyard There are several boatyard choices in Whangarei. We did…

Re-bedding Deck Hatches

Even straight from the factory, one of our deck hatches leaked. That meant that early into our cruising life, I learned how to pull out the hatch and re-bed it. Remove the screws in the frame. You might notice that the screws are not all the same. Be sure to keep track of what screws…