When
New Zealand moved to lockdown Level 1 on 14 May we became one of the
few countries to allow unrestricted cruising once again, while the
Australian situation continues to vary by state with some
restrictions still in place.
More
recently several other countries, mostly in the Med, Caribbean and
South Pacific have followed suit, but there are various restrictions
in place relating to isolation, quarantine and screening.
For example
Fiji has opened Nadi’s Port Denerau, but visiting crews must have
had a minimum of 14 days quarantine at sea, have tested negative for
covid-19 before departure to Fiji and be screened on arrival.
Most
Australasian cruisers owning vessels overseas have chosen to forgo
this year’s cruising because of confusion about regulations,
difficulties booking return travel and the need to quarantine on
return. There is also a general concern that circumstances can change
very rapidly and cause major issues for those in the wrong place at
the wrong time.
We
continue to enjoy cruising aboard our Salthouse 52, Rapport and since
purchase in late November have logged 50 nights aboard, despite
staying off the water during lockdown Levels 3 and 4.
We’ve spoken
to several cruisers who went out to Waiheke, Great Barrier, Kawau and
the Bay of Islands during lockdown and while most of them were
approached by police none of them were required to return home or
stop cruising, so it seems the only real issue would have been a
question mark over insurance cover.
Our
most recent trip has been eight nights in early June to Waiheke’s
“bottom end”.
We
arrive aboard at
Hobsonville marina with
our friends Frank and Marie on a
dismal Saturday morning and head
to Westhaven to refuel. We mainly use the flybridge helm and after
berthing at the fuel dock and going below I notice the bilge pump
warning light activated
at the lower helm.
After
lifting our
bilge hatches I
find
sea water coming in sufficiently
to activate the pumps.
At this point we have no idea where the water
is coming from and as a precaution contact Coastguard in case
additional pumps are needed and
it turns
out Paul, the Coastguard skipper is also a marine surveyor. We can’t
definitively find the source of the leak, but Paul finds a loose hose
clamp on the outlet side of one the
bilge
pumps
and we can see some water back flowing into the bilge.
After we
tighten the hose clamp the leak stops and we clear all of the water
from the bilge – problem solved right? Well,
no.
We
refuel and depart for Waiheke with a bilge hatch left open to
monitor the situation.
After about ten minutes Frank appears telling
me
there’s
sea water in the bilge again. Damnation or words to that effect are
said as we head back to moor
alongside the
fuel berth to
have
another look. We agree the problem must be related to the engines as
there was no water ingress when they weren’t running.
Sure enough
we find the port
“dripless” shaft seal’s plastic water lubrication fitting has
broken and water intended for lubrication is
going
into the bilge. Frank suggests a temporary repair using Selleys
“Knead-It”
fast-setting
epoxy putty, usable
in wet conditions
(every
cruising vessel should carry a tube or two of this) and
30
minutes later the repair is complete.
By
now it’s late Saturday afternoon and with
a
gale warning in place
and heavy rain predicted we decide
to spend
the night
back on
our marina
monitoring
the repair and awaiting
better conditions. Two
days later we head
off for an excellent six days cruising with
our
temporary repair lasting
well. One
highlight
was
drift fishing in the Firth of Thames finding plenty of hungry snapper
at most times of day and states of tide. Another
was Waihehe’s Mawhitipana Bay, better known as
Palm Beach where
set back from the beach’s eastern end is the
delightful
and relaxing
Arcadia
cafe
reminiscent of the rustic tavernas we enjoyed during our Med cruising
and
having
a
superette next
door selling
most supplies.
After
our return I organise repairs to
our shaft seal.
I’ve never been a big fan of dripless shaft seals with
a rubber
bellows because
if the bellows fails
the consequences can be catastrophic.
However
to
be fair I’m told they’re widely used commercially.
Our
shaft seals are about six years old and the manufacturer recommends
installing a replacement service kit after this time. It turns out
that for not much more than the cost of the service kits we can
instal the very robust and low maintenance Kiwi shaft seals, so we go
down that path.
These seals incorporate an electronic alarm to detect
a high seal temperature – normally caused by an issue with the
supply of cooling sea water.
I’m
also unhappy with our bilge pump monitoring system
and instal a loud audible alarm so we’ll
know immediately a pump is activated and can then turn the alarm off
while we check its
cause.
Hopefully
these problems are now resolved, but no doubt others will follow!
