Category: Sourcing stuff

Water and mast steps……..check!

Our stay at Newcastle Island came to an end on a really high note.  Tony finished the Spectra 150 watermaker installation and we filled our tanks for the first time without a hose!  I don’t think that I have ever seen Tony so excited!  We can produce 6 gallons/hour through reverse osmosis without starting the […]

Phew! Work completed to date!!

Tony and Karin purchased Arabella (now renamed Mayaluga) in Seattle July 2013 without any illusions as to her condition.  We knew she was definitely a fixer-upper that needed a lot more than simple TLC.  We felt that her honest construction and good reviews as an offshore cruiser made it a worthwhile project.   Three prior owners […]

More green thoughts….

Tony and I continue to discuss and bash about ideas about how to minimize our impact on the environment.  Although we do now, and have for a long time, been conscious of our footprint on the earth, this south sea adventure planning has highlighted for us how small the world really is.  How everything is an […]

Phase I project list

Shortlist of Phase I projects that have been identified: Rewire Hobbs Meter – insertion of ignition key should not activate elapsed time, only running engine (complete) Replace raw water pump (complete) Re-engineer access to gearbox dipstick and filler (complete) Fix Morse throttle cable control in binnacle (complete) Remove redundant wiring (partially complete) Replace fire extinguishers/relabel (complete) Service all through-hull fittings (complete) […]

Plastic Garbage and the Ocean

We have been thinking very seriously about how we will be able to manage the waste we produce on our South Sea adventure.  What the heck do we so with our garbage?  Its not like the islands and atolls we visit have the capacity to deal with this imported waste.  Even here on the west […]

Ripping the deck up!

Don thoroughly tapped and marked hollow sounding spots on the deck and coachroof.  By the end of the day most of the deck had been removed.  What an interesting discovery!  The fiberglass had failed due to glass cloth being used instead of glass matt when the teak decks were removed. Two layers of cloth do […]