Category Archives: Boat Technical

Specifics about the boat.

Fruit, More Fruit, and Batteries

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Our plan was to go diving, then into town to check out of the country, do some internet stuff such as sending blog updates, then spend the rest of the day getting the boat ready. We were going to leave the next morning for Suwarrow, an atoll in the Cook’s.

Eric awoke with a really bad cold. Diving was out. The wind in our protected anchorage was howling at 20 knots. The weather forecast for Thursday was 12 foot seas at 8 seconds intervals (for non-boaters, this means bad seas). Leaving was out. Much to our dismay, we found out that the large boat anchored between us and the wireless antenna at Bloody Mary’s blocks our signal. So, with all our plans cancelled for us, we took it easy all day. Continue reading →

Moorea Maintenance

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Tomorrow is Bastille Day, one of the biggest French holidays of the year. According to Lonely Planet, when a holiday falls on a Saturday, everything is closed the Friday before. Since (we assumed, at least) everything was closed, the plan for today was to do some boat chores, then go snorkeling.

Conditions were ideal for several chores. It is much easier to change fuel filters when the tanks are full and when you are in a calm anchorage, so Eric changed all the fuel filters aboard. Christi assisted. Continue reading →

The 8kw Generator Choice

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Time for boating tech talk”¦

When buying the Nordhavn 43 you get to choose the size of diesel powered electric generator. The options are 8 kilowatt (kw) (66 amps at 120v), 9kw (75 amps), 10kw (83 amps), 12kw (100 amps), or even no generator at all. The short answer is we chose the 8kw and are happy with the choice for the way we use the boat, as live aboard cruisers not connected to shore power. The reason takes a bit of explanation. Continue reading →

Fakarava to Tahiti

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We started the day with another run through the pass during the morning incoming tide. The wind was blowing at 22 knots, so the wind kept blowing us away from the coral wall. We had to get in the dinghy and motor back over to the coal wall a couple of times. Conveniently, we were more sheltered from the wind halfway through the pass where the snorkeling is best, anyway. The rest of the ride was fun. We did it again, this time starting at the sheltered spot instead of all the way at the edge of the ocean. There seemed to be less fish out today than in the previous two. Guess the sharks were hungry last night. Continue reading →