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Maururu Tahiti

Wind Generator sporting new tail

The wind generator with its new tail

Monday 21 August 2017
16:25.60S 158:40.80W

Well it’s been a while and I know a few of you have been waiting for an update knowing that we are back aboard “Morgane”. We have been a bit busy and haven’t had time for writing blog entries or much else except work for that matter. As well as working on “Morgane” we have both been working remotely on our land jobs.
To cut a long story short we flew back to Tahiti from New Zealand at the end of June.

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Ready for the off – almost!

the repaired heat-changer

The repaired heat-exchanger

Sunday 07 February 2016
41:39.14S 073:03.62W - Marina Costa de Huelmo

We eventually got the heat-exchanger back from the shop on Wednesday; not exactly as good as new but I wasn’t going to let them keep it any longer. They had welded up and machined the corroded area but with insufficient weld so the rubber O-rings sealing the ends of the tube stack were not working. I sealed it all up with rubber gasket compound and let is set over-night. Read more ›



Heat-exchanger woes or “that looks expensive”

A distant island on a calm sea in Golfo Ancud

An Island in Golfo Ancud

Last Sunday we motored into Marina Costa de Huelmo with the intention of staying for a week to ten days. We planned to start the servicing and provisioning prior to a short trip across the Andes to visit Paula`s parents to say au revoir; which would also renew our visas for Chile allowing us an unrushed exit from Chile. We would then return to finish stocking up before departing Chile for Polynesia. Read more ›



Making the bed for an engine

The old engine bed with repairs.

The start point. You can see the patched up engine bed – I bolted on the aluminium t-section in the channels to stiffen it.

The back story – Some readers may remember that we had a problem with “Morgane’s” engine bed while we were in the Chilean channels on our way north ( I wrote about it in this post ). The repair that I made then had held for the rest of journey to Valdivia; but one of the reasons for staying in Valdivia over the winter had been to make a proper repair. Repair is rather a poor way to describe what we had to do; rip it all out and start again is what we really had to do. Read more ›



Return to Valdivia

dinghy in misty morning light

Early morning in Marina Estancilla

I flew out of Cape Town on 28th August;  leaving the crew to make the final preparations to “Pelagic Australis” for her pre-season delivery trip to Stanley. Skip wrote about that on the Pelagic website here.

Paula met me in Santiago where we had rented an apartment for a few days via the Airbnb network. Read more ›



Is spring coming? – some news from Valdivia

Morgane's saloon

The fruit of much labour

An update from Paula.

Here in Valdivia spring seems to be arriving, even though it’s very early. Maybe is el niño, I don’t know… still rains every day, but the days are getting longer, the birds are getting louder, and the trees are flowering. All these is good for the soul, as the winter is long, grey and wet around here. Chris has been away for… I don’t know… two months? too long anyway! And I’m missing him very much. We needed the coins for continuing with our adventure, and so he left. Being away for so long is not easy, and I trully hope we won’t need to do it again. Read more ›



One Fine Day

A fine day in Estrecho Nelson

A fine day in Estrecho Nelson

The 23rd was passed swinging at anchor in Caleta Darde. It was quite comfortable, especially for peace of mind after the wind backed to the West and I was able to veer more chain.

Under way early on the 24th saw us initially covering ground previously traversed Read more ›



Post Brazil catch-up

dodger montageSo what have I been up to since the “Dodgy” update?Well we finished the dodger in early June, apart from the windows as we didn’t have any acrylic, before I headed of to Rio de Janeiro and Paula headed to Cambridge in the UK where she had a short term fellowship with the British Antarctic Survey. Read more ›



A couple of little trips

Well the rain never did let up and allow me to apply that final brushed coat of paint to the topsides that I refer to in the last blog entry!

Once the prop-shaft was back from the machinist it was simple matter to install it and hook it up to the flexible coupling on the gearbox; a final look over the hull, check the anode nuts, etc., and haul her back into her natural element.

Launch 16apr2014

Back into the water we go

The tender did eventually get finished and has been working well. I need to get some longer oars to make rowing easier but overall I’m very impressed, she is a very dry and stable little dinghy. Read more ›



Rain stops play (painting)

Whilst the weather since my last update hasn’t been particularly nasty is has been cold and showery. The official records show that January was a windier, colder and drier month than the norm here in Stanley with sunshine well below the average. This made my task of painting the topsides more difficult and time consuming that I had hoped. Read more ›



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