The months without Stella pass quickly because I keep myself quite busy helping other people with their boat jobs. Malaka Queen is still on anchor near Port Whangarei with the occasional 12 nautical mile return trip up and down the Hatea river to Marsden and Smugglers Cove to clean the hull and to make fresh drinking water. The growth on the river is prolific….
It takes just two months the Maxprop H6 is fully covered with barnacles. So many that the engine stalls at 1300 rpm, full throttle! No alternative then to clean it. Visibility is 30cm so full diving gear on. Succes, the boat moves again to Smugglers cove. Cleaning the hull takes another 2-3 days in the water.
At the same time I an doing several jobs on Chris’s Amel in Whangarei Town marina while Chris and Biru are in Australia: a watermaker repair, a swivel overhaul, a foil repair and a new forestay.
