Category Archives: Boat Details

Fancy New North Sails

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Sugar Shack has been propelled by the same double layer dacron sails for the last 22 years!  Yep, you read that right, our sails are over two decades old and still propelling us forward.  Granted, the sail shape is not ideal and they look a well “used” but they still worked.  After all, they got us from Fiji to New Zealand in 6 days which is pretty darn impressive.

But it certainly was time to replace them.  We interviewed several sail lofts in New Zealand before landing on North Sails.  Roger, came prepared to talk to us about different fabrics, techniques, and sails.  He was the only one to bring us material samples and was very honest about being the most expensive sailmaker. He was right, he was the most expensive one.  

But, that is not why we selected him and North sails to make our new sails.  Roger has been manufacturing sails for 40 years.  He used to work for Doyle sails but moved to North Sails because of their 3Di technology.

The Technology of Tour Ultra X Sails

Our new custom designed main sail will be one giant sail with no seams, edges, or joints.  The corners and high pressure points will be built up to sustain heavier loads.   These sails are meant for reefing and designed to handle reefing.

The sails have a life expectancy of 8-12 years if treated well and a 5 year warranty.  We are also given a free annual check up at any North Sails location.  A repair kit is provided for us to do small minor repairs while at sea which is a simple patch and glue (no sewing).

We paid a little extra to have a mildew spray on both the main and genoa since we plan to spend a lot of time in the tropics.  The material itself has UV protection as well, but we plan to have her tucked nicely into her new sail bag when she is not in use.

Roger came by a few times to measure our sails, note the placement of reefs, attachments, battens, and mast cars.  He then heads off to place our special order.

The Sails Arrive

It took a few months to manufacture our new Tour Ultra X sails but it was worth the wait.  Roger came with our new main, battens, and genoa.

The genoa goes up first as it is the easiest.  She is a slate gray with a gray protective UV cover.  There is a small patch on the sail to protect it from our spreaders (bottom left photo).  The top right photo is our new main flaked out.

We have no problems getting the genoa on.  However, we have a few issues with the main sail.  The cars that attach the main to the mast have the wrong size screw hole.  So, Roger has to return them and get new ones.  A week later he comes back and Matt and Roger put up the new main!

Matt and Roger work diligently in the early morning to get the sail up before the wind picks up.

The full main sail up and proud – just needs some wind…

New Sail Bag

Matt had a very specific idea in mind of what he wanted in a sail bag / stack pack.  He wanted it to be low profile to keep the shadow off the solar panels.  He also wanted it to either wrap in front of or behind the mast to prevent the sail bag from billowing in high winds.  This is in addition to specifications for size, shape, style, fabric, zippers, clips, and velcro attachments.

Our old sail bag had a very high profile and a lot of extra room inside the bag (waster space).  But she was beautiful and lasted 13 years!

The new sail bag has a much lower profile, does not have a lot of extra space inside and is really kick a$$!  It took us awhile to get to where we wanted, but Roger came through in the end!  We are thrilled with the new bag.

Matt made new lazy jacks out of 4mm dynema which make it look even better.  

A few Snags

Roger from North Sails in Opua is fantastic to work with.  He is extremely professional, friendly, responsive, honest, and true to his word.  We did have a few snafus, but overall we are very pleased with our new sails.  What happened?

I mentioned above that our mast cars had to be remade because the manufacture made the screw holes a size 8 when they should have been a 10.  Also, we had two batten cars that had to be replaced because they did not fit properly.  The sail bag was supposed to be made within a week of delivering the main sail, but it did not arrive for almost 6 weeks.  Partially due to the the various holidays and bad weather, but it is what its.

However, Roger was up front with us along the way, kept us informed, and made sure we were happy in the end – and we are!

Events from this blog post occurred in early November (bidding) and in late March (initial install) thru May (sea trial).  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual events.  Did you see our new canvas work throughout the boat in our last blog?

New Canvas: Inside and Out

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New canvas!  We replaced all of our interior and exterior cushions when we purchased Sugar Shack in 2010.  Do you remember the horrid teal pleather that was on the boat when we bought it?  The shop in Turkey did a really great job replacing the cushions and covering them.  We replaced the interior cushions with a beautiful, light tan micro suede called Alcantera and the exterior cushions had a sturdy, stainproof, water resistant beige sunbrella. 

Fast forward to today…if you were to look at our cushions from afar you might wonder why we were replacing the fabric…Even I think they look pretty darn good from this shot.

But, when you look closely, the fabric has started pulling away at the seams especially around the bolsters.  Unfortunately, this is not fixable.  I know, I tried and it doesn’t hold as the fabric is too thin and worn to hold the thread and glue.

And some of the cushions have actually worn through the fabric on the sides.

Exterior Cushions

The exterior cockpit cushions are holding up a little better but they are stained and looking a little tired.  They are also retaining water (when it rains the cockpit gets wet) which takes ages to dry out.

Shopping for a Dressmaker

One of the first things that we did when we arrived in New Zealand (Nov.2022) was to look for canvas makers.  We knew this would be a huge job and so we wanted to get on the books early on.  We met with several companies and decided on Masterpieces in Canvas.  The owner, Kim, is very professional, has amazing creative ideas, great suggestions, and a reputation for stellar work.

The Pending Canvas Projects:

  • Replace fabric on interior Cushions (7 backs, 8 bottoms, 1 nav seat, 2 bench seats, 1 round seat)
  • Recover exterior cushions (3 long cockpit cushions, 2 helm seats)
  • New back bolster covers at helm seats
  • Dinghy Chaps / cover
  • Cockpit enclosure
  • Sail Bag Cover (North Sails will provide this)

We selected a new, hardier interior fabric that is a macro-suede in Ash (left photo).  For the exterior, we selected two types of a new (to us) fabric called Sauleda.  The main cushions and helm seats will be in light silver gray called Tandem Piedra.  The new dinghy chaps, sail bag, helm bolsters and cockpit enclosure will be in a darker gray called Tandem Grafito.

The macro-suede is water and stain resistant and can be scrubbed and cleaned.  The Sauleda is waterproof, stain proof and much stronger than Sunbrella.  It has more threads making it a sturdier fabric.

The Big Reveal:

The new cushions came in and boy oh boy are we excited.  They turned out so beautifully that we did not want to sit on them!  The color is perfect, the material is soft and luxurious, and the design is perfect.

Kim has great attention to detail which can be found in all the seams, curves, and design.  Yours truly (Christine) made the beautiful, buttery soft blanket in the bottom photo.

The bottom side even turned out really nice.  She used a beautiful black phifertex, with sturdy zippers and wood on the bottom (so your bottom doesn’t sink into the holes below)

The seat at our navigation table even came out super cool.  We bought a new chair and had Kim recover it to match the cushions.  This new chair is on a swivel so it turns around and will lift up so we can still access the storage underneath it.

Outside Canvas work

The vendor in Turkey did a great job providing us with large, cushy cushions.  All we needed to do was add a little more water proofing and new canvas.  They came out beautiful as well.

Cockpit Enclosure

Matt and I had made our rain and sun shades and they were very tired and did not completely enclose the cockpit so when it rained everything got wet.  Kim and Matt designed our new enclosure that has windows and is completely enclosed.  We will most likely only use the large back panel and the two side panels (not the corners) on a daily basis.

From the inside…excuse the mess but we are still under construction…

A New Dinghy and Chaps

Our amazing Avon 3.4 lasted over 22 years!  She was a spectacular dinghy and lasted way beyond expectations.  She had a deep “V” bottom, a false floor so we had a flat surface to stand on inside dinghy, tall transom, locker with hawes pipe and 3 pontoons.  But she had several slow leaks and we just could not keep up with them.  We thought about just replacing the pontoons because we loved this dinghy so much, but the cost was equivalent to a new dinghy.

Avon no longer makes small dinghies (they just make gigantic dinghies) so we could not even replace her with another one just like her.  In fact, we had a lot of problems finding a dinghy we liked.  We wanted a 3.6M dinghy, with a deep “V”, false bottom, tall transom (for our long shaft outboard), and hypalon pontoons.  But, New Zealand does not sell dinghies with hypalon pontoons because they are too expensive and they don’t sell.  So, we had to go with a pvc version which just are not as strong or sturdy.  What can you do? Just means the life span of this dinghy will be maybe 5-7 years tops.

We sell our beloved Sweetie along with our old 8hp Mercury outboard.

The gorgeous new outfit for Sweetie 2.0

And we get new chaps made for the new dinghy to protect the pontoons.  Sweetie 2.0.  The far left photo has shadows from the trees – the bow is actually perfect.  Kim added two beautiful pockets and the craftsmanship around each cut out is simply amazing (lower left photo).

Here is a photo of Kim and Roger (our sailmaker)

Events from this blog occurred between April-May 2023.  Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual events. We replace all of our ceiling panels, ceiling lights and update the master bath in our last blog.

Leaks: Drip, Drip, Drop

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Maybe that is a bit of an overdramatization…but we do have several leaks that recently started.  The fun part is trying to determine the source without tearing the boat apart.  But sometimes you just have to tear it apart to put it back together.

Same problem causing multiple leaks.  We were seeing leaks at each corner of the boat.  Originally, we thought it was caused by the seam between the deck and hull.  Then we thought it was where the stanchions meet the deck.  Next, we checked the drain area where our lines originate.  Ah ha!  There it is.  The angled 90° drain, that connects to the drain hose, needs to be replaced in all 4 corners. 

It took Matt months to find the right size angled drain that fit the 19mm hose and had a 31mm drain opening.  He ordered 4 and replaced the largest leak at the starboard bow first while we were in Fiji.  Being in New Zealand during this unusual rainy season has moved the leak project up to the front.

The top white drain is the original defective drain.  The larger white drain is the replacement that works in the two bow locations.  Unfortunately, the larger white drains are too tall for the aft cabin drains so we went on a hunting expedition to find new ones.  We tracked two new drains down in the South Island and had them shipped up to us in the North island (grey drain).

Both angled drains are leaking in the back and both are over beds.  The one in the master leaks right over Matt’s head and the one over the office leaks over the corner bed.  Fun!  These two locations require us to tear down the ceiling panel to access the drain.

Master Cabin Leaks

We removed two of our ceiling panels and found three leaks.  The main leak from the drain, then another leak coming in from a new solar cable we installed a few years ago (they didn’t seal it properly) and the third leak was coming from the ignition panel.  The good news is we could access all of them.

Cyclone Hale

Just after we removed all ceiling panels, we learned a cyclone was coming.  This is good and bad news.  Good in that we will see exactly where the leaks are coming from, but bad because it’s a cyclone for goodness sake!

For those of you who don’t read weather systems, here is another visual of the flooding.

Cyclone Hale changed directions a little bit and ended up over Coromandel.  Basically, we received a lot of rain and winds of about 40kts.  We are pretty protected in the marina so we felt relatively certain we would be ok.  Dressed in our foulies.

But other parts of New Zealand (like Coromandel) did not fair as well.  Once Cyclone Hale passed, we resumed our leaky project.

We replaced the angled drain and put epoxy all around it.  We then resealed the solar cable and we resealed the ignition panel.  All three leaks in the starboard master cabin are considered done!

Port Office Cabin

The port office cabin leak is the same leak as the master bedroom cabin  Ah ha!  There it is.  The 90° angled drain.  So, we removed more ceiling panels to see the source.

Wowza, evidently there has been a slow leak here for awhile as it was pretty moldy and gross.  Matt had to break away the thickened epoxy (without damaging the hoses).  It was a dirty job that is for sure.  Once we replaced the drain, resealed everything back up and called this project done.

But don’t let me over simplify everything.  These projects took months to complete.  Partly because we had to wait for spare parts or wait for things to dry (as it often rained in Whangarei).  But mostly because these were all really huge jobs.

Also, the removal and replacement of the ceiling panels is a massive job.  It takes great patience to remove a single panel (to ensure you don’t damage it) so we can use it as a pattern to make the new ones.  Then it takes several days to remove all of the old glue and glue residue from the ceiling so that you can adhere the new panel.  The glue and glue residue all have to be removed if we plan to reuse panel.

I thought about doing a blog post on the ceiling panels as it is such a huge job but man that would be boring!  This is what our poor forward cabin looks like as we do all the work in the office.

Cyclone Gabriel

Seriously, we came to New Zealand because it is “out of the cyclone zone” but here we are – again faced with a much larger cyclone aiming for the north tip of the north island  – right where we are located.  Evidently, this is the fist cyclone to actually hit land (cyclone skirted around NZ, but never technically hit land).  The bottom image is the wind speed that Matt tracked during the cyclone.  Topped at 55kts which is the worst winds we have ever seen.

Everything flooded all around us with the tides rising over 3 meters and covering the streets, walkways, and pontoons.

Roads were shut down with damage, collapse, landslides and fallen trees.  A week after the cyclone over 400 people are unaccounted for and the death toll is climbing.  We were lucky in that we had no damage, but Matt was well prepared.  We removed anything that could be ripped off by the winds and stowed it all inside.

Events from this blog occurred in mid-January 2023.  Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual events.  In our last blog post we rebuilt the windlass – do you know what that is?