Tag Archives: whangarei

Sweet As….New Zealand

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New Zealand, specifically Whangarei, has been our home for the past 8 months.  We have had an amazing time exploring this beautiful country, meeting new friends, and getting lots of much needed work done on our beloved Sugar Shack.  As our Kiwi friends say, ‘sweet as’ time!  “Sweet as” means “good, right, ok, excellent, great… in Kiwi”

Sugar Shack spent most of her time tied to the dock at Town Basin Marina while she got her make over.  Many locals knew us by Sugar Shack as she was a constant for so long.

Lots of Work Done:

We managed to get a lot of work done on Sugar Shack.  The boat was under construction and in complete chaos for nearly 6 months.  

  1. (2) New Lithium House Batteries
  2. (5) New windows on the cabin
  3. Rebedded all of the other windows and painted protective covering
  4. New Dinghy and new chaps to cover her
  5. New Interior cushions
  6. New Exterior cushions
  7. New Cockpit enclosure
  8. New Main sail and Genoa (by North Sails)
  9. New Stack pack
  10. New Stainless Steel countertops
  11. New Ceiling panels and new interior lights
  12. New artwork and pillow covers

She looks like a new boat….almost.  Just a few more things to do when we come back.  Sweet as!  You are probably thinking…what “come back?”  Yep, we decided to come back to New Zealand next season (which is just a few short months away).

Next Season

New Zealand has the expertise and resources to work on Sugar Shack.  So, we decided to come back to replace our bottom paint with copper coat.  This requires highly skilled workers to apply the copper coat properly. We are also considering a wrap around Sugar Shack to make the side of the hulls look better.  Still in the researching and contemplating stages on the wrap.

Hopefully, we will come back, haul out for a few weeks, then spend the rest of our time sailing around New Zealand as opposed to sitting at the dock.

But with a nightly view as sweet as this…who can complain?

Our blogs run 10-12 weeks behind actual events.  We left New Zealand in early July.  

It’s Been Long Enough: New Counter tops

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When we purchased Sugar Shack back in 2010 she came with “lovely” turquoise green counter tops and matching pleather interior cushions.  We could not fathom owning a boat with turquoise green pleather cushions so we had those changed immediately.  Matt promised me that we would replace the counter tops “soon” but since they were in decent shape we lived with them for 13 years!

Matt decided he did not want Corian or marble countertops, he wanted stainless.  We ask our friends at Absolute Stainless to do the work.

Prep Work on the Countertops

Absolute Stainless said that they did not want to touch the 23 year old wood fiddle around the counters.  I really could not blame them as the chance for them to break is high and they don’t have a wood shop.  The fiddle is the wood lip that surrounds the edges of the counters.  They are curved and nailed in to the cabinetry.

So, Matt tackles the project himself with the hopes of removing them without damaging them.  It is a super slow process which required a lot of patience and tools.  But he was successful!

Next, Matt has to remove the veneer.  What would seem like a fairly easy project ends up taking the major part of a two weeks.

He then removes the other side of the counter tops.

Creating a Template for the New Counters

Absolute Stainless sent over Damon to create the template for our new counter tops.

Then we wait for the magic to happen.

Installation Day

So excited for installation day!  Damon and Harry (apprentice) arrive with our new countertops!  Before we bring the new pieces in we have to do some trimming of the wood to ensure a nice snug fit.

In comes the new pieces.  Matt is holding the small side by the refrigerator (the large hole is for the refrigerator door).

It’s a little tricky getting the long countertop inside and fitted.  

We ended up grinding the larger piece to fit properly by the wall (near Matt’s side), had to remove our light switches and shave a little more wood from the sink area – but it fit!

Damon loads up the undersides with a ton of special stainless steel glue and they leave behind over 400 pounds of weight to hold the counters in place as the glue dries.

We end up having to wait a week for them to come back.  Mostly because there was a weekend, 2 holidays, and Matt and I had to go to Auckland for 2 days.  Sort of a pain as we had no kitchen sink and no refrigerator.  

The Final Touches

The big reveal and we are both anxious and excited.  Wow, they came out looking terrific – what do you think?

The larger, longer piece with the sink and stove top came out stunning as well.  We bought a new sink that was welded into the countertop and since we had a new sink and new countertops we bought a new stainless steel faucet too.

It took us another few weeks to reinstall the wood fiddle around the edges, but the final product exceeded our expectations!

Now I need to learn how to clean them 🙂

Events from this blog post occurred in late March thru end of May 2023.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind live events.  In our last blog we take my family to the northern most part of the north island during a massive thunderstorm.

Birthday: You Can’t Drive 55!

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Where did all the years go?  Somehow I manage to turn 55 and honestly I have a hard time believing it!  But yet, here we are enjoying another birthday celebration with fabulous cruiser friends!

My birthday fell on a Monday and for some reason, most eateries are closed on Mondays.  So, we decided to celebrate on Sunday at The Butter Factory.  It is one of our favorite places to go in Whangarei and it did not disappoint with steak night!

We had about 12 people at our rowdy table including Chris (SeaGlub), Tyler and Shayna (Yana), Minke and Jaap (Eastern Stream), Rokas and Simona (Starlight), Adda and John (Rhapsody), Jacque (Kaloha).

These are certainly my people!  We’ve known some of them for years across several countries and they keep popping up 🙂

I feel so blessed to have been able to celebrate my birthday with these friends.

2 Days of Celebration

We were installing our new lithium batteries on the 16th so Matt took me out to dinner with our friend Chris to a new place called No.8.  It is an Asian fusion restaurant.  Pretty nice, but very expensive.  I was finally able to use my $100 coupon that I got from the marina for winning Best holiday decorated boat!

It was a great day(s) as we started the install of our new batteries, unloaded 500lbs of old batteries and had two amazing dinners.  I am feeling like a very blessed girl!  And a huge thank you to all of those who called, texted and sent Facebook messages.  I felt so much love!

Events from this blog occurred in mid-January 2023.  Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual events.  We repair a cracked neck and rusty elbow in our last blog.