Our Volvo Penta sail drives are in desperate need of some attention. We have spent a lot of time making fairs to cover the exposed hole around the sail drives on the exterior of the hull and now that project is nearing completion it’s time to get the actual sail drives.out of the boat and […]
Removing a Volvo Penta sail drive from our Catana 42s Read More »
When we bought Paikea in 2018 she had only one working rudder. The starboard side had an emergency rudder made of some sort of plastic plate attached to the rudder stock. The emergency rudder was only supposed to be a temporary solution however the previous owner claimed he had bought the boat like that and
Making our own catamaran rudders Read More »
The title says it all! We’ve been busy with a million different projects on Paikea as deadlines loom and the summer sailing season approaches. Our goal was to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean this Christmas but a global pandemic and a long list of upgrades has meant we will spend another season in Europe. We
Transom extension project and removing old rudders Read More »
This fun video shows what the youngbarnacles kids get up to while land locked in the marina. OK, so it helps that your Mum is a sail maker and that there is a sail loft right next door. I guess it also helps that these kids spent the entire Spanish lockdown hiding in the sail
Boat kids making their own sails Read More »
This was a really cool project. It’s always awesome when we get to make improvements on our boat and especially if it involves putting some carbon fibre on it. Actually, this video covers two projects simultaneously: while Shayne is busy chopping up sections of ex-America’s cup challenger mast pieces to fit the front of Paikea,
Making a carbon front beam and longeron for our catamaran Read More »
After over 2 years sailing around the Mediterranean, our hastily applied antifoul has all but worn off. We were well overdue for a haul out and if we were ever to get Paikea ready for an Atlantic crossing we needed to work on the hull of the boat. We knew that one of our rudders
Using a crane to haul out our Catana 42s Read More »
We confirm our suspicions of what happened to Paikea when we start investigating the cracks above the rudders. Poorly executed repairs have meant that we must now grind it all back and properly repair the damage done at some time in the past. The skin is broken and the core is rotten. What a mess.
Repairing damage to the hull on our cruising cat Read More »
Making our dome skin fittings sit flush with the hull. Why would you bother? When you are chasing performance every little bit counts. Especially, my friends, when we are looking below the waterline. In our case we have a few obvious items to address. These include swapping fixed blade propellers for folding ones, fitting saildrive
Making our dome skin fittings flush with the hull Read More »
Shayne has work to do on a Gunboat in southern France so it’s time to leave the dock and take Paikea for a cruise up the coast. This is the nicest bit about the family living on a boat. We can take home with us to work. It means Shayne doesn’t have to leave his
Valencia to Southern France Read More »
We replaced our old aluminium rig with a new carbon fibre rotating wing mast earlier this year. I thought the Captain was joking when he said he had this idea for a new project. It wasn’t something that we had planned or budgeted for but when Shayne got a message asking if he wanted an
Stepping our carbon fibre rotating rig Read More »