There is always a time when boat maintenance below the waterline needs to be completed. After our globetrotting antics, we arrived back in Whangarei, New Zealand to Dazzler standing high and dry above the ground in her storage cradle. After unpacking and taking a day to rest and re-group, the work had to get started.
Up on the list of projects to complete were to replace a thru hull and valve assembly, and paint Dazzler’s bottom. As most boat projects go, there is always more than meets the eye. As it turns out the cutlass bearing had sufficient time to dry out by the time we returned to Dazzler. I checked it when Dazzler was removed from the water and it appeared to be in good condition. Checking it after seven weeks revealed more movement than there should have been and it too needed replacing.
First up! Head issues…the ball valve of the direct discharge hose from the head had broken in the closed position last September 2018. We had been routing discharge through the holding tank since then. Not really a big deal.
The head had to be removed to expose access to the valve assembly and thru hull. Upon removing the plywood deck that the head was attached to it revealed that it was delaminating and would need to be replaced also. The only good thing about this is that we are in a land of plenty and finding some marine grade plywood was easy. More about that later.
I learned a thru hull trick many years ago that saves time and I’ve used it ever since. You can spend hours trying to remove all the nipples valves and fittings in a tight compartment with many nicks and cuts to your fingers and knuckles trying to save the fittings or you can just replace it in parts or with all with new components. First you drive a tapered wooden plug into the thru hull from the outside of the hull and cut off the excess flush with the surface of the thru hull. Next you size a bi-metal hole saw blade that will cut just outside the threads of your new thru hull. This is easy if you are replacing it with the same size thru hull. Next, find the center of the wooden plug and mark the center with an X for the pilot bit of the hole saw and then drill away. The hole saw blade should cut just outside of the threaded stock of the existing thru hull and after completing the cut the valve assembly should fall free inside the hull. Next clean up the hole and prepare it for the install of the new equipment. Easy and straight forward. This technique saves time and several other frustrations of trying to break lose old fittings. All of the new components were install in about 20 minutes. That was easy enough.
Now onto the head deck. I used the old deck as a pattern and with a few power tools was able to make a good copy of the old deck. Dry fitting the new deck needed a few minor modifications and then a quick paint job.
The Cutlass Bearing Replacement.
First I should address what determined the need for replacement. Trying to move the shaft up, down and side to side, should result in no movement or not more than a 1/16” as recommended by companies that manufacture sleeve or cutlass bearings. I know of two different types of cutlass bearing installations usually found on most sailboats. A strut that suspends down from the keel of the exterior of the boat bottom and a sleeve that is fitted into a stern tube molded into the bottom of the hull or at the trailing edge of the keel. Dazzler has a tube that is molded in the aft edge of the keel.
You will first need to remove the propeller and shaft from the boat. On Dazzler this required that I also remove the flange attached to the shaft from the aft flange of her transmission. After which the shaft could easily slide out of the cutlass bearing and stern tube. Ha ha ha. Nothing in water world is free or easy. Needless to say after some assistance of a large hammer and a block of wood Dazzler’s shaft finally succumbed and yielded to the persuasion of the blunt force blows.
We don’t own a reciprocating saw on Dazzler, so I hired the yard with their saw and personnel to extricate the old cutlass bearing. By the way, this was money well spent. After about an hour and a half it was removed and ready for the new bearing. Once again, being in a land of plenty has its benefits. A drive down the street to All Marine resulted in a new bearing. Having internet at your disposal is also a great benefit as it provides ample sources of time saving suggestions. One of which made inserting the new bearing very easy. Place the bearing into a freezer overnight. That will help the soft metal of the bearing to contract ever so slightly and facilitate and easier insertion into the stern tube. It tapped into the stern tube very easily and allowed the two side mounted set bolts to secure it in place.
I cleaned up the shaft and it slide through the new bearing without any issues. After a few hours everything was bolted down, secured in place and ready for operation. I did replace the packing material for the gland as I re-installed the shaft.
Bottom Paint Decisions!
While all the other projects are being done, the looming thought of which bottom paint to use was a big issue. Here in New Zealand they are several years ahead of the US in terms of using ecologically friendly bottom paints. Which in short means heavy into the eco friendly biocides and less into the realm of suspended metal particles in the paint. The other issue is that almost all of the paint selections are self-polishing/ablative vs hard paints. Dazzler was last painted in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico with Z Spar, a hard paint similar to Petit Trinidad. In fact, I’ve been told that it even comes out of the same vat at the paint factory.
After a lengthy period of pouring over internet articles and paint brochures, we decided to use Sea Zone 60 made in New Zealand by Altex Coatings (altexcoatings.co.nz). This is advertised as a self-polishing ablative paint that contains a silyl acrylate, cuprous oxide and co-biocide combination that is purported to provide outstanding protection that exceeds traditional ablative cuprous oxide based formulations. It is also to be a somewhat harder finish than most other ablative paints.
I contacted the company’s technical representative to find out if I could paint it over the existing Z Spar bottom paint. Their belief was that it should be fine, but to ensure good adhesion a coat of their primer was encouraged.
Off to the paint store, Wynn Fraser, to acquire the paint. At the store we obtained a quote and ordered three, four liter pails of Sea Zone 60 Viking Red paint and a four liter pail of primer. Our color choice was not immediately available and so the company needed to run a new batch for that color. This made the turn around time seven days before we could pick up the paint. Lots of sanding and prep work needed to be done so the wait provided time to get other projects completed.
The next week we stopped in to pick up our paint and discovered that two of the pails of paint had been damaged during shipment. One can was crushed and the other’s lid had popped off spilling about a third of the contents. We picked up one pail of paint and one pail of primer. They also gave me the partial can of paint as well because they were going to be reimbursed from the damage claim with the shipping company. That should keep me out of trouble over the weekend while we wait for two new cans to arrive on Monday.
The bottom was all sanded and I had added five coats of barrier coat to those areas of the bottom that needed it such as the bronze rudder hinges, thru hulls and any other areas that needed touch up. The next day I lightly sanded the barrier coated areas and started to roll on the primer. Once I finished with the primer I started right into the first coat of Sea Zone 60. With the partial pail and full pail of bottom paint I was able to get two full coats onto Dazzler’s underbelly. Everything rolled on without any kinks or hitches and Dazzler was starting to look like she was getting closer to being slipped back into the sea. The next day I picked up the remaining pails of paint from Wynn Fraser and finished putting on a third coat on Dazzler’s bottom and a coat along the leading edge of the hull, water line, rudder and propeller aperture.
The next day all the waterline tape was removed and I cleaned the water line. Dazzler was now ready for launch. Wahoo!
The following day we were scheduled to launch. After 68 days of Dazzler being on the hard we were more than ready to be back in the water. The launch went without a hitch and we anchored in the bay for a couple of nights to just enjoy being back on the water.
Sitting at the dock, mooring or underway, enjoy being on the water. Cheers!
Captain Dan
P.S. We’d like to thank Maurice, Tim and the rest of the crew at South Pacific Gateway Marina for making our time on the hard as easy and stress free as possible.

After two nights in Aongatete and a wonderful evening at Hobbiton we made the five hour drive back to Whangarei where we hopped aboard Dazzler to drop of some items and pick up others. We all spent one night in Whangarei at the Discovery Hotel before making the two hour drive back south to Auckland. We stayed in a wonderful downstairs apartment that is part of a larger home. It is just fifteen minutes from the airport and it was perfect.
That night were all completely exhausted from our 19 days of traveling New Zealand. All in all we traveled over 2000 miles, visited 9 cities and saw some of the most amazing parts of New Zealand from pastures and beaches to mountains and glaciers. Yes, we certainly had an amazing time and we couldn’t have had better company.
Dan and I had an early morning flight out of Auckland the following day. You see, while our New Zealand adventure had come to a close, our United States adventure was just beginning. Next stop….Brisbane, Australia for a four hour layover and then on to Los Angeles.
It’s been over a year since either of us have see our family and friends so for the next month we planned to do just that. We arrived in Los Angeles, spent one night with Jack & Mary and then started making our way north toward the Bay Area to see Dan’s oldest daughter and her family.
Since I’d never been in this part of the world before Dan decided to take the scenic route north. We traveled on Highway 1 all the way up the coast of California. Oh my! This is one beautiful route! We stopped in Pismo Beach for lunch one day at the Ventana Grill. OH MY GOD! They have New England Clam Chowder that is better than any I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. It is so creamy and full of huge clams. Seriously, if you are ever in the neighborhood you have to stop there. They win awards every year for their chowder. Oh yes, the view is amazing too!
Dan took me to Morro Bay one night. This quaint little seaside town is absolutely adorable. There’s seals swimming all in the bay and along the main road there’s lots of restaurants and shops. He even took me to this beautiful hotel where we had a fireplace in our room that had a balcony overlooking the bay and the seals. Yes, it was pretty sweet.
On our way up Highway 1 we even stopped at a beach that was literally covered with hundreds of Elephant Seals. They are truly awesome creatures and I got a video of two males fighting on the beach. Stay tuned for that one. It’s short but pretty cool.
We spent one evening with Dan’s daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter before driving back to Los Angeles and hopping a plane to Florida. Our very dear friends, Jay and Connie, picked us up at Tampa airport and took us to surprise my mother. You see she thought we were coming in March so we were just a tab bit early. I just love to surprise her and needless to say she was shocked but also thrilled.
For sixteen days we enjoyed spending time with some of our favorite people in the world. My mom fell in love with Dan. It was the most time they’d spent together since we’ve been together and of course he was his typical Captain Save-A-Hoe self. He fixed things around her house that needed to be tended to and even took her car to get several things dealt with that were going bad. He cooked for her and drove her wherever she needed to go and he blew the leaves off her driveway everyday. Yes, he did all the right things. Mom even said she’d send me back to New Zealand and keep Dan. Hmmmm!
Our time in Florida flew by and before we knew it, it was time to say our goodbyes and get back on a plane for California. We spent another week there staying with Dan’s sister, Tina and seeing his middle daughter and her hubby. Unfortunately his youngest had moved to another state so we didn’t get to see her on this trip. There’s only so much time and money to go around.
Before we knew it a month had gone by and we were on a plane headed back to New Zealand. We were both glad to be back on Dazzler but she’s on the hard so it wasn’t the super wonderful feeling of coming home.
It’s my first time living on a boat while it’s on the hard and now I know why they call it being on the hard. No, it’s not because you’re on land. It’s because living on a boat that doesn’t move and is sixteen feet above ground where you can’t use the head or the sink and must trek up and down a flight of stairs and walk across the yard to use the facilities IS HARD! But there is work that must be done so we have no other choice. For you landlubbers, living on the hard is sort of like living in your house when it’s being completely remodeled. Nothing is where it’s supposed to be, everything is a mess and nothing is easy.
Oh well, it’s just three weeks right? And once it’s done we will be back in the water and headed for warmer weather. OK! I can handle it.
Cheers,
Jilly