RAIATEA, FRENCH POLYNESIA

July 17, 2012 Tuesday

We got our anchor at 0930 hrs and headed out the pass.  The wind and seas have, finally, started to go down.  The wind was out of the ENE at 15 kts with a 6' sea.  The Valiant 40 can sail along at 6+ kts under reduced canvas.  Today, we could have made 7+ kts by crowding on more sail but I like the easy paced sailing without worrying about punishing the rigging and sails.  Unfortunately, our staysail is too small to really help us out.  It will make a great "storm sail" but just doesn't have enough sail area for an efficient cutter rig.  I believe I left the right one in the States buy accident.  I'll correct the problem once we get to New Zealand or, maybe, before if I can find a cruizer that wants to sell a used one.

Raiatea is becoming a place for repairs and haul-outs.  Many yachties leave their boats here for the remainder of the season and fly back to their respective countries.  Our turbocharger on the Volvo Penta 2003T engine froze up so I had to change it out with a spare one we had onboard.  Thank you, Dan  Morris, for arranging all the spare parts that you knew that we might need!!

We found a berth at Chantier Naval de Raiatea on Wednesday 18 July and the following morning a very knowledgeable French mechanic came aboard at 0730 hrs and changed out the turbos in 3 hours.  He was able to diagnose the problem with the old one and give me operating hints on using the spare.  One of my operating problems is that I run the engine too slow for too long without allowing the turbo to kick in.  The second big problem is that we have an engine driven refrigeration system.  This necessitates starting the engine 3 times a day and running it for 40 minutes or more at a fast idle.  It's not good for the engine and a "pain in the ass" on our part.  It makes us slaves to the boat and the refrigeration system.  Well, all that ended in Huahine when the cooling unit lost too much of its charge and ceased to cool.  The unit is charged with Freon 12 which is no longer manufactured and only available in very limited quantities.  There is none here in Raiatea and the refrigeration specialists don't want to work on tight cramped yachts.  Problem solved:  we've been freed from this atrocious system.  The future refrigeration system will be DC Solar/Wind generator powered and keel cooled with the new Freon 134A.

The Volvo Penta 2003T is the original engine installed on "Solstice" in 1990.  Until I bought the boat, she had not been used that much.  She is still running well but there are signs that the rings have a little "blow by".  At some point in time, a decision will have to be made to either rebuild the engine or re-power with a new Yanmar engine.  The biggest problem with rebuilding the Volvo Penta is that they stopped making this engine in 1993.  Parts are still available but becoming more scarce.  The plus side is that the Volvo Penta fits in the engine room very nicely and gives some room for other components.  The Yanmar is a bigger engine so a lot of engine-room space will be lost.  The deciding factor will be what is cost effective in the long run.  This engine could run for a long time into the future.

After visiting other islands in French Polynesia, Raiatea has nothing special other than good grocery shopping, limited supplies and the boatyards.  Papeete would be the place to take on major repairs and get spare parts in a reasonable time frame.

Tomorrow we sail for Bora Bora, reputedly, one of the most beautiful islands in the world.  The distance from Raiatea is only 34 nm so we don't have to leave too early to be there by early afternoon.