August 2010
Bay of Islands Fishing Report
More maintenance and three weeks of much needed holiday, apart from that not a lot happened.
The maintenance was supposed to be finished by the time I flew out of the country on the 5th August but .....I had two days painting left and five days in which to do it, so naturally I thought that I was going to shoo in - but the "Fickle Finger of Fate" gave me four days of very wet windy weather. I painted as much as I could in the conditions but the final touches weren't applied until the morning of which I was supposed to be heading for the airport. Plus, the clears never arrived until the day after I was supposed to have left. These guys had five weeks in which to create this roof but they were so bad that they were there at the last minute trying to get them installed. Needless to say I was pretty pissed off by that time.
At noon I had to leave the boat in charge of the Skipper. Wally Cole, the electrician, was going to fit some rubber to the bow to stop the anchor carving hunks out of it and then the skipper was going to launch the boat.
While we were away in Bali we got an email trying to extort another $600 off us for the clears. This fantastic company that cannot make clears for a boat in five weeks were now saying that they hadn't quoted us for front clears - just the roof and the sides. We disputed it but were told that they'd discussed it with me. You'd think I'd remember something like that if it had happened wouldn't you? Anyway, we flicked them a quick email and then ignored them for the rest of the holiday.
Unfortunately I found out when I returned from holiday that there were a few other problems that occurred after I left which meant that I needed another week or two to resolve them:
When the boat was launched on the day I left, the bilge alarm went off (because it had been set too low in the bilge) and everyone panicked because it was getting dark and a storm was coming. So some wires got disconnected. There had also been a problem with the refurbished alternator not charging. Plus I found out that the marvelous company that had some dubious accounting practices and can't meet deadlines had totally and utterly stuffed up my clears.
A huge argument ensued and the final result was that I kept the roof and they took their clears back. I'm not 100% happy with the roof either but I'll get a real professional to lace it (rather than use plastic cable ties) at a later date.
If you are interested in a canvas top or plastic clears and you live in the Bay of Islands, get in touch. I now know who to use and who to avoid at all costs.
Anyway, after three days we had the boat finished and ship shape. I'm very pleased with the result. I think that for the first time, I'm proud of my wee boat.
The maintenance was supposed to be finished by the time I flew out of the country on the 5th August but .....I had two days painting left and five days in which to do it, so naturally I thought that I was going to shoo in - but the "Fickle Finger of Fate" gave me four days of very wet windy weather. I painted as much as I could in the conditions but the final touches weren't applied until the morning of which I was supposed to be heading for the airport. Plus, the clears never arrived until the day after I was supposed to have left. These guys had five weeks in which to create this roof but they were so bad that they were there at the last minute trying to get them installed. Needless to say I was pretty pissed off by that time.
At noon I had to leave the boat in charge of the Skipper. Wally Cole, the electrician, was going to fit some rubber to the bow to stop the anchor carving hunks out of it and then the skipper was going to launch the boat.
While we were away in Bali we got an email trying to extort another $600 off us for the clears. This fantastic company that cannot make clears for a boat in five weeks were now saying that they hadn't quoted us for front clears - just the roof and the sides. We disputed it but were told that they'd discussed it with me. You'd think I'd remember something like that if it had happened wouldn't you? Anyway, we flicked them a quick email and then ignored them for the rest of the holiday.
Unfortunately I found out when I returned from holiday that there were a few other problems that occurred after I left which meant that I needed another week or two to resolve them:
When the boat was launched on the day I left, the bilge alarm went off (because it had been set too low in the bilge) and everyone panicked because it was getting dark and a storm was coming. So some wires got disconnected. There had also been a problem with the refurbished alternator not charging. Plus I found out that the marvelous company that had some dubious accounting practices and can't meet deadlines had totally and utterly stuffed up my clears.
A huge argument ensued and the final result was that I kept the roof and they took their clears back. I'm not 100% happy with the roof either but I'll get a real professional to lace it (rather than use plastic cable ties) at a later date.
If you are interested in a canvas top or plastic clears and you live in the Bay of Islands, get in touch. I now know who to use and who to avoid at all costs.
Anyway, after three days we had the boat finished and ship shape. I'm very pleased with the result. I think that for the first time, I'm proud of my wee boat.
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Plus: I'd really appreciate your feedback on TripAdvisor. Help me become the number one attraction by using this link