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Re: Whangerei, New Zealand recommendations?

Ross Hickey & Donna Hammond
 

Hi Scott,
You are definitely spoilt for choices in New Zealand. Spent 15 years living aboard our previous yacht in three different marinas in Auckland- (city of sails) I was also in charge of four Sail Training Craft (STC) that were maintained to a very high standard using numerous boatyards and services. Ovlov did engine rebuilds and eventually replaced all the (STC) Volvo engines in theses boats over the years. My choice would be Orams in downtown Auckland for haulout and projects. This yard does not have any shower facilities so it is not set up for live aboard. It is not the cheapest but it has all the services right there including every Marina shop you ask for. Can’t beat the location as you are in downtown Auckland and have three of New Zealand’s largest chandleries within 400m.  Like the Bay of Islands - Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf has a fabulous cruising ground.

Gulf Harbour is another good location in terms of marine services and haulout facilities. Marina costs are expensive but it has good liveaboard (showers, laundry restaurant etc) facilities

Norsand is also very good and widely used by visiting boats from overseas. I was once there when there were four other Amels hauled out. This is a good choice for live aboard on the hard. Opua has good marine services and fantastic boat club and a couple of very good chandleries, but is limited in supermarkets and you will need to go the Paihia for greater selection. My experience being hauled out there was that the yard is not sealed and once when we hauled out there the hydraulic lift burst a hose and sprayed oil all over our teak decks and mainsail.

My choices in terms of cost and live aboard would be:
1. Norsand
2. Opua


My choices in terms of location and availability of services:
1. Orams, Auckland
2. Gulf Harbour, Auckland
3. Opua

There are many other options. You need to way up what are all your needs. You will love your time in New Zealand for many reasons. Sailing, maintenance and scenery. Make sure you get the South Island.

Ross snd Donna
SV INTREPID KIWI
SM2K #356
Currently cruising Montenegro

On Wednesday, June 22, 2022, 11:34 AM, Danny and Yvonne SIMMS <simms@...> wrote:

Hi all, I am a local being based an 8 hour sail North of Opua. For convenience I get most of my work done there and there are good tradesmen there. However there is more competition in Whangarei and surprisingly I have had good work done at a good price in central Auckland near the big Westhaven Marina. Ovlov marine beat the competition by some thousands when I replaced the motor. Again, there is competition there.
Like wise I have high regard for the Bridge Marina and hardstand in Tauranga. Bruce Goodchap the manager of the hardstand is the nicest and most honest guy you could find anywhere. Very helpful too. So guys, you have choices.
Regards
Danny 
SM 299 Ocean Pearl
On 22/06/2022 18:55 Scott SV Tengah <scott.nguyen@...> wrote:


Ah ok so my understanding was that Whangarei was cheaper and had more/better contractors compared to Opua.

Is that not the case?

We plan to leave the boat for a few months and travel by RV so we don't care that much where the boat is.

On Tue, Jun 21, 2022, 19:40 Bruno COTTE <cotte.bruno@...> wrote:
For me the best and cheapest place for all these jobs is OPUA 
Nice marina and great facilities and experienced people 


Envoyé de mon iPhone

Le 22 juin 2022 à 08:31, heinz@... a écrit :

I like Riverside Drive Marina Wangarei. Very nice and friendly Marina.  No Problem with your electricity like other marinas where you are not allowed to use the electricity before you not have a certificate elektrishen that contols your yacht. Nice town and a cool barbecue area in the Marina. 
Heinz sy Quetzal. 292

Am 22.06.2022 12:43 schrieb Scott SV Tengah <Scott.nguyen@...>:
Hi all,

We're headed to New Zealand this Austral Summer and have a load of projects to get done. I know some of you are from NZ and many of you have been there, so I'm hoping to get some recommendations for the following projects:

1) Strip hull to gelcoat and repaint. It seems that in NZ, soda blasting is less common than sand blasting. I'd also like to get the cast iron ballast stripped and recoated. We also want to raise the waterline.

2) Building a hard top for our A54
After this thread, I'm seriously contemplating having a hard top added. The current favored design is something similar to Soleil Bleu
https://amelyachtowners.groups.io/g/main/topic/hardtop_for_amel_54/75406304?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C1%2C0%2C0&jump=1

3) Replace motor mounts. Two bolts have broken on our motor mounts so the motor will need to be lifted and the remaining studs drilled out.

4) Acrylic window replacement

5) Solar electrical. We want to add more rigid solar on top of the new hard top. 

Currently, we have an appointment for haul out at Norsand boatyard and they're mostly an "open boatyard" except for boatbuilding and painting. For projects requiring those tradesmen, we will need to use Norsand. If Norsand is not a good choice, I'm happy to switch boatyards.

Thanks in advance!
--
Scott 
2007 A54 #69
SV Tengah, currently Tahiti, preparing for passage to Fiji
http://www.svtengah.com


--
Sv Quetzal, Supermaramu 2000, 292, cheers Heinz




--
Scott 
2007 A54 #69
SV Tengah
http://www.svtengah.com

--
Ross Hickey & Donna Hammond
SV Intrepid Kiwi
SM2K #356
Currently in Turkey
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