Waiouru is looking forlorn

Yesterday we hired a car from Enterprise and made a trip to the boatyard to discuss the rebuilding of Waiouru.  We’ve been waiting for the insurance company to advise whether they intend sending a loss adjustor to inspect her before we start work.  Unfortunately this delay has resulted in further deterioration to Waiouru and she now looking rather forlorn.

The actual visit and discussion with our new builder, Andy went very well and we feel very positive about the future.  Andy had plenty of good advice and was both willing to listen to our ideas and be critical when he thought we might be somewhat outlandish.  Our biggest concern was the need to increase the water storage capacity.  I made the suggestion that we replace the blackwater tank under the rear cabin floor with a second fresh water tank and mount a new blackwater tank vertically across the stern.  This would mean giving up the computer workstation in the back cabin.  However Andy advised there would be too much weight at the rear of the boat when both tanks were full.  In the end we decided the foredeck would be lowered and returned to the state as first built.  However instead of having storage under the deck we’ll install a stainless steel water tank.  This will give us 100 gallons under the deck and a further 100 gallons in the bow.

We also confirmed our decision to go with a pump-out system.  The tank will go under the back cabin floor as originally planned and Andy said it will be “massive” in capacity.  He thought we might only need to empty it every 5-6 weeks.  The outlet and rinse pipes will terminate on the roof.  I was concerned about the ability of the pump-out to suck the effluent that high and empty the tank.  But Andy told us it wouldn’t be a problem.  I can see the advantage of having the outlet on the roof as it will be easier to access the outlet from either side of the boat.  Finally comment on toilets.  We’ve discarded the idea of the vacuum flush on the basis of price and complexity.  Having looked at the working of both the Tecma and Sanimarin toilet system we have decided on the Sanimarin.  The macerator in the latter is larger and has a stainless steel impeller whereas the Tecma macerator is plastic.

Although I specified one of the side hatches must be large enough to allow major appliances to pass through it this hasn’t been done.  I assume this is yet another piece of information Ben didn’t pass to Tim Tyler.  The washer/Dryer won’t fit through either side hatch and nor will it fit through the stern doors.  It will only fit through the front cabin doors.  This means it will have to be placed in the boat before all the partitions are erected.  The damned thing better not need replacing whilst we’re on the boat otherwise I can see myself disassembling it’s replacement to get it into the boat and then re-assembling it.

Finally, one of the side hatches is also in the wrong place.  They are supposed to be at the end of the 6ft galley but one of them is at 5ft 9ins.  We don’t want the galley bench top to terminate 3” into a side hatch.  Our solution is to extend the bench top on that side beyond the side hatch.  This will give Jan 8ft of bench space on the affected side and 3ft6” on the other side.