The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson
Sailing Yacht Truce
When I acquired Truce she didn’t have a fridge on board. The previous owners liked simplicity on board and didn’t go for ‘fancy’ systems. The top opening icebox on board was very well insulated, ice would keep for several days. The dream of cold beer on the beach realised. Photo Ray Penson I went along... Continue Reading →
My new years resolution last year was to “Drink more different types of Beer.” I am happy to report I have largely been successful in this endeavour. It has not been an easy task. The breweries have conspired against me by producing an increasing number of craft beers at an alarming rate. Keeping up with... Continue Reading →
Truce has never had a bilge alarm. I know its an essential piece of kit, but I have never got around to fitting one until now. Every ship I have been on has bilge alarms; they are an important safety item. I have now remedied the oversight, another little job ticked off the list. On... Continue Reading →
How many USB's do you need? The answer is heaps. For a long time we have had only two USB's on board Truce. Most of the time it has been adequate but with two people on board and the proliferation of electrical gadgets that need charging it is no longer sufficient. We have phones, tablets,... Continue Reading →
In Nelson last year I changed out the fresh water accumulator tank for a new one. The rubber bladder on the old one had burst and there was no replacement bladder available. The new accumulator tank was a one litre Jabsco, just the same as the old one. Quite handy at the time as it... Continue Reading →
13 October 2022 The anchor winch on Truce is a Maxwell 1200 model. It has performed thousands of anchoring cycles without complaint and is a simple solid piece of kit. I have two ways to control the winch, firstly by foot switches on the deck forward and secondly by a remote switch in the cockpit.... Continue Reading →
For a couple of years now I have been observing the rust accumulation on the engine mounts. Looks nasty and it’s a pain to keep cleaning up. But on closer inspection I could not see any structural failure and the rubber inserts appeared to be OK. So I just convinced myself that it was a cosmetic issue and everything was working well under the surface. Recently I had noticed that the engine was moving around on the mounts more than normal, the change may have been ongoing slowly so I hadn’t picked it up sooner. Worn engine mounts cause more engine movement, the symptoms were there.
A bit blustery last night but nothing special and didn’t live up to the doom and gloom hype from the weather forecast. The morning was wet, cold and overcast with a light wind from the south. As the wind was forecast to increase to twenty knots it seemed ideal to sail across the Firth of... Continue Reading →
At seven in the morning the sky was getting light and we weighed anchor, saying goodbye to Smokehouse Bay. One of the other yachts at the anchorage departed just before us and looks like they are headed back to Auckland. The weather is grey and overcast with a lot of moisture in the air. The... Continue Reading →
The anchorage at Smokehouse Bay provided another perfectly calm night. We arose later than usual and with no place to go and no hurry to get there we pottered around all morning doing odd jobs and relaxing. The afternoon came and went and we had no inclination to do anything energetic. The weather was unseasonably... Continue Reading →
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 