Kit reviews

For those who might be interested we have now been aboard for several months and we thought we would note our pro and cons on some of the kit we have aboard, best buys and things to avoid.

Chartplotters:
We have two main plotters aboard, the first of which is the Garmin GPSmap 750. We really like the smoothness of the cartography, the extra info on tides and moon phases etc is very handy too. The touch screen can be very fiddly though, especially with any motion on it becomes very difficult to locate your finger in the correct part of the screen. Another downside we find with this plotter is that when planning routes you can easily lose it all and have to start over, when planning around the many rocks and skerries of Norway it can take ages to set in a route and to lose it is a real pain!!

Our other plotter is the Seiwa Explorer 3 which is a unit without a screen and so we have it connected to a 22inch screen, the fact we have it plugged in to such a large screen is great, removes the need to squint over small screens. The cartography can be quite glitchy though and route planning while on the go is a disaster. The maps are more basic than the Garmin, but we do like the fact that the currents are displayed by varying arrows so you know what the current state is at anytime. The additional images for many harbours is a fun add on. The toggle button can again be difficult to use in any motion, but all in all the large screen is very helpful. Using both plotters along with the paper charts gives us the best of all worlds, meaning we can have one plotter zoomed right in, with the other one giving an overview.

Other Navigational Electronics:
One of our best buys this year was our Nauticast AIS. Bought second hand for a good price this old technology class A transponder AIS comes with no colour display like many of the newer ones, but having a written display of nearby vessels bearings and speeds etc means we can get a picture of what's around us, what to avoid etc. The unit despite being old now, seems to work well and we can be spotted by other ships too.

Raytheon Radar, again old technology too, which makes for a pretty bulky unit on the wheelhouse roof,but that said its very helpful in the few times it has been needed when foggy. A handy thing to have, when used properly having learnt the zoom procedure its a useful safety addition.

Garmin Fishfinder 140, basic but simple to use, turn it on and it does the rest, very helpful for anchoring and giving an idea of how much chain to put out etc. The theory that it spots fish is yet to be proved... mind you our fishing technique is probably to blame and not the fishfinder!! Its nice to have something to blame though! One thing to watch out for is that it seems to get confused by the engines running, possibly air bubbles confused for masses of fish.

Solar Panels, we have 4 solar panels aboard and they do a great job of keeping batteries topped up. They can be walked on and aren't as fragile as the glass type. Free energy is always good! We have got almost 10a/h  from them, and even on relatively dull days they seem to be able to find the suns rays!

Engines:
Last Norway trip we came with a backup Tohatsu 9.8hp this year we have a twin installation of Yamaha 8hp high thrust engines.  One of the yamahas is power tilt whilst the other is manual, while the power tilt is more convenient the manual tilt obviously has less to go wrong and so they compliment each other well. Both are remote controlled from the wheelhouse and we have them steering through one wheel, the biggest disappointment from the Tohatsu to the Yamaha is that they have no back up pull start. The Tohatsu also had a choke which was controlled from the remote, where as the Yamahas require someone to go out to the engines. Not a big deal but something that we lazy people quite liked!! The Yamahas in general perform well and we like that they are high thrust and have a bigger gear box. For this boat we would need a massive engine to make her plan, so not trying to achieve that we thought the setup offers good power and control, thanks to the twin installation we have more manoeuvrability. With them both running we can reach our hull speed, and at 4.5knots they do 1.3 miles per litre in total. The high thrust also offers great stopping.

Our Volvo, what can we say, this engine has been reliable and performed very well. We have twice had problems, firstly the earthing problem in 2014 which was really not the engines fault. Then the overheating problem this year, which we have since discovered to be the water pump, which isn't even a Volvo part, so we can't find any reason to complain about the engine! For a now old engine its done very well, even when we had -8deg C it started instantly with no complaints. The Sterndrive which is even older (1990!) has had no problems at all. Whilst petrol would not normally be our chosen engine, the smoothness and quietness of this engine has been great, this along with the fact that the main engine, the backups and the generator all run on the same fuel is handy. Fingers crossed in the next few days we will get the engine running again, and hopefully there has been no internal damage.

Extras:
Wallas 22DT diesel heater, planning to overwinter in Norway meant we needed a reliable and cheap to use heater aboard. Having read Specifications of all the heater options we could find we decided that the Wallas 22DT was the one to go for, persuaded by the low fuel consumption and low battery use. Both of these points have proved themselves, and the heater warms the boat very quickly and is relatively quiet too. The massive downside of this heater is the lighting process, the heater requires a fairly high voltage for lighting and if at any point during the lighting process (approx 10 mins) the voltage drops below this it cuts off and if this happens three times in a row it goes in to lock out. This means even our new battery can't cope with lighting the heater and every time we decide to start the heater we either need to be plugged in to electricity and have the battery charger running or start the generator. A huge inconvenience. We have had the heater just almost lit, with heat beginning to come out when the voltage drops below for a second and the heater then cuts off, in the cold winter climate we really would prefer not to be fighting with the heater.

Spot tracker: when we bought this device it was to not only act as a safety device as it has a SOS button which alerts the emergency services to your location, but it was also a fun way for family and friends to follow us, as it sends out a position every 10minutes which can be viewed as a live track for anyone watching. The tracker requires an additional subscription and we have been sure to top this up so that it can be used still, this year though we will not resubscribe. The tracker has not been so reliable, wether it has developed a fault or the satellite space is low we don't know, but while it flashes the correct colours on the device we have found it doesn't always track us, and this can cause worry for anyone watching at home, as well as bringing it to question how much use it would be in an emergency situation. Now we have the AIS it can be tracked by those at home.

Yamaha ES1000i generator, the generator offers very good fuel consumption, under 250w it uses under 0.2 L of petrol an hour. The generator is also fairly quiet, particularly when producing low levels of electricity, we have bought everything from kettles to Ovens to be used with the generator under 1000w. Its also compact and easy to start. The only change we would make is the addition of a wattage draw counter. The warranty is only for 2 years which isn't as high as some of the competitors.

ROCA windscreen wipers. Because of the thickness of our wheelhouse we couldn't easily install cheap wipers and we thought by buying the expensive and branded ROCA wipers we would have great wipers for the life of the boat. Instead they have been a waste of money from day one, they simply do not work. We have had replacement parts sent and yet they still do not work, totally unreliable and instead we have bought a squeegee and just have to go out and wipe the windows when needed... I'm guessing we are just very unlucky in this case.

Manson Supreme Anchor, we will update you on this as they year goes on and it receives more use, but so far we are very happy with it.

Mariner 2 1.5hp our tender engine! The engine is 20+years old and still starts perfectly, great size and very light, one of the lightest petrol outboards ever made. Very handy for lifting up beaches and moving around on board. The size suits or rather small 1.8m 3D Tender too! The tender its self is rather light too, weighing just over 10kg.

Lidls LED lights, waterproof and bright, run on 12v and can be cut to any length, pretty much ideal for our boat. Take up no room and can take a bash without worrying about broken bulbs.Very low power consumption for good light levels.

Teng Tools 20pc tool kit. What might look like a childs toy as its admittedly tiny has proved very useful. Getting in to tricky areas that bigger tools wouldn't go near the tool kit has been used more than any other tool aboard, and can fit in a pocket.

Incredibly Cheap Fans bought off ebay, costing virtually penny's with delivery we didn't hold out much hope for these but two years on they are still running great! From demisting windows to cooling us down on warm days they were worth every penny!!

Minox BN7x50 DCM Binoculars incredibly easy to use, not requiring focusing and as powerful as useable on a boat they are permanently at hands reach as we motor along. They come with some really cool and useful features too, the only disadvantage is that the binos electronics are easily accidentally switched on leading to a flat battery long before it should be. Besides this they are perfect and used all the time.

Fusion MSCD600 stereo and CD player, good sound and features, we use it to listen to CDs, Ipod, Radio and even plug our laptop in for films etc. Seems a very rugged machine and great for what we need, nice display too. Sound control can be a real pest when switching between the outputs.

Fire extinguishers, not something we wanted to have any experience with but I'm afraid we do! We used 6 extinguishers, some of which were the automatic type, some powder and one aerosol type. The powder ones are incredibly messy, while a nightmare to clean up after they certainly spread well and got in to corners you would never believe they would. The aerosol type last longer despite being much smaller, but in the heat of the action nothing seems to last very long. The automatic are triggered at a fairly high temperature and you are relying on them working automatically which can be risky. We were lucky that the fire was in small area, and we had taken more extinguishers than recommended, never presume its overkill, if a problem arises the more the better and you will be thankful for every one you have. Make sure they are all accessible, and just because you hope not to use them don't allow them to be shoved behind boxes etc, if you need them you need them in a hurry. Fire on any boat is one of the most scary and damaging things, despite being surrounded by water. On that note we also had four bilge pumps which might sound again like over kill, but when two hoses melted it was good to have spare, having the hand pump one was also great as there is less to go wrong.

More reviews and updates to follow as we have had the chance to use things for a longer period of time.

A Night in Molde

Having met Biljana in Bjørnsund we were surprised to find not only is she an Orcadian neighbour but the yacht which is currently next to us in the boatyard belongs to Harald and Biljana! As the water pump is yet to arrive we have a few days with few jobs left to do and so exploring the area has been our main aim, the sun has been shining on Harøysund and we have been out being true tourists.

Haroysund Views

Big Ship, Small space!

 Biljana and Harald exceptionally kindly offered us the chance to come in to Molde with them to spend the night in a real bed and with a much awaited for shower, how could we possibly say no?! So with a few minutes notice we piled a bag together and jumped in the car with them, a spur of the moment adventure! Molde is the neighbouring city, somewhere we had visited with Svein Kåre two years ago, mid Jazz festival. Having been kindly treated to a nip of Orcadian whiskey by Biljana in Bjørnsund, we felt even more at home when she treated us to Haggis! Had it not been for the snow topped mountains, to the south of the traditional farmhouse (where in the sun we ate in the beautiful garden), and the tasty Norwegian Waffles (thanks to Anne) we could have been in Orkney!! It was really lovely to be welcomed in to not only stay, but eat and be in the lovely company of Biljana, Harald and family. After the lovely meal we borrowed bikes and cycled in to Molde centre, which was much quieter than it had been mid jazz festival! Having not cycled for a while it was great to have such well marked out cycle routes, where we could take our time and not have to worry about traffic. With the sky so bright at nights its easy to lose track of time and we cycled back to the house a little before midnight with no need for lights.

Stunning Scenery

Molde Views

Today we woke up having managed not to fall our of bed or get lost with all the new found space, we were treated again to a lovely breakfast, sitting outside in the sunlight, even then having to contemplate finding shade! Biljana and Harald have been incredibly kind and we are very touched by how welcome they made us feel. We returned to Harøysund with them, and following a tip from Håvard headed out fishing again, in the calm sea Amanda caught two Cod and we headed to a small island to BBQ them for our lunch. In the hour or so we sat cooking and eating the wind began to rise and a choppy return to the boatyard saw us soaked, it was all good fun though and we weren't phased. The increase in wind had meant that Haralds yacht could not be launched, so they will return in the next few days when they plan to sail her south. Their yacht being relaunched will make room for Terje's who we met in 2014 and it was great to see him again today.

Now that is a bedroom view!!

Late night ferries, next ferry apparently 2am!

Bjørnsund, Bud and Fishing

While we are awaiting the arrival of the new water pump we are based in and around Harøysund. We took a walk in to Bud the neighbouring small town, a walk we had done a few times back in 2014 and it was fun to bring back some memories!

Daniel Elves Replacement?!

Bud

Bud

Yesterday Håvard had mentioned that he was heading to Bjørnsund with work and we could join him if we were willing to help out. Bjørnsund is an island group just West of Bud, amongst other things Håvard is involved in carriage to the island of goods from Tractors to building material!

Loaded and ready to go!

Leaving Bjornsund

Bjørnsund was forcibly abandoned in the very early 70s and the homes are now summer residences. The population of the small area in the years following WW2 was between 500-600, the local council made the controversial decision to evacuate the islands instead of investing in them and now the homes which have been tastefully restored are mostly owned by people with family links to Bjørnsund. The island which receives a summer boat service is a great spot for school camps where kids can come and learn about the essentials in life, from fishing to boat handling. It certainly would have been something we would have loved to have done at school!!

Bjornsund

Bjornsund

When we arrived with a boat full of cargo to be unloaded we were met at the dock by Biljana, who has Orkney links, a small world! We were kindly given a quick tour of North Bjørnsund and even shared a Highland Park, very Orcadian!!

Highland Park, in Norway!

The islands resources in place for the school camps is amazing and the islands set up is truly surreal, with no cars and only one bicycle on the island there are walking tracks, which feel like small streets amongst the houses. As we walked back to Håvard we nipped in via the school and were exceptionally generously given two freshly baked cheese rolls and coffee, we had only been on the island for about 20 minutes and we already felt at home!

Bjornsund

Bread rolls, Don't get fresher than that!

An idyllic setting, it was quite difficult to leave! Very friendly and giving people. With the boat unloaded though we headed back to Harøysund, convincing Håvard to let us in to the secret of the good fishing grounds on the way in! Having sadly missed dinner reservation, back ashore we grabbed our reel and rod and headed out in our dinghy, having no luck at all Håvard came past on his boat on his way home, pointing us again in the right direction and at last Daniel caught not one but two cod!! Returning close to midnight we weren't put off and went ahead and cooked them, a midnight feast!!

We are now possibly at the end of all internet connections and phone, so it might go long times between updates... We will try our best to do something though

A few photos!

Håvard asked if we would like to give him a hand and go on a little trip to Bjørnsund, a lovely island group forcibly evacuated in 71, now summer homes. More details and photos to follow in next blog post. Very friendly people!

Harøysund, on dry land!

It was great to see Håvard again, almost two years since we last met him. We have been very lucky to meet such lovely people in Norway and Håvard has really gone above and beyond. Just a few hours after he arrived we had been lifted out which for someone used to craning boats I'm sure is no big deal, but for us, our little home suspended in the air above his fishing boat was a bit scary!! Quickly though she was on dry land and we could get started on getting her fixed. It wasn't possible to fully investigate the problem with the boat in the water as various hoses had melted and so the water ingress made it not particularly sensible to dig around!

Ashore!

Since we managed to contain the fire (or overheating) and prevent the boat from total loss the insurance does not cover the overheating engine work and so we are having to do the engine work on a much tighter budget, therefore we are working on the engine ourselves. We discovered the cause of the problem was the shaft within the water pump had completely sheered, thankfully the engine seems to have avoided too much damage and will run again with some work all being well. While we were out of the water we took the opportunity to fit the new bellows which Volvo penta had kindly sponsored us, we have never personally been involved in taking a sterndrive off of a boat and so it seemed a bit daunting! After a lot of hours and a lot of varied language we had the sterndrive back on, having replaced bellows and anodes.

Now I'm no expert, but I am guessing that shouldn't be like that!!

The exhaust hoses had been melted due to the vast heat and we have replaced them with new ones. The water pump has proved more difficult as it had appeared to be out of production but thanks to a contact of Håvards in Oslo we hope to have a pump arriving from Sweden in the next few days!! After this arrives and has been fitted we will be ready to be craned back in to the water and ready to wait to cross Hustadvika.
Its also been really good to see some of the nice people we had met here when we were last here, it feels like home! Since we have completed all the work until the pump arrives we will have a couple of days to do some land based exploring, maybe even go on some dinghy expeditions!!

Aukra - Haroysund

In 2014 we arrived in Haroysund, Norway under tow from the RS Maersk having had problems 20nm from the Norwegian coastline. We were towed from outside of Bud, to a boatyard in Haroysund and despite the upsetting beginning to our journey we met some really kind and friendly people, both aboard the RS Maersk and at the boatyard in Haroysund. As we have said before, despite the fact we would have obviously never have planned to start our journey in that way, we have since been exceptionally glad how things turned out. The people we met had a real lasting impression on us and possibly it is through their kindness we fell in love with Norway and have been desperate to return. Who knows where we would be now if it wasn't for that introduction.

Peaceful surroundings for a kirk!

 In 2014 on our way south we stopped some 8miles away from Haroysund in a island marina in Aukra. While we were there sitting in the club house we looked up to see Lars Kristian, one of the crew of the RS Maersk who had come to our help just a few weeks earlier. Coincidences! Anyway, this time we made sure to stop in the same marina in Aukra. Having been kindly treated to dinner by Lars Kristian and family news had spread and we got a visit from the RS Maersk and crew! Nice to see the Maersk in happier circumstances too and get a chance to catch up with the crew.

RS Maersk and crew

The RS Maersk is quite a sight up close, she dwarfs Quickstep and is packed full of some amazing kit! If they are ever selling her, put my name down for her, twin jet drives would make the close quarter manoeuvres a bit easier and there would be no worry with lack of emergency equipment! The Redningsselskapet is the Norwegian equivalent of the RNLI, although there are some differences. Much like the RNLI many of the RS crew members are voluntary and risk their lives to protect and rescue others at sea, in a nation of boaters they are a crucial part of the emergency service.

Our next boat!?!

Aukra or Gossa, is a relatively flat island (highest point 325ft), which stands out from much of Norways high mountainous landscape. The island is also home to the Ormen Lange Gas terminal, which processes and then pumps gas through one of the worlds longest underwater pipelines to Easington in Yorkshire, the pipeline some 725M long and has a diameter of around 44inch!

Views from Aukra

We went a short walk in Aukra on a sunny day and it would have been fun to stay longer and see more but we were on route back to Haroysund boatyard and so we headed off early evening.

Hurtigruten heading South

Were now in Haroysund, its a strange feeling to be back where our Norway experience first began 22 months ago! A bit of a home from home. The next while will likely be quite busy as we find out the fate of our engine but we hope to be on the "road" again soon!

Two eagles

Svinøya - Aukra

Yesterday we made use of the calm to canoe over to the neighbouring town of Elnesvagen, a quick walk up to the shop and canoe back again! We had considered taking the bus in to the closest city Molde but seemed to be get baffled by the bus stops so canoes seemed the easier form of transport!! A three mile paddle, long enough! Glad that quickstep isn't a rowing boat or we would struggle!!

Our little canoe adventure!

Elnesvågen is home to several large factories and has a few nice shops so we could top up with stores and we found a boots pharmacy to buy a tick remover...Just in case! We've already seen quite a few ticks, and three or four snakes. Amanda had never seen a snake in the wild, and the novelty quickly has worn off when she realised there are poisonous ones in Norway!

Daniel watching over the Barbequed Pasta Bake!!

Thankfully for both of us we haven't seen too many spiders, yet.... Something neither of us are keen on, to say the least!
After our paddle in the canoes we headed to Aukra, where we were very kindly invited out for dinner by the family of one of the men who had been on the RS Mærsk in 2014 when we had been towed. Very lovely people who have made us feel at home on Aukra. Later today we will head north a little to the boatyard where we hope to get lifted out of the water, and over the next while we will have more of an idea of what will happen with the engine. Depending on how quickly we are moving again we would like to head north to see the midnight Sun, which would mean reaching the arctic circle by the longest day.

Aukra boat club 

Sandsoya - Haramsoya - Svinoya

It was really nice to be back on Sandsoya, a beautiful and peaceful island just a few miles away from where Stadts defiante cliffs stand, with crashing tides and rolling swell. Sheltered within the mole we would have liked to have spent longer exploring the island and taking part in the 17th celebrations, unfortunately we have to push on to get the engine looked over. We did join the pub night on Monday evening in the exceptionally well put together Rosenlund bar, from the actual bar made from an old wooden boat to the trinkets and old fishing gear throughout the building it was very lovely. For a small island the party atmosphere was really getting fired up, the night before the 17th traditionally a goodnatured hair down and knees up event!

Sandsoya

With a few long days for us we retired early leaving the night to continue. Before setting off again the next day we took the time to go a walk along the road in the opposite direction as we had explored last time in 2014. It looked a great area to explore by dinghy with inlets and bays all around. As we were leaving Sandshamn we saw Norwegians in traditional dress... looks like everyone was going to have a great day!

From Sandsoya we had roughly 80nm to the boatyard where we will be lifted out all being well and so at a cruising speed of between 4 and 5 knots we had quite a distance to go. While in many ways travelling at the slower speeds is nice in that we get to see much more its major drawback is the lack of speed when coming in to busier areas. With ferries running all day back and fore throughout the smallest and largest Norwegians isles it requires a lot of concentration to avoid ferries travelling at anywhere from twice to ten times our speed! As the night was drawing in we decided to go through another area we hadn't been looking forward to. To avoid going outside the islands and remain within the inner leads there is an area of shallow water with, in effect, a marked road which boats from dinghys to huge cargo ships use.

Meeting a huge cargo ship along here with low speeds was something we really wanted to avoid, especially as the area in 2014 had proved one of the roughest areas we had gone through. Thankfully our decision to navigate through it in the late evening paid off and the calm weather made for a totally calm passage and we didn't meet any ships through it.

Shortly after there we pulled in for the night on a island similar in size to Papay, Haramsoya. Turning in to the huge mole harbour we stopped for just a few hours sleep and a quick walk to the petrol station before leaving early the next morning to carry on North.

Someone having luck with the fishing, one for Douglas!

We had read that the KNBF (Royal Norwegian Boating Federation) had set up mooring buoys throughout norway free to use which offer a stopping point for passing boats. We had seen one which was on our route and having passed by Molde we turned off the main fjord heading a little inland to the buoy hidden between islets and mountains in the distance.

A nice stopping place for Daniels birthday today, Happy Birthday Daniel!! Today we took the dinghy ashore and had a bbq in the sun for Daniels birthday. Over the next few days we will continue our journy to the boatyard.

Yesterday on our way we were spotted by a friend in neighbouring island of Gossa, and we hope to visit there too. For now we will continue the birthday celebrations and exploring.

Spotted by Lars Kristian

Today marks three weeks in Norway! Where has the time gone! We have had a few issues to deal with and it hasn't always gone smoothly, but it has all been worth it.

Happy 17th May

Happy 17th of May Norway! 

here is a video of our trip from Selje to Sandsoya

and a reminder to have a look at our facebook for more photos and films...

Selje to Sandsoya

We woke up to even calmer winds than forecast and with conditions looking good for crossing Stadt we had to decide to either make a move today or find ourselves "stuck" in Selje for possibly up to a week. As much as we love Selje we are getting ready to have the boat taken out of the water to make repairs to the engine and so we decided it would be in our best interests to take any possible crossing that came up.

South point of Stadt 

Calm at the first turning point

So at 10am with the seas a glassy smooth we left our home for the night and headed towards the southern point of the peninsula. As we approached we could see slight waves in the distance but nothing like what we had encountered in 2014. So we pushed on at around 5 knots, whilst slightly unpleasant it was much better than we had experienced with the outboards during the crossing from Shetland and we were confident to carry on.

Jet trails with their shadows below

Stadt

As per usual we were perhaps erring on the side of caution a little too much and as a local cargo ship sped along past us about half a mile closer to the shore we knew we were safe to move further in. With sheer cliffs there is something unnerving about being so close to shore. The actual "dangerous waves" area of Stadt stretches to about 15miles and we were pleased to get through it without too much difficulty, Had we decided not to go today its anyone's guess how long we would have waited before the conditions would have been suitable again.

Sea beginning to change

Village facing out from Stadt, must see some amazing seas in Winter!

Stadt views

With this evenings wind set to be a bit breezy we decided to head to Sandsoya another place we had also been in 2014, arriving 6 hours after leaving Selje. Shops etc are closed for the next few days as everyone gears up to celebrate the 17th May. If possible we will head further inland to follow the inner routes north to where we will have Quickstep lifted ashore.

Stadt

Snow on the mountains