16 November 2007

The story thus far....




Weta is a KP44, built in Taiwan in 1977. I am her second owner, having found the boat advertised for sale in 2004. It appeared to be the sort of KP44 I was looking for, totally run down and cheap. It was a bonus that it was in Hawaii and I could (hopefully) get it back to New Zealand for a re-build. I travelled to Hawaii in September 2004 and had the boat surveyed, which confirmed my impressions of a boat that needed a lot of love. Due to the flight schedule I had 4-5 days to inspect the boat and the owner generously allowed me full access. Apart from the day-long formal survey I spent the remainder of the time poking around, as well as a good part trying to decide if I really wanted to do this. It was a very sad and sorry looking "mess" at that stage. Lots of list writing and staring into space, basically. Based on the surveyors recommendations, I made an offer that was realistic for the condition and state of the boat. This was refused but after I returned to NZ we kept "negotiating" (as in I kept saying it was the only offer he was getting...) until reality bit and the owner accepted the offer. I wasn't sure if I was glad or sad - definitely concerned and thinking "what the hell have I let myself into!!".

Once the deal was done and the money paid I started planning, eventually returning to Hawaii in April 2005 with my friend Vicky in tow. She was between jobs and needed a change and turned out to be a fantastic asset for the 3 months we spent preparing for the trip home.

We did a little website for our friends and family while we were there, unfortunately towards the end we got very busy and tired so it took a back seat. You can visit that site here.

The focus of the first "refit" was to get the boat to a safe state to undertake the 4,000 nm trip back to NZ. Any time making things look pretty, or even nice, was considered wasted and so you will see some pretty rough work (but fast...).

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