Keeping Home Fires Burning

Back Home in OZ: 2009

Repairing Electronics in Australia.  I sent the Raymarine stuff to the agent in Sydney and they repaired the wind instrument (AUD 140) but they could not repair the fixed GPS (new one USD 300) so I had to replace it completely, although the original wiring was okay to be used.  The Simrad repair agent in New Zealand tested and carried out a small repair to the autopilot which cost nothing – nice guys.  In all, the experience was a good one – no fuss, no hassle and what could be retrieved was.  It provided me with a good starting point for the messy business of fixing the lightning damages. 



Cooked as a goog

EPIRB.  A personal locator beacon (PLB) came with the purchase of the boat and, after some mucking around, we managed to convince the US authorities to register it in the US, even with our home address and contact details in Australia.  The Australian Authorities didn’t want to know us as the PLB has a code that is country specific ie a US number.  I understand that one can have the number changed somehow.  We have also purchased an EPIRB in Australia so that is registered in Australia but with the same contact details that we have for the PLB.  We felt we were on a hamster wheel for a while - going fast but getting nowhere!

Purchasing Stuff via the Internet.  We have ordered lots of stuff over the internet, in the US especially.  This makes it very easy to find and purchase what you want.  Delivery can be as quick as you care to pay for it but $extra can get you lots of things within one week from anywhere in the US eg electronics delivered right to your marina door.   It is time consuming though and part of that is because, as a foreigner, you need to be able to use your (in our case) home based credit card.  Many companies won’t allow this; you have to have a US billing address.  So, I always call the company (using Skype) to confirm that they can take foreign cards while allowing for the goods to be delivered to the (US) boatyard.  I also check that they have the item in stock as, very often they won’t tell you (on their website) that the item is in fact not in their stock at that time.  We learnt this lesson waiting about three weeks for a delivery (rather than the usual one).  This can have the potential to affect your departure plans and weather windows wait for no man – don’t we know it!