They call Auckland, New Zealand the City of Sails, and after a month here, we can see why. But beyond the skyline and the sea of masts, we’ve discovered something else: a place where boats, and people, come to be repaired, tested, and maybe even transformed.

After sailing nearly 9,000 nm over 18 months — from Panama, west across the vast Pacific Ocean — we’ve made landfall in New Zealand. For many cruisers, this is the finish line. But for us… this isn’t the end.

It’s no secret boats require constant maintenance and repairs, but there is one area we dread working on and in this episode it rears its ugly head.

We are gearing up to transit the Panama Canal and sail about 4,000nm across the Pacific Ocean to the Marquesas in French Polynesia. It’s probably the longest passage one can make so we need to make sure our boat is as seaworthy as possible.

Often times when we’re attempting repairs on our boat we feel like detectives working to solve a mystery. In this episode we’re trying to figure out why we lost all our instruments starting with depth and tackle some maintenance that should have been straightforward but leaves us scratching our heads.