diff --git a/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/metacluster/tasks/storage.yml b/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/metacluster/tasks/storage.yml
index 177dbd1..d211c54 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/metacluster/tasks/storage.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/metacluster/tasks/storage.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,16 @@
     chart_ref: /opt/metacluster/helm-charts/longhorn
     release_namespace: longhorn-system
     create_namespace: yes
-    wait: yes
+    wait: no
     kubeconfig: "{{ kubeconfig.path }}"
     values: "{{ components.longhorn.chart_values }}"
+
+- name: Ensure longhorn API availability
+  ansible.builtin.uri:
+    url: https://storage.{{ vapp['metacluster.fqdn'] }}/v1
+    method: GET
+  register: api_readycheck
+  until:
+    - api_readycheck is not failed
+  retries: 5
+  delay: 30
diff --git a/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml b/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml
index ceeee5b..81adc9a 100644
--- a/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml
+++ b/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 platform:
 
   k3s:
-    # version: v1.25.4+k3s1
-    # max supported version by Longhorn is <v1.25.0
-    version: v1.24.8+k3s1
+    version: v1.26.0+k3s1
 
   gitops:
     repository:
@@ -83,10 +81,10 @@ components:
     management:
       version:
         # Must match the version referenced at `dependencies.static_binaries[.filename==clusterctl].url`
-        base: v1.3.0
+        base: v1.3.1
         # Must match the version referenced at `components.cert-manager.helm.version`
         cert_manager: v1.10.1
-        infrastructure_vsphere: v1.5.0
+        infrastructure_vsphere: v1.5.1
         ipam_incluster: v0.1.0-alpha.1
     workload:
       version:
@@ -153,7 +151,7 @@ components:
 
   longhorn:
     helm:
-      version: 1.3.2
+      version: 1.4.0
       chart: longhorn/longhorn
       parse_logic: cat values.yaml | yq eval '.. | select(has("repository")) | .repository + ":" + .tag'
       chart_values: !unsafe |
@@ -227,7 +225,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   static_binaries:
     - filename: clusterctl
-      url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/v1.3.0/clusterctl-linux-amd64
+      url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/v1.3.1/clusterctl-linux-amd64
     - filename: govc
       url: https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/releases/download/v0.29.0/govc_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
       archive: compressed
@@ -247,7 +245,7 @@ dependencies:
     - filename: yq
       url: http://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/download/v4.30.5/yq_linux_amd64
     - filename: npp-prepper
-      url: https://code.spamasaurus.com/api/packages/djpbessems/generic/npp-prepper/v0.4.3/npp-prepper
+      url: https://code.spamasaurus.com/api/packages/djpbessems/generic/npp-prepper/v0.4.5/npp-prepper
 
   packages:
     apt: