by Judy Handley | Mar 27, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 156, Year 4 The Race is On
Date: Friday, March 27, 2009
Weather: Beautiful Day!
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
We are now finished painting except for the bottom and that can be done in the rain. But, of course, now that we are finished with the major painting, the weather is absolutely beautiful. The important thing is that the mast and boom look great, so as of noon tomorrow we can start the reassembly. Luck was able to come up with a way to remove the bolts that were too long and scratching our hatch cover, so that problem is fixed. The new dinghy motor lift was about an inch off, but Mark found ways to shorten things so that now works. I spent my day still working on the bronze ports and Mark readied the binnacle in the cockpit to be assembled tomorrow once the paint on the binnacle has had time to cure. Unfortunately, in the process of getting this ready, Mark put the first ugly scratch in the new paint-on the binnacle. I’m sure Luck will be able to rub this out, and we know there will be more scratches as we work to reassemble, but that first scratch is painful. Undisputedly, we are finally moving forward. A huge trawler was placed beside us today so I think someone is telling us it is time for us to go. So we will work as hard and fast as we can to make this happen.
We had dinner tonight with Dave and Di who just returned from Satun where they helped Linda of Mr Bean regroup her life after the murder of her husband. When they first arrived there, they were faced with dealing with Linda’s emotions, the officials trying to recreate the crime, and the media. The officials brought the young men onboard the boat for Linda to identify. It wasn’t hard as she had given them her husband’s t-shirts to wear. The perpetrators were aged fifteen to nineteen years old. Only the youngest had been kind to Linda and kept telling her ‘sorry’-his only English word. Linda’s four children from the UK were arriving and the most important thing for her was to get the blood cleaned out of the boat. Di said there was at least a half inch of blood on the floor that had to be cleaned out. And the young men had totally defaced the whole boat, scratching their initials in the teak, smashing mirrors, ripping apart anything and everything. So Dave and Di worked to clean things up the best they could before the children boarded. We all know that this kind of thing could happen anywhere in the world, on land or sea, but it is a very scary prospect. Evidently these young men were illegal immigrant from Burma working on a Thai fishing boat. They say they had been mistreated and they jumped ship and swam to an island. Unfortunately for them, that island in the Butang Group was not inhabited and they had no food. After two days there, they saw Mr Bean return to a mooring just off the shore and they planned their attack. So even though this is an isolated incident, I think we can all learn from this that it is safer to travel in numbers. When we leave here headed for Langkawi, we had hoped to make a few stops, but if we don’t have someone going in the same direction, we will just do an overnight to get there and take no chances.
by Judy Handley | Mar 26, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 155, Year 4 We Won!
Date: Thursday, March 26, 2009
Weather: Threat of Rain All Day
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
The mast was painted for the second time today and even though there was early in the day thundering and the skies were threatening all day, it only sprinkled rain once at mid-day. So we are happy thinking we won the battle this day. Hurrah!
I think I was so distracted yesterday by the news of the murder of a fellow cruiser that I forgot to write in the log all of the things that happened on Windbird yesterday. We had four different crews working on the boat. Muzza was there to do the measurements for the bimini, Nop’s crew was there to raise the dinghy motor hoist, Mike’s crew from Pro Carpentering was there to figure out how to remake the dinghy motor mount to fit in its new position, and, of course, Oh’s crew was there sanding the mast and getting it ready to paint once again. So yesterday was a very productive day, even if most of the work was fixing things that should have been right the first time. But “right the first time” is in the perfect world in which we do not live.
Today was much calmer on Windbird than yesterday with its flurry of activity. I continued my work on the bronze ports and am starting to actually make some progress. I have used my little Dremel attachments very judiciously and I think I will be able to get all four ports, inside and out, ready to be lacquered tomorrow. Mark got the new wire line from the rudder to the keel attached which will help protect the prop from rogue logs and fishing traps. He installed a new platform in the engine room for our starting battery and did many other little odds and ends. Luck got the newly painted platform for our life raft installed on the cabin top, but very unfortunately after everything was installed we found that one of the bolts attaching the life raft frame to the platform is too long and scrapes on our companionway hatch. We will try to remove that bolt in the morning and see if that solves the problem. If not, the whole thing will have to be removed and then reinstalled. These are the problems of putting a boat back together.
If everything looks good in the morning, we will then be able to start the mast reassembly on Saturday afternoon. That is March 28. Our Visa runs out on April 3, so the race is on.
by Judy Handley | Mar 25, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 154, Year 4 More Forward, Backward Movement
Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Weather: Finally . . . A Beautiful Day
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
The really bad news is that the painting of the mast and boom yesterday must be redone. So today everything was sanded and if the weather holds, painting will be done again tomorrow. The weather took a huge turn around today. It was a beautifully clear day. Those who have been here more than a couple of years tell us that they think it will be clear for a few more days. The weather reports here are all over the place, so we will just hope that we have a reprieve for at least one more day. So at the best, we can start putting things back on the mast on Saturday afternoon. It would be best to give the paint a little longer to cure, but we can start with those things that least affect the paint. But this is all dreaming. Another bad weather day could change everything, so we will wait patiently and see what happens.
I made some progress with my bronze work today, but still have lots more to do. My problem is that I don’t have the tools I need. I have two Dremels, one battery and one plug-in. The plug-in has seen its better days and the battery operated only runs for a short time before needing recharging. I have tried all sorts of other electric sanders and drills, but only the little Dremel really does the job. But even when it does work, I have a limited number of discs that do the job. Unfortunately, you cannot buy Dremel attachments in this part of the world. So I will struggle on tomorrow with this job.
But our problems are paled in comparison with those of a woman named Linda on the yacht named Mr Bean. She and her husband Malcom were moored in the Butang Group of islands in Thailand on the Malaysian border. A couple of nights ago, three teen-aged Burmese fishermen boarded their boat. I’ll spare you the details, but Malcom was evidently murdered. His body has not been found. Linda survived and is in the hospital. Dave and Di of Amoenitis, a couple we often have dinner with across the highway, were called yesterday by the British consulate and asked to come help Linda. Dave and Di rented a car and headed around the Phang Nga Bay to the other side to be with her. We have read on Google that her children from England are now on their way to be with her as well. But what a scary episode. We didn’t know Linda and Malcom, but the cruising community is truly like a family. Even when you don’t know the people, you feel a close attachment. So our thoughts are with Linda and her family as they deal with this truly horrible situation.
by Judy Handley | Mar 24, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 153, Year 4 The Two Step-Two Steps Forward, Two Back
Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Weather: Beautiful Morning; Mid-Afternoon Torrential Rain; Still Raining
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
One of my wishes for today happened. The mast and boom did get painted early this morning which was definitely a step forward, but by mid-afternoon the Thai heavens opened once again and we had the biggest deluge we have seen yet. When it rains here, it really rains. So mast and boom are painted, but we will just have to wait until morning to see if the painting survived the rains.
I did not get my wish that all bronze and stainless would be cleaned by the end of the day, so that little battle will continue tomorrow. Muzza came this morning to measure for our bimini cover, but the tent covering Windbird was too low to get the framework in place for the measurement. That was a step backward. Later in the day Luck and crew found a way to raise the tent. So I guess that is step forward. Muzza will come tomorrow to make those measurements. We installed our new dinghy motor mount which was a step forward. We asked Luck and crew to come help us carry the motor from the aft head where it has been stored. They got it on deck and we used the new motor lift on the arch to try and put it in place. Then we discovered all sorts of problems. The new lift is not high enough to allow us to raise the motor and get it mounted, the location of the new dinghy mount is too close to the dinghy when it is raised on the davits, and on and on and on. So I guess the step forward is that we discovered these problems now, but the step backward is that we need to have Nop’s team come and redo the dinghy motor hoist. And we will have to find a new place to mount the dinghy motor-further away from the dinghy when it is raised on the davits.
So it was quite an interesting day. We made some progress; we made some steps backward. But we are still hopeful that all can be ‘readjusted’ to make things right. We have been working here on the hard for fifty-five days with no break. We have either been doing boat work, working in the apartment on editing and posting photos, or shopping when we had a vehicle. We have enjoyed everyday but we both must admit that is getting a bit tiring. We are ready to be back in the water and sailing. But we must be patient. In no more than two weeks, we should be back in the water and headed for Langkawi. So we are in the home stretch.
by Judy Handley | Mar 23, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 152, Year 4 Still Battling with the Weather
Date: Monday, March 23, 2009
Weather: Off and On Torrential Rain Mixed with Sunshine
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
We are still in a battle with the weather. The rains that should have arrived in April arrived one month early this year. This morning the sky was clear and everything looked perfect for painting, but by noon the heavens decided to open up with another dose of torrential rain and lots of thunder. During the morning Luck and crew had worked hard to build a rain proof tent for the mast and boom. And inside the rainproof tent they built an inner plastic tent. They did not proceed with painting
today, but they are fully ready to go tomorrow morning. Oh came by this afternoon and he says they will paint tomorrow morning and by Thursday afternoon we can start reassembling the mast. So here’s hoping that will really happen.
I am having a real battle with the bronze ports and the stainless on deck. I cleaned all of the stainless while in Langkawi in December but there are rust spots again that must be polished. And the bronze work is very intensive-lots of hand sanding, and then more hand sanding. But progress is being made and we will get there. Maybe tomorrow will be a breakthrough day with mast and boom painted and all stainless and bronze cleaning completed. That is a terribly optimistic outlook but one that
I would like to achieve.
by Judy Handley | Mar 22, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 151, Year 4: The Weather is Winning
Date: Sunday, March 22, 2009
Weather: Off and On Torrential Rain Mixed with Sunshine
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
No painting on Friday. No painting on Saturday. No one working on Sunday, but even if they were there would have been no painting. So we are now in a battle with the weather. The weather report calls for rain through Friday. If that holds and the mast and boom can’t be painted until Saturday that puts us a full week behind. If that ends up to be the case, there is no possible way we could be ready to leave here for at least a week after that-and that is being VERY optimistic. And if that does
end up to be the case, we might be able to leave here on April 7 with the favorable tides and still get to Langkawi in time to secure the boat and fly out of Penang on the 16th of April. So we are in a holding pattern and just hoping for a weather miracle. We are looking into alternatives, like keeping the boat here, but that would cost us $150 US more per month while we are gone for eight months and that ends up to pricey. We have thought of everything from trying to build a truly weather proof
tent around the mast and boom and paint it even if it is raining, but when the rains come here, they really pour and there is nothing that is totally weather proof.
So in the meantime, we are finding plenty to do. Mark is working on the wiring of the solar panels, lights, and wind generator now mounted on the new arch. I polished the Monitor wind vane steering today. We have taken this off the back of Windbird and don’t plan to put it back, but we do want to try to sell it in Langkawi. If that doesn’t work, we will transport it all the way to the US. It is a huge hunk of stainless weighing about fifty pounds total, but Mark has taken it apart to make it
possible to stow it in the v-berth. I also washed down all the stays that have been wrapped up for the past few weeks. I wanted to make sure moisture had not been trapped in the wrapping and caused any rusting, but all wires looked great. Then I continued my battle with the bronze ports. It is a long, messy process sanding off all the green and trying to get the shiny bronze look back. I have the removable parts here at the apartment and work on them in the evenings. I am really questioning
my sanity in feeling the necessity to do this, but I am determined and will get the job done some time this week.
So we will just keep working away and hoping that things work our. Send us your most positive thoughts for sunny, rain-free weather. We need a little help from our friends to turn this weather game around to be in our favor.
