by Judy Handley | Feb 3, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 104, Year 4: Great Progress Made Today
Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Humid
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
We had a great day today. Oh’s crew made more progress than we expected and so did Mark and I. Two-thirds of the starboard side of Windbird has been stripped down to the top layer of polyester resin which is a dark blue. None of us is sure what this level is but it is at least beyond where there is any crazing in the gel coat. Tomorrow the crew will finish the starboard side and continue on to the port side. Before the stripping started, the crew worked on getting the tent over Windbird secured.
We are very pleased with the progress and the quality of the work. Oh comes around a couple of times a day to check on the progress, but there is young man whose name we do not know that seems to be the foreman. He speaks a little English and he is a really hard worker. He is always at the boat when we arrive around 8:30 am and he leaves around 5:30 PM. He had a motorcycle accident a couple of days ago and scraped off a great deal of the skin on his starboard side, but he seems to be healing nicely. Mark and I also made unbelievable progress today. The “sissy bars”, those stainless steel bars on each side of the mast, have been removed, the arch that supports the boom crutch is off, the hatches are all ready to be removed, and the bronze port trim rings are off. This reminds us that there are ports, and ports, and ports-port that you come in to, the left side of your boat, and the window openings in your boat. Someone needs to do a little research on that one and explain to me why all of these are “ports.”
Inside Windbird looks like a disaster area. I cannot imagine, even in my wildest imagination, living aboard Windbird while all of this work is going on. Every thing from the deck is now inside the boat and there is very little room to move about. So this little studio apartment we are in is looking better all the time. This evening we discovered that we have a television and actually watched some BBC news. It has been a long time since we have listened to or watched world news, so we will probably
take advantage of this and actually catch up on what is happening in the world I’m not sure that is a good thing, but probably necessary. We can float around out here and ignore what is happening in the world, but once in a while we need a dose of reality. Or is this reality?
Tomorrow we hope to remove the steering column in the cockpit. This is called a binnacle. Ours is made of aluminum and Mark painted it with great care in 2002. Unfortunately, where the stainless steels bolts go through the aluminum base and where the stainless steel base of the compass touches the aluminum, the paint has bubbled. Oh saw this and offered to paint it for us for free if we were willing to remove it. It is not an easy job as it is the steering column, but tomorrow we will remove
that. It will probably be an all day job. In the late afternoon we are going to meet Robert and Tina on Shirena in the pool at Spice Island. This is the restaurant/bar/pool on their side of the marina. This probably means we will also eat dinner out at Spice Island, but for the second night in a row we cooked on our little deck and that is working out great. I prepare and wash dishes and Mark cooks the dinner. While all of this is happening, I also do the laundry from the day. So at the end of the evening, we have clean clothes and full stomachs and are sitting in air-conditioned luxury. Not sure what more we can ask?
by Judy Handley | Feb 2, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 103, Year 4: A King-Sized Bed and Air Con
Date: Monday, February 2, 2009
Weather: Still Hot and Beautiful-No Change
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
As Mark was cooking dinner on the balcony on our little one-burner Butane stove, he commented on how living in this studio apartment is just like camping out . . . but with a king-sized bed that is wonderfully comfortable and air conditioning that keeps us cool all night long. What a luxury, even if the cooking part is like camping out. The important thing is that it is working for us. In fact, we love being so close to Windbird. It is about 8 pm here right now, and Mark took a walk down to the boat to just “think” about what he wants to accomplish tomorrow. If we had taken an apartment further away, he wouldn’t be able to do this. So waiting for a tiny studio apartment just 300 meters from Windbird was definitely a great choice.
Today Mark worked inside taking down the ceiling in the main cabin and removing nuts from the bolts holding things on deck. I worked on deck removing the bolts. It was a slow day but things are moving along. We had another estimate on the stainless work we would like to do and are now comparing our two estimates and deciding if we can really afford the work. Making the decision to get Windbird painted was really a necessity as the gel coat on the hull was degrading very quickly. But the stainless work we would like to have done is for convenience, so we might have to put that project on hold. Tomorrow we will on removing the big things from the cabin top-the hatches, the stainless bars on either side of the mast, the stainless arch over the aft cabin that holds the boom crutch. While we are doing this, Oh’s crew will continue stripping the boot stripe and the bottom paint down about four inches below the boot stripe. They will also put up the back half of the tent over Windbird tomorrow. We hope to talk to Oh tomorrow and get some idea of the order in which they will be doing things.
We had the most delightful little surprise this evening. Mark tore a page off the notepad we have been using and the next page had some of Sam’s “artwork” and a few stickers he left for us. We had already brought some of Sam’s artwork from the boat and have it stuck in the bottom right-hand corner of the mirror over the desk and now we have some new artwork to put in the left-hand corner. We have many cherished memories from when Heather, Jed, and Sam were here with us, but one of my favorites was when Sam insisted on adding his “notes” to the log when we arrived in a new port. I usually make the log entries on arrival, and Sam tuned right into that and helped. At the end of today’s log, I have posted one of the photos of Commander Sam making his log entries. Too cute.
by Judy Handley | Feb 1, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 102, Year 4: Contacts with Family and Friends
Date: Sunday, February 1, 2009
Weather: Still Hot and Beautiful
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
We continue to enjoy our time working on Windbird and coming back to our studio apartment to cool off. But this morning before we headed off to the boat, we had a surprise Skype contact with my nephew Tommy, his wife Marilou, and their family in Charlotte, North Carolina. My niece Jennifer and her husband Bill were also there, so we got a double contact. This was totally unplanned but a wonderful morning surprise.
We arrived at Windbird just a little later than planned and worked on getting things removed from the deck. Since everything is securely fastened, the removal process is not easy. But we did successfully remove the mast step (major project), the wind generator, and the life raft. While Mark worked on removing these things, I worked on removing layers of 5200 (a caulk that is intended to remain forever) from around all of the dorade vent openings. All of this takes MUCH longer than it sounds, but
the work is progressing.
We took an early afternoon break to go to the local equivalent of a Super Walmart to find a gas or electric burner for cooking in our apartment. Kathy and Pete of Wave Runner went with us and rode in the back of our little truck. We all had lunch in the super cheap Asian food court on the second floor and then continued our shopping expedition downstairs. We returned to the Boat Lagoon and continued working on Windbird. We made contact with Tina and Robert on Shirena and found that they had arrived
at Boat Lagoon while we were out shopping. We had dinner with them tonight at the little Italian restaurant here and had a great time catching up on their travels since we last saw them at Railay Beach.
When we returned to our apartment tonight, we made a Skype call to Heather, Jed, and Sam. We had a great time watching Sam put on his helmet and ride on his tricycle. We saw a bit of Jed as he was trying to measure for wooden foot pedal extensions for Sam’s tricycle and we got to talk to Heather who is feeling much better than she was a week ago when she arrived back in the US.
Tomorrow is the beginning of a new week here. I think we will spend our entire week working on removing all the fittings on Windbird’s deck. Once that is done, we might have a small window when we can take a short land trip. It is really hard to predict what our next couple of months will be like. So you will really have to stay tuned.
by Judy Handley | Jan 31, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 101, Year 4: Life on Land in the Boat Lagoon
Date: Saturday, January 31, 2009
Weather: Still Hot and Beautiful
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
Now we have really done it. Yesterday we acquired our little studio apartment and today we rented a little Suzuki Jeep 4-wheel drive truckling-it is a tiny, tiny little truck. So I guess you could say we have become “land lubbers” for a while. For those of you who read this blog for the sailing adventure, you’ll probably want to check in late next fall/early winter when we get underway again. For those of you who just want to know what world cruisers do on a day to day basis, you can stay tuned.
We spent a lovely night in our little studio apartment with air con. Sleeping was definitely much better than the night before on Windbird in the heat. We spent our day on Windbird trying to keep up with the needs of the crew erecting a huge tent over the boat. It took them most of the day to erect the steel structure. They needed us to take down the wind generator and the canvas bimini and side curtains. And then Oh had told us that removing the wind vane steering mechanism from the stern of
the boat was a priority. In order to do this, we had to remove the wooden slats and white wall board in the aft cabin in order to get to the nuts on the bolts that hold the Monitor wind vane on. Taking off the wind vane steering required working, working at getting the bolts that held the wind vane steering on removed. We lowered the wind generator pole but still have to remove the blades from the pole tomorrow. There are a multitude of jobs to keep us busy and everything we do in this heat takes
twice as long as it should. Tomorrow is Sunday and holiday for the crew, but Mark and I will return in the early morning to continue taking all the paraphernalia off the mast. There are steps that go all the way to the top, a radar antenna and a radar reflector, a television antenna that we have never used, winches, cleats, ropeclutches, lights, and on and on. It is a lot of stuff. Then there are the stays and spreaders have to be removed. We’ll do as much as we can in the early hours tomorrow
and then take a break to go looking for a two-burner electric hot plate so that we can cook in our studio apartment. Tonight we had dinner with our friends Pete and Kathy of Wave Runner from New Zealand. They will go shopping with us, and when we return we think Robert and Tina of Shirena will be here in Boat Lagoon. That probably means a late afternoon get-together with them. So tomorrow will be a mix of work and play.
While I write this log, Mark is using the computer program called “Paint” to draw his vision of the stainless work we want to have done. We are hoping to replace the wire life lines from our gates to the stern with stainless tubing that curves to the match the curve of the boat. We also are hoping to add a stainless arch on the back of Windbird to hold the solar panels, the wind generator, and to add dinghy davits. Adding the dinghy davits on a canoe stern boat with wind vane steering on the back
is almost impossible. But we are contemplating getting rid of the Monitor wind vane. We have hardly used it and once we removed it today for purposes of painting, we really liked the look of Windbird without it. We have a complete replacement for our auto helm steering system, so maybe, just maybe we can do without the third back-up. We’re still thinking about what we really want to do. We got one estimate for this work yesterday, but we have another person coming on Monday morning to do a second
estimate. Mark is hoping his drawing of what we want will help to make sure we really get what we ask for.
Getting Windbird ready to be shut up tight for the sanding and painting process is a big job. For most of the day while Mark worked outside, I worked inside gathering the things we will need for the next two months. So far every thing is fitting into our little apartment. Even though it is small, the floor space is bigger than Windbird. But it doesn’t have the storage space. So it is good thing that I am not bringing everything from Windbird!
by Judy Handley | Jan 30, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 100, Year 4: Happy, Happy
Date: Friday, January 30, 2009s
Weather: Hot, Hot, Hot in the Boat Lagoon
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
Yea! We finally found a place to live, in our original price range, in the Boat Lagoon about 300 meters from Windbird. It is a studio apartment, so it is very small, but we will be able to do some cooking once we go out and buy a hot plate. More importantly, we will be able to stay cool. Last night on Windbird was honestly unbearable. Mark moved from the aft cabin to the main cabin and said it was a little better, but I stayed in the aft cabin and even with two fans blowing directly on me, I
was just too hot to sleep. Plus there were mosquitoes. We had left the boat open until just after dark and that was a bad decision. The mosquitos came in at dusk and lurked in the darkness until I went to bed. Then they decided to make me their target.
But tonight we are in air-conditioned heaven. After working inside a 95 degrees F Windbird all day, we are loving the retreat to this cool little apartment. Things are going well on Windbird, but each task takes so much energy in this heat. The mast is down and all of the lines have been removed and are here on our little balcony waiting to be cleaned. Oh is proving to be even better than we had hoped and his work crew of four young men all seen highly competent. We had not loosened the top-stays
when the crane arrived today which was a big mistake. It took Mark and Oh’s crew sometime to get these loosened while the crane waited. But the crew persisted and got the task accomplished. Tomorrow Mark and I will remove the wind vane steering from the stern and I know that will be a very hot job. We have to dismantle the bed in the aft cabin and remove all lathing strips and wallboard in order to get to the nuts and bolts to loosen the wind vane steering. Then we have to remove the ceiling in the main cabin to get at the nuts and bolts to take off the hardware on the cabin top. And then we have to start taking all the hardware off the mast. We have plenty to keep us busy while Oh and his crew erect the tent and get ready to sand. So life is good here and things are going well.
We are also very happy that Justin and Jo have found us a place to rent when we arrive in New Mexico. That is the cause of the second “happy” in the log’s name. We are happy to have a place to live here while we work on Windbird, and we are very happy to have a place to stay in Santa Fe when we arrive back in the US. Life is good.
by Judy Handley | Jan 29, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 99, Year 4: Windbird in the Boat Lagoon
Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009
Weather: Another Beautiful, Sunny Day in Thailand
Latitude: 07 degrees 57.805 minutes N
Longitude: 098 degrees 23.183 minutes E
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
Just before noon today, Windbird negotiated the shallow waters entering the Boat Lagoon. The marina sent a man named Doucette out to meet us and he actually tied his dinghy up to Windbird, hopped onboard, and took over the wheel to make sure we didn’t go aground. The path in to here is unbelievably curvy and very, very shallow going right through the mangroves. Boat Lagoon really is a lagoon and even once inside, it is still very shallow. Doucette knows every shallow spot, so it was nice to have him at the wheel. We made in safely and then had to wait until the magic hour of 1 o’clock to be hauled out of the water. Our paint contractor, Oh, was here and we were very impressed with his knowledge. We still had not paid the down payment to him and we had no idea he would be here to help us. He had the diver in the water marking the actual waterline for us, had made all the arrangements for having the mast removed tomorrow, the scaffolding delivered when needed, etc. He also stayed around and acted as interpreter for us with the young man giving us an estimate on some stainless work. So we are happy with Oh and will enjoy working with him. Our schedule as outlined by Oh is mast down tomorrow, tent erected over the boat in the next two-three days, and then the sanding will begin. In the meantime, Mark and I have to remove everything possible from the deck and cockpit. That means taking out the ceiling in the main cabin so we can get to the nuts and bolts. By the end of the day today, once the boat was on the hard, the temperature inside was 94 degrees F. We just sit here in the sun and bake all day, so we will do as much work as possible in the morning hours.
We still have not found a place to stay in a price range that suits us. We got a call as we were coming in here this morning from Siri telling us that the townhouse we thought we had rented was going to another couple who wanted it for a year. There are still no openings here at the Boat Lagoon and another townhouse that Siri showed us this evening is a little further away and so brand new that it has absolutely nothing in it. She can fix that within a day, but she wants more money for this one-the equivalent of $500 per month US. We told her $400 was our absolute highest price and she offered to get a bed in the townhouse tomorrow and let us stay for ten days free while she puts in curtains, a kitchen, living furniture, etc., knowing that once we are there we will probably stay and pay her price. She is a good business woman. She even had us return to the townhouse that we visited yesterday to see the progress she has made in one day. It was unbelievable. Yesterday that place had a kitchen, a dining room take and chairs, and a sofa that was still wrapped in plastic. Today it had ceiling fans installed in every room with elaborate drapes, two furnished bedrooms, and a third bedroom had a desk and chair so it can become an office. So we know she can get the other townhouse furnished quickly if we are willing to pay the price and be further away. Tentatively, we are going to do this if nothing else comes along tomorrow. We also met a young woman in one of the sales/rental offices here at Boat Lagoon who is trying to help us find something. Her name is Mod and her boyfriend is C. They took us a few miles north to the neighborhood where they live. Houses there go for the right price, but it is just too far away. So the search continues.
We went to a little Italian restaurant here in the Boat Lagoon with Jean and Ken of Renaissance 2000 tonight. It is more expensive than Thai food, but the salad was huge and wonderful and the pizza was really good. It will take us a few days of searching to find the best places to eat for the “right” price, but there seem to be loads of options. I feel more like I am in Florida than Thailand here, but all of the services you could possible need for a boat are here and the workmen are fastidious and very good at what they do. We are surrounded by beautiful businesses topped with townhouses that are dripping with Bougainvillea all centered around the marina and the hotel has a fantastic pool. When your boat is here, you have full use of the pool and hotel facilities. There is wireless internet, although it is not free here. But all in all, it is a beautiful and comfortable spot to spend two months.
