Hard Yakka

2 months after returning from our inland jaunt we have finally put things straight with all the remedial work finalised and time again for some blogging. It has been a very frustrating and challenging period to do the extent of work that has been required to get things back in order. Far removed from the leisurely lifestyle which we have become accustomed to and thought would be the norm in lovely SE Asia it has been physically draining and hard for both of us to do the work. The conditions here are very different than back home even compared to Townsville the temp is 28-30 degrees 24/7 and humidity 90%, the AC has been a great help and the work would have been impossible without it.

Robbie the robot doing what he does best and making the most of available space

As you know we had to replace not 1 but 2 fuel tanks, the first of which was the subject of intense negotiations and haggling with the Chinese owner of the local fabrication company, well he was sacked after our first inspection of his work on the tank and another fabricator was engaged to build both tanks. Unfortunately this lost us nearly 2 weeks but Mr Chin was a much better man to deal with than Mr Lim and his pricing much more realistic and acceptable. Not sure how many years of bad luck one gets from just pissing off a Chinaman but should be much less than the 20 years for killing one.

2 new shiny tanks sitting on our centreboard

While the tanks were out it gave us the opportunity to carry out other maintenance work which would otherwise be very difficult so we replaced the remaining steering and autopilot cables to the quadrant which hadn’t been done in Darwin or Thailand and epoxy painted the section under the tanks. We removed the other (3^rd) fuel tank and cleaned all the crap out that had built up over the last 18 years and installed 2 inspection hatches in the hope it will assist with future cleaning. We removed the water heater that ran off the main engine heat exchange system which has now provided additional storage area for tools and spares. Just have to find a place for the new heater, perhaps a food cupboard will do nicely, negotiations are now underway for approval.

All clean now

 Our microwave died the other day for no reason which meant we had to find a replacement, lucky our local Chinaman appliance shop in Kuah had a similar size. Thinking of buying shares in his shop, prices are no cheaper than OZ even with the 5% discount they so generously haggle over and this is supposed to be a duty free island. So far we’ve bought a fan, an air conditioner and now the microwave and still they treat us if we’ve just arrived from the moon. One thing about Asia is you will never get close to the people, everything is straight down the line, business, business and more business.  

Hardstand flooded even more than last time from monsoonal storm

We arranged for a drum of antifoul which is compatible with our existing paint system and it is manufactured in Singapore but our supplier is located in Pangkor which is half way down the West Coast of Malaysia so we decided rather than risk a local transport company we would catch a ferry to the mainland at Kedah and hire a car for the 9hr return trip. This was exciting!! the car cost 30RM about A$10 for the day which we think was its total value thus negating the need for any insurance. It struggled all the way south and back but thankfully when it started pouring rain the wipers did work which was a great relief as night approached. Top speed was a very shaky 90km/hr even though the limit was 110 on the tollways. By the way we paid more in tolls than the car cost.

Both new tanks secured in place but still plenty to do

We were too late for the last ferry so spent the night in a budget hotel and checked out the local markets the next morning before heading back home with our drum on a very bumpy ferry as the winds had picked up overnight from the west and continued all the way to Langkawi. Most of the locals were laid out flat, throwing-up into plastic bags, some even before we got out past the entrance wall. Thankfully they were sent to the stern of the boat away from us.

You would never get away with this back home - flammable liquids infront of the exit on a passenger ferry

Back on board again we were pleasantly surprised the following day when 2 of the marina staff arrived by forklift with a birthday gift for John which is a custom at Rebak Marina. It wasn’t a large cake and the bottle of red wine was normal size so not quite sure why the forklift, but when in Asia you just go with the flow. We had a meal at the Hard Dock Café with some friends and enjoyed the cake, the red and the company, waking up the next morning with a slight hangover, a complete contrast to last year which was spent at sea en-route to Borneo.

Happy birthday John- they even sang it while we stood on deck above

Cracked a bottle of champas the other day as celebration for completing phase 1 of the work and now at Melbourne Airport on our way back to Sydney for a month to catch up with family and of course buy more boat bits for phase 2. Hopefully get our VHF radio fixed which suffered from severe electrical storms last year.

Beers and Cheers from 35,000 ft

Bye for now,

J&J