Chicken and Champas? It Ain't All The Time

Unlike backpacking which is somewhat predictable and easily planned, well for some people anyway, boating is totally unpredictable and making plans near impossible. Well it’s happened again. While sailing around the lovely waters of Thailand with plans of heading up to the Myanmar (Burma) border and then out to the Andaman Islands, 400 miles to the west, we discovered that a leak had developed where our rudder post comes into the boat. It was not bad but salt water in and around our new fuel tanks was not something to ignore and the problem was only going to get worse. We investigated the various options for repairs and even had 2 retrofit neoprene socks (gaiters) delivered from a yacht steering company in Denmark and had a nylon sleeve machined with the intention of cutting it in half and fitting it around the shaft to clamp on the gaiter. These ideas looked good, but the practicality of successfully fitting them was unrealistic. The only proper solution was to haul out AGAIN, remove the rudder and replace the ‘O’ ring seal. We investigated the costs of hauling out in Phuket but it was twice the price of Rebak and at least in Langkawi we knew all the suppliers and we had friends there to help if necessary, it was only a matter of when?

Thai girls just want to have fun



So do Aussie girls

We decided to hang around Phuket where conditions are relatively calm and enjoy the many restaurants and laid back lifestyle as we still had 6 weeks left on our visa.

Every day starts the same with a race to to tourist islands

The winds dropped out for several weeks which made the west coast anchorages rolly and uncomfortable so we stayed on the eastern side of Chalong harbour where we caught up with our friends Brigitta and Olav from Munich who have been sailing around the world for 12 years. They have now decided to ship their yacht “Helios” to Turkey rather than sail the long route around Africa, another legacy of the pirate situation west of India. Like all yachties Olav is easily riled when you ask the simple question “how much”, its amusing to see the blood rush to his face and the body tense up. The shipping agents are only different to the pirates in that what they do is considered legal and they don’t commit murder, so I guess it’s still the best option. We now know of 15 boats going to Turkey from Phuket via ship at around US$30,000 – $40,000 per yacht. When you ship your boat to Turkey it must be totally “dry” of alcohol so we were asked if we could help reduce the burden of rum aboard Helios, we obliged of course and were surprised how much the boat rose out of the water when we left. The burden was somewhat reduced, however after 12 years of cruising and defying customs rules unknown bottles kept appearing from the bowels of the ship night after night for us and others. Perhaps the boat may never be dry?

Olav and Brigitta from "Helios" what a loving couple

We also caught up with some American friends, Cathy and Jerry from the yacht Po’oino Roa who had a friend staying with them, Connie. It was a margaritas afternoon and we again got the thumbs up from them for the quality of our frozen concoctions, which is a big compliment as they have spent many years indulging in the real thing back in Mexico. After the fun afternoon we had in Langkawi last year doing the same thing Cathy had decided to purchase the ingredients as well so there was plenty to go around, the lack of an endless ice supply being our only restriction.



East Chalong anchorage - sublime

Wal and Gina came over and caught up with us again, they were now staying at a beach resort on the west coast and braving the roads on a motorbike, albeit a bit wonky as they were still getting used to riding in Phuket, they’d tried to get a car but with the place full of Russian tourists it was impossible. The Russians are taking over Phuket and there appears to be little resistance from the local Authority who no doubt are handsomely rewarded. The Russians are loud and obnoxious with a sense for music that makes Eurovision sound good, shame because Phuket is a lovely place. The locals here hate them because they cheat when paying the agreed price for a service, paying only half or a third then walking away claiming not to understand.



Koh Lanta much more laid back than Phuket



We decided to return to Langkawi the coastal route and stop at some places we hadn’t seen yet including Koh Lanta, Koh Muk and an isolated anchorage at southern Tarantao. The first 2 islands were great with lovely restaurants on the beach front and relatively clean water for a swim, Muk also has a huge hong called the Emerald Cave which is 80m long and connects the sea with a small inland lagoon which is open overhead and full of lush rainforest, quite spectacular especially if arriving after all the tourists. Tarantao was a disappointment as it was full of fishing, trawling and squid boats with generators running all night. So after a week since clearing out of Thailand we cleared back into Malaysia and then on to Rebak to work again.



Emerald Cave - Koh Muk

We hauled out of the water 3 days later and began the difficult task of removing the rudder and steering gear. The lower rudder bearing is a split bronze fitting that is thru-bolted to the skeg and encapsulates a section of the 50mm stainless steel rudder shaft. The thru-bolts were countersunk and epoxy glued in place which made intact removal impossible for 3 out of the 4. Those 3 had to have the heads drilled out and then the threads knocked through from either side separating the 2 halves. This took 1.5 days, half my drill bits a big centre punch and a badly bruised knuckle. The bearing was cleaned up and looked brand new.



Inside the hong with the cave entrance opposite

To remove the steering equipment meant unbolting and splitting the 600mm diameter aluminium quadrant that gripped the rudder shaft, luckily we didn’t have to remove any cables but just loosen them and release the autopilot chain. Due to the restricted access to this equipment another 1.5 days went by before the rudder finally fell free. We discovered the cause of our leakage problem when an ‘O’ ring was flicked out of its groove in the ferro-bestos rudder tube bearing revealing a flat surface to the whole inside face of the ‘O’ ring. The rudder shaft also revealed some wear and pitting.

Rudder removed

A trip into Kuah the next day with the expectation of “no have” from the suppliers we were pleasantly surprised with “how many” at only $1.50 each. We bought 2 replacement ‘O’ rings with the intention of adding the second inserted in the nylon sleeve that was machined in Thailand and was now having a groove machined in it here in Kuah by Mr Chin the Chinese man that made our fuel tanks.

Steering quadrant which had to be split in half to remove rudder, access is via a 300mm x 150mm hatch in the transom compartment, the support  ropes are feeding through a 50mm diameter hole in the deck for the emergency tiller

The rudder shaft was cleaned and repaired using an epoxy that hardens like steel then faired smooth like new. Another 2 days passed before the new seal was inserted and the rudder pushed up but the fit was too easy and we dropped it back out again. Further inspection revealed that the groove in the top bearing had worn as well so after packing with a thin strip of amalgamating rubber sealing tape the rudder was reinserted and this time had to be jacked up into place which indicated a good snug fit in the seal. A full mains pressure water test with the deck wash sprayer revealed no leaks, a test that we would expect worse than the sea could deliver. The lower bearing was reinstalled and epoxy glued in place same as previous. Next was to epoxy glue the new nylon sleeve with the additional ‘O’ ring seal into place and clamp the gaiter to it and the shaft, a much easier job now that they could be inserted over and onto the rudder shaft rather than retrofitted around it as was the intention in Thailand.

The new gaiter fixed to the nylon seal housing and rudder post. there is sufficient strech in the neoprene to allow the rudder to turn through 90 degrees

The quadrant with its new bolts was clamped back into its original position and cables re-tensioned. A few more adjustments with the autopilot to centre the wheel and all was finished like new. In the mean time we had epoxy faired the skeg where the lower bearing fitted and primed with epoxy paint then antifouled the area affected. We also cleaned, primed and antifouled the propeller and shaft. We were ready to splash again, yahoo! A trip out the front of the marina and an hour of turning and bouncing as hard as we could assured us that all was OK down below and no more leak. The steering was a little tighter but that is exactly what would be expected.

A relaxing afternoon aboard "Scarlet O'Hara" celebrating the sale of their boat, albeit with a few dramas

We engaged the services of an American surveyor another John from the yacht “Scarlett O’Hara” to oversee the whole of the rudder works and provide a full in and out of water survey including a rigging inspection to satisfy our insurance brokers who have insisted that these will be required next year prior to renewal. The boat is coming up to 20 years old and the rigging 10 years since it was replaced, critical times when dealing with yacht insurance. All passed with flying colours and thanks to our Townsville yacht broker a fair valuation in these hard financial times. In America they are virtually giving boats away.

Back in the water again and some maintenance work which was not done prior to leaving for Thailand, a bit of R&R around the pool, then we head back east for some more adventures, hopefully less traumatic. We are a bit sad about missing the Andamans but from the reports from other boats this year we didn't miss much with most of the corals bleeched by rising sea temps last summer. C'est la vie

Take care, bye for now.

Beers and Cheers with "Dreamweaver" in the background

J&J