I almost forgot, tomorrow marks my 11th anniversary of living on the boat.
While it sure doesn't seem like yesterday given all that's happened, the
time has truly flown, and I have no regrets. As many of you have heard me
say: "it sure beats working". Attached a 2005 and a current pic. You can print these out and put them on the fridge door!!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Malaysia II & Phuket Sept 14 2009
Hello all.
Yes, we are seriously overdue, not having written since July 8th. Unbelievably, some of you have actually inquired as to our well-being.
Okay, so the reason there's been no letter is there has been precious little to write about. Shortly after our last one, Rose took off for Europe for five weeks and Joey took off for Singapore and New Zealand. Like he needs another vacation!!! The poor captain was left to his own devices until August 16th when the lovely Rose returned to Penang. Ah, solitude. Ah, peace and quiet. My days were filled with a long overdue thorough cleaning of the boat from stem to stern, from bilges to cabin top. The galley alone took 3 full days!!! Of course, there were a few massages and pizzas thrown in. I was also responsible for looking after Freebird while they were gone. The only excitement was a storm generated surge that spent a day hammering the boats and breaking dock lines. Installation of the new autopilot head was surprisingly easy, EXCEPT, the changeout "told" one of the other instruments that it should "lock" up due to suspected tampering. The only way, since the new head doesn't use that feature, to unlock is to send the thing to the states. Crap!! Fortunately, with some advice, we were able to solve the problem by putting the old head back in line after the new one--all the instruments are interconnected and talk to each other. Just removed that today to see if the fix was permanent and it is--saves hundreds in shipping and aggravation. Speaking of which, since we're on the way to the Med in January, I thought it would be a good idea to blow a few hundred on an AIS (automatic identification system) which works like an aviation transponder to identify other boats vital statistics. It works in tandem with the radar, and can be displayed on your chartplotter or computer--IF you have the right version. Took me about 2 weeks to figure out that I don't and that the upgrades wouldn't load properly. Fortunately, there is a free stand alone program that provides an excellent interface. Then there were the idiots at ICOM, the manufacturer that set the cabling up for a serial interface. That's one of those nine pin plugs like you used to have on the computer for your printer a million years ago. Now everyone uses USB, so I had to manufacture a cable and then the dummies don't really tell you which wire hooks up where. OK. Enough! We got it to work, and it was lucky since the radar has gone out again. Oh yeah, the genset went out too. Doesn't want to pump cooling water in spite of everything appearing okay and replacement of all the hoses. The mechanic is checking it as we speak and thinks it is a bad seal on the water pump shaft.
Anyway, after more than four months in Penang, we were ready to move on and decided to head back up to Phuket to get the rigging done, and the radar and generator fixed. We stopped off at Rebak on Langkawi for a few days to allow Joey to load up on $10/case beer and to see a bunch of friends there. Actually, we also finally (Norman and Rose) got to ride up the cable car to a mountain top. Great views 'til we actually arrived at the top when the weather decided to sock in. Had lunch at a most excellent Tapas place nearby and then did it again on our way out of Malaysia. Spent a futile day or two trying to collect Rose's passport. Unlike the US, commonwealth countries including the UK will not issue additional pages, so, in spite of having 5 more years to run, Rose had to spend almost $200 on a new passport which was issued in KL with instructions to return it to Rebak. Nope, courier service won't deliver out there, so first we wasted a Friday when, due to Ramadan, everything was closed, then Monday, we went to the wrong depot. Have finally retrieved it.
Our trip up to Langkawi was marked with high winds and heavy rain as was part of the trip to Phuket. We were also babying the port transmission as we found milky oil in there signifying leaky shaft seals. That will be okay as long as we frequently change out the oil, but it can't be fixed without hauling the boat out of the water. As for further news, Rose has put her foot down (I think she was just humoring me before anyway) and has insisted we resume our westward trek come January, so it's just as well we're doing the rigging, getting AIS, etc. Unfortunately, as she was weaned off the steroids, Rose's condition has not responded as we all hoped it would. She had an appointment she had to fly down to Penang for and put the fear of God in the docs as they have now changed her dosages, given her some new stuff and added back a small dose of steroids. After the miraculous improvement of a few months ago, needless to say, we are very disappointed with the results of the new treatment thus far, but Rose is on the comeback trail with the changes in her medication and time will tell. She needs to fly back to Penang early October for more checks, etc. and will do so from either here (Phuket) or Langkawi. Round trip is only about $50.
On the Joey front, there are some job prospects here he is working on and, in any event, he can finish up his captain's qualifications here. It's also about as cheap a place to be as there is, so being unemployed here is less of a drain on the pocketbook. Hell yes, that's why I wanted to stay.
So, here we are back in our old stomping grounds at Royal Phuket Marina, having arrived Thursday night. We were quite happy to get away from the 1000 decibel disco 'til 3 AM each Friday and Saturday in Penang only to have a couple of parties here all weekend. The one Friday night actually went 'til 8 AM Saturday!!!! Fireworks at midnight last night. Hoping it was an anomaly as this didn't happen in Feb.. We're checked in for at least a month, and today, Monday, I've called the radar guy, the generator mechanic, the electrician (I forgot to mention it looks like I'll need new batteries--don't ask what they cost), and the canvas man for some minor repairs. We also need some work on the jib, but the riggers can handle that when they change out the rigging later this week. So, all in all, we'll be in great shape for a January departure, and this is about as cheap as it gets for this kind of work. Still deciding where to spend the holidays, and won't know how long we're here until the work starts.
Cheers until later
Tim & Rose
Yes, we are seriously overdue, not having written since July 8th. Unbelievably, some of you have actually inquired as to our well-being.
Okay, so the reason there's been no letter is there has been precious little to write about. Shortly after our last one, Rose took off for Europe for five weeks and Joey took off for Singapore and New Zealand. Like he needs another vacation!!! The poor captain was left to his own devices until August 16th when the lovely Rose returned to Penang. Ah, solitude. Ah, peace and quiet. My days were filled with a long overdue thorough cleaning of the boat from stem to stern, from bilges to cabin top. The galley alone took 3 full days!!! Of course, there were a few massages and pizzas thrown in. I was also responsible for looking after Freebird while they were gone. The only excitement was a storm generated surge that spent a day hammering the boats and breaking dock lines. Installation of the new autopilot head was surprisingly easy, EXCEPT, the changeout "told" one of the other instruments that it should "lock" up due to suspected tampering. The only way, since the new head doesn't use that feature, to unlock is to send the thing to the states. Crap!! Fortunately, with some advice, we were able to solve the problem by putting the old head back in line after the new one--all the instruments are interconnected and talk to each other. Just removed that today to see if the fix was permanent and it is--saves hundreds in shipping and aggravation. Speaking of which, since we're on the way to the Med in January, I thought it would be a good idea to blow a few hundred on an AIS (automatic identification system) which works like an aviation transponder to identify other boats vital statistics. It works in tandem with the radar, and can be displayed on your chartplotter or computer--IF you have the right version. Took me about 2 weeks to figure out that I don't and that the upgrades wouldn't load properly. Fortunately, there is a free stand alone program that provides an excellent interface. Then there were the idiots at ICOM, the manufacturer that set the cabling up for a serial interface. That's one of those nine pin plugs like you used to have on the computer for your printer a million years ago. Now everyone uses USB, so I had to manufacture a cable and then the dummies don't really tell you which wire hooks up where. OK. Enough! We got it to work, and it was lucky since the radar has gone out again. Oh yeah, the genset went out too. Doesn't want to pump cooling water in spite of everything appearing okay and replacement of all the hoses. The mechanic is checking it as we speak and thinks it is a bad seal on the water pump shaft.
Anyway, after more than four months in Penang, we were ready to move on and decided to head back up to Phuket to get the rigging done, and the radar and generator fixed. We stopped off at Rebak on Langkawi for a few days to allow Joey to load up on $10/case beer and to see a bunch of friends there. Actually, we also finally (Norman and Rose) got to ride up the cable car to a mountain top. Great views 'til we actually arrived at the top when the weather decided to sock in. Had lunch at a most excellent Tapas place nearby and then did it again on our way out of Malaysia. Spent a futile day or two trying to collect Rose's passport. Unlike the US, commonwealth countries including the UK will not issue additional pages, so, in spite of having 5 more years to run, Rose had to spend almost $200 on a new passport which was issued in KL with instructions to return it to Rebak. Nope, courier service won't deliver out there, so first we wasted a Friday when, due to Ramadan, everything was closed, then Monday, we went to the wrong depot. Have finally retrieved it.
Our trip up to Langkawi was marked with high winds and heavy rain as was part of the trip to Phuket. We were also babying the port transmission as we found milky oil in there signifying leaky shaft seals. That will be okay as long as we frequently change out the oil, but it can't be fixed without hauling the boat out of the water. As for further news, Rose has put her foot down (I think she was just humoring me before anyway) and has insisted we resume our westward trek come January, so it's just as well we're doing the rigging, getting AIS, etc. Unfortunately, as she was weaned off the steroids, Rose's condition has not responded as we all hoped it would. She had an appointment she had to fly down to Penang for and put the fear of God in the docs as they have now changed her dosages, given her some new stuff and added back a small dose of steroids. After the miraculous improvement of a few months ago, needless to say, we are very disappointed with the results of the new treatment thus far, but Rose is on the comeback trail with the changes in her medication and time will tell. She needs to fly back to Penang early October for more checks, etc. and will do so from either here (Phuket) or Langkawi. Round trip is only about $50.
On the Joey front, there are some job prospects here he is working on and, in any event, he can finish up his captain's qualifications here. It's also about as cheap a place to be as there is, so being unemployed here is less of a drain on the pocketbook. Hell yes, that's why I wanted to stay.
So, here we are back in our old stomping grounds at Royal Phuket Marina, having arrived Thursday night. We were quite happy to get away from the 1000 decibel disco 'til 3 AM each Friday and Saturday in Penang only to have a couple of parties here all weekend. The one Friday night actually went 'til 8 AM Saturday!!!! Fireworks at midnight last night. Hoping it was an anomaly as this didn't happen in Feb.. We're checked in for at least a month, and today, Monday, I've called the radar guy, the generator mechanic, the electrician (I forgot to mention it looks like I'll need new batteries--don't ask what they cost), and the canvas man for some minor repairs. We also need some work on the jib, but the riggers can handle that when they change out the rigging later this week. So, all in all, we'll be in great shape for a January departure, and this is about as cheap as it gets for this kind of work. Still deciding where to spend the holidays, and won't know how long we're here until the work starts.
Cheers until later
Tim & Rose
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