Sumatran Cruise

[felixqld66]

Hey Keith

Maybe a small local propane gas bottle and single ring in the cockpit...great view doesn't heat up the cabin for quick simple 1 pot cooking or billy boiling.

Radar post almost finished fitting and I have the instrument heads at the helm still some cables to run and hydraulic lines to run (getting made) Hope to have electronics powered up thurs.

Cheers Alex

[felixqld66]

Hey Keith good sail down for you hey!

How is the fitout going down there with the FWD looking sonar etc?
I have all my electronics in and powered up unfortunately the old sounder transducers only reads intermittently to the head unit it was a gamble but woth trying.

I will get a compatible airmar inhull transducer but fit the thru hull next haul out and have a redundancy.

Still waiting on my hydraulic lines so cannot commission the autopilot yet....

hope all is travelling well for you down there

Cheers Alex

[surfmachine]

Ahow Alex......all good, the interpahse unit was waiting for me at Rebak, as was all the raymarine gear, just like an early Christmas for my boat!!! Sonar works great!
Fabricating the below deck mount for the class 1 linear drive is taking a lot of forwards and backwards to the engineering workshop, but finishing touches on it today, then wiring! It is looking very good.
Bloody hot here in Rebak, trhough the pool is nice!
Yes, had a great sail down, then a woman said she did it in 16 hours in an Adams 12metre!! Oh well. We just flew at 6 to 7.1 knots at some stages, on a very broad reach, went all night through the fishing boats!!!
Heard from one eyed Nick, he is just around the corner from Pulau Weah, on an island and no surf there, he will be in the banyaks soon.
No CAIT yet, and the crew is working hard, will move onto the pick at Kuah harbour soon. Oh, my 1000 watt pure sine wave inverter finally arrived, but it is 110volt, so back to china!!
Good luck with the hydraulics Alex?
Cheers from Keith.

[felixqld66]

Hey Keith your Cait in yet?...my hydraulics not

[felixqld66]

Hey Keith

I have meant to ask you what are you doing for the mozzies and malaria down in Sumatra?

Cheers

[surfmachine]

I take doxycycline, 100mg tetracycline, every day, stops the cerebral malaria that infect the brain stem and can kill you in 72 hours!!!
Plus the yacht has full flyscreens on all hatches and ports, anchor offshore as well.
Cheers Alex.

[felixqld66]

So where are you know Keith? If you are not on the water what have you got left to do?

Got prices back from French asia 600 MR lift in or out 850MR per mth on hard.....

When you say you have to hike everywhere there...does that mean you couldn't pressure wash bottom while on hard.

Wouldn't believe it have been powering up depth transducer 10 times each day for last 3 days sporadic before that and in the last 3 days an expected reading everytime close to what the depth should be here. So this afternoon I decide ok will get in the dink drop a lead get an actual depth and calibrate the head unit.

Of course the reading on power up when I go to do this are ridiculous and the next 4 times .....lol always sent to try you.

Cheers Alex

[surfmachine]

Indonesian cruising permit and visa all set up.

Hi Mateys, very easy visa process in indonesian embassy in penang, no customs, just takes 4 weeks for application to jakarta, 350 usd, then waiting for reply, then 3 day trip to penang and visit embassy, then 70 usd later and 1 day u have the visa and security clearance for 2 months and 3 months respectively. This is for 2 people.

Then the real fun starts when you check into sibolga for a stamp on your passport and port clearance into indonesia, then every month after the 2 months, for a total of 6 months, real easy mate, lots of cash involved as well!

Cruising permit or CAIT or security clearance costs about 300 usd for 3 months, then another 750,000 rupiah for a 3 month extension.

Visa is good for 2 months, then extendable 1 month at a time for 250,00 rupiah, takes 2 days each time unless you pay more.
Keith.

[surfmachine]

Ahoy, all up and running great, commissioned the x10 autopilot and linear drive today, hooked up the st60's via seatalk to the course computer and used ng bus to connect a50 chart plotter to the course computer and they are all sharing data and can control the autopilot from the chart plotter, also usoing the nmea in and out links to the course computer.
Off to Sumatra tomorrow!
Fair winds from Keith.

[mikereed100]

Fair winds and good waves, Keith. Hope to see you there next season.

Mike

[surfmachine]

Ahoy shipmates, well we made it across the Malaccan straights in 3 days and 3 nights, left 2300 hrs on tuesday and arrived at 1800 hours on friday. Nearly got blown back to Malaysia by steady 40 to 50 knot squall in the morning, coming around the corner to Banda Aceh, wind hit 70 knots at times, and we stopped dead, but managed to claw along at less than 1 knot when it eased a bit!!! Almost a complete white out on the water, the tops of the ocean was one sheet of blinding mist and dust from the mainland. Used 220 litres of diesel and 1.8 litres of engine oil coming over.
Crossed the shipping lanes in the afternoon and were dodging ships for 6 hours, at right angles, the radar was great at night, maybe 20 ships coming at us from both directions for several hours!

On the pick at Banda Aceh, have refueled and got local sim cards for phone and net, then push around the corner when the gale force swesters abate!!?

Otherwise, all good here!

Fair winds from Keith.

[Capn Morgan]

Hi Keith

If I read this right, it means the old donkey is doing the job rather well. Did you repair it?

[surfmachine]

Ahoy Mick, motor is still chuffing along, smokes a lot!! used 1.8 litres of engine oil with 230 litres od diesel, so the oil control rings are tired, PO did replace the rings in venezuala, but did not alter the oil use???

Did replace the alternater, smart voltage regulater, waterpump and water pump housing, had the injectors calibrated and new diapragm in the bosch injector pump, plus oil change and compression test and reset valve clearances and had a mercedes diesel mechanic check over the motor on the boat!!!

Of course, replaced the dripless seal on the prop shaft and new bearings in centre bearing and cutlass bearing andserviced felxible coupling and control lines for gearbox and motor!

Anyway, it starts and stops, when I use the heaters for 15 seconds and advance the throttle 1/4 way, compression is borderline, just around the 330 to 360 psi range, dry and cold?
The old om615 will push her along at 7 knots and 5.1 knots at 1800 rpm, so still powerful enough, a job to look forward to when I return to Phuket in Novemeber??
It is still a bit of a shake down cruise, had he remote anchor control for the lofrans take off by itself, yanking the anchor up , luckily, had a new one onboard and the crew had pushed the main valve for the diesel inlet almost completely closed and the motor starved for diesel and stopped just before the big blow, I hove to and cracked off the injectors and bled the diesel and got her going just in time!!! He was sponging out the bilge as we left the sea cocks open to the head and galley sinks and at a 35 degree heel at 7 knots under sail at 18 knots winds the water fills up the sinks and spills into the bilges, a lesson learnt there? He pushed on the valve by mistake and did not reset it!
Also, the boom bag self destructed in the 70 knot winds, but still useable as we have stitched it up, apart from that it was sweet!
Electronics are working great and all interfaced, can control the autopilot from the chart plotter and monitor it all down below in the nav table with the new data repeater, should be able to change headings from the st60+ data repeater?

Stuck here with continual 25 to 40 knot south westers blowing around the corner from the indian ocean, 3 days at least!!!

All the best from Keith.

[SurferShane]

At least you are out there! I am still doing repairs, waiting for sails and drinking myself into a stupor. Like I said to some blokes who pulled up in a power boat that had a bit of trim torn off by the seas, "well it must have needed fixing anyway"?

[surfmachine]

Avast, I had two mad dutch guys from rottedam knocking on the hull last night, they are paddling kyaks around Sumatra, circumnavigating, started near Batam in Singapore. fed and slept em and breakfasted em and they paddled off around the nw corner of sumatra whilst I waited for the gale force sw winds to abate, and lo and behold, they were back again in 2 hours, lost their fishing rod off the deck, also had a durian strapped to the deck, along with 3 surfboards and a solar panel and a 25Kg battery!!!!
Off surfing a rivermouth beach break , near by, with my crew now, they want to hitch a ride to the Banayks!!!
A few pictures of crossing the shipping lanes 70 miles out from Banda Aceh, in the Malaccan straights!!!
Fair winds from Keith.