Sumatran Cruise

[surfmachine]

Ahoy John, all progressing slowly, every day something else is repaired properly?

The catamarans are well suited to cruising up here, lots of shallow water and you need a nice airy living area because of the humidity.

The diving here is exceptional, lots of fish, mostly clear water and not much swell. Also, some beautiful marine parks, unlike Indonesia, where it is hard to find a fish! Lots of reefs have been bombed and poisoned in Indonesia, where I have been anyway!

In the andaman sea there are lots of deepish, 30m drop offs around the solitary limestone islands, some have deep underwater channels leading into flooded caves. Also, some great wall diving, fully floodlit by the sun on the east sides in the mornings.

On the west side of phuket, just below Burma they have granite islands and huge granite boulders tossed around underwater like devils marbles and fantastic exploration in amongst these, and the fish!!!!! It is like a huge underwater aquarium, full of friendly fish painted by mad picasso painters, every colour and combination immaginable, it is a wonderland, like going on a trip to some distant galaxy in outer space, as you are weightless and there is the steady breathing through the regulator, reminds me a lot of stanley Kubrick's 2001 a space odysey when they find the black monolith on the moon or venus or whatever?

Sell, the farm eh? I still have that ace up my sleeve, must be worth about 3 million aussie now, sitting there in Margaret River, will sell it soonish and spend the moola and die a poor man? whaddya reckon John?

Meanwhile, I am loving life!

Cheers from Keith.

[felixqld66]

Well looks like I may manage to catch you before you head south I am looking at flights around the 10 -12th of may, figure I have a couple of weeks work to do before I can head south. But my boat is getting closer to ship shape! Better condition than the capt at this stage.

Cheers Alex

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by surfmachine

Cheers shane, well you know how it goes, after 14 days at sea all the hidden issues with the yacht are rearing their ugly heads like gorgon snakes!!??

It is disconcerting that nearly everything to do with motor and recent wiring work is very shoddy and is broken or fails when used.

But this is nothing that time and money and effort cannot fix??

Those damned crimped connections should be banned unless put on with a rachet crimping tool and thebig ones soldered as well, huge problem!

But whingeing aside..... she has an incredible hull and sails and rigging is all first class, she looks beautiful as well, and the new davits and crane are a treat for single handing. The anchoring is all I gcould desire, self stowing 90 metres of 10 mm cahain with forward and cockpit remotes, with a 32 beugul anchor, and a back up anchor on the stern on an anchor roller system.

Saloon and cabins are just perfect!!! Like a luxury condo.

But the motor and related systems have been let go and are very tired.

Kero stove has a few issues.

Been big surf in margaret river, looking forward to some close out right hand barrels in the banyaks soon???

Hope that u get some good waves over east?
Cheers mate

I know how you feel about those crimps - I still bang the wiring panel every so often to get both stereo speakers working. That's pretty harmless compared to the problems with loose bulbs and wiring on nav lights. I have to put a new starboard lens in so invested in a pack of those self soldering connectors.

Great to hear the boat itself is a gem. Mine too thankfully.

Rumours are now that the swell will hit this arvo from the south. Otherwise its a decent easterly grovellly 5 or so feet; about as good as it has been for weeks

[surfmachine]

Cheers Shane, go for the waves, surf is like sex, you gotta get it when its going?!
Keith

[surfmachine]

Ahoy shipmates.
Well................... finally got the
kero stove working on all burners.
wind genny is churning out the amps.
new bosch alternator from bangkok yesterday, install today.
new smart voltage regulator, install today.
got the water pump housing back from bangkok, got it all welded up yesterday and a new pipe turned up on the lathe and welded on for the hose connection, goes in today.
New water pump and seal, goes in.
Replumbed all the salt water and fresh water pumps, replaced pipes and clamps as they were leaking.
New injector nozzles, all calibrated and pressure tested, go into today.
all new led lights, including navigation.
Will pull the inflatable dingy apart and reglue the tubes to the transom.
Got out the spare quicksilver inflatable and 2hp yammy, zoomz around the anchorage.

Plus, lots of other sundry items, it is all looking a lot more ship shape now, maybe head down to james bond island for a shake down cruise and then back to langkawi to install the you beaut under deck linear drive X10 auto pilot, 1 kilowatt pure sine wave inverter, graphics multi data repeater and spare chart plotter in the nav station and a few more red led cabin lights.


The head diesel mechanic and the boss are coming out to the boat on monday to check over the motor and charging systems and give the motor a compression test, they are very helpful.

well.............. back to work, surfing soon?

Cheers from surfmachine.

[SurferShane]

Keith,

I forgot to mention how great it is to see your daughter getting out there and having fun with you. I took mine on her first offshore passage the other day and she loved it. There was a bit of swell running and we where constantly pointing into it or the wind on either tack. First whitecap I had to punch through she was yelling in excitement about the big waves.

We were lucky enough later to site some seals using the rudder of a coal steamer as an artificial island. Tacking back down the coast we were schooled by a pod of dolphins. After that the biggest problem I had was telling her to go bellow when a squall hit on sunset. We have not been camping for more than a year and she is constantly bugging me to go again. Hopefully she has picked up the same bug for sailing and in a few years we might be having time like you guy’s cruising, diving and surfing.

[surfmachine]

Hello Shane.
Yes, there are many special moments in the cruising life, sometimes better when they are shared?

The greatest thing I find out on the water is the sense of "being at peace with myself".

My therapist told me to "learn to love myself", but I replied, "that I refuse to lower my standards that much!!!" Ha ! Ha!!!

Anyway, after each voyage, the waterline is lower due to all the fuel,water and food consumed, but my soul water line is raised with all the weight of those memories of magic moments and new experiences gained whilst at sea! Irreplaceable and will last me a lifetime and carry me through the doldrums of life? Like the seals and dolphins?

Looks like the yacht is nearly ready to head back to Langkawi via Phi Phi Don and a refit of the navigation electronics and new below decks autopilot.

All the best to you mate.

cheers from Keith.

[Capn Morgan]

Keith if you have the time make your way to Tioman or Redang before the end of the season (Oct/Nov). It is great down this way, though no right handers for you, 'mafraid. Let me know if you do and when and I'll try to come along on mine.

M

[surfmachine]

Thanks Cpn Morgan, will put it on the list!
Looking at leaving Ao Charong soon, got a new diapragm in the diesel injector pump and compression test yesterday.
Cold compression
1 320
2 290
3 290
4 350

wet cold compression
1 350
2 360
3 350
4 360

she uses a fair bit of oil and has visible blue smoke, but the mercedes machanic reckons that the motor is sound, but tired!
Looking at a newie or a rebuild at the end of the season.
Cheers from Keith.

[Capn Morgan]

I am planning on being back in HKT by mid November, after the King's Cup for a bit of work and then hopefully a trip to the Andamans in Jan/Feb if my bank manager allows me.

I'll be there on Sunday June 26th, probably hanging around with not much to do. Will you still be around?

Not sure if a re-build is good value. I'm all for dropping in a new motor... would be cheaper in the long run, but if it works, keep pushing it.

[captain58sailin]

Great thread!

[surfmachine]

Ahoy Captain Morgan, yes, I agree, a new motor is the best way to go but I am inveterate "fixer upper!". I would choose a yanmar?

I changed the diapragm in the diesel fuel pump, used as a govener and rack adjuster and she purrs like a kitten, starts easily...... but still puts out a fair amount of blueish/white smake, doesn't smell that bad, not like your normal petrol smoky burning oil engine that is way down on compressioin, just a normal diesel, smoky smell!

It does appear to use a fair bit of engine oil though. I have only run the motor for about 35 hours so far, so I will carefully monitor the dipstick and engine hours to accurately guage the rate of oil consumption.

The Mercedes book say that 1% of diesel consumed is considered normal oil use for this OM 615 motor, 55 hp, around 1984 vintage, done 4,128 hours, but has been in the boat 19 years and was reringed 8 years ago.

I hope to see you on the Andaman Sea later in the year?

Good luck from Keith.

[Capn Morgan]

Check the exhaust system, if you have carbon build-up blocking a free flow it will make it smoke more than normal. (I don't mean to teach grandpa how to suck eggs here, but I found it to be a valid point before). And I agree, Yanmar does it for me.

A cold one somewhere like Roc Noc?

[surfmachine]

Avast Capn Morgan, first thing I checked, dismantled the whole et exhaust and heat exchangers for the motor and oil cooler, all very clean, put a new raw water filter on and it pumps water through like an aussie after a night on the piss!

I think that the poor old merc is just tired?

Roc Nok sounds good?

Still coming to grips with getting bthe kero stove preheated for my prorridge!

Keith.

[Capn Morgan]

Alas, I tempted fate trying to give advice. Should have known better.

I'll put a few ones in the frige for Roc Nok and we can have ribs and black pudding on my boat if the kero stove is still playing up in November.