Haul out – Boat Maintenance

Time to get ready to haul the boat out of the water and do the bottom maintenance. I had procrastinated over where to haul out for months. Thailand the facilities and workmanship are generally superior to that of Langkawi. I hauled out in Rabak, Langkawi. I had given this some careful thought. Sometime it is not always the best idea to go for the cheapest places. It may seem cheap at the time but end up costing more in the long run.

The haul out tasks:

• Remove old bronze antenna plate and fill the holes.
• Remove old depth transducer and fill the hole.
• Replace/service toilet thru hull fittings.
• Clean and polish the topsides.
• Repair the unwanted modification to the keel done in Sumatra.
• Clean and paint the bottom with new antifoul    Jotun Seaforce 60.

Sadiqi Hauled Out by the Travel Lift

Haul out, power wash and hard-standing costs for 9 metre vessel for 20 days -$726.00

Antifouling paint – Jotan Seaforce 60 – 10 Litres $210.00 (Any colour as long as it’s red)

Primer paint – Jotan Vinilguard - 5 Litres $42.00

Sundry items – hosepipe, sandpaper, rollers masking tape etc.- $50.00

Meals, beers, laundry, water and electricity came to around $100.00

Rebak Resort Pool

The prices at Rebak are reasonable, the services and lifting facilities are very professional. The down side is that it is as hot as all hell and plagued by mosquitoes as it is so sheltered and it is an island. You need to be well prepared with all the things you need for the job as a trip to Kuah, Langkawi will take a day. The other big benefits are:

• Spending time in the resort pool in the heat of the day
• Having a reasonably priced restaurant nearby. The thought to cooking, eating and cleaning at the end of a hard day did not appeal.
• Washing machines available for use.

I lived on the boat while she was high and dry with a fan plugged in the try and thwart the mosquitoes – it was better than nothing. It is a very social atmosphere with people working on the their boats coming over for a chat or to offer advice and opinions. The heat was formidable.

Sadiqi high and dry

There are several shipwrights there; Noel Bradley and Mark Robertson.

I also flew back to Perth to sort some outstanding issues; one being the mooring on the Swan River. Having decided to relinquish the mooring as I was unable to sell it with out selling the boat, to which it is licensed, which is overseas - damn complicated! It was a very successful trip visiting friends and managing to sort out those outstanding annoying bits of bureaucratic paper work.

On returning to Langkawi and Rebak I had the task of preparing Sadiqi’s bottom for painting. I was not all together surprised to see more small osmosis blisters than I had seen before. I did drill out some of the more sever blisters, some 200, and fill them with an epoxy filler. The port side having a higher infestation than the starboard side. This caused an extra day on the hard stand.

Osmosis blisters

I was very relieved to pull off the masking tape and prepare Sadiqi to go back into the water. With her new bottom livery of red she was lowered back into the water. Some nice touches at Rebak is the opportunity to put antifouling paint on the inaccessible areas and it be allowed to dry in the slings. On being returned to the water the staff patiently waited for me to inspect if there were any leaks such as though hulls or leaking repairs. Being lifted by a travel lift I was able to get a weight for Sadiqi for the first time – aprox 5 tonnes.

Exercise

In an attempt to keep fit I walked to the Seven Wells (Telaga Tujuh) nearby. This is roughly a three kilometre walk from the dingy dock in the Talaga Harbour Marina to the base of the waterfall. Then there is some 630 concrete steps to ascend through the rain forest before emerging onto a rocky area with the Seven holes on the rock over which the river water rushes. The views out to sea are stunning. The water is crystal clear, very cool and refreshing. After walking back down the 630 steps I bought a cold coconut to drank the milk.

On one occasion I was distracted by a child pointing at one of the dreaded Macaque Monkeys. These are monkeys with serious attitude and have become complacent around humans. This monkey sidled over to my side of the path and suddenly made a dash for my coconut. I managed to catch the coconut just in time as the damn monkey made off with the lid on my coconut. The proprietor of the kiosk, where I bought the coconut, walk over with a catapult, ging or slingshot and gave it to me.  The Crab-eating Macaque has become a real nuisance on the island. The startled looking Dusky leaf Langur are very cute and are not a problem unless you’re a leaf.

Seven Wells - 630 Steps

Butangs excursion

An excursion to the Butangs to meet up with Perth sailing friends and fellow Yacht Club members who chartered a yacht “Sweet Sue” from Phuket:

• Zac and Anne – Volare
• Barry and Anne – Momentum.

Friday October 7 I hauled anchor at first light to get and early start for the 25 mile trip to the Butangs. The winds were light, and as usual from the direction in which I was headed – North East. While motoring along and once I reached the clear blue water after leaving Langkawi I threw the fishing lure out. On several occasions I watched good size fish leap out of the water, usually with a small flock of sea birds chumming the waters. Eventually a fish must have had the temerity to take my lure as I noticed that there was no tension or vibration on the line. Alas, said fish had decided to make off with the lure breaking the 60 pound steel trace.

Sweet Sue

I rounded Ko Adang, past the east most mooring of Ko Rawi and headed to the southerly sheltered centre of Ko Rawi where I found “Sweet Sue” anchored. “Sweet Sue” is a 42 foot Jeanneau charter boat – very spacious. After dropping anchor and tidying Sadiqi I swam across and set about the serious business of reacquainting ourselves over a few beers. As it did when friends Rob and Sue visited Langkawi it seemed quite surreal to be in South East Asia with Sadiqi bobbing not far away. I dragged the Cobb bbq out of its storage spot, made a pizza base dough and took the whole lot over to Sweet Sue and made pizza.

Dinner on board Sweet Sue

The following day we decided to visit the nefarious little island of Ko Lipe. On the way over to Ko Lipe the Volvo engine stalled with a blocked fuel filter – the diesel bug having got the better of the primary fuel filter again! I managed to anchor sailing with just the jib up. I changed the fuel filter and all was good with the Volvo again. Have to keep Volvo happy.
We all ventured ashore to Ko Lipe – not the best shelter in the South West Monsoon. W had a very pleasant meal at the exorbitant price of not much more than AU$6.00 each. Ko Lipe pretty much closes during the wet South West Monsoon – so there was not much open. Places were just starting to gear up for the coming tourist season November to April.

During the night the wind shifted to the South East making for a bumpy, rolly night, added to that was the sound of to the anchor chain trying to saw through rock. When I had anchored the depth had been12 meters under the keel, when I hauled anchor in the morning there was 2.5 metres under the keel.

We had planned to anchor off Ko Tanga and have breakfast before heading our separate ways. The weather put paid to that when a storm front loomed, to the point that the fishing boats were also heading for shelter. I opted to head for the open water and headed south east back to Langkawi. “Sweet Sue” did likewise and headed north east for the shelter of Ko Bulon.

Roast Lamb on the Beach

Having been invited onto other boats for meals I decided to reciprocate and cook a meal for a few people. Sadiqi is just too small for more than 4 people to sit comfortable and eat a meal – especially in this heat. I decided to buy a leg of lamb and cook it in the little Cobb BBQ. Fortunately Don and Jean, who run Sailors Foods, came to my assistance with a chicken roasted in their Cobb and vegetables.
The victims were:

• Rob and Wendy – Aja – Fremantle -  Aus (formerly from South Africa)
• Nigel – Lemalou –– 55 foot Hartley - Thailand
• Don and Jean – Katrine – catamaran - South Africa
• Ron, Juliet, Errol and Deidre- Fountaine Pajot catamaran - South Africa
•  Me – Sadiqi – Fremantle - Aus

We congregated on one of the man made islands that protect the Telga anchorage. It was a real ex South Africa gathering as Nigel commented on the next day. The roast lamb was a real success the 1.5Kg boneless leg was just not quite enough for 11 people.
I ended up suffering an acute case of CRAFT. It was a very pleasant evening – what I can remember of it.