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.