EPIRB MYSTERY

Pinoy Boat Servic
Port Carmen, Cebu
Philippines

This post truly ought to have been posted several months ago when the mystery occurred but here we go.

These days one of the most important pieces of safety equipment aboard cruising yachts is the EPIRB. This acronym stands for Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.This small radio transmitter when activated sends out a position message via satellite for the yacht to which it is registered to. Ours is through SARSAT or Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking a division of the USA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. What all this means is in case of an emergency we can activate the transmitter and a signal is sent out via satellite showing our position.
This in turn would allow some sort of rescue response.

There is of course a protocol to be followed by the receiving agency in case of an accidental activation. The registration form lists several emergency phone contacts to try and determine if in fact the activation has been for a real emergency. Ours lists our son and his wife who live in Huntington Beach, California. They would be asked questions such as did they know our last location, any knowledge that we may be in trouble, were we currently underway, etc..

Now you ask what is this all about? One morning while Kathy was in California and staying with the
Kids and speaking to me on the phone Lori interrupted saying the US Coast Guard from Guam was on the phone and trying to find out our status as our EPIRB had been activated. She said Kathy was actually there and talking to me on the phone and there was no emergency. This was relayed to me and looking at the EPIRB I could see the transmit light flashing. the mystery was how it had gotten activated as a tab on the bracket holding the unit prohibits switching on the unit without removal from the bracket but there it was flashing and transmitting away. I removed the unit lifted the on/off lever and the unit shut down. Ir's still a mystery as to what caused the activation but we were happy to see that it worked as advertised. The Coast guard said that they had us in a location off Cebu in the Philippines. If in fact Lori could not have let the authorities know we were all right they would have in turn notified agencies here in the Philippines to try and locate us and either find that it was an accidental activation or an actual emergency.

OUR EPIRB AS MOUNTED

  In the photo you can see the on/off lever under the tab on the left side of the unit. Not sure how but was some how activated while still in the bracket.

TYPHOON SEASON

Pinoy Boat Service
Port Carmen, Cebu
Philippines

Not even a week and another post! We had read about the fact that the Philippines is the most prevalent area in the world for cyclonic storms better known in this area as typhoons. In the USA it would be hurricanes. As we have been here for a 18 months we now have first hand experience. Well the last one just went through to our north and off to China. We now sit and watch the next systems head our way. I normally look at three separate weather sites each morning to gather what information is out there on what the future holds for us. Some days I just report to Kathy "no significant weather". Others such as today I give her a look at the computer and say we have something to keep an eye on. A look at the photos from this morning says we need to keep an eye on things. The first photo comes from the site "typhoon 2000" if you are interested take a look there and it can then lead you to various other ones. I mostly then look at "cimss" which is good world wide and the US Navy site "jtwc" or"fnmoc".

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WE SEE ONE MAKING LANDFALL IN CHINA
AS ANOTHER APPROACHES WITH TWO
MORE SYSTEMS STACKED UP

THE PROJECTED TRACK OF WHAT IS NOW  TROPICAL
STORM MATMO SOON TO BE A TYPHOON
IT IS PROJECTED TO STAY WELL NORTH
OF US HERE IN CEBU

A NEGLIGENT BLOGGER

Pinoy Boat Yard
Port Carmen, Cebu
Philippines

I see that is has been an extended time since my last update. To those who check on our status here in the Philippines I apologize. It's not that I have been to busy just to lazy to sit and type. Since last writing there has been lots going on here along with Kathy's trip back to the state for visiting and doing her best to help the economy.

Now to the highlights of the last almost three months. The end of April was very HOT with daily temp's in the high 90's. Kathy was threatening to head to the store for an air conditioning unit. Hyde Sails finally finished the front section of the cockpit enclosure. It was a seven week project. Hopefully when they start on the rest it will progress more quickly or we may have to become citizens here. May third was a one year anniversary of being here in the yard. Time just fly's by when you're having fun.

Kathy departed May 12 for her visit home. Her flight had only one stop in Tokyo, Japan then on to LA. She left with a long shopping list of things to bring back and while she was there it seemed I added to it via email almost daily. I was also left with a list of messy jobs to get done here on the good ship Po oino Roa.

First on the list were a long overdue oil change, changing out the float switch on the automatic bilge pump, and more time repairing one of the toilets. Changing the bilge pump float switch was not the actual problem and after a bit of detective work I found the problem was the three way panel switch for which we had no spare. Another thing to add to Kathy's buy list. This also proved true with parts for the toilet. The major project on my list was to paint the overhead throughout the boat. The headliner is a vinyl that we have painted in the past. First was removing everything in the area followed by scrubbing with a bleach solution, rinsing, sanding, wiping down, taping off the varnish work and then applying two coats of gloss white latex paint. This occupied my next two weeks.

When I had removed everything from the aft cabin I realized how bad the condition of the plywood top of the berth was. Another project was born. The old was removed, it was in a state of total delamination. New wood bought, cut sealed with epoxy, primed, installed and painted with gloss. We now have a new bed. Next was a major cleaning as there was sanding dust throughout the boat

Kathy arrived back here on 12 June with two bags filled with goodies. She also had sent a large box about 75 lbs. of stuff that is yet to arrive. We continue to be busy with projects. we re-did the non-skid on the cabin top and then started replacing things that had been removed for painting. I have also been servicing the winches as they get re-installed. Kathy continues with her sewing of shades, screens, bags etc.

As we were making all this nice progress it was time to take not a couple of steps backwards but a large leap. We have had some water leakage into the bulkhead in the galley. We had thought it had been from the portlights over the stove that had been fixed. Suddenly we found some new leakage in more of the galley cabinets. More detective work has led us to believe the problem to be the bolts for genoa track and the caprail. I drilled a hole into what would be the area between hull and deck joint and had a fair amount of water come pouring out. We now have a somewhat major project to complete. Much of this will be more clear once work starts and I can post photos. Things won't start until our preferred carpenter is finished with another so we'll be on standby for awhile. Meanwhile there is always plenty to do on these old boats.

One other note of interest we are now once again in the season when typhoons are more common. the one which struck Japan last week started to our east and we are now watching another that has formed in the same area and at least headed toward the Philippines though the projected tract is well to the north of us.

That pretty catches things up with luck I'll be a little more diligent in my postings.

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NEW FRONT ENCLOSURE

BEFORE ADDING THE HOLD DOWN SNAPS

PLASTIC UP AND READY TO PAINT

MY PAINTING COSTUME

DELAMINATION

THIRTY PLUS YEAR OLD MARINE PLYWOOD

CHICA ALWAYS THERE TO HELP

HOLDING TANK AND ALMOST READY FOR THE NEW WOOD

YES I CAN MAKE DUST

THE WATER DRIP FROM THE SPACE SOON TO BE REPAIRED