S/V Po Oino Roa: 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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