A BUSY WEEK

Pinoy Boat Service
Port Carmen, Cebu
Philippines

Things were a little more busy this past week. First was redoing the track for the enclosure. This time with no adhesive in case we need to make more adjustments. Next I finally managed to fix a galley light that needed a new switch. While the soldering iron was out it was time to get started on the AIS first attaching the connector for the whip antenna. Soldering is not one of my finer skills but the connector is on and looks to be OK.

Tuesday found me continuing to work on the mounts for the AIS. The L bracket for the whip antenna needed to be modified to attach to our stern arch and it took several tries and most of the day to finally get it correct. Kathy had a trip to Danao where she was able to get the first of her new dresses. The seamstress is now working on the next one. When done Kathy will have four new ones.

Wednesday we had the boat cleaners here doing the inside and outside. On cleaning days there is to much going on for me to get any projects done so I just made a trip to Danao to pickup some laundry. Kathy was kept busy supervising and directing the cleaning operation.

Thursday the folks from Hyde Sails came to continue the fitting of the enclosure. Lots of talking back and forth as the fitting progresses. We are supplying the material and if there is a screwup There may not be enough, therefore the work will progress at a slow pace and hopefully no mistakes will be made. In the afternoon I dismantled the navigation station area in preparation for the mounting of the new chart plotter and running the wires for the AIS. The area may stay torn up for awhile as we also need to get behind the panel to access the bolt in the genoa track. We also started an increased weather watch as the GRIB files showed what could be an approaching typhoon.

Friday we first continued on our weather watch. My morning routine always begins with the gathering of weather information. I first check GRIB files out six days. These give me wind forecasts for that  six day period, Next it's the Philippine site Typhoon 2000, Then the US Navy's Joint Typhoon warning site depending on what I've seen I may then check several other to try to figure what is in store for us for the next several days. The Friday reports showed tropical storm "Luis", the Philippine name, on a projected track to the northeast coast of the Philippine Island of Luzon. The track wold keep it well north of our location. Next was running the wires for the AIS down through our stainless steel stern arch and then behind various cabinets up to the navigation station. This took the rest of the day.

Saturday showed "Luis" to continue well to our north.  We would get some wind and rain but nothing severe. Landfall on Luzon was predicted for Sunday evening. Rather than continuing on the AIS and plotter I embarked on replacing a faulty alternator on the engine. Actually after much testing it turned out to be the voltage regulator that needed changing. A spare was installed and now the alternator is once again putting out.

Today, a normal rest day, was spent hooking up the electrical to both the AIS and plotter. The plotter is working correctly. I believe that the AIS is too but need to have one of the other yachtie's here turn on there receiver to really see that it is putting out a signal. On our receive side I was unable to get either of our computers to recognize the AIS, tomorrow I'll get some help from another yachtie who is more computer literate than I.

THE PROJECTED TRACK WHEN "LUIS"
WAS A TROPICAL DEPRESSION

SATURDAY'S GRAPHIC OF "LUIS"

A QUIET SUNDAY

Pinoy Boat Services
Port Carmen, Cebu
Philippines

A restful day here in the boat yard. There are no workers on Sundays and it's a day I try to catch up on the blog.

For the last few weeks we have been busy with first putting away all the stuff that arrived from the states and then starting to install some of the new items. First was the new lifelines. The old ones had been sent home with Kathy and marked with what the new lengths should be, They were made up at the Newport Beach West Marine store, thankfully they fit just right. Next were lots of little things such as new handles for the freezer and refrigerator lids, grommets to be set in the T-top shade on the stern arch and then getting it laced back in place with some of the new line that came to. I'm still putting off the bigger jobs of getting the AIS [automatic identification system] with it's two antennas and the new navigation station GPS up and running. The AIS will involve drilling new holes for the wiring to pass through the stainless arch and then up through the boats interior to the nav station and then figuring out the connections. The GPS can use an existing antenna but will require a new cutout in the nav station instrument panel and it's wiring. I'm never quite comfortable installing and wiring electronic things therefore I keep finding other projects to do first.

One of the more important items that was shipped was the material to finish our cockpit enclosure. Last week I put up the bolt rope track and the folks from Hyde Sails were here to start work. The first pattern was done and as it was being fitted  Kathy and I were making some changes in how we had first imagined it. The first major one was in the placement of two of the bolt rope track sections, of course these were the two that had been supposedly permanently installed with both 3M adhesive and screws. Yesterday I managed to remove those sections but did cause some damage to the paint that will now have to be repaired. As the enclosure continues to be built we're sure there will be lots more decisions for how the sides will roll up, where the sheets will run to the winches etc. etc.. Tomorrow I'll get the new track pieces up and then it's wait till Thursday when Hyde will be here for the next fitting.

We have yet to start on the removal of the genoa track and cap rail to get those leaks fixed as the carpenter we want is busy on another job. It does look like we may get started on that late this week.

Kathy has been very happy to find two new workers, a brother and sister, for polishing the stainless, washing the outside and cleaning the interior. They're paid 50 FP an hour or just $1.25 US. They both work very hard and the boat is clean and stainless bright. Unfortunately the outside does not stay clean very long as the shipyard next door is constantly sand blasting and we get the dust fallout.

Lots to look forward to this week starting on the AIS and GPS installation and the next fitting of the enclosure along with what ever new comes up.

GRACE AND RAYMUND 

MAKING THE FIRST PATTERN

ONLY A DAY AFTER WASHING
THEN SOME RAIN AND WE
HAVE DIRT!!!!

,

JUST LIKE CHRISTMAS

Pinoy Boat Service
Port Carmen, Cebu
Philippines

Not as good as I would have liked in keeping the blog updated but at least it's only been a couple of weeks. We have continued with small projects. Kathy finding things that need to be repaired on the sewing machine or some new things to make.

I find little projects too, One important one was the refilling of our stove and BBQ gas bottles. The galley cylinder ran out while fixing breakfast. I normally then temporarily connect the BBQ one till getting the galley up and running again. Here it can take anywhere from two to five days to get the cylinder filled. As you would guess the BBQ turned out to be empty too. Several days without cooking or making my morning coffee was not an acceptable option. Moving to plan B I headed off to Danao about six miles away to get one of the local propane bottles which I could then fill ours by decanting from one to the other.

The hose gravity feeds from the hanging top bottle to ours on deck. We carry this handy little hose for just these situations. Here we pay a little over $20 US for what was enough gas to fill both our galley and BBQ bottles. I was charged a $20 US deposit that will be returned when I take the bottle back.

Next in the last weeks has been our monthly trip to the big city of Cebu. It was time to renew our visa's which are good for  fifty-nine days here in the Philippines, so while here it is something that needs taking care of. the normal cost for a visa extension is about $75 US for each of us. On our monthly trips we spend the night at an ex-pat frequented hotel the Kiwi Lodge. They provide clean rooms for about $40 US and have a nice restaurant and bar. We arrive for lunch then later head off to one of the large shopping malls for groceries and dinner. Kathy's favorite store sells lots of things we don't see in the area of Port Carmen. We stock up on various cheeses canned products, tortillas, bagels etc.. the next morning after a nice breakfast it's off to a second mall to find anything we may have missed the day before. Then loaded down with goodies from the big city it's back to the boat yard.

Now you ask so what is this about being just like Christmas? The answer is that when Kathy was in the states she purchased and then sent via surface freight a box containing about eighty pounds of goodies that are not available here. It took about ten weeks but the big box arrived yesterday!! Coming via ship the cost was $75 US and well worth the wait. Inside was found everything from a new cat bed to cans of chicken from Costco along with boat parts and future projects of material for our cockpit enclosure, new lifelines, A new GPS, etc., etc.. I now have lots of new projects to keep me busy along with having the materials for  Hyde Sails to finish our cockpit enclosure.

BOAT STUFF

FOOD STUFF

SOME PRESENTS AND BOAT YARD DOG TREATS

JUST STUFF

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".

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

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.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

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

THINGS FINISHED

Pinoy Boat Yard
Port Carmen, Cebu
Philippines

The boat projects have been moving along. Some quickly and other on the slow side.

Kathy has continued on with her sewing. First finishing the back cushions for the cockpit. Next it has been making padded covers for our cockpit table and the saloon one too. Now when I have to use the saloon table for a work area the pretty varnished table will stay that way. She also has redone our old back shade that stretched from the old bimini to the arch. It used to attach with a zipper but with the new hard top we gone to a lift the dot system. Next was a new front shade replacing one I had sewn back in 2007. She has been busy.

Our old bow pulpit has been showing it's age with several cracks along the various welds. I spoke to Alex, the welder here, regarding fabricating a new one using the tubing from our old bimini. he said no problem. the project was begun on Monday morning and finished and installed by Wednesday noon. We even had him add brackets for a seat. Now I just need to locate more of the old teak stored under our bed to finish that up. As I said some things move quickly.

On the slow side we are still waiting for the front enclosure being built by Hyde sails to be finished. We had hoped it would be done last week but there was a small fitting problem so it went back in for the correction to be made. We are looking forward to it fitting correctly this week and then I can install the fittings. the rest of the enclosure will wait until after Kathy returns from her states visit with more material.

On the domestic front it took about ten full days before Blue cat finally accepted our new crew member who we have named Chica or little girl in Spanish. This is the same name as the first cat we had aboard back in 2001. that Chica we had gotten on Cuaraso [sp] in the Caribbean. That Chica jumped ship while we were at anchor in Acapulco. Now that there is acceptance it seems that blue cat is lots more active for her age of twelve.

So things continue on here. Kathy is busy getting ready for her trip home. We are making lists of things not available here for her to buy and bring back. There is also the list of projects for me to complete while she is gone, they will be the ones that create the biggest messes. First on that one is repainting the vinyl ceilings, I'm not sure after that but something.

The weather has been very hot lately with daytime temps in the 90's and little or no wind. We keep a constant lookout on the weather and are happy to see no adverse systems in the immediate future that being the next three days.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail

KATHY AND CHICA

for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

COCKPIT TABLE AND NEW CUSHIONS

FRONT SHADE WITH LIFT TO SNAP FASTENERS

KATHY'S OUTSIDE SEWING STATION

PADDED TABLE COVER

PULPIT REMOVED

THE OLD PULPIT

WORKING ON THE NEW

ALEX FITTING

NEAL HAND POLISHING

NEW PULPIT INSTALLED