MORE MOTORING

After yestedays wonderfull sailing we knew it couldn't last!! Today it was back to motor sailing.

Last night at P. Tingge was quite rocky, rolly. We awoke early as normal and were ready to get underway. Our anchor windlass has been a bit finicky of late. The other systems on "PO" had had attention but not the windlass so  it's time to take the motor apart,check brushes etc. This is not my expertise so we wanted to get in to the marina in Tioman to be secure and where I could take the motor to some kind of a professional shop. AHaHa, to be back in Newport Beach and go to Lewco Electric. 

The marina here is something not to be believed, if you can find a vacant spot just take it!! The first slip we pulled into we were told belonged to a permanent resident but the one on the inside nearest the tour boats was OK if we could get to it. Kathy did a great job and we were secure..On going to the marina office no one cared where we were as long as there was not another vessel there. There was no talk of moorage fees, just OK you're here that's fine!!!

Tomorrow I'll sort out the chain locker, remove the windlass motor and figure out where I need to take it to make repairs. For now we are safe.

SAILING FINALLY

Anchorage TINGGI ISLAND 02°19.082N 104°06.25E

SAILING, a novel idea, since that is what we are supposed to be doing out here. We sailed our entire 30 mile passage today, probably only about the fifth time in the last two years in this part of the world. What a delightful day. 15 to 18 knots on the beam or just aft of it making 6 knots most of the way.
We are now anchored at the north end of Tinggi island and not long after the anchor hit bottom the thunder, lightening and rain started. It was nice to be in what appears to be a secure spot.

Tomorrow we move on to Tioman island where we will hopefully be in a marina again. Being marina bound would not be by choice but we have developed a difficulty with our anchor windlass and need to be in a secure spot while it gets taken apart. More on that later for now we are just quite happy to have been back actually sailing along. We hope for more of the same for tomorrows 30 mile passage.

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A LONG STRESSFUL DAY

Anchored 01° 20.82N 104° 06.12 E

We made an early departure from Danga Bay and for the first 12 mileswe had a favorable current. Once we turned east to cross Singapore we expierencd adverse current making the next 40 miles no fun. We figured that today we saw perhaps 1500 ships and of those about 250 were moving. All going somewhere and all having the right of way as we made a slow transit, weaving our way through anchorage areas and traffic lanes.

Along the way we had one squall with wind to 25 plus knots rain and lightening. Fortunately the visibilty held and we just continued motoring along. About 1700 hours the wind started to give us a boost along with a current change. We managed to get anchored at 1845.

Tomorrow we head around the end of the Malaysian peninsula and start up it's east coast. We have no definite plan of our next anchorage but we will at least be free of the heavy ship traffic.

DONE WITH DANGA

Tomorrow for Kathy's birthday we are once again back to crusing. We hope to depart the marina about 0645 with the outgoing tide and make our way around Singapore and then anchor once again in Malaysia on our way to Tioman Island.


Kathy retured from the states on 12 July and since we have been trying to finish up needed projects and be underway again enjoying the sights and sounds of the cruising life. First was the fun of unpacking and sorting through all of the things Kathy brought from the land of plenty. Everything from new engine mounts,clothes, misc. spare parts to chocolates from Trader Joe's.


It was then time for some necessary projects that Kathy had brought parts so that we could finish.

Once again the sewing machine was out and some new bug screens were made. I drilled and tapped holes for the screws in the out side of the port light frames. The screens then snap on allowing us to leave them on and open or close the glass from the inside. The bonus is it also keeps our escape prone Blue Cat in.

Next was more work on our dinghy, which to us is our car. Dink had a major repair done by a professional while we we out of the water in Rebak. After 12 years of daily use there was quite a bit that needed professional attention. The dink doc applied about ten new patches and for the first time in several years I no longer had to pump dink up once or twice a day.

In Singapore we bought a paint top coating for the rubber pontoons and Kathy brought some new handles for me to apply. Several days later Dink looked like new. Now just to get out of the marina and use her.

 Tools used during the project. Heat gun to remove the old torn handles and yes a power sander to prepare the rubber fabric for the new handles and top coating.

OK we hope the work for now is done and we get back to having new adventures and fun!!

 One of the reasons we are headed east to the Pacific. There are fish to catch such as this Wahoo in Fiji


SAILING CANOE , MARSHALL ISLANDS




JERRY'S BODY ART, MARQUESAS, FRENCH POLYNESIA




PHENYRN, COOK ISLANDS




KATHY READY FOR LUNCH, INDONESIA

  That's it for this edition. We now head off to Tioman Island on the east coast of Malayasia. From there it will be continuing to the wilds of Borneo and then the Philippines. New and different places and people as we try to enjoy living the dream.

THE FUN CONTINUES

Danga Bay Marina

The fun of living in paradise continues daily. The good news is that as I have been busy the endless list seems to be getting smaller. Perhaps because I am staying busy only with the list and not adding new items. The idea is to have the necessary things done on Kathy's return so after she gets things cleaned up, laundry done, provisioning we can get moving again.

The next project on the list was to finish taking apart the remaining ten port lights and fill the voids with epoxy resin and replace the frame. This is in the hope of stopping any leaks.



 No "West Systems" here with there easy to mix pumps. I pour the canned parts into old BBQ sauce squeeze bottle and then mix. Hey it works!

 The face frames are removed and then the voids filled.

 That's old sealing compound that was fill the void areas. this was actually my doing eleven years ago. At that time I only filled enough of the area so the face frame screws had something to go into.

 This time all the void areas got filled  with epoxy mixed with cut up fiberglass strands. New wood dowelling was inserted for the screws to fasten to  then new bedding compound applied and the face frames reattached.

 Once set up a bit the "goo" is cleaned off and hopefully no more leaks.  This project took a week or so as most time was spent waiting for epoxy to dry.  Lucky for me we had no rain during this time period. I seem to have been successful as lately the rains have returned but no the leaks.

Another of the scheduled projects was to remove our 275 ft of anchor chain and have it re-galvanized. The foundry here in Joho Bahru is not known to be the best but from the condition of the chain it was time. the chain was removed from the anchor locker loaded on our small cart, all 300lbs, and I managed to get it to the parking lot for transport to the foundry. The galvanizing will be 2.25 RM per kilo or about $100 US. the taxi rides back and forth as I'll have to make two round trip will come out to about $ 130 US.

Now waiting to go back and pick up the chain I've stayed busy re-installing the water maker motor that was repaired in Langkawi and then re-doing it's plumbing. Once again due to the poor water quality here in Danga Bay I won't run it and we'll wait to see how all works once we get under way again.

Enough of all the talk of my projects here are some photos of some of our past sights.

OLD MAN OF SAILING, AILIK ATOLL, MARSHALL IS.

SUNSET ROBINSON CRUSOE IS, FIJI

BULL RACING, INDONESIA

LAND DIVER, READY TO JUMP, VANUATU

WHAT CAN I SAY!!!

OUR PHOTOGENIC CAT "HAZEL"

That's all for this edition.