OUR COMPASS AN UNUSUAL REPAIR

Anchored 05° 36.8N 115° 37.42E

For the last several days we have been anchored in the above location. We left Labuan after a big shopping day for duty free items, beer, wine and rum. We continued our move northeast and anchored at Pulau Tiga or survivor island as it hosted the 2001 "Survivor" TV show. We visited the resort where the production crew stayed and were hopeful to spend a few days there enjoying the clear waters and perhaps a jungle walk. Alas, the weather gods had something else in mind, a strong southwesterly blew up and after a sleepless night rocking and rolling about on a lee shore we moved to our present location. This has been a calm and secure anchorage and we have managed to relax and complete a few projects.

 For several months now we have had a problem with our compass. It had lost it's fluid and though it did work was not what it should be. The first thing was to find out what the correct fluid was, some use oil and others a petroleum based one. We found ours needed kerosene.  Even in this modern age of GPS and electronic charts we want to have the tried and reliable of old. A properly working compass, paper charts etc. Having nothing to lose, out came the compass from it's mounting to see what was causing the fluid to disappear.

                                   Ah hah! A crack was located in the dome, so apart it came.

 Disassembled we found a plastic dome with a four inch crack. So how can as Kathy calls me "Mister Fix-it" repair this. I looked through my various epoxies and settled on the all purpose Marine-tex. The cracked area was sanded, cleaned and then Marine-tex applied.

TAPED OFF AND READY FOR EPOXY

SEALED, WE HOPE!!

 The dome is sealed and ready for re-assembly. Oh No! on further inspection at the bottom of the compass is a rubber diaphram that has a tear in it. So now what "Mister fix-it"!!!

A SMALL HOLE IN THE DIAPHRAM



I JUST KEEP TAKING THINGS APART



 Epoxies are great for repair of metals, plastics etc. but what to use on rubber that needs to remain elastic. My answer was to use a product called 3bond, a liquid rubber based gasket material.

 I last used this on the rear oil seal of the engine. I applied several coats and after letting it cure overnight gave it a test by soaking it in kerosene. The kerosene seemed to have no affect so the whole compass was re-assembled and filled with fluid. One slight problem was we did not have enough kerosene,

So the compass has been re-installed and as tomorrow we are moving again to Kota Kinabalu we hope to find more kerosene to eliminate the "bubble".

This was not what I would reccomend as a "do-it-yourself' fix but here where there are no professionals to do these sorts of things we just try to do what we can.

MIRI, PROJECTS and MORE

Anchored Labuan Is. Malaysia 05° 16.4N 115° 14.3E

As we headed on to Miri we made our way through the Piloh River. From the photo of our route you can see the many waypoints as we wound our way.

The river has lots of varied traffic from high speed passenger ferry's to small fishing vessels. This was a fast transit as we had a favorable current both the evening we entered the river and the next day to complete our trip.

The next days were once again motor boat trips. We're not sure if it is ever possible to sail along this coast. As we moved toward Miri we did enjoy some nice sunsets.

THE MARINA ENTRANCE

Once secure in the marina we visited with friends from past anchorages and were told not to worry about checking in with the marina office as they did not really care. This seems to be prevelant in lots of these Malaysian marinas. As we were still having difficulties with our anchor windlass that was our first priority. Again the anchor and chain rode were just dropped off the bow into the marina mud so I could remove the motor to see about a repair. As with lots of yachtie places there was a special taxi guy, Simon, who specialized in yachtie service's. After getting the motor removed it was off to the rewind shop. The repair shop said they could not rewind the motor but did take it apart AGAIN and clean things up. The difference was that this time whatever they did seemed to fix the problem.

As usual we had several other things that needed attention. The refrigeration systems needed a bit of gas. I also wanted top investigate what was still the problem with the watermaker. On checking the watermaker it was operating just fine. I have no idea the problem was but as long as it was now working I was happy.

In the yard next to the marina are two old America's cup boats. These were Australian boats from back when they held the cup in Fremantle during their late 80's. How they ended up here is unknown.

We spent a week and a half in Miri and it was a very nice stop. The provisioning was good as we found avocados for the first time in many a moon along with finding a butcher who sold pork products, as you see out of the trunk of his car.

Getting pork in a Muslim country is not easy. Another great thing at Miri was on Friday nights there was a yachtie munchie and cocktail get together. We have not seen to many like it since leaving Mexico back in 2006.

With repairs made and restocked with fresh food we headed off to the island of Labuan. Labuan is another "duty free" spot where  we could restock our alcoholic libations.

This was another three day motor boat trip past the country of Brunai.. The first night we spent up a river and the second at what is known asd Jerudong marina. This is the Sultan of Brunai's private marina but though we are not welcome ashore there is not a problem in stopping for the night.

From this google earth photo it looks to be quite a complex including a golf course. We had been told to anchor out between the island and breakwater, which we did, and there were no worries.

Today we continued along the coast of Borneo to the island of Labuan, seen above. This is a very busy port. We are anchored about the yellow pin. We only plan to stay a day or two to restock the beer, wine and rum before continuing on toward the Philippines

ANCHORAGES BY CELL TOWER

Anchor Position 02° 53.3 N  111° 49.0 E

While anchored in the Santubong river we had this little fellow swim by and say welcome, come swim with me. He looked friendly enough but we decided that this was not the place to go for a cooling dip or perhaps clean the bottom. Later we saw him lying on the bank with mouth wide open trying to cool down. Our guess was he measured10 to 12 feet.

 After a days rest there in a quiet anchorage we decided to make the trip in to the city of Kuching. There is supposed to be a shuttle bus that goes from the nearby resort into the city we walked to the road and while waiting I stuck out my thumb. The third car stopped and we jumped  in. Our hosts were a young muslim couple with a baby and their neice. They were headed to the city to buy food for the end of Ramadan feast.

 We were dropped off in the waterfront area with lots of local shops selling most everything imaginable but beer. We had some snacks and bought some produce.

 Kathy bought some prawns and we strolled through the crowd.Our big find was a replacement battery charger for our Olympus digital camera and a new battery. We have been without this camera since Kathy's return from the states. Some how she had managed to leave behind the charger and spare battery. This was now taken care of and cheaper than the last ime we had to buy a new charger.

A CROWED WALKWAY

THE LOCAL PARLIMENT BUILDING

After shopping we finally did manage to find a restaurant where we could get both food and a cold beer.

We have since left the Santubong and headed on towards the marina in the town of Miri. Our winlass is still not right and it will once again have to be taken apart for repair. We spent a night at Lakei Island and then made our way to the Piloh river. Today we transited the Piloh river and then continued east along the coast. We have about another 160 miles to Miri and the anchorages will be open roadsteads. Our discovery is to anchor off a village where we can see a cell tower and then vola I can send out blog updates.

BORNEO

Anchored Position 01°42.915N 110°19.925E

We departed the marina on Tioman Island on the 8th of August and made our way around to the eastern side for our 350 mile passage to the island of Borneo which is comprised of three countries, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Our destination was the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Three nights and four days later we anchored at Palau [island] Talang Talang in Sarawak Malaysia.

Our passage was a bit longer than anticipated but we suffered from the dreaded "noserly" winds and adverse current for the first 24 hours. When your course is southeast and the prevailing wind is supposed to be from the southwest it really sucks when instead of a beam reach it's wind and  a four foot swell on the nose. Not to worry we do have nothing but time.

After spending the last two nights anchored off different islands we are now a ways up the Santubong River. we will only stay here a short time as our goal is the Philippine's before the change of the monsoon.

This afternoon I went ashore to see about fuel and whatever other information I could gather.  I managed to order 120 liters of diesel along with buying some green leafy lettuce type veggie and a mango at one of the village shops. The city of Kuching is about a half hour away but we never seem to be to much into visiting cities and do have enough fresh stuff to last a bit so once we get fuel we will be on our way once again.

A bonus here in Malaysia is the internet service.  We pay aboutg $20 US per month and have service most places. It's the same for the phone. We call to the states and talk for a half hour and it only costs about $2 US.

We will continue to move east torward the Philippines in the next day or so.

FIRE

No, this was thankfully not a boat fire. In my former work life I expierenced enough of those. Last Saturday while sitting in the cockpit with an afternoon beer I saw great quanities of smoke rising from just inland of the marina. Kathy and I took a walk to see what was burning.

VIEW FROM OUR BOAT

When we walked along the road we could see it was the storage shed for one of the "duty free" shops in town, therefore filled with alcohol and tobacco products. The fire was definitely out of control. There were no firefighter's around and no water being applied.

With the shed fully ablaze lots of folks both locals, tourists and yachties pitched in to help remove stock from the store.  That's a yachtie,Brian, wheeling out cartons of beer. I took special care to save my favorite rum.

I think this was a store employee looking to see the destruction in the shed and how close the fire was getting as the front of the store was being unloaded.

Finally after perhaps an hour since the fire started a hose was charged and water applied. You notice the high tech breathing apparatice the guys have. Protective clothing was t-shirts and shorts. The two in this photo at least had rubber boats, not flip flops. I think these guys were the firefighters from the airport crash truck. Why it took so long to get water I have no idea. The truck was on scene when we first arrived but no hoses laid

Once the got water they managed to contain the fire to the behind store shed. An unfortunate sidebar was that we had not yet restocked some alcoholic beverages aboard " Po" yet and this was the store that we had intended to use. I did find some rum at another shop and then yesterday even though the store was closed and an insurence man there Kathy managed to talk the store manager into selling her a bottle of Drambuie out the front door.

We depart the marina later today and then tomorrow it's off on a three day 350 mile passage to Borneo.

MARINA IN TIOMAN

Once we got settled in the marina it was back to fix the problems that caused us to be here. Wednesday was busy! We had to remove one of the anchors then both sets of anchor rode before I could the crawl into the chain locker to remove the windlass motor. Meanwhile Kathy was kept busy either helping me or with cleaning and laundry.

We had been warned about plugging in to the dock power here as several boats had had their inboard wiring blown up. When I connected the hose to the water fawcett I had a nice tingle run through my hand. After that we used a rubber glove to turn the water on and off.

As this is mainly a rersort area early Thursday I was off on the ferry eighteen miles to Mersing on the mainland where I could find an auto electric shop to make repairs to the windlass motor. A shop was located and the motor was to be finished by 3 pm but as the last ferry left at 2 pm I came back to Tioman and would make the same trip again  the next day.

The ferries were not bad though crowded and not exactly timely. Both days my 7 am ferry departed about 7:45 and the return one was also late. I guess it's island time!!

We have now gotten the windlass working again at a repair cost of about $25 US. My transportation costs for ferries and taxi's about $80 US.

Next on our list is fuel and to finish preparing to make the passage to Borneo. Tioman is a duty free island so we have restocked with beer, rum and Kathy's scotch.

LAUNCH RAMP WITH "PO" IN THE BACKGROUND

THE MARINA WAS BUILT FOR 26 BOATS BUT THEY JUST JAM THEM IN

LOCAL ANCHOR
METAL HOOK WOOD SHAFT AND ROCK

FRUIT BATS

A FUEL DELIVERY

WHAT I GO THROUGH TO MAKE A WATER CONNECTION

OLD LOCAL BOATS IN THE RIVER BEHIND THE MARINA

No matter what we are enjoying our stay here even though we have yet to get to swim or snorkle in the surronding waters

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.