March 2-April 5
Hi All,
I describe cruising as a lifestyle……the good, the bad and the ugly. Well, hauling Mystic for maintenance is certainly not the fun part of cruising at all and this time around was no different…….it’s NOT LIVING THE DREAM…..but, we were in an exotic place…..Ao Po Phuket Thailand!!!!
We had a cruising friend write in their blog after slaying several gremlins that had camped out on their boat and I think it describes doing maintenance in 90*F/90% humidity the best I have read: :
“A few examples to illustrate the falsity of that image, the one where yachting folks lounge in steamer chairs, atop a pristine yacht, beads of condensation dripping from a cocktail glass, ice clinking within as they gaze out upon a palm lined ribbon of white sand. Well, another week and we shall be ready to leave in search of the dream. The month since relaunching has occasionally felt a little more like a nightmare at times.”
Amen to that!!!!!
The Work: new bottom paint, rub rails caulked, port windows recaulked, revarnish and repair dings on floors in salon, pilot house, galley, stairs and several handrails, new canvas for cockpit table and boom winches, 2 new Awlwood clear coats on caprail, polish entire boat and SS, recover pilot house and salon settees, repair many gelcoat dings and some small cosmetic blisters, new curtains in master stateroom and head……
So, how did it go…..well, ok but there were some stressful issues:
First, the language……can’t understand and Google translate is not that effective for Thai. So, we contracted with the Selene Dealer here in Phuket (Derani Yachts) to be our project manager…..plus, this allowed us to do some of the land travel we wanted and still have time to cruise this season……most people spend a full year in Malaysia/Thailand getting work done and doing the land travel but since we want to get back to USA, we are getting it all done in 1 year and not 2. We really do not like leaving MM while work is being done…..in fact, this is our first time…..but in this case Derani had several excellent contractors that did good, quality work. I’m not sure we have been 100% pleased with any boatyard but in this case we give them a 90% grade….really, quite good for the marine industry!!!!
Prices: Well…..all over the map……the actual Thai labor is USD5-20/hour but the material is 1-2x USA prices. I had written in a previous blog that the painting quotes we got were almost the same as USA prices…..maybe 10-20% below at best. A good example is the bottom paint job…..cost USD5,300……last year in Australia we paid $4,500. Labor is considerably cheaper but materials are outrageous….ouch!!!! OTH, 2 coats Awlwood on the caprail…..this year, $800, last year in Australia $2500. All the interior varnishing work was $2,500 (they worked for 2.5 weeks), the upholstery work $2,000 (we still had several cows left from Selene which did half the new job), all the gelcoat work $1,200 and so on.
Haulout: Well, we never have been hauled by a tractor/trailer and it was quite expensive……about $2,000 for the haulout, cradles and pressure wash. Ao Po is a new marina and boatyard and caters to mega yachts and charters. The more popular haulout and boatyard where most of the contractors are based is Boat Lagoon, which is where we were scheduled, but at the last moment they closed their lift for a capacity change…..ugh!! Fortunately, the Selene dealer knew of Ao Po and got us in before they filled up. But, nevertheless, the prices are maybe 50% higher……some of that is contractor travel time……but it was the only game in town for us. Some cruisers opt for cheaper prices in Malaysia but we have leaned to use Selene dealers or local Selene owner’s recommendations (none of them recommended going to Malaysia) as they seem to get the better contractors (already sorted out the good from the bad), so thus, we opted for Phuket.
Bottom Paint: When we hauled Mystic the bottom looked in great shape……in fact, we started to discuss should we forgo a bottom paint job this year and wait until the Philippines…..but then they started to power wash…..as in too late to stop…..and it turned out to be a good thing. After the power wash we had 50+ spots where the old paint had chipped or fallen off to the primer……pencil to dinner plate size. We have never stripped off the old bottom paint back to the barrier coat and we saw signs last year in Australia that maybe we were building up too much old paint which gets heavy and falls away. The thought then was we were ok maybe for a few more years. Well, Ian and the contractor felt pretty strongly that we needed to strip off the old paint and reprime. So Mr Sans rebid the job……we had actually been having some tough negotiations on the bottom job price as I found it incredible that the job was more than Australia……and it was mainly in the material costs (I don’t know this but I suspect they are making a margin on the materials)……well, Mr Sans actually came back with a lower overall price…..hmmmm, ok John, Kathy says, don’t overthink this:)))))……so we made the deal. They used paint stripper and a thinner and then a wet sand to take the bottom back to gelcoat. We were present for the first few days before we went on our Nepal/Bhutan trip.
About several days into our Nepal trip we get an email from Ian of Derani Yachts (the Selene dealer; Ian and Mr Somkid are managing the project)…..say J&K, we have a surprise…..there are many blisters on the aft part of the keel and skeg…..and some have broken and water has penetrated the fiberglass…..WTH…..ugh, ugh, ugh!!!! They sent us some pictures and sure enough we had broken blisters. We were quite frankly flabbergasted……we have had some small blisters on the bottom before but all cosmetic…..no boatyard has ever found any evidence of a breakdown of the barrier coat. Well, the good news is it was caught, there were not that many blisters that had penetrated and those that had, dried very quickly so the water had not penetrated very far. Mr Sans was able to complete the repairs (for an additional BOAT unit, of course….TG it was not multiple boat units:)))))and the rest of the bottom paint job in the scheduled amount of time. According to Mr Sans who has seen many Selene bottoms, he thought it was bad gelcoat or resin in that blistered area. Hmmm, whatever was the cause, it held up for 13 years!!!
Windows: For about 3-4 years now we have been battling a port side leak that goes under the caprail and then out the bottom of the caprail leaving a brown stain as it flows down the port side to the seawater….rather unsightly and bugs the heck out of us……remember we are a widebody with no walk around on the port side so those windows take the full brunt of rain, waves and sun. It first started as 1-2 streaks and progressively built to 10+ streaks. We have a disagreement…..hmmm, imagine that…….Kathy has become convinced it is something on the flybridge leaking while I have become convinced is from the 3 port side salon windows leaking. We have done a lot to try to find the leak……used many contractors…..but with no success. So, we contracted to have all 3 windows rebed….well, that is what we said…..Mr Sans was hesitant to quote a price so we agreed to do one window and see what we find. Through some scheduling conflicts with the varnish guy, the window work was left to the end…..in fact, I must have expressed some displeasure when we got back on that Saturday as within an hour we had the “guy”. I really don’t think Mr Sans wanted to tackle the beast…..but, he brought in a “window expert” Mr Boon…..he had pretty good English and over the course of 3 very, very, very…..ok, lets say very to the 5th……long days……and 50+ mosquito bites as we worked well past dusk into night…….we got it done.
But, we never actually took out the window frames as I wanted…..it was explained to me……very, very big job and we have no time…..arghhhhhh….that’s why I wanted the job done 1st……yep, livin the dream!!!! But, we did get the windows out of the port aft window where if the windows are leaking this probably is the one….we do have signs of a leak on this window so we know water is penetrating but not sure it is going under the caprail. First, we found all the caulking around the stationary windows was shot…..that black sikaflex that had gone gooey/soft……and the caulk we had done a year ago in Australia on the outside frame was also shot…..like stick a pin and come out with watery goo……arghhhhhh!!!! Turns out Mr Boon is an “expert” in sikaflex…..the trick is to use the correct primer…..WTH…..I’ve never seen a tech use a primer before…..granted they mainly use 5200 or some other version….no, according to Mr Boon….it won’t adhere properly……I’ll fix and no leaks for a long time. I ended up loving the man…..but, gosh….he is the most meticulous, slow, talkative person I have met in a long, long time. In those 3 days we talked about everything when I just wanted him to get the job done…..but you see John, it is all about preparation and timing….you first clean and sand and then do it again, then tape some more, then clean some more, then sand some more, then clean some more…….then put the primer down but then you have to wait for it to properly set before putting the glue down…..so, we sit and wait and talk…..that’s how I learn English……keep talking Mr John…….it was close to 8-9pm at night for 3 straight days when I was already very tired after the Nepal/Bhutan trip……ugh!!!!
Upholstery: Wow……great job…..it’s like brand new…..duh, it is new leather……I now have to use towels to sit on the settees…..why oh why do we have offwhite cushions on a boat he asks……yikes!!!!
Varnish: Actually a very good job but not perfect. We had a gazillion dings in the floor and Mr Nu was able to get 90% of them out…..but he could only sand so much…..and, especially in the pilot house there is still a slight color difference in the wood between where an area rug is used and where the floor is exposed to the sun……and there are a few brush strokes…..but, when Kathy got all the rugs down and everything clean…..well, it looks 90% brand new to me so it should last another 13 years…..all for $2500….now that was a bargain we had expected in Thailand!!!!
Rudder Shoe: In Australia last year we had to take the rudder shoe off in order to drop the rudder and replace the PSS seal. Ok….no big deal…..just 3 large bolts/nuts. Wally had a shipwright do the work. Well, all last season I consistently found the forward and aft bolts loose….sometimes just hanging down…yikes…..not good. I took all three off when we got back from Bhutan…..and found 2 of 3 broken lock nuts and the nylon part of the nuts all hard and destroyed……no wonder these nuts & bolts kept getting loose…..I think the shipwright just used the old parts and did not get new nuts et al. Plus, the shoddy shipwright did not add anything on top of the bolts to protect them from seawater…..that might have been the issue allowing seawater to corrode the lock nuts and destroy the nylon……who knows but just horrible work!!!!
Well……I tired 3 chandleries for the size 18 nut and lock nuts with no luck…..nothing that big…..arghhhhhh!! So Mr Sans to the rescue…..between he and Mr Boon they called many places and then Mr Sans drove all over Phuket and finally found 3 nyloc nuts and 3 lock nuts….came back around 6pm the night before we spalshed…..of course, I’m still working with Mr Boon, the window guy…….but only 304 SS, not 316…..ugh….that means they will corrode faster. But, Mr Sans says no worries……I do this a lot……I’ll fix with no water penetration…ok, but I have to be able to get to the nuts at some point…..no worries……so at 7pm he and a helper go to work…..they cut out a 2″ thick foam piece and fit it to the hole…..then they sikaflex the bolt, nut, foam piece and fill up the hole w/sikaflex……oh joy, but Mr Sans….no water penetration and in several years you want to take out the sikaflex will stay soft and you can scoop it out…..ok, we will see if I take his name in vain in a few years!!!! I just hope what we did stays tight….we have a long ways to go to Alaska….of course, I’ll be checking every few months!!!!
Other work:
Headhunter Xcaliber fresh water pump: If you recall our brand new pump we brought back from USA failed within a week. We made contact with Headhunter and after many hours of problem solving, they said yep, a defective pump….we’ll send you a new one and cover the shipping…..even to Thailand…..that could be outrageously expensive we email back….yep, our bad, we’ll cover the cost…..great…..NOT,NOT,NOT…….those liars….yep, they backed out once the pump was shipped…..in the middle of shipping……we have a trail of emails saying they will cover the costs and then bam, oops, our bad….our policy says we don’t cover shipping……WTH…..oh, but we’ll give you a credit on future purchases…..really, what an unprofessional weasel…..yep, pretty irritated on that kind of treatment!!! So we get the pump the other day and the shipping bill……$648 for a $750 pump……$480 just to ship from Florida then $175 in taxes, custom fees and delivery fees……arghhhhhh!!!! We knew shipping into Thailand was outrageous and we had even found a company in Malaysia we could ship to and they would hold until we got there…..but, we thought, since Headhunter was picking up the cost, expediency won out…..and we got royally screwed……needless to say we won’t ever buy Headhunter products again after we get our credit back!!!!! And, we had to deal with all that in emails while in Nepal…..yep, had several whiskeys to settle on that one!!!!
But, got the new pump installed and knock on wood, it has been running fine the last 4 days!!!!
Cummins Saltwater Pump: Ok, so we go to splash…..they lower Mystic part way into the water……ok John, check everything for leaks and start the engine…..ok, we do the checks….no leaks, yea!!!!…..go to start the engine…it starts, run to check if water is coming out the exhaust….crap, no water…..wait another 15 sec……no water……shut down. I go check the thru hull, open……strainer, clean……open the stainer and get a face full of dirty seawater…..yep livin the dream……arghhhhhh!!!!! Start again, after 30 sec no water…..crap, crap, crap……maybe an airlock…..open all the zinc ports…..a little air……hmmmm…..start again and after 15 sec we have water…..yippee…..but, it might be a little less than normal. Hmmm….bet we chewed up the impeller for sure. So the next day we go an hour from Ao Po to Royal Phuket Marina……we have water but more smoke than normal…..crap……so, I check the impeller and it is pretty chewed…..ugh. I go to change the Sherwood impeller…..now I know this is going to be a hot, crappy job……the impeller has a keyway that in our situation is blind…..all the “Youtube” videos show a replacement with the pump removed which is in essence what I had to do……I have never been able to get this impeller in…..only once and that is after maybe 100 times and Kathy helping and I was much younger…..arghhhhhh!!!
So, after several hours and many scraped knuckles and forearms I give up. Now, this is our spare Sherwood pump…..we had lost the better JMP pump in Kumai Indonesia last Oct (175 hours ago) and installed the spare Sherwood……remember that…..hot, sick and with a fever……had to call Brett to help. So, since I could not get the impeller installed, we decided to change out the pump. OK…..again, looks simple but several bolts are blind….another 2 hours and I have the JMP pump in and voila, we have lots of exhaust water……did the Happy Dance for sure!!!! And, it takes me maybe 2 minutes to get the Sherwood impeller installed on the old pump….easy peasy when it’s on the bench and you can see what you are doing!!!!
Other jobs…..grease windlass gypsy, stabilizers and rudder, change out fresh water filter, change out all Racor fuel filters (6). Kathy in the meantime has washed the entire inside of the boat…..pretty dusty from the boatyard and all the sanding inside and she has cleaned all the windows…..as in no streaks!!!!!
So, there you have it……we had 8 days to get all this done before we take off for Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand this Friday, April 7……gone 18N/19 D…..back on April 25…….maybe a vacation and a lot of fun traveling!!!!
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
Phuket Thailand
PS: Pictures on the website: http://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/Mystis-Moon-Haulout-Phuket-Thailand
