April 26-May 5
Hi All,
We did it…..FINALLY….we have started the 2017 cruising season….yea!!!!! As I write this blog we are anchored off Koh Hong in Phang Nga Bay just NE of Phuket…….the Hongs, limestone karsts, are really quite impressive…..this is where the James Bond movie, “The Man with the Golden Gun” was filmed….we should be close to that island in a day or so. When we got here yesterday we had a huge rainstorm…..it is just on the cusp of rainy season now……and boy did we like it…..cooled everything down to low 80’s/high 70’s and dropped the humidity as well……we think we have been in 100-120* heat index for about 3 months……Kathy actually muttered the word cold…..ODG!!!!!
But, the start was not w/o some self inflicted drama…….synonyms for embarrassed…..mortified, red-faced, blushing, abashed, shamed, ashamed, shamefaced, humiliated, chagrined, awkward, self-conscious, uncomfortable, sheepish; discomfited, disconcerted, upset, discomposed, flustered, agitated, distressed; shy, bashful, tongue-tied; informal with egg on one’s face, wishing the earth would swallow one up……
I feel them all and particularly the last one……..arghhhhhhhh!!!
So the story…..the blunder of all blunders: We had left Royal Phuket marina last Monday to go to Yacht Haven marina, about 20 miles, to get fuel and propane……after about 10 miles the Cummins dies…we think no fuel…..somehow……operator error #1 I had drained the port tank…… a huge no no as you can suck up dregs from the bottom of the tank. I switched tanks (or so I thought) and nothing….must have plugged up the racors…..ugh, ugh, ugh. We get to Yacht Haven marina on the Yanmar…..our little engine that can. Spent the next day and half in the engine room…..a solid 10 hours the 1st day…….95*F and 90% humidity……I’m a size 34 now:))))……changed racors, inline filter, took off all fuel hoses….as in 4 and not all that easy……and still nothing, no blockage…the engine runs for 30 secs after priming and then dies…..disassembled the Racor filter unit thinking the check valve is fouled…..all clean……became convinced it was the lift pump…..went to change and discovered our spare is plumbed opposite….WTH…..ow can than happen……so I called a mechanic to see if he could replumb ……no worries mate….lots of expat Aussies here…. I’ll be there at 8am the next morning…..he shows up at 1:30pm……we go to work…he still thinks it is a plugged line….so he has a young, skinny Thai guy who does the work…..he gets in and takes off one of the valves I couldn’t get to…..all of this work is on the port side of the ER…..now I’m standing on the starboard side talking with them and I look down…..can you guess by now what I found…..
THE FRICKING FUEL TANK VALVES ARE CLOSED…..WHAAAAAAA!!!!
Yep……what a colossal stupid mistake and we both paid dearly for it…..a total of 14 hours in the ER sauna…..not fun at all……and all self-inflicted. Now Kathy has been a saint…..not passing judgment at all…in fact finding the silver linings…..like, now we know our spare is wrong and can get the right one before we need it and we now know all about racors, lift pumps and our fuel lines et al……hmmm, some consolation……arghhhhhh!!!!
And yes, we have a written checklist of 28 items to shut the boat down and then bring it back up…..and, I had used the checklist….now, I do remember being interrupted in the ER as I was turning things on…..but still I obviously forgot to go back and finish the job…..a colossal senior moment…it is just downright scary!!!!
In the meantime, when the mechanic was late, we decide to lower the dinghy and test the Yamaha…okay…something else to go wrong…..and yep…. the Yamaha won’t start….1st time in 7 years….WTH……so I change the fuel filter, inline filter and spark plug…..no luck…..just as I’m muttering some sailor jargon, the mechanic shows up…..no worries mate, we’ll fix that too…..most likely a dirty carburetor. And sure enough, it takes 2 hours to take the carburetor off and clean back at their shop and replace a black cap that had fallen off……the mechanic was Thai and that is all I could get from him…..no idea about the black cap????
Oh, to complete the saga…..as I was lowering the dinghy I clipped the boom winch wires on the edge of the bimini and stripped off the lugs……really Neptune…..can it get any better…..yep……there are no 6 gauge lugs anywhere in Phuket…..oh, she has really got me now……we tell this to the mechanic and he nods in agreement…..sad isn’t it….no worries mate, I make up all my lugs…..and the next day we have 2 perfect lugs!!!!
In the meantime back at Royal Phuket Marina before all this fun started, we had worked hard for 5 days….well, really 4 days as one day was a self induced snow day……took 2 days to provision and get oil/coolant et al supplies and 2 days on projects:
Watermaker: completed the overhaul….replaced product divert valve and fresh water flush valve
Kabola: Hmmm……the tale of pressure gauge……I finally found a 4 bar pressure gauge but it was 1/4″ npt and I needed 1/8″ npt…..found a reducer at a Racor Parker store as I was needing a new vacuum gauge….they only wanted $150…..can get them in USA for $60….ugh!!!! To change out this pressure gauge there is no ability to turn off the hydronic fluid….so, you just get a bit wet in the process….yep, the damn reducer does not fit…..so, there I am glycol solution gushing out trying to get the new gauge in…..I’m choking and drenched in a glycol shower……spent the next 2 hours cleaning the laz……arghhhhhh!!!!
We put out a call to our good friends on Bella Vita who are coming back to Malaysia in a month or so…..air Bella Vita is flying in new gauges and a lift pump…..oh, and a new faucet as the kitchen one is now stuck on spray…..as in spraying the whole galley:)))))
So…..you ask…what did you do to cause a self induced snow day…..well, we let the party out of our heads…..again. We met up one night with Jeff and Cheri on sv Grasshopper, who we met on the Rally last year and are staying at the marina next to ours…..and we also ran into Brian and Sandy on Persephone, who we met in 2013 in the Tuamotus…..diving at Fakarava…..and then bumped into each other over the past few years……like a cruiser homecoming……oh, let the tequila roll on:)))))
So that’s it…..as in yes, enough already……we hope to just relax, relax, relax for about 2 weeks and then go back to Phuket to provision and check out of Thailand and then take a week or so to passage about 170nm to Langkawai where we will spend some more time cruising around those islands!!
Hope all is well!!
Chagrined John
Mystic Moon
PS: Sorry no pics….internet a bit slow!!!
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