Let the grind begin

Well the grinding of the hull started today, and stopped almost as quickly judging by the amount of work done.

rudder
A very smooth rudder

The rudder has been ground down to the gelcoat, even though the rudder had no blisters. the bit of the hull that has been done does show a few blisters, but they don’t seem to have gone into the matting below the gelcoat, which is promising.

I didn’t get up till late today, on account of abdominal pains all night, I was on the verge of calling a doctor, but figured it would pass at some point, which it did. I think I strained a muscle, which I find much easier to do as I get older. I found a hypermarket over the road from the hotel, so stocked up on all the usual supplies needed for boat work, cleaners, sponges, lots of kitchen rolls, and treated the boat to some new tea towels and a bathroom towel. I also bought some batteries so the ships clock could start ticking again, in fact she has two clocks, one near the nav station, set to UTC (GMT for you non pc folks).

The picture below is from the stern of the boat, those objects out there are buildings, possibly houses on a group of floating fish farms, they’re a hive of activity. I presume, like most things around here, they were damaged in the 2004 tsunami. I think the concrete poles in the foreground probably supported jetties back then to.

fishfarm

I had a good day on the boat, I found carpet to cover all the cabin soles, and sheets and blankets I threw over the cushions. The previous owner didn’t compromise on quality, and I’m constantly being surprised and pleased with new finds. Today I found that the air con doubles as a cabin heater, that the Radar works fine, and is a fancy one, that Penang’s Capital FM One, really rocks through the cabin hi fi system, that one of the two Epirbs is still working (in test mode), that I have flippers and a diving belt & spear gun (sorry Kathy), and there are spares for just about everything on board. I think the PO was very similar to me in his outlook, I also think he was an engineer, given the amount of tools and spares and liquids/ greases/ solvents etc on board.

I managed to empty out the V-Berth, and remove the wooden panels under the storage under the bed. This is where the Bow Thruster is going, I wanted it clear so I can show the yard on Monday.

I gave the cooker a scrub, not too vigorously, but enough to see it’s going to come up looking like new. It’s a serious 3 burner stove, and you should see the gas locker, space for two gigantic gas bottles, enough to cover several oceans.  Yesterday I fired up the SSB, it seems to work, but will need to have a QSO with Neil G4OAR to confirm.
Despite having no mains power yet, the wind generator and the solar panels are keeping the fridge nice and chilled 24/7

Rather late today a motor yacht turned up to be hauled out, she only just fitted into the slip

bigboat
Waiting for the travel lift

It was getting dark by the time they had her in the slings

workers
Some of the yard lads mucking around
cradle
Up Up and away

Then it was home for me and a chance to try out the local cafe round the corner from the hotel, suggested by the driver, he recommended the thing on the right saying it was a refreshing drink, but when I ordered it, there was much merriment amongst the staff, perhaps they saved me some embarrassment by not including the fizzling sparklers. Still it all tasted great, if not a bit hot.

dinnerThe guys & gals on the Baba group are doing a grand job of advising me on some of the specific baba issues I have, like what power bow thruster I need. This internet thing can be jolly handy sometimes.

3 thoughts on “Let the grind begin”

  1. Enjoying the updates Paul, sound fun.
    BTW your pictures look like they were taken with a 1 mega pixel camera. What gives? Something to with WordPress?

    1. Yep, lots of fun, but it’s so hot here, really makes work difficult, imagine Greece in August, then add a bit more.
      I’m scaling the quality of the pics down so they can download quicker, will try a higher quality on the next post, let me know if it’s better.

      1. Yep. Hi rest pic is very good.

        Regarding stains, may oxalis acid? I use it on hard wood that has become black with mold. It is vey strong bleaching agent.

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