Had a great nights sleep, and today I planned to clean up inside the boat, and check all of the thru hulls /seacocks, as these can only be changed with the boat out of the water. Looking out the window revealed a very dark sky, great, a little less heat today.
My friendly taxi driver Zainol, turned up at 12, and through pouring rain we headed to the yard, to get there, we have to drive through a huge building site for two new tower blocks like those in the picture above, which are linked together by a huge shopping mall, the size of Liverpool one.
The boatyard, like most, has an array of abandoned boats, many wooden fishing boats like those below.
One boat,the ‘MARIA SORG MUTINEER’ caught my attention, as it looked in a very bad way, but was rigged for an ocean passage I thought, what was the story, how had it got here, and why no further. I had a quick google and found references in the Mensa English Group to the Czech owner who was considered mad by some, having sailed it from Europe to Malaysia, then flew to America and sailed to Europe on another boat
So to start I made drawings of the hull from the outside, both sides, marking on it every place where a hose exited. I gave each one a letter, I almost ran out letters! There are 20 holes in my boat, Lady Stardust has about 10. Then inside, and I lifted every board in the sole (floor) to find where they were and what they did, several hours later I was pleased to say, all bar one were accounted for, and none needed any work, a few were stiff and needed freeing up, but that’s normal. There’s lot of plumbing in this boat, the air con, water generator and pressurised water and manual foot pumps, along with the shower, and deck wash are responsible.
The water supply to the Air Con was turned off, so I’m hoping this is the reason it wasn’t working when Erik tested it.
While I was in the area, I spotted bad corrosion where the mast wiring joins the boats electrics, A bit of vaseline would have helped there (as the Actress said …)
Back on deck, i did some tidying up. One of the great things about having a bigger boat, is theres space for some proper guards, There are guard rails around the mast, which give you something to hang onto, and a lot of protection when working at the mast in a rough sea. Also the guards over the dorade cowl vents are great at stopping the sheets (ropes) from snagging. On Stardust, I’m forever ripping the cowls off their base when caught out by heavy gusts.
When I arrived, I had a new neighbour, water was pouring out through his hull, so I think his planking needs a bit of attention.
And finally, I gave the galley another clean, it really is quite a big space, however I couldn’t find a way to get the stains off the worktops, I think they will be formica, or similar , any tips would be appreciated. Will try again tomorrow.
I’m adding a final picture in at a higher resolution to see how it comes across
All the best, Paul C