Back to Sister Midnight
Tuesday morning I headed off to Manchester airport on the train from Liverpool, for the start of the long trek to Malaysia. I dumped my car at the garage/breakers yard on the way, the £200 I got for the old banger will cover the cost of a hire car for the few weeks that I will be back in the UK this year. Also the annual bill for road tax/MOT/insurance and servicing due in November, will more than cover the costs for 2017, as I believe we will start our trip around this globe in earnest as soon as we get christmas out of the way.
The trip to Penang, via Istanbul and Kuala Lumpa was very smooth. It was great to see Jodrell Bank Observatory gleaming out from the plains of Cheshire as we rose up from Manchester. Jodrell Bank has played a major role in space exploration and discovery and was always a place I was captivated by from childhood, shame that when I took my kids, the ice cream shop was the only thing that excited them.
Erik, my trusty Finnish friend who has been keeping an eye on the boat kindly met me at the airport and drove me to my hotel, which looks grand, but is really quite basic. All of the hotels are booked up, something to do with the Chinese holiday season just starting, which confuses me, as it seems we only just had the new year.
The hotel is situated right in the heart of the touristy bit, Im surrounded by loads of foreigners from Europe, they’re the worst kind. I don’t count myself as one of course. However the area has a lot of attractive ladies calling me over from darkened doorways, promising me a good time, Erik tells me I might be in for a shock if I follow them, as some of them may not be all they’re dressed up to be….
So up early Thursday morning and off to the boat, some trepidation as I heard they had messed up on the epoxy application over the repairs. The epoxy had bubbled, and was not going to be acceptable to me.
On arrival, I found they had sanded the epoxy right back and re-applied the epoxy, this time with more care, and had achieved a good result.
On the picture above you can see all of the fiberglass repairs where there had been blisters, and the shiny epoxy coating over it.
Below there is a picture of the other side where the epoxy has been lightly sanded back to give a key for the two coats of barrier epoxy which will be applied next
The bow thruster is fitted, but not wired in yet, this picture doesn’t do it justice, but it looks very smooth in real life.
Inside is a disaster, looking aft to the galley … Mess
Looking across at the main cabin table… Mess
and more mess heading to the V Berth
I managed to get some mains wired up in an ad-hoc sort of way, I have a problem using the boats supply right now, but I have the air-con running and the battery charger, so I can keep the fridge running cold, and that’s enough to be getting on with. Priorities for tomorrow are to complete the bow thruster wiring, so I can get the mattresses off the main table and into the v-berth and make a bed there. As soon as the sanding is finished, I’m going to get the sails bagged and stowed away on deck. Once I have the wiring issue solved, I can get the quarter berth back into use, and then I will have some decent space to work in. Aiming to do all this by Saturday when I move onboard.
From Saturday, this will be my main home for the next 4 years, at least.
So in the spirit of getting down and out in Penang, I skipped the taxi and took the bus back to the hotel, 50p versus £10 for the taxi, and much more fun!!
I will try to update as often as I have wifi access
Paul C