Progress in Telaga

This is the Telaga Marina, as viewed from the back of the boat, it’s actually very pleasant here, very quiet and sheltered.

The rigging has arrived and is laid out here on the finger, don’t ask how much it cost, but you can probably buy a house in Birkenhead for the same price; That’s more of a statement on the cheap houses in Birkenhead 😉

So I started the day by looking at the Autohelm, I measured voltages and determined a possible fault in the system, but that turned out to prove the point that if you are happiest fixing electrical faults, that’s where you will look, and possibly find problems, as I did. Fortunately before I got too carried away, I noticed the motor was turning, and not the cog attached to it. I was thinking CLUTCH_ENABLE signal not going low, but I should have been thinking, key in groove fallen out. Which I found under the motor. I popped the key back into the shaft, tightened things up and made a note to get some locktight and all was woking again.

Next onto the monitor wind steering system. I had a reply back from the manufacturer Scanmar, they are very good with their support. They pointed out that even an expert would have problems removing the bend in the strut and that they can ship me the parts I need, but that would cost about $600 + shipping. They explained I would need to remove the pendulum to make sure it was the bit that was sticking and that their wasn’t any other damage. I took the monitor off the boat and into the cockpit, then I dismantled it. The bent pendulum bit was actually working fine, it was just compressing another spindle which wasn’t turning. I called to Kathy, who duly brought me a large hammer and a very large hammer. Now some people think this is my style of engineering at it’s base level, but with a few strategic bashes, and a bit of jumping up and down on the bent strut, and the pendulum, everything was moving freely, in fact so freely I can’t see any reason why it wont work perfectly now.

Now just before we left Rebak, I had a look at another tashiba 40, who also has a monitor windvane, but his was gleaming, so bright, it could have your eye out. I was full of Monitor envy. So now seemed to be the best time to strike back, and Kathy helped me get our’s nice and shiny. I’m going to give it a final polish in Fiji or Bora Bora ;-), but it will do for now. Just needs connecting to the wheel and testing. Hopefully I can use it in our trip to Thailand.

I also took this as an opportunity to get the dinghy out to access the monitor. Sadly the repairs I had done to the dinghy don’t seem to keep it inflated. It could be new holes, but I suspect not. It’s not much better than when I put it in for repair a couple of months ago and it hasn’t been used yet. Everyone tells me it wont last anyway and it has to be made of Hyperlon to survive in the tropics. Looks like I need to buy a new dinghy, which is OK, I can get something fast in Thailand.

Tomorrow the rest of the rigging to goes up, then a big shop for the next 2 weeks travelling, and a few shopping chores, like photocopying passports for the authorities we have to deal with in the ports, and also a trip to the moneychanger to buy some Bhat (Thai money), paying for stuff in sterling is costing me more everyday thanks to brexit. Fortunately I have a few $ I can use until sterling recovers, if ever.

Paul C.