01/05/08 Said goodnight, (or was it good morning?) to Roger and Astrid around 2am after another rum do onboard Rhumb Do. Unable to get the early morning ferry because it was packed to overflowing. I caught the 9am dolmus instead and took my depth module in for investigation, had some breakfast in the sunshine and watched the world go by. The town is now beginning to fill with tourists and the British ones are as usual, easy to pick out. You've all seen them, .....late 30's, Man. United - Liverpool - Chelsea football shirts covering beer bellies which hang and wobble over extra long 'shorts' which almost reach the sandals with socks (!), couple of kids in tow ('cos it's cheaper early season), skinhead haircuts, arms and legs covered in tattoo's, fag hanging out of the side of their mouth........and that's just the women! In the evening, four of us (myself, Roger, Astrid and Paul from Balena) had our meal in The Orange Bar in Aktas and it seemed that many more from Yacht Marine had the same idea!
02/05/08 Wall to wall sunshine again today and a few more little jobs completed in preparation for sea again. Still awaiting delivery of a re-worked instrument panel in which to fit the new VHF before I can replace the nav berth deckhead, and of course I'm still waiting for news on the depth sounder. Roger took Leah and Jordan on a tourist trip to Ephesus (site of one of the Seven Wonders of the World) which I would like to go on but don't have the time at present. Astrid, missing her family, accompanied me to The Orange Bar during the evening where as usual, there were several other yotties, including Kev and Karen from Nisroc.
04/05/08 0200hrs - another late night chatting onboard - this rum diet works a treat......I've lost three days already!! Re-fitted the nav berth deckhead as I can now work around the instrument panel fitting, then cleared unwanted items from the bilge under that berth.
05/05/08 Feels like I'm coming down with that damn cold/flu again.....and only just managed to shake it off!! Continued clearing the bilge of engine parts, cleaning and greasing whatever is considered necessary to keep. Went with Roger, Astrid, Leah and Jordan to the staff canteen in the evening for chicken kebab and chips, then back to Storm Dodger where we were joined by Kev and Karen, Paul from Balena, Dot from Reality and Eve for chat and laughter until midnight.
06/05/08 Happy Birthday Tracey!
09/05/07 The depth sounder saga continues! The repair shop is unable to do anything without a circuit diagram of the PCB (which I didn't have), so several days, numerous requests on boating sites and much internet searching and many e-mails later....I now have a circuit diagram AND information that it may well be a particular resistor which is at fault. So today, I took the diagram (in PDF format) to the repair shop along with the information I have gathered - and we will see what they can do with that.
10/05/08 A different awakening this morning......I woke, stretched, and something 'squidgy' was between my feet and the forward bulkhead. Half asleep, I pushed it again, testing the squashiness of it, and it felt like a hot water bottle. I'm not using one of those, so I sleepily looked down......and there was a small cat curled up at my feet!! Now, I like all animals, but I don't want one onboard, especially one who is making himself at home, so the visitor was rapidly ejected through the escape hatch! Two minutes later, he was back. The same process ensued a couple more times before I resorted to using the hosepipe to deter him....but now I'm up....and it's only 5am!!
12/05/08 Not much happening.....same things each day.....fitting instrument panel, chasing depth sounder repair shop, dinner with Roger & Astrid (yesterday) and clearing up!! Man. Utd. are Premier League champs but I missed the game, never mind, perhaps I'll see the UEFA Championship one! Went into town again, primarily to buy a ferry ticket for my impending 'visa run', take one of my instrument display heads and a connecting cable into the now familiar 'sounder repair' shop and also to get a few bits for Roger. Astrid came with me, and during the day we stopped in a restaurant I haven't used before for some lunch. Now, imagine Faulty Towers and Manuel.........in Turkey it is considered offensive to leave a 'dirty' plate on the table (along with 'pointing' and 'blowing your nose in public') and the waiter must have been watching us like a hawk because scarcely had I put the last fork of rice in my mouth, when my plate and everything else on the table disappeared leaving me with my cutlery in mid-air. "Do you want coffee?" the waiter asks, "No thank you," I reply. "Why not?" he demands! Astrid and I collapsed in laughter, it was so funny.
13/05/08 Still no luck with the depth sounder but the new DSC VHF radio is now fitted and the re-designed instrument panel replaced. Arranged with Sami, the carpenter, to fit new window surrounds in the forward cabin and also arranged to have the liferaft cradle redesigned and moved forward of the mast to move some weight from aft. I have recently deleted the route maps on this site and replaced them with a map which is hosted by Google - in my opinion a better map (others were getting hard to find) and you can zoom very close in to some of the anchorages and marinas, or select map, satellite or terrain views. I have tried to ensure no mistakes in the information panels but should you find any, please let me know and I'll try to 'fix' them!
16/05/08 I've become impatient with the electronics repair shop. On phoning yesterday, I was told they hadn't even looked at my depth sounder yet (that's sixteen days wasted!). Sometimes, the Turkish people are so damn unreliable. We see it all the time with engine fitters, stainless steel fabricators, electricians and most other 'tradesmen' - even the marina staff.....they say we'll do it on Tuesday, and we have to ask 'which Tuesday?' It's infuriating! Anyway, I told the shop I would be in today to collect my unit and take it elsewhere, and on arrival at the shop, guess what? My depth module was on the workbench, in pieces, with various test equipment connected to it and a request to give them until Monday (which Monday?). Amazing! Returning to the boat, I found I had a further mail from Navico UK advising me of another known resistor failure within the unit and duly phoned Murat in the repair shop to tell him. At 6.15pm I received a call from Murat telling me that he had been successful in repairing it.......er, exactly who searched for relevant information. Who provided a circuit diagram? Who told him which resistors and transistors to check? Never mind, as long as it is working again, I don't care and I've learned a lot more about electronics in the process.
17/05/08 I should have known better! Returned from town with the 'repaired' depth sounder and refitted the module, transducer and display head, powered it all up.....and nothing! Still a zero reading on the display, and worse....the transducer is not now 'ticking', that is to say, it's not sending out a pulse, which it was doing when I took it in for repair. Phoned Murat and moaned somewhat but I now have to dismantle it all again and take it back to the shop on Monday. I'm tempted to take it elsewhere, but as I've now paid for the 'repair', I would actually like it to be working.
18/05/08 Removed deckhead (ceiling) from the aft cabin and unbolted the liferaft cradle in readiness for Ahmed to take it away tomorrow for alterations. The lovely weather continues and is forecast to get hotter by 1o each day up to 31o on Wednesday, but we all know what happens to 'forecasts!'
19/05/08 Monday - start of another working week (for some!) Ahmed collected my liferaft cradle whilst I was in town taking my depth sounder back. I managed to get a galvanic isolator which I have been trying to source for a week or two, but was unsuccessful in finding rope guides to fix direct to the deck, replacing the ones which were clamped to the LR cradle. Had lunch with Astrid in the Casa Bonita (Mexican) before returning to the marina.
20/05/08 Liferaft cradle returned with altered feet, just need to fit it now....not too easy because deckheads in saloon, fwd cabin and heads have to come down as the feet straddle all three places! Depth sounder appears to be working (I'm told) but will remain in shop until Saturday for further testing. Sami (carpenter) is scheduled to return on Saturday also, to fit new window surrounds in heads and fwd cabin. Around 6pm, I went with Roger and Astrid in their car to a restaurant out in the sticks, which we had previously tried to find without success, and we had a good dinner there before returning to boats around 10.30pm.
22/05/08 Manchester United are EUFA Champions.....and I missed the game again! I had intended to go up to the bar last night to watch it, but was busy taking down the deckheads, keeping an eye on the internet sport channel as Chelsea lost out on penalties. Today I moved the liferaft cradle forward of the mast and spent several hours trying to get it to fit, before replacing the deckheads. Sami turned up two days early and got in my way by trying to fit the window surrounds in the fwd cabin....but they didn't fit, so he has to remake them and will return on Monday.
23/05/08 Roger took Astrid and I down to the ferry port and we caught the 9am ferry to Rhodes. Now that summer is here, we don't have to travel on the old, slow car ferry but catch the more modern fast catamaran and the journey only takes an hour, so you get much longer in Rhodes town. We first went to the chandlers, where I managed to get my rope guides and two courtesy ensigns, then had brunch before wandering through the town shopping (they have BHS, Marks & Spencer etc), finally catching a taxi to Spavos supermarket to stock up on various foods which are difficult, if not impossible to find in Turkey, then back to the port for the 4.30pm ferry back, and of course, a new 90 day visa! Jamie and Liz from Esper were waiting in Marmaris to give us a lift back to the marina.
24/05/08 Collected my depth sounder from Murat and ran into Jamie & Liz, who again gave me a lift back to the marina. Reconnected the module, display and transducer and it works,.....well, sort of! When lowered over the side of the boat, it reads 20 metres but intermittently flicks back to zero or 'old', which means the reading is not being updated. When placed inside the boat however, the pulse isn't strong enough to penetrate the hull and the display gives a reading of zero, which of course is completely useless! I'll have to phone Murat again on Monday morning - it's beginning to wear me down. Decided not to go to the 'Welcome to Summer Party' in the pool and garden area and had an early night instead.
25/05/08 More clearing up and stowing of little things, like CD's! During the evening, Roger and Astrid very kindly came round to help me empty some bottles!
26/05/08 Made it into bed around 4am, happy in the knowledge that I now have some more storage space available which was previously taken up by the aforementioned bottles! Sami, the carpenter completed the fitting of window surrounds in fwd cabin late afternoon and I spent the evening with Roger and Astrid at the Orange Bar, along with Paul and Gabby from Balena/Ganova.
27/05/08 I took my depth sounder back to Murat early afternoon and left it with him for a few days again. Astrid wanted Tansas supermarket, so came with me into town and we had some lunch before returning to Yacht Marine, where I managed to get hold of the elusive Mehmet and ask about the possibility of a new bimini and sun awning. Later in the bar with Roger, Paul, John (Odin) and Wolfie (Lady M's) - who I know from years ago when he bought his first boat in Gillingham Marina - a few beers followed by rums on Storm Dodger and Rhumb Do.......and another 4am finish!!
28/05/08 Roger experienced a 'first' today. He fell in!! No serious injuries, just minor abrasions and bruising from the passerelle and stern ropes. A rinse down with fresh water from a hose wielded by Astrid (never trust a woman with a hose) turned into a water fight, with everyone in a ten foot radius getting soaked and puddles forming round the bar stools later.
29/05/08 Market day and shopping at Kipa with Roger, Astrid and Gabby. I also managed to get a couple of 3 metre lengths of anodised aluminium tubing with the intention of using it to stretch canvas over the foredeck to keep the sun off. Later 'happy hour' in the bar turned into a happy 5 or 6 hours but I went back to my boat at around 11pm, leaving the others to continue into the early hours again. Now where did I put my shopping??
30/05/08 Another very hot day, it's around 35o each day now, with very little wind during the mornings and an increasing breeze in the afternoon - which everyone tries to 'scoop' into their boats. Still no word from Mehmet about my sun awning, so much for him phoning me with a quote....but then again, we all know how unreliable he is with regard to time-keeping. Roger and Jordan left the marina around 7pm and flew back to UK for a week or so and I have been 'volunteered' as chauffeur of the pool car in Roger's absence. 'Found' my shopping!
31/05/08 End of the month and still no depth sounder! Phoned Murat who told me that he is still awaiting parts from Istanbul. No sign of Mehmet, or his quote for sun awning over after part of deck. Spent the afternoon mixing resin and fibre-glassing the holes left by the removal of liferaft cradle under the after cabin roof, then replaced the deckhead.
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