-
02/03/25 Sun. The marina jetty is undergoing repairs, but for some reason they decided to rip up all the planking instead of doing it half at a time, so now nobody can get ashore or to their boats. The 30 or so local boats, police launches, tourist boats are now without crews!
04/03/25 Tues. Drove down to Kota Kinabalu, leaving at 0600, fortunately the jetty workers had laid a plank across the missing section of decking and we were able to get ashore. Richard came down with us to catch his flight home to Bali. I went for my appointment with Dr Melinda Tong, the dermatologist and she treated some skin areas with liquid nitrogen, asking me to come back on the 3rd of next month. Then we drove to Inanam to get some Sikaflex for a hatch repair before going to Merdeka Mall to get some more glasses made for me and Ana. We then went in search of material to make several seat/bed covers for Richard but we had to order it and it won't be in stock until next week sometime. Checked into the Cititel Express for a couple of nights before meeting up with Mark and Kim for dinner and a catch up at Toscani's.
05/03/25 Weds. A bit of a lazy day after yesterday's manic run around. Went to Karamunsing to get a laptop repair and once again it will take a week or so to do.
06/03/25 Thurs. After a late breakfast, we set off for the return journey to Kudat, taking it slowly as the roads have deteriorated a great deal since we were last in Sabah. It had obviously rained a great deal in Kudat while we were away as the dinghy was full to the brim with rain water.
20/03/25 Thurs. We've had rain for a few days, no solar power (or very little) is being generated. This morning. a huge crack of thunder made both Ana and I jump, it must have been an extremely close lightning strike, as some of my instrument back lights came on, presumably from the static electricity pulse.
21/03/25 Fri. Anchors, chain and the headaches and problems with them! The boat's current set up is a Manson Supreme anchor (very good) with 50 metres of 8mm chain and spliced to that is 40 metres of octoplait rope. I bought the chain in Marmaris, so it's about 16 years old now and showing some signs of wear. For some time, I've been thinking that I should have longer chain and do away with the spliced rope, the join of which always jams in the gypsy and can also twist the chain so the anchor comes up with the wrong orientation for the bow roller. So, after a week of discussion with Owen Cao in China, I have ordered 80 metres of DIN766 8mm Grade 43 chain from him and it should be delivered in 28 days time, along with some bow shackles with a WLL of 2000Kg. (The chain is rated at 1770Kg WLL).
22/03/25 Sat. The problems with additional chain, apart from the extra weight fwd on the boat, is whether it will self stow in the anchor chain locker. Chain drops straight in from the windlass and piles up in a pyramid shape in the locker, but, that shape builds up until it reaches the deckhead above - and then it jams the hole and no more chain can enter! I am expecting this to happen with my locker so I may have to make some modifications. The only access to the locker is through a small door in the front cabin and getting in there, and working is never much fun! The only way I will know if I've made a mistake with the chain order, or whether I have to modify the locker, is to try it on arrival!
23/05/25 Sun. We took out all the old chain from the locker today and took it over to the yard for repurposing. I also removed the short length of chain from the kedge anchor at the stern which I will replace with a length of the old primary anchor chain once I've had it re-galvanised in KK.
28/05/25 Fri. I am having problems with driving licence renewal now! It is supposed to be quick and easy to renew online, but I cannot. I meet all the criteria for doing so, but when I fill in the details, I get a message that says I am not eligible for the service. I emailed DVLA and asked why that was so. They answered that there was "a known technical issue" with customers who had previously held HGV or PSV entitlement. I relinquished those entitlements some 40 years ago, and I had the same problem 3 years back when trying to renew online - so if its been a known issue for over 3 years, why the hell haven't they fixed it?? Now I have to get forms from the UK Post Office, fill them in and apply by post. What a pain in the ass!
The time onboard is.........
Did you enjoy your visit onboard? Please sign my Guestbook
For previous logs, click Here
