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01/11/06 Tues. OK, the fridge is sorted! A couple of nights ago, at 1.30 am, I woke thinking 'there's a short length of wire installed on the control box by the manufacturer, and it's been there for all the tests and trials.' Next morning, I replaced it and bingo....fridge works! Today I added two small computer fans to the condenser unit and cut a ventilation hole in the side of the locker to circulate the air. I have added the controller test directions to the website for any other yottie stuck with same problems - you can find it here. Ana finally arrived from KK, but Immigration have only given her 14 days, saying she will have to leave for 3 days and then come back. What? She's just been out of the country for 7 days!!
03/11/16 Thurs. Cavity corrosion day! Since hauling out, I have worried somewhat about rust streaks around the rudder lower bearing bracket and today I jacked up the rudder and removed the bracket. The two securing bolts came out reasonably easily (big surprise!) and both showed cavity corrosion which attacks stainless steel when it's deprived of oxygen. Cleaned up the stainless bracket ready for replacement.
04/11/16 Fri. Spliced the rode onto the anchor chain and re-connected the anchor today while Ana did some painting of engine parts before helping me with the splicing.
07/11/16 Mon. The engine is painted now, along with the gearbox and associated parts. I don't expect the paint to last long, but at least it's somewhat cleaner and better looking than before! My 'fridge woes are not yet over, I had hung the thermostat in the 'fridge by it's wires and it worked fine. Today I tidied it up and put it in it's case, screwed to the side of the interior of the 'fridge......and it stopped working! All well now, after stripping it down, cleaning the inside and giving it a spray of WD40. However, I do want a spare one and searched the Danfoss site for the correct one. It's part number is 077BO0316 and it does not show up on the manufacturers site, so it must have been replaced with another part number. I wrote to Danfoss and asked for the new number so that I could order one from the UK to be delivered here.....a very helpful lady replied "We are a UK/Ireland based manufacturer, we suggest you contact your local dealer." Gee, she deserves the employee of the year award!!
08/11/16 Tues. Cut the flexible hose and assembled the parts for the stuffing box while Ana painted the inside of the saloon cupboards. Gave the gearbox another coat of paint. I am unable yet to refit the rudder lower bearing bracket because the two unopened tubes of Sikaflex that I have, were both past their shelf date and unusable. The workshop here only has Sikaflex 255 and not the 291 that I need, so it will have to wait until I have been to KK and bought some more.
09/11/16 Weds. After mailing Danfoss again with an appropriate response, the same lady replied "We don't offer technical support here. Contact your local branch for details." Yeah, right, I'm in a one-horse town in Borneo surrounded by miles of jungle so thanks for your help lady! Cleaned and painted the stern tube before tackling the re-routing of cable for the new depth/speed transducer.
10/11/16 Thurs. The starter motors turn for a coat of paint this morning, along with a few bits and pieces that bolt onto the engine. Applied fibre glass and resin to the inside of the now defunct transducer aperture. On Sunday, we will have to get a taxi to KK, then the ferry to Labuan, stay overnight and go by ferry the following morning to Brunei - it's visa renewal time for both Ana and myself.......I wonder what's in store for us this time?
11/11/16 Fri. Armistice Day. I decided a few days ago to replace all the rubber hoses on the engine cooling system while they are all easy to get to, so today was spent in town in search of radiator hoses of the right size - not an easy task! You would imagine that hose would be relatively simple to find, after all there are plenty of cars around.....not so! I did find some that I had to cut to size, but I am not happy about them as they are not cloth reinforced, just simple rubber hose. Maybe tomorrow I will look again.
12/11/16 Sat. Managed to find some more radiator hose today, still not reinforced but a little better quality than the previous lot.
13/11/16 Sun. Up and out early to catch taxi to KK, got away from Kudat at 0800 and arrived in KK at 1130, had some lunch before boarding the 1300 ferry to Labuan. We arrived in Labuan around 1630 and checked into hotel for the night, then had dinner in our usual Indian restaurant.
14/11/16 Mon. 0900 ferry to Muara, Brunei. Met at the other end by Alison and taken to their house where we would stay for a few days. During the afternoon, we went with Paul to the yacht club, chatted with Regie and Ninet, saw some old mates in the yard and then went out to Paul's boat while he was doing some electrical wiring. We then got a message that Alison, who likes to walk the dog in the jungle, had been taken to hospital with a snake bite, so it was a mad rush back to the house. Fortunately, it was not a venomous snake and Alison was OK.
17/11/16 Thu. After a pleasant few days with Paul and Alison, shopping for some essentials for the boat and for our stomachs, Gerry this morning drove us to the ferry terminal to catch the 0830 back to Labuan. Once there, we did some more shopping for tablets and duty frees (the rules have all changed and customs officers are in all the shops!). After lunch, we caught the 1300 ferry to KK, arriving there too late to go back to Kudat, and I wanted to look at a particular shop in Inanam tomorrow, so we checked into hotel for two nights..........and I came down with a stinking cold!
18/11/16 Fri. Today we caught the bus out to Inanam and went to the shop which sells marine Sikaflex.......except it wasn't there anymore! They never did much trade, and I guess it took it's toll and they have closed. That was a waste of time, will have to use Sikaflex 255 now instead of 291 - not that it matters too much as it is not constructional and is only needed for gap filling. Wandered around the shopping malls for the rest of the day, some new shorts, bits and pieces - and another bicycle!! Now I have two that need storage on the boat! At least this one folds in half.
19/11/16 Sat. Yet another early start, collected new bike from hotel storage, sausages and cheese from the freezer, and walked over to the bus terminal to catch the 0830 bus to Kudat. Arrived in Kudat around 1300, put Ana in a taxi with all the bags and I rode the bike back to shipyard (in the rain). Lazy afternoon apart from changing some of the hose clamps on the engine for more robust ones. So that's a whole week away - just to renew our visa's!
21/11/16 Mon. Refitted the rudder lower bearing this morning. During the afternoon, we offered up the stern tube, stuffing box and cutless bearing to see just how far it could be off-line when mounted - all seemed OK if the correct order of assembly was followed. Tomorrow, we will fit those parts. I am still coughing and my head is full of a cold.
22/11/16 Tues. A wasted day trying to get the stern tube in place which resulted in taking it all out again! It's difficult to explain, but the tube is screwed at both ends and has two bolts holding the flange and cutless bearing at each end. One of the bolts is impossible to get to because of the restricted space which is further hampered by the tube itself - you have to have a hammer for knocking 'around corners!' And it all has to be done while hanging upside down through a small hatch under the aft cabin floor!
23/11/16 Weds. After another morning of stern tube work, (and making another 'round the corner' hammer), we got the tube, inboard flange, flexible mount, stuffing box and cutless bearing all installed. Still a list of jobs remains! I had a local guy cut back the hull gelcoat to get rid of stains and general sun damage but cannot apply polish to it until all the fibre work is done below the waterline. Rain stopped play for the rest of the day.
28/11/16 Mon. Neil arrived from Labuan to do a survey for my insurance purposes, so not much work done today. Over the last few days, Ana and I have filled most of the ground out areas of the hull with 3 or 4 layers of fibre glass and resin, made permanent cover for the now defunct 'speedometer' on the instrument panel, greased the steering ball joints, been to town for shopping (and more hardware stuff!) We are getting some heavy rain showers now, so most work has to be done between those.
29/11/16 Tues. After last nights hacking coughing session keeping me awake half the night, decided it was time to pay a visit to Dr Angeline Chong. Cycled into town and was first in the waiting room after lunch, she gave me some herbal cough medicine and a few tablets to take - one after lunch and one at night.
30/11/16 Weds. Well, the medicine seemed to work as I slept well last night, until 6.30 this morning. Didn't feel up to sanding today and it rained all day as well, so had a rest day.
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