Boat Lagoon

Hi everyone,
On Wednesday (a few days ago now) we sailed from Ao Chalong to Boat Lagoon.  It was a great 17nm sail, hard on the wind for most of the time in a 10-15 knot NE breeze.

Zen Again track

We arrived off Boat Lagoon at about 1230 and after talking to the marina staff on VHF 71 we followed another yacht which they were towing into the marina.  The approach to the marina is along a shallow creek, with the channel marked by wood piles every 10-20 metres.  One must enter at close to high tide, when we saw a minimum depth of 2.6m.  At the moment entry seems to be simply a case of keeping each close to port.

Following the leader into Boat Lagoon

We berthed in a pen overnight and I occupied myself removing lots of blocks from the toe rails, removing the jib and staysail, and detaching the boom from the mast.

On Thursday morning Scott, Managing Director of Precision Shipwrights visited to take a look at the boat while it was still in the water.  We discussed the list of tasks we need carried out and I formed a very good impression of Scott.  Seems to know his stuff.  At 1100 Zen Again was hauled out onto the hardstand.  I spent the rest of the day continuing to strip equipment from the deck before taking a taxi to my hotel.  The Escape de Phuket hotel is a 10 minute taxi ride from Boat Lagoon - a brand new boutique hotel with nice rooms for less than A$30/night.  In the evening I received estimates for the major tasks from Scott - hull/keel repair, osmosis treatment, topsides painting and deck repainting.

Ready for haul out

Hauled Out

Weeping cracks around hull/keel join

On Friday I spent much of the morning with Scott, showing him the work we need done and discussing options.  By the end of the day he had prepared estimates for the remaining major task - a new pushpit/goalpost.  On Friday we received approval from our insurers Pantaenius that they will pay for the hull/keel repair.  This was a great relief, particularly considering the longstanding nature of the problem prior to our grounding in Langkawi (which I fully explained to them).  It's nice to have the support of your insurer!

On Saturday morning I disconnected electrical wiring from the mast and removed all electrical equipment from the old pushpit.  I also restowed a huge amount of gear in the cabin so that Scott's crew will have unfettered access to the deck.  They will remove all deck gear before painting.

On Sunday morning I used a large hammer to dislodge the seized windlass, then cleaned, lubricated and reassembled it.  I slackened off the rig so the mast unstepping will be quicker when it happens.  Then I removed the coachroof headliner in the cabin, again to provide Scott's crew access to deck gear.

A small portion of the gear offloaded into storage

Unfortunately I "drowned" our Macbook Pro laptop on Friday.  I stupidly put it in a bag with cans of soft drink - one of which split open.  The old machine was out of warranty and survived three years of hard use.  I now have a nice new Macbook Air and have restored nearly all data from backup.  The only data missing are the photos and GPS logs from my trip from Langkawi to Boat Lagoon.  I may be able to retrieve them from the old disk drive which doesn't appear to be dead, but probably won't be able to try until I return to Perth.

A busy few days since arriving, but the refit is shaping up well.  I'm now convinced there's no need for me to oversee the work, so can return to Perth much earlier than expected.  Less positively it seems likely the boat will have to dry out for several months as part of the osmosis treatment, so the boat will stay in SE Asia for most if not all of 2013.

Trust all's well where you are!