Maintenance log
Sirius was hauled out at Ratanachai Shipyard on the 8th April to get the propeller shaft and cutlass bearing checked and replaced if necessary. The gear box had been leaking oil so the seal also needed to be replaced. David Plant, the previous owner of Sirius and I had been to see the yard management the day before and obtained a favorable rate for the haul out and daily rate for the cradle (known to the staff, for some reason, as a Dry Dock). The owner of the yard then bettered the rate given by his staff, reducing it to THB 13,500 for hauling out and back in and only THB 700 a day for the cradle. They also quoted us THB 3,180 for "Power wash and cleaning the hull". I was grateful to have David with me as he had spent nearly four months in the yard with Sirius in 1996 and the yard owner remembered him well.
The haul out went quite smoothly and efficiently; then a rotund grossly overweight Thai woman named Rat appeared and the true nature of the shipyard was revealed. Rat yelled up at me on deck and announced that, as my boat had barnacles she wanted an extra THB 1000 to have the workers scrape them off before they would do the power wash. The hull was actually pretty clean as James had dived on the hull and scraped the barnacles off many times. It is true there were some barnacles but no more than on any boat. After some discussion and being unhappy with the attempted rip off I decided to cancel the request for the shipyard to power wash the hull and I informed her that I would get outside contractors to do the maintenance work on the shaft and gear box and that their services were not required for painting or anti fouling either. This fit of pique on my part turned out to be very fortunate because I found out later from the owner of a steel boat that the power wash was indeed very powerful. It ripped off all his barnacles and in the case of another wooden yacht ripped out most of his caulking too. Rat yelled back that if I wanted outside contractors to work on my boat she would charge me THB 100 per man per day. In the end I still saved THB 38,000 on the painting and anti fouling by buying the paint myself and getting a couple of lads from outside to do the work.
David took me to a workshop no more than 1 Km from the yard called Sak Workshop. There I met Lek, who agreed to do all the required maintenance work and as they were the owner’s cousins we didn't have to pay the extra THB 100 per day.
The next day we removed the rudder together and work started removing the propeller and disconnecting the shaft coupling. Several mechanics arrived to do the work and as I have found several times before in Thailand they had no tools of their own. They were soon treating me as their assistant to get them whichever tool they needed. Fortunately I had more than enough spanners and wrenches on board but I decided the best thing to do was to leave them to become self reliant. I bought a ticket on Thai Airways to return to my home in Mae Salong for Song Khran.
On the 13th April I went with some friend to Mae Sai to buy Australian Red wine from Burma for THB 99 a bottle. Good stuff it was too. Peppermint Creek from the Margaret River. On returning to Thailand the immigration officer, after stamping my passport, kindly placed it is a small plastic bag, just the right size before handing it back to me and then shooting me in the middle of the chest with his water-pistol.
Next came Thai customs who could see from the X-ray machine that I had a dozen bottles in my bag. They told me that I was allowed only 1 Litre but I explained that I had a lot of friends coming for a party to celebrate the Thai New Year. So, instead of making me pay the duty they just shot me with their water-pistols.
I returned to Phuket on the Tuesday after Song Khran while water was still being thrown everywhere in Northern Thailand. Expecting to see that nothing had been done on the boat, I was amazed to find the new prop shaft in and a gleaming, newly balanced propeller fitted, the gear box repaired and the rudder back on. Obviously they don’t spend so much time shooting their water pistols in Southern Thailand as they do in the North.
The painters had made a start by sanding down the hull and marking the boot strap line but there was some caulking that needed to be done before they could get on with the painting. The yard was no help at all. They had no workers who could do the job but I managed to find out where they stocked the Nam Man Yang (the traditional Thai equivalent of putty) for the seams and did the job myself.
The office staff, who outnumbered the ship yard workers by 10 to 1 would prowl around several times a day to see if anyone was working on the boat and if so, log the 100 Baht levy and other charges to cover using my own power tools or a piece of tarpaulin found lying around the yard. I couldn’t get out of that dreadful and useless place quick enough. Fortunately the office staff were hopeless at their job and my bill was much lower than it might have been. Their faces fell when I spoke to the yard owner in Thai and asked for some days free due to Song Khran and he happily agreed telling his staff to deduct two days.
With such sweet victory and good riddance to Ratanachai shipyard we slipped back into the water on 21st April. The next day, after the hull had taken up shape Lek returned to align the engine and we sailed out of the river. The work completed in the last two weeks included: Removing the rudder, propeller and prop shaft. Removing old cutlass bearing, stern gland packing plate and studs. Removing the gear box oil seal and bearing, Replacing new bronze studs and a new stainless steel prop shaft. Repairing the gear box rear bearing and oil seal. Fitting it all back in. Sanding the hull applying metal primer to steel keel and rudder. Replacing missing caulking then applying two coats of coal tar epoxy and three coats of antifouling to the hull. Repainting the blue boot strap line and white topsides above the blue line. Changing the air conditioner, freeing the bolts for the outboard motor bracket. Repairing carburetor on the small outboard motor. Servicing the sea cocks and strainers,
Meanwhile the carpenter, Malik had been busy taking apart the old freezer and cupboard tops. The alternating strips of light and dark timber were glued back together and those pieces that were spoilt were replaced. These were then sanded down and varnished to make a hinged top for the gas cooker and a folding serving flap. It finished off the galley conversion work done at the Yacht Haven in March.
Back at anchor in Ao Yon a couple of days later, Lek delivered the new anchor that he had made and with a crew of four including myself we sailed to Langkawi. There, we had the bimini repaired and Mr. Tiek, finally made the stainless steel bar which is the new track for the main staysail sheet that had been ordered and paid for nine months earlier.
We are now in Port Klang and she’s going great.