Sari Timur is Back in the Water

Well the splash went without anything too dramatic.  The packing nut has a very small leak but it is coming through the threads not the packing material.  Probably where they were a little damaged.  But we are pretty sure that will self cure.  None of the new thru hulls leak, nor the old ones.  The new shaft seal is fine.  Now it is just a matter of waiting to see if the anti fouling on prop and hull work.

Sari Timur Back in Odo

Sari Timur is in Dry Dock

Sunday

Well we are ready for launching.  They are supposed to lift us at 11.  Then we paint the areas where the chocks on the hull and the planks/supports are under the keel.  Of course it is raining again!  This is a most unusual summer for Japan with all this rain.  The grounds are near saturation all over Kyushu and even in Hiroshima which is on Honshu they had a deadly mudslide last week.  Anyway the rain will probably stop now that we are finished.

We still have one concern and that is the rudder packing gland nut.  I have it tight but won't know if it is enough until we hit the water.  Then if I have to tighten more who knows.  I sure hope it is right.  Of course if it is good, it is good until the next time I need to remove the rudder.  But I think I will find a new one before the next dry dock.  They make a dripless seal for it but I do not have enough room beneath the bearing support for the one made by PSS.  Of course if it is not right, we have to come back out of the water and it will become the most expensive rudder packing gland nut in history because I will have to have it custom made and in a hurry.

_________________________________________________________________________________


Day 12

Well yesterday we said we needed the rain to hold off.  Well it came with a vengeance!  Torrential rains and wind up to thirty knots.  But at 8 this morning it started to clear.  We had to wait a few hours for the hull to dry before we could fix some of the tape damaged from wind and rain but we got to work cleaning the 5200 off all the rudder fittings and surrounding area while  waiting.  By 11 we were ready to give one last coat around the water line and patch some areas that were a bit thin on the first coat.  As well as paint the newly mounted rudder and fittings.  The late afternoon had us assembling and greasing the  Maxprop.  We were going to do the etching of the prop but were advised if it rains overnight this would be ruined.  So we are holding off and hoping for a clear day tomorrow.  After applying the etching we have to wait 5 hours before the first coat of prop goo.  Then wait 6 more hours for the second coat.  So tomorrow will be a lot of waiting but we can do some more on the bottom paint side.  All in if we get a full clear day tomorrow we will be in the water Sunday.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Day 11

Well the rain and Obon have played havoc with our schedule.  But we are getting there.  We got the shaft back yesterday and spent the rest of the day putting that on along with the new drip less seal and propeller hub.  Today we got the rudder back on and as predicted this was no easy task.  It took the whole day but it is on.  I am not happy with the packing gland nut for the rudder but hopefully it will do its job.

Most of the bottom is painted.  We need at least one more coat on the waterline and of course the rudder. And the various rudder fittings.  We hope to do that tomorrow if the rain will go away and also get the propeller back together.  We have Propspeed for the propeller and we have never used this before.  They rave about it here in Japan so we also hope to get to that tomorrow.  But that is a lot on the plate for tomorrow, so we will see.  If it all goes well we will launch Saturday or worst case Sunday.  Of course we do need a few hours with out rain to do that.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Day 6

Yesterday we spent hunkering down from torrential rain and lots of thunder.  But to not waste the day we decided to do some indoor work.  We took the inspection plates off the fresh water tanks.  Scrubbed and flushed them as well as we could.  We filled and drained each tank several times with water mixed with a strong level of bleach.  This is the first time this has been done in at least 27 years.  Anyway, the water seems nice and fresh now.  We will put three way valves on the vents so that we can vent inside the boat when at sea and over board when filling.  This has always been a stupid design but until this crossing we have never contaminated a tank.

Today we finished sanding the hull, taped the waterline, and got a coat of paint on the waterline and the bottom of the keel.  We also plugged that last non used thru hull.  All this with crossed fingers hoping the rain would stay away.  We were lucky with the rain today.  It rained in the morning and threatened all day.  Hopefully we will have similar luck tomorrow.
_______________________________________________________________________________


Day 4

Not a very glorious day today.  We did get the cutlass bearing out and fitted the new one.  We won't do the final installation of it until just before the shaft comes back.  We started sanding the hull today and we made even Smurfs look pale with all the blue dust on us.  We were well into it when the rain gods decided to play with us.  Any way we are beyond the half way point but don't relish getting blue again tomorrow.  Maybe I can find us another project to give our systems an additional day with out bottom paint powder!

We decided not to get rid of the two unused thru hulls at this time.  It was going to delay us too much.  And since we are planning an osmosis treatment during our next dry dock it makes sense to remove them at that time.  One is already permanently plugged, we will plug the other here before we paint.

Anyway we are into the boring stuff for a couple of days so if we do not report don't worry we are still working hard!
_______________________________________________________________________________


Day 3

Well the shaft made it to the machine shop but they are closed until Monday.  But today we cleaned up the rudder bits.  And replaced four thru hulls including the one that failed on Palm Sunday in the middle of the ocean.  We hope to completely remove two other unused thru hulls.  But that will require a good glass man.  We do not feel confident enough to do glass work below the water line by ourselves. Maybe we can find one tomorrow.

_________________________________________________________________________________


Day 2

 Rudder is finally off and the shaft is out and ready to head to the machine shop to be copied for a new one.  What a bear getting the rudder off.  It is going to be a real drama to put it back on!
_________________________________________________________________________________

Well we were finally lifted today.  One week later than we were supposed to.  We managed to pressure wash her hull.  Get her on a cradle. Max Prop off, coupling off and the rudder part way removed so we can take out the shaft.  I have found that the guys from two dry dockings ago tightened up the packing gland for the rudder too much.   After a couple of hours working on it we still couldn't get it loose.  But tomorrow is another day!

Typhoon Halong

August 9

UPDATE 6 PM on Singapore's National Day.  The storm centre of Halong has passed well clear of us and we are doing fine.  The winds will howl for a few more hours but nothing severe.  We are just hiding out watching the Chronicles of Narnia and occasionally checking our mooring lines.

________________________________________________________________________________

We continue to prep for Typhoon Halong.  It looks like the eye will stay on the south side of Kyushu but it will still provide some strong winds for us Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

We have the starter replaced and are very pleased with Taiyo Electric the local agent for Northern Lights.  They figured out a way to get the starter from the factory to the marina in three days. Last night we watched a local fireworks display.  I guess there is enough distractions when prepping for a Typhoon!

Dry Dock Delay

They postponed lifting us today.  Reading between the lines they would like not to have responsibility if a typhoon comes through.  Typhoon 11 is tracking right for us at the moment.  The long term projections show it tracking away from us on the other side of Kyushu.  But long range forecasts can be iffy so the present plan is to have a regroup on Wednesday morning.

I guess this is ok except we will be getting close to Obon festival and we need the machine shop to make our new shaft.  The good news is that the delay will allow us to order a new starter for the generator.  The starter solenoid decided to crap out while we were away so I will order a new starter and a solenoid so I can fix the other one at my leisure for a spare.

Thanks Mike Williams for selling us your portable Honda generator.  We will be using that over the next few days until we get our main one up and running again.  The bad thing about all these near misses is that there is no sun to keep us charged!

The Trip Back

We are currently in Tokyo waiting for our flight back to Fukuoka.  It will be chaos for the first ten days or so as we go up on the hard on Monday.  We will be doing most of the work aka all of it unless we can get some help but so far!!!  Anyway we hope to be back in the water by the 12th.