October 17th : Not a manifesto, instead, I return to find........

No hideous surprises this time!

Arrived back on board about 10pm after departing Brisbane at 1245pm.
A very quick transfer through Singapore and onwards to Kuala Lumpur. Waiting for us, was the ever immaculately coiffed and attired Sashi, to transport us the 50mins back to Port Dickson, and hopefully the waiting K'Gari !

I had in fact received a call from the Marina about a week after I had left her. At 6pm on a Sunday evening  and just as I was on my way to work. My heart was in my mouth, as I saw the number was a Malaysian number.What had happened?

As it turns out ,nothing awful.

They were phoning me, to report that they had just noticed that my airconditioner was running. Phew! I explained I had left it running at intervals of about 9 hrs , for one hour periods, to de humidify the boat. I thanked them profusely for the call, and was really very pleased they had rung, as it indicated they were actually keeping an eye on things for me. I guess it had, until then, just been the luck of the draw that they hadn't passed K'gari when the a/c was running. Now I knew that they were keeping an eye on her, it helped make my  intervening absence easier.
When I had left her before in Kota Kinabalu, it was on a finger ,with live aboard expats, many of whom had my Aussie contact details.Admiral Marina , being far smaller , only seemed to have transient boats passing through, with the exception of a guy on a trimaran, but he was often away himself for work.

The  return, found K'gari exactly where I had left her, but perhaps a tad trimmed by the stern. This was because some numpty (aka me), had left the bung in the dinghy and the rain had just stayed in the dinghy.
That could easily be  rectified in daylight in the morning.However  the most important thing to rectify immediately, was the pre pump filter mesh  for the air con. After 16 weeks, it was in a state of minor  decay. I went to replace it with a new one and alas I had obviously used my last home manufactured filter when I left.

the originally supplied mesh after exactly 10 days-Joke!

I have been home manufacturing them , after the first one , installed by 'mystery person' yet to be determined, had obviously been done with mild steel mesh. This had  started to disintegrate within 10 days, so I sourced some stainless mesh in KK and have been making my own ever since. With care they last 3 months or more, but as the one I had just removed had not been touched,let alone cleaned in 16 weeks, it was beyond repair really. Just the job at 10pm, after travelling all day and temperature in mid 30's with high humidity. The initial one that night, was rough but , its still going fine.

might be home made but at least its stainless and lasts!

Moral of the story- always have a spare made up ready to go, when leaving the boat for any period of time unattended.

Whilst I was manufacturing the mesh to insert into the filter, my companion for this leg of the journey, Lynne, was busy shifting some bits and pieces.  Finding her cabin and more to the point, her mattress covered in  "stuff" that needed to be moved. The jib, the dingy oars, all the cockpit seat cushions, the lifebouys, and various other useful bits of gear, but somewhat lumpy and really not necessary for a nights sleep.All stowed there, as I was putting K'Gari to bed, back in June.

Airconditioning up and running, cabin cleared, no ice,(couldn't be bothered walking the 10minutes up to the bar to ask for some) but I'm pretty  sure I  recall there was cold  tonic in the fridge. Yes, bravely I had left the fridge running- NOT the freezer as well.Not this time.!
 What goes with tonic- oh well, better make it gin, hold the ice and lime!

The morning after. Slight stern trim caused by about 300lts of fresh water in dinghy!

Travelled thousands of kms for this brekky!

The next day started with, brekky, roti canai of course,( Lynne's introduction to this very filling and tasty breakfast) up the road, some minimal shopping. Followed by de bagging of the props and very quick clean of the seawater  inlets. The marina water had been much clearer when I placed the bags on in June.

Next day it was time to bend on the jib again, and refire the engines.Almost got it right first time! Just forgot to open the fuel cock on the first engine. I realised just as it gave the first "I'm starving" splutter . Shut down,opened the fuel, a quick prime just in case and refired. Both engines checked out ok, no leaks, everything appeared fine!

Before we could bend on the jib there was the small issue of another one of those damn grubscrews , which looked as though it was trying to escape, being refixed.

I went aloft using the mps halyard,with Lynne controlling the ascent and descent from the main deck.  Last time I had been up the forestay the jib had been in place and I was able to use it to balance myself , using my toes on either side of the unfurled jib during the hoisting up and down.This time there was no jib, so it was just a case of wrapping my legs , elegantly of course,  around the forestay, and with deference to  my dear departed mum, this is possibly the only other time,  where it is acceptable for a woman to cross her legs- in fact imperative I would say! So legs locked around the forestay and each other, I was hoisted aloft. Grub screw reseated,quick check of the rest and it was back to the deck- a place I much prefer, no matter how nice the view is 18m up in the sky!

Replaced the Profurl locking cap, which had gone mysteriously missing.Luckily there are two, and only one appears not to have been locked in place correctly.There is no way it could have been installed correctly- even Profurl said they just can't fall out, if they were installed  and locked in place, as per the rigging instructions. I certainly hadn't touched it, so there is really only one explanation. Upon closer inspection, I  found that another bit of the installation had been rigged upside  down- its not rocket science, but a little more care and attention to detail would be  nice. Perhaps the assigned assembler  in Vietnam, had been having a bad day, as the grubscrews clearly hadn't been 'loctited' in either ( see earlier post). However no harm done, the forestay hadn't collapsed, and I had been able to procure replacement part in Australia, as it had been noticed by Steve when we arrived at Pangkor,  back in June, that it was in fact missing. Hence I had been able to procure and bring back with me the missing locking cap- now correctly installed and locked into place.

Roti Tisu , iced lemon tea ,Lynne @ Port Dickson

Found the time for the  check out formalities from  Port Dickson, as well as introducing Lynne to  Roti Tisu.
Provisioned  K'gari for about a week, with only one major omission, as it turned out.

We departed the next morning for Pt Klang to anchor for the night.

We are underway! Let the adventure resume.