Boat Maintenance

One thing that never seems to end on boats is maintenance and repairs.  Actually, it doesn't seem to never end ... it just doesn't.  Last week we discovered the anchor windlass was frozen up and just wouldn't budge, so it had to be removed and completely disassembled.  The insides were just a mess of rusted gears so its no wonder it wouldn't move.  Now after a couple days of soaking, scraping and several other methods of cleaning its about ready to be reassembled and remounted back on the bow where it can do what its designed to ... hoist the anchor!  The good news is I know so much more about our windlass now.

Back on "Whisper"

In case you haven't been keeping up with us on Facebook, we are back on the boat in Virginia.  We got back in July and have been busy with a lot of maintenance on the boat that was long overdue.  We were hauled out last week at Krentz's Marine Railway where we got the boat scraped and repainted and a new cutlass bearing installed.  They also compounded and waxed the hull so "Whisper" is looking pretty good now.  The photo above is right before we went back in the water so you can see what she looks like out of the water.  That's a 6 foot keel and a massive skeg-hung rudder.

We still have so more maintenance like fuel polishing, oil change, fuel filter change and water pump impeller inspection but we should be sailing soon.

The weather here has been not so nice.  First, it was really hot for a couple weeks running and now the temperatures have moderated but the air quality is terrible due to a fire in the Dismal Swamp which must be a over a hundred miles away.

Flooding at Home Last Week

Here are some photos of the flooding on our property last week.  We were very lucky since there were bad mudslides only a few miles away and about a dozen people were killed.

Visit to Koh Lanta

A couple weeks ago, we took a little day trip to the island of Koh Lanta which is just south of where we live in Krabi.  Koh Lanta is part of Krabi Province and probably the biggest tourist area.  There are actually two islands, Koh Lanta Noi the north island and Koh Lanta Yai the south island.  There is very little development and no accommodations  on the north island, but you have to pass through it to get to the south island which is much bigger and where all the resorts and beaches are located.  It takes about two hours to drive to the Koh Lanta Yai from our house which includes waiting for the two ferries that you need to take.  Once we arrived it was pretty much a sightseeing drive down the main road that runs the length of the island which is about 30 kilometers.  The lower half is less developed but well on it way; however, we still managed to enjoy the scenery and a typical Thai lunch at a roadside restaurant.  At the very end of the island, we found one of the prettiest beach where we took a brief walk and stuck our toes in the very warm water.  The picture above is from that beach which is appropriately called "Last Beach" or Hat Mai Phai.