Saturday, November 7, 2015

Looks like a catamaran !


More efforts were put into the boat.

The shape of a Gypsy catamaran is already here!


Now the cosmetics.



I bought a piece of thick polycarbide plastic for the windows. First to install were the side windows of the cuddy

  

A template of the opening was made using a piece of cardboard. This was then traced onto the polycarbide. Using a jigsaw the exact shape was cut.


It is then screwed on to the frame. Later a wooden frame will be added to "look nice"





The Starboard Hull

In catamaran building we have to repeat the exercise twice as we have two hulls which are identical.




However when working on the second set the work is usually speedier and better as valuable lessons had been acquired earlier!

It is hot so to get a little bit of shade I built a temporary sun shade using cheap garden cloth.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Discovering a few pieces of rotten wood !


 The cuddy had been completed about 4 years ago. Due to it's size it was shifted out of the tent and wrapped with canvas. That should be quite safe, I think!. Recently when I inspected the cuddy I noticed that there were a few pieces of 2 inch by 1 inch that had rotted. It felt sofy and I could tear the wood like in this picture


A rescue plan was put into place. I had the whole cuddy inspected and removed several pieces of wood that were rotted. Maybe rain water had seeped in but the wood were glassed with epoxy and glass cloth. The next logical explanation from my timber merchant friend was the few pieces of wood that rotted had been cut from near the bark of the tree and as such it is vulnerable to rotting. It proves that my experience in selecting the meranti wood had not been good!

  

Because the boat had been built strong and well when the damaged wood had to be removed some of the plywood came out with it!



I cut away most of the plywood leaving only the structures . Another piece of marine ply will be laid on top of this.


  New pieces of 2 inch by 1 inch wood were used to replace the bad wood. I need to be more careful in selecting wood in future!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Cycling Up Fraser's Hill by small Folding Bike


 I had a free day to mess around in KL as I had to attend my brother in law Lum's birthday dinner. with that in mind I got hold of my old scout mate Min Chee for a ride up Fraser's hill. I had done the trip several times but this is the first time I am going up with a 20 inch folder, the Tern CF 7i. My RV with Min Chee was at 0630 hrs at the petrol station at Kayu Ara. I woke up early to cycle the few kms to the station.
 Min Chee has an old tank , the Volvo T5 station wagon to take us to Chiling waterfall where we commenced our cycling.
 Min Chee is several years older than me and had been a national swimmer in his school days. He IS very fit with all his hashing, bashing and cycling.
 With only 7 speed internal gears, it was more demanding to ride up....but not impossible!
 The real test is the 8 km stretch from the Gap up to Fraser'Hill as the road gradient is quite steep.
 Just at the gate of Fraser's Hill I met this group of bird watchers using vey sophiscated big camera to photograph a small bird!. I had to stop and waited for them to finish their clicking before continuing.

This eatery shop which serves simple food at the entrance to Fraser's Hill has been there since my school days. A hot glass of coffee is a must upon arrival.
Of course a mandatory picture here too.

I met my good sailing friend Cheong campervaning here on his VW Royal campervan.

The trip down was of course much easier and less challenging. Now I am looking forward for the next trip up !

Saturday, January 17, 2015

A Dead Friend Friend coming back!!!!

 About 13 years ago I met an Australian yachtsman just outside my shop in Chukai. I asked him if he were the owner of the boat anchored in front of my shop. His reply was "Are you the harbour master?" as I was dressed in y white and blue flying uniform. I said YES. PAY YOUR DUES NOW !
 We had a good chat and by coincidence I had planned to sail to Tenggol Island on my Maxi 77 CAKRAMADA the next day. Well he was also going to Tenggol and we met up in Tenggol again. He became a good friend of mine as we used to swap war stories (He was an officer from the Australian Artillery)



This guys knows quite a bit on cruising and sailing and I enjoyed picking his brain on the subject. On the picture above I took him sailing on  my boat and he taught me the fastest way to stop a boat if there was a man overboard. He method beats all those lengthy explanations on sailing books. After his sailing trip here he went back to Australia and drove round Australia TWICE in a motorhome. I dont know if he missed me or the cheap and casual living in Malaysia but he came back to Malaysia about 6 years ago to have a better life and food with his Australian pension. On one of his trips back to Australia he was diagnosed with the big C in the prostrate. By then he was in his early seventies. Being a resourceful guy, he seeked treatment in Ho Chi Min city and stayed in Thailand with a Thai girl friend. After some time all my communication with him was lost as it was quite difficult for him to get Internet services in rural Thailand. I assumed that he must have died for I sent several emails over a period of a few months and there was never any reply.

Suddenly about 2 weeks ago I got an email with his name. I did not open the mail because I thought it was from some conman. Then another email came and this time I opened and seeing all the spelling mistakes that he makes when he writes the Queen's English I had reason to cbelieve that he is indeed Trevor Hinwood. I got him to authenticate some of our stories and yes it is TREVOR still alive and kicking!!!!. He can even do a selfie!! This guy is great . he is now in Zuhai, China!
This is his latest boat which he also lost quite a fair bit of money and he is now staying away from boats! However, the last email I got from him a few minutes ago is not too healthy. He was talking about his poor health and how he might not want to suffer if it goes worse!!!! Hope he does not does stupid things.