Building Bunks on the Left Hull

 

Next on my agenda is to build the bunks on the hull. The idea is to get as much work done inside the shaded shed before getting the hulls outside to be joined.

 

The interior of the hulls are still bare at this stage. these two hulls will eventually serve as my guest rooms. Now this will ensure maximum privacy for my guest.

 

As per the plan, 6 mm ply is used to make the bunks. The measurements had to be correctly measured before transferring onto the ply to be shaped. This is a tedious process as I will have to climb two ladders to get in and out of the hull. The first photo shows the ladders.

 It takes several trips in and out to get a good fit on the bunks

 

A layer of wood stain is applied onto the marine ply. It gives some protection and also looks good.

  

Here the bunks are ready. At the same time I applied a layer of white epoxy paint to the side of the hull. Notice the voluminous space for storage below the bunks

 

Actually it is quite spacious inside the hull. there is standing room in the middle of the hull.

 

 Next the side of the hull is cut to prepare for the insertion of the two beams.

 Now this beam entrance has been cut the left and right hull has been decided. Do you think this is a right hull or  a left hull?

Shaping the Gypsy Rudders

  This year the Monsoon has been quite bad since October last year until now with the improvement in weather it is time for me to start building my catamaran again. To regain back the momentum, I started with the shaping of both the rudders. the rudders were shaped from a big piece of wood measuring 1100 mm by 300 mm. The wood that I had selected for the job is Balau hitam which is a all weather resistant wood.(same as those used for the main beams)

 First the shape of the rudder had to be drawn on the edge. I then used a planner to give it the basic shape

 It is quite a slow process as the wood is hard.

  

This is half done!

 

 A sander is used to give the final finish .And this is how it looks like when completed.  Now I have to do the same process all over again for the second rudder...the joy of catamaran building...always have to do twice the same work!

Now I have two identical rudders.

The Third Day Bicycling in Holland

 

The weather when I woke up was gloomy. The famous strong winds of Netherlands is here. It was raining slightly and there was some snow as well. Never mind..I will decide after I had  my breakfast at the hostel. Breakfast was a simple affair with good healthy food.

 

While I was having breakfast I met up with another bicycle tourist from Germany. He had just retired at 60 years old and is seeking some adventures in his life. we were heading in almost the same direction towards Hoofdroop. The distance from Den Hague is about 55 km. Now that I had completed my breakfast and the wind is howling, I decided to take a train to Laden which is 25 km away. that means i will have only 30 km to cycle today.

So it is pedal back to the train station where I came from yesterday, bought a ticket and boarded the train for the 20 mins ride to Laden

While standing on the train I met a young lady doing law at the Laden University. We started chatting about the Dutch education system. Soooo good. They were paid quite a sum of money to study in the University. No need to burden the parents. It is all inclusive..fees, food, transport and accommodation. I only wish it were the same here in Malaysia!

 

The GPS bicycle route on my Garmin seems to be playing havoc when I started to ride my bicycle again from Laden to Hoofdroop. It kept pointing me towards the car highways (which do not allow cycling). I had to use my cow sense to get back to the bicycle path. While struggling to get the correct path GPS assisted, I had to ask for direction. There comes this lady on a bicycle at  the deserted country road. She was heading towards her house boat. Looking at the bicycle path map located by the road side she explained to me how to use the Dutch bicycle path to travel along the most scenic route. All you have to do is to join up the numbers on the route and follow the signs joining the numbers. Simple enough but when I rode along I found that locating the road numbers were quite difficult...esp when the weather is less than cooperative

This is how the road side map looks like

Dark clouds were looming again in the horizon. Within an hour it started to pour. GPS says I ma about 5km to Hoofdroop my destination for the day.Then it poured and the wind speed picked up. It was impossible to cycle in this weather and also it became VERY cold. There were no shelters around. My good friend Keith Yim had told me many time he will be standing by for me to call if the weather turns sour and he will just drive up to pick me to the comforts of his home. No..I cannot give up when it is so near.I decided to fold my bicycle(advantage of a folding bike) and started to hitch hike. Within a few minutes a van stopped and offered me a lift to Hoofdroop. This kind soul says it is the first time in his life giving a lift to strangers as it is not a safe thing to do in Holland. I told him I used to give lifts to hitch hikers in Malaysia and this must be some sort of repayment for me! Well he brought me to the village center in Hoofdroop. After a meal of Mac Donalds I cycled to my host Keith Yim's house. Sorry for not having photos of the bad weather but I did not want to damage my camers. believe me....the weather is real bad!

Here I did my shopping for some cheese to bring home. Next moring Keith drove me to the Schipol airport and I departed back home to Malaysia.

Bicycle Tour in Holland (2nd day)

Next morning when I woke up breakfast was ready at my door at precisely 0800 hrs. It is breakfast in the room. While waiting for the sky to light up, i decided to take it easy in the room. Today the distance by bicycle path to Den Haag is about 40 km so it will be about 3 hours on the road.

It looks wet on the road as it had been raining. On closer inspection I saw that ice had been formed on the body of the car parked outside. No problem..the room here is cosy and the wi fi is fast. i will just drag on ...

Within the next hour I noticed it had started snowing and the streets were white just like Christmas morning! I know today is going to be a no cycling day.

I left the bed and breakfast at about 1100 hrs and cycled slowly towards the village train station. the streets were wet and it was very cols...possibly about 0 C so it is no fun to do a long ride.

The bicycles parked on the outside were collecting snow and ice.

Now do I look like a local Dutch man? This  is the train station and it cost me 3.5 Euro to go to Den Haag

Bicycles are the king of machines in Holland. Train or bus also no problem. just take it along.

After about 45 mins I reached Den Haag. Den Haag is famous because this is where the Queen stays. It is the third largest city in Holland so it is rather busy.

 

Using the GPS guidance  I cycled towards the Stayokay  Hostel in Den Haag.  Stayokay is nothing to shout about. I want it cheap so no complaints. But is is very CLEAN and everyone here is so friendly

  

 After checking in I decided to cycle around the town . it is still drizzling and is still very cold but I am not going to let the weather stop me from going out. First stop was to China Town to look for some roasted pork. Looking at the roasted pork and of course the 12 Euro price I decided to go for Dutch food again.The roasted pork will have to wait a few more days!

  

The commercial centre.

 

I was back in the room before 5 pm and I did not know what time I fell asleep. 

Bicycle Tour of South Holland in Winter Again..(1st Day)

 I took an early morning flight from Marseille , France to Amsterdam. My sim session had finished at midnight the previous day so I hardly had more than 3 hours of sleep. At Marseille I was caught by the one bag rule on economy class(I knew I should have gone by TGV, the fast train!) and was slapped with a 55 Euro penalty. I had to bite the bullet to pay or I have to leave one of my bags behind! My baggage weight was only 21 kilos so weight was not a problem as I always travel light.
Upon arrival Amsterdam was the one million dollar question..shall I ride or shall I take a train to Gouda my destination. There was a slight drizzle and the temperature was about 4C...not too bad so I decided to ride. The distance is slightly less than 45 km but I am not sure about the distance using the bicycle path. In Holland you must use the bicycle path and these paths link the whole country.

 

Exiting from Schipol airport was not that easy. i had my Garmin 60CSX GPS with me but it was showing me all over the place. Turn left at 30 m, Turn right at 50 m.....real headache but eventually I found the bicycle path.

 After a few kilos towards the general direction of Rotterdam I came across a lift that was made just to carry the cyclist and bicycle up to an overhead crossing!

Come out from the lift and just continue to ride across the highway.

Huge acreage of farm land were being plowed to plant the winter crop..maybe it is potatoes but I am not sure. this route is quite isolated with very few people around. it must have been because of the weather as it was getting quite cold.

Boats! yes..they are just in the canals along the road side. Sometimes the boats are higher than the road!

 There are numerous signs along the way. They showed directions to all the places except to my destination GOUDA!

 I met this elderly dutch couple on electric assisted bicycles and they spoke English so I asked them for directions to Gouda. The main problem is the bicycle path does not follow the highway but goes along the villages(which makes it interesting but confusing). This couple had been to Langkawi for their holidays.

Finally I arrived at GOUDA a pretty small town that is famous for Cheese .

 I felt very hungry so I made a stop at a food stall to have a kebab. this shop is run by an Iraqi who had served the army during the war.

 With the help of my GPS I arrived at the doorstep of my booked Bed and Breakfast..Ann B and B in Gouda.

 I was happy with the quality of the room that I had and the whole area is very clean.

 Not too bad.. i did 47 km for the first day.There was a lot of stopping along the way so I probably average about 12 km per hr although I rode at about 20 km per hr.. Then again, riding an empty bicycle and riding with a 7 kilo haversack in slight rain and 3 C is different!

 Gouda is a beautiful village. This is the town council and it was built about 200 years ago.

  Since it is winter and temp at night is about0C, there are very few people on the street.

I went to bed early after a meal of burgers and chips

Wild Pig hunting with Crossbow

 

After I left the Air Force I found civilian life to be a bit dull. I always feel a little insecure without a weapon. One of the first thing to do is to buy a piece of land to be made to an orchard and apply for a gun. The process is a long one and in the meantime I came to know that crossbows can be used to hunt big game. this is the result of reading too much Sports afield and Outdoor Life! I got my first crossbow, a PSE Starfire and within a few days "connected" my first game in my farm which at that time was still jungle.

 

Actually to be honest there were quite a few of these animals going after the young banana trees that I had just planted. To play safe I made a small platform at the edge of my farm and put in some bait too. Being creatures of habit, they always go by the same path and come at about the same time so that makes life a little easy for me.

 

The fun from the shooting is only a few minutes but the work afterwards are many hours! In the end the meat gets distributed to friends. I will always get the bites from the ticks!. 

Sometimes I sell the meat to my fellow Mat Salleh pilot / engineer friends and when there is a party coming up I have to work a little harder. The older pilots those days gave me the nickname RAMBO WONG because of my mode of hunting.

I have many more stories on hunting with various weapons and means so stay tuned in!