My oh my where do the days go to......it is Wednesday already and pack up day. Well now Sunday was ok with more cleanup and a couple of chores attacked. Why would they bring out a new model foot anchor switch and put a flange on it so you cannot fit into the same hole as the old ones!? I am sure they do it to make life difficult. Sunday night at the Golf Club for boaties dinner and met acquaintances from the rally Doug and Margaret on Tonic who are slipping here on Wednesday before a quick trip to Kiwi land.
Monday and assistant one started and more progress was made. He was the right size to get into the bilge and so he washed it all out again and all the aft cabin again and dried it. He then cleaned up all the accumulated dust in the cockpit and once it looked spick and span things started to feel better. Assistant two started on Tuesday by pumping out the remaining thirty five litres (of 200 to start with) from the tank and then totally cleaned out the tanks removing the peeling inner paint so I can ultimately have a go at sealing the tank from the inside as well. Rosdi did a great job of this while Johnno di general cleaning and then attacked the decks, windows etc. We fitted the anchor switch with a lot of manual cutting and filing but it is in and works and then decided to unload the anchor and chain to send away for galvanising in KK so we dropped it off into a box.
Must admit to spending a bit of time in the afternoon sitting on the foredeck under the shadecloth talking to Eric who owns the fishing boat next door. Picked up a lot of interesting and useful local information and all about the fishing boats and their "relationship" with the Phillipines only a couple of hours away.
Peddle into town most nights to enjoy dinner.
Wednesday the boys were into it and the final cleaning up of the now internally spotless tanks was completed, some polishing and cleaning and in the afternoon to while away the time some quick varnishing to seal some areas needing attention but they will need more coats on return but this will hold them in good condition in the meantime. Started to secure things before imminent departure.
Wednesday night Doug and Margaret called in and we walked into town for dinner.
As to bilge pumps and things. No I don't leave the pumps on although I do know of a boat that sank on the land when the cockpit scuppers became blocked and the water seeped in under the stormboards until the boat filled up with devastating effects. However because all our machinery and "wet things" are behind sealed bulkheads aft we don't have bilge pumps in the cabin areas so they were not there to do the job. I guess if they were at that stage the diesel would have still seeped over everything that it did before hitting the bilge and being pumped out anyway! So not sure they would have much use other than to create a big pool of diesel beside the boat rather than captured within the bilge.
Kudat is a delightful fishing town/village where westerners are still a novelty. An industrious and busy place with many comings and goings and very friendly people. Each time I come here I get more out of it.
Off tomorrow to KK and then to Singapore, Darwin and Cairns.