Rebak Island is a private island of 390 acres containing a five-star resort, Vivanta by Taj. Rebak Island Marina is part of the resort, but, is quite separate and feels like another world even though it's only a short walk between the two. The resort is very expensive and probably very nice. It certainly seems popular and is very busy. The marina facilities are not so nice, the toilets and showers are filthy, the hot water is intermittent and only half of the toilets and showers work. You have to watch for frogs, centipedes and small geckos that need to be shooed out before using the facilities. In spite of this, the perfectly protected marina basin is very popular.
There is no swell, or, current and only a small tidal range. The 24 hour security and water access only, from Langkawi, makes it a secure place to leave a boat either in the water, or, on the hard. Langkawi is also a duty-free zone, meaning boat parts can be ordered from abroad without duty to pay. There are lots of Brits and Aussies here, a few Germans, French and some Chinese boat owners.
As marina residents we can use some of the resort facilities, like the restaurants and pool, but, we haven't even been over there yet. This is because we've entered the twilight zone again, not the van conversion one, but, the one known as the 'new boat discovery phase'. All new boatowners are familiar with that one. It's when, after you've discovered a few faults, or, things you didn't see on your pre-purchase visit, that you curse yourself for buying this piece of c...p and paying way too much for the privilege. We've been through this before and we know that after a few weeks things will settle down and we will again appreciate the reasons that we bought this boat in the first place.
We thought the campervan conversion was difficult in the heat of Hervey Bay, Australia. We didn't know how much worse it could get. Here in Langkawi, we are only about 350 miles north of the equator and living in a very protected basin in which there is very little wind. It just bakes, day in and day out. It's like living in a sauna smothered in a wet blanket. After ten days of no sleep, daytime misery and with thoughts of having to work inside small, hot spaces inside the boat, we couldn't cope and broke down and bought an air conditioner. We've never had a/c before and generally would prefer not to have it, but, it has been a godsend, just a small 9,000 btu 'window' unit is keeping the boat dry and around 25C. We've stuck it in a hatch on deck. It made the thought of working inside the bowels of the boat a little more palatable. It does mean that it will take even longer now to acclimatize because we've become a/c hostages and avoid going outside if we don't have to!
Our 'discovery phase' usually consists of at least the following activities:
- identify required changes (regulatory requirements etc.)
- identify desired changes
- discover and document every item of equipment on board
- locate or obtain user manuals for each item
- determine maintenance requirements for each item and make a maintenance schedule
- decide on what spares should be carried, make a list of what we've got and what we have to get
- determine what consumables are used by each item and determine quantities to be carried
- go through every nook and cranny on the boat determining where the wires and pipes go
- locate and examine all the pumps and through hulls and draw location maps
- exercise all systems and equipment on board through various scenarios
- check all safety items are in place
- make a predeparture checklist
- make a storage contents map and index
- draw plumbing, electrical and electronic schematics (including critical fuse locations)
- organize a ship's library of equipment binders and information
- make standard operating procedure, commission and decommission manuals
- prepare a logbook
- identify and list all charts, electronic and paper
Finally, after getting through the above activities, we make a to-do list, sorted into 'must-do now before leaving', 'do later' and 'nice-to-do in future'. We've given ourselves two months for the discovery phase and completion of the 'must-do now before leaving' items. It may seem a long time, but, we've been working hard at it every day and the days just fly by. We're just about half-way through the 'must-do now before leaving' items. It looks like we'll be on target to be out cruising by the end of July. We'll see...
It's been a slog so far, but, there have been some rewarding results as well. A big job was reconfiguring the electronics and navigation station. We are very happy with the result as we've restored one of the best features of this boat, its 360 degree exterior view while seated at the nav table. Now, we can see over the top again!
As part of this process we removed a lot of old equipment and wire. 'Chasing wire' as I call it, is actually a very satisfying process. It starts out as an omg! moment, when you first open it up and look into a pile of looped spaghetti. After a few days of going through it, wire-by-wire, playing detective, it starts to make some sense. There are always lots of surprises along the way: wires that have been spliced to a different colour half-way through the run, wires that lead to a dead-end, or, connect to dead equipment, wires that aren't connected, or, poorly connected, wires that have been cut-off and left hanging etc.
Generally, though, we were impressed by what we saw. This boat is built like a tank and it definitely showed everywhere we looked.
The insulation all looked extremely well done. Almost too well done, as it was impossible to run any new wire anywhere.
The discovery phase is a lot of detailed work, but, pays off in the long run. When you know your boat, its equipment and systems you start to feel somewhat confident you'll at least know where to start looking when there's a breakdown, or, systems emergency on board.
Is there anything that you both can't do????!!! KUDOS 😍
ReplyDeleteWishing you happy discoveries and good luck. Thank you for keeping in touch.
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