Boatyard Tour - Rebak Marina, Langkawi, Malaysia
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Wed 15 Jun 2011 04:03
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06:17.804N 99:41.916E
June 7, 2011 - June 15, 2011
Ahhh, the end of the season is nigh. Time to clean the
bilge, rinse the holding tanks, clean the toilets, remove the sails, wind vane,
SSB antennae, backstays and mizzen boom. All a piece of
cake when done in the land of no wind. Not that wind affects
toilet cleaning, but it can certainly make sail removal eventful. Next
step? Haul out.
June 7th was clear and hot with no wind (surprise), so we
(Don) had no trouble backing in to the haul out slip.
Rebak Marina has a huge travel lift, one that's used regularly to haul
double-wide catamarans, so there was plenty of room for us. The haul out
crew includes a diver, whose job it is to insure the lifting straps are
properly placed before lifting starts. Once that was done, up we
went. First we were lifted so the stern was even with land, allowing
us to gracefully step off the back. Then Harmonie was lifted higher,
rolled over land where the crew scraped barnacles off the
keel bottom, then off to the power washing station where most of the bottom muck
was blasted off. After that, on to the final staging area where
Harmonie was set in a cradle. Done. No drama. Don doesn't
usually get nervous about these things, but I usually worry enough for
two. Not this time though, everything was such a non-event I couldn't even
drum up a stomach flip. Sometimes boring is good.
 Our diver posing for the camera after giving the thumb's up to
the travel lift operator.
 Going up.
 Approaching Harmonie's home for the next four
months.
 Wax on, wax off.
Yeah, yeah, I know we said we wouldn't be doing the hull and
bottom work ourselves this year after last year's ankle-breaking event, but the
money we saved by doing most of it ourselves instead of having it done in Phuket
pretty much paid for our Thailand and Vietnam land travel trips. Not a bad
deal. We did pay two local Malaysian guys to sand the bottom (a job
Don hates more than grinding out the old propane locker while crouching in
the stern locker), so all that was left for us to do was wash and wax the
hull (Don will paint the bottom when we return in October). After another
two-day sweat-a-thon, the hull was done. Don chose wisely to let
me do the high stuff while standing on the unique and creatively
constructed Malaysian scaffolding, while he opted to do the lower stuff using a
stepladder. This plan worked well as I never had to climb up or down the
scaffolding contraption - Don just rolled me to a new position after each
section was done. Being rolled around the boat on sketchy scaffolding
was fun - in sort of a twisted way. At one point, while we were both
waxing away, one of the resort golf carts came rolling past with guests
aboard. Apparently they were on a boatyard tour. We couldn't
hear what the tour guide was saying as they whirred by, but can only
imagine it was something like, "....and here on the left is a foreign couple
doing something to their boat. They both seem to be sweating profusely (as
foreigners often do) and the woman insists on wearing inappropriate clothing
with shorts above the knee!"
Ok, so that's about it. We fly home starting
on June 16 (arriving the 17th). Our bags are packed, most of the
food has been eaten, and the elephant has been briefed on proper travel
etiquette. We are looking forward to wearing a sweatshirt and not having
to climb down a ladder and walk through a boatyard in the middle of the
night to pee.
Next up: Season Four Ends
Anne
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