Transmission Re-build!

After replacing pretty much all the bearings in the v-drive over the last few days and then reinstalling it back into the boat we've come to the conclusion that this was not the only cause of the vibrations. Unfortunately, the damage extended further and has affected the transmission as well. This has proved extremely frustrating as we were up until 1 am this morning putting everything back with the hope that all would be perfect but no such luck. With much head scratching and our ears to the floor trying to locate the source of a loud knocking sound Jimmy and Roger (our Singaporean engine guru) finally came to the conclusion that it 'has' to be the bearing in the transmission.

So today it was back to the grind stone and the slow process of removing the whole gear box, taking it up to Roger's work area and breaking it down. The bearing definitely needs replacing so that's good news and the clutch plates look perfect. Unfortunately it's a holiday here on Monday so we have to wait until Tuesday before we can get the new bearing (if I ever have to see another bearing after this it will be too soon) but in the mean time we can clean everything up including the inch of grease that covers every surface in the boat... and hopefully get a full nights sleep!

Roger has been fantastic and without him we'd be paying a fortune to have a mechanic come down and do the work for us. He even took us out for some traditional Chinese food last night of chicken rice which is really popular here in Singapore...all tasted great but I had to draw the line after a mouth full of boiled chicken feet skin...enough of a cultural experience for one night and I wouldn't recommend it!!

Back in the water but not yet back on track.

Current Position: Raffles Marina, Singapore.

On Tuesday afternoon we were finally dropped back in the water after eight days on the hard. The new bronze strut has been fiber glassed into the hull and a brand new propeller shaft is back in place. This should have been a very happy moment for us but after a quick test run we noticed a lot of vibration on the new shaft and v-drive unit inside the boat. We drove Blue Moon back into the marina and started the process of figuring out what could be causing this as the marina manager assured us that the new strut is perfectly aligned. Wednesday morning we started the process of breaking down the V-drive unit to replace some of the bearings that could be causing the problem, since then Jimmy's been breaking his back carrying the unit back and forth from the boat but as of yet the problem isn't solved.

After mentioning the problem to the yard we've heard nothing from them and as far as we can tell now that we've paid them for the work they want nothing more to do with us...no follow through or interest in why there is a problem, not even a friendly concern!! Luckily we have a saving grace in the form of Roger, an older Singaporean man who knows everything there is to know about marine engines. Jimmy happened to meet him in passing and asked a few questions which resulted in a great teacher/student relationship, he's even driven Jimmy all over Singapore looking for the new bearings. We're pretty confident that with Rogers knowledge we'll finally get to the bottom of the problem and be out of here in time to get to Phuket by Christmas...Fingers crossed!

Happy Thanks Giving.

It's a day late but officially Thanks giving in the States as we're a day ahead time wise here in Singapore...so I hope everyone is having a great day. The tradition for Jimmy is to have a Turkey dinner a lot like we have in England for Christmas but finding a turkey here was pretty much impossible unless we wanted to pay $60. Instead we had another American style meal of Cheeseburgers and Corn on the cob...not quite the same but still tasted great!

We're still on the hard and waiting for the strut to be fixed, after being hauled on Monday other than twenty minutes of grinding nothing has been done. Patience is a virtue and we are being tested to our limits at the moment. The good thing is that we've taken the time to do work of our own checking all the rigging and running into the city to visit Jimmy's favorite stores at the Sim Lim tower (every electrical component you can think of is sold here) to get pieces and parts to improve the electronics on the boat.

Being on the hard is never fun as we can't use the toilet and the heat is unbearable especially at night when were trying to sleep, so we're very thankful for the Pool and air conditioned lounge which gives us a break. How long will we be out for?...to be honest we have no idea and no one is giving us any hints, if they work they work but we're not holding our breath!

High and Dry!

Current Location: Raffles yard, Singapore.

As of 10am yesterday morning Blue Moon is now High and Dry in the haul out yard in Raffles Marina. With the use of our dinghy and the help of marina staff we were able to propel ourselves around to the travel lift and within a half an hour we were lock and chocked on the hard stand. Amazingly the bottom paint from Panama is holding up pretty well so no need to re-paint this time just replace the strut and shaft and away we go. We're really impressed with the work the yard does from looking around at other yachts being repaired so we're extremely confident that this is one of the best yards for getting our work done. Yesterday they ground out the base of the old strut and today they should start the process of putting in the new one. It's a little complicated as the strut has to be lined up perfectly to prevent any unwanted vibrations in the propeller shaft but we'll leave that to the professionals and fingers crossed it will last for a long time to come!

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Trapped in Raffles!

Position: Raffles Marina, Singapore.

Well we're still here waiting to get hauled out in the yard to fix our strut... It's been over three weeks and we feel like we're fighting an up hill battle with the yard, they keep putting us off due to higher paying jobs being more important than us even though they arrived later!!...and yes they did tell us this themselves. In five years of cruising this is probably the worse we've been treated in a place we least expected it.

We're constantly being promised that we'll be the next boat out and yet we've watched a constant stream of yachts going up and down! When we question them on the day we're supposed to get hauled they just tell us to come back in a couple of days time and they'll see what they can do...amazing! If we'd have known it would have taken this long we could have done some inland travel or even flown home for a visit, as it is we're constantly worried about time and money as this is not a cheap Marina. The yard manager also told us to have the new Strut Fed Exed in as soon as possible from the states as this will speed things up and we'll be out as soon as the package arrives...it arrived three weeks ago and here we are still waiting.

On a good note we really can't complain about the marina itself, every morning we have the Singapore straits newspaper delivered to the boat, The pool and gym are fantastic and there's even a bowling alley. To get to the city we take a free shuttle bus to the MRT (mass rapid transport) station which is a train and underground system that takes us anywhere we want to go downtown. The food is the best we've had in a very long time and if you buy it in the mall's food courts it's also really cheap....with a mix of Chinese, Indian and Malaysian it tastes so good! So here's to getting stuck in yet another Paradise.

Stuck in Sinagapore!

Current Position - Raffles Marina: North 01*20'555 East 103*38'017

This week has been extremely exciting but not in a good way...we had a great time anchored in Danga Bay in Malaysia and caught the bus over to Singapore for a couple of days exploring and sightseeing. It's a great way to see Singapore without checking the boat in and Out and having to stay in an expensive marina. The Malaysians are really friendly and with the combinations of many cultures including Indians and Chinese it's a really diverse place to hang out and more importantly eat out! So after a week of acclimatizing to a new country we decided to get underway and start heading up the Melacca Straights and the west coast of Malaysia. All went smoothly and we were making good time motoring along until all of a sudden we heard a loud crunching sound from under the boat, every sailors nightmare and panic shot through us both as all we could think was 'the strut'!

We'd noticed in Australia that the bronze strut holding the propeller shaft in place had become weakened after we got a rope caught around it in Brisbane. Jimmy had reinforced it and was fairly confident that it would out until we could get ourselves to Lankawi in northern Malaysia where we'd find a cheaper
haul out yard to get the work done.

Obviously our luck had run out as Jimmy jumped into the water and confirmed our worst fears...the strut was hanging upside down from the shaft and no longer attached to the hull so we were without an engine. We quickly made the decision to turn around and try to sail the 15 miles back to Singapore, luckily we were traveling in company with Ingvil and Gunnar on s/v Helen Kate so we called them on the radio and they agreed to turn around to accompany us back. By 4pm the wind started to die off making it impossible to sail and so we threw a tow line across to Helen Kate and they pulled us the last nine miles back to a small island on the Malaysian side facing Raffles Marina on the western tip of Singapore.

We anchored up and dropped the dingy to use as an emergency engine if necessary and were happy to get some sleep. At 4 am we were hit with a huge lightning storm with winds blowing up to 40 knots and heavy rain. If the anchor didn't hold we would have been in serious trouble without an engine we wouldn't have been able to stop ourselves dragging into the rocks of Singapore! Luckily the anchor did hold and at first light we made the decision to get Blue Moon into a Marina as soon as possible.

Raffles was the only marina close enough with a haul out yard but of course we had to check out of Malaysia before we could enter Singapore waters. The check out process took all morning but with the help of the Puteri Bay marina it all went smoothly and by mid day we had the dingy strapped to the side of the boat and used the outboard engine to propel us the three miles across to Raffles without a hitch. We said a sad fair well and big thank you to Ingvil and Gunnar as they returned on their trip up the coast and we tied up to the dock to start the waiting process for being hauled out!

Luckily we'd already ordered a new strut to be cast back in the states so it was sitting on the shelf waiting and with the help of Jimmy's dad it arrived today by Fed Ex. The problem is that there's a long waiting list for yard and we're definitely not at the front of it. I can't complain though as there's a great swimming pool to hang out in and easy access to the city so we'll be seeing a lot more of Singapore!

Checking in to Malaysia!

Current Position in Danga Bay Malaysia: North 01*28'272 East 103*43'442

After a successful trip up to Batam Island we pulled into Nongsa Point Marina on the north western tip to enjoy once again being tied up to a dock. This time however instead of the docks falling apart it was a first class resort with a beautiful marina and most importantly a huge swimming pool. We had little time to enjoy it though as we were there to get fuel, water and groceries and then check out of Indonesia. It was sad to be leaving a country we've enjoyed so much but we were also excited to be going somewhere completely new. The formalities went extremely smoothly, very different from our check-in in Kupang, and everyone seemed honestly sad to see us go!

At 8:30 yesterday morning after the final clearance from customs was given we headed out of Batam and into the crazy Singapore Straights! This is one of the busiest shipping areas in the world and we had to sail from South to North across the main shipping lanes running from East to West. Imagine playing the game frogger but instead of logs they were giant tankers and instead of a frog it was Blue Moon. We had to pick a time with the biggest gap between ships and just push as hard as we could to the other side without getting run down. It would be impossible for the ships to stop as they all run at 12 minute intervals and if one slows down there would be some major accidents. So we pushed our way across without any hiccups and were very happy to slow the engine down and just enjoy the sights and sounds of the Singapore skyline. There was one small incident, however, when we decided to take a short cut through some islands on the Singapore side and were approached by the coast guard who asked us to move as quickly as possible out of the live firing range and did we check our charts you stupid people because we could very easily have be hit!...better navigation next time!!

Our final destination was Tanjung Puteri on the Malaysian side of Western Singapore, there's a relatively narrow channel that runs between Malaysia and Singapore which is joined at the top by a Causeway and we headed up the western side to anchor off a newly developed marina which was supposed to be finished by next month. On arrival we realized that the project was way behind schedule and so we had to anchor for the night in a muddy work site! This obviously wasn't the place to be so this morning we picked up anchor and carried on up the channel to where we are now in Danga Bay. This is a much nicer anchorage in a wide bay with good holding and forest on one side and the town of Jahor Baru on the other. We were met this morning by the supervisor of the unfinished marina who took us to complete our clearance into Malaysia and even gave us a free tour of the area. So now we are now officially checked into Malaysia for no cost at all and a great start to a new country!