2002 Charter Stories
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Dry Dock 2002~2003
Go to Sumatra and don’t surf for 2 months and see how you feel. Welcome to the Surf Charter industry. Known more colloquially as ‘Boat hell’. It’s all part of living on and owning a boat. Maintenance and docking. Sometimes one has to do things whilst on charter. But we try to get it all done before our passengers turn up.
We floated into the new year grinding, chipping, sanding, welding, painting and preparing the boat for dry-dock.
Belinda turned up a couple of weeks after me and we got engaged then dry-docked the boat! The crew and a couple of their mates went hammer and tong at the hull. It had been 20 months since we had hauled her out and the anti-foul had lost its potency. The Teluk Bayer barnacles sure loved hanging on BJ’s hull.
Katika, was also in dry dock with us and she had another 6 crew working away on her hull. The full Nias contingent egging each other on all day everyday for 2 weeks.
I spent each morning pleading with the dockmaster to pump the black sludge from between the toes of the boys. The retaining walls had quite a few leaks! To the west was the cement factory, to the east was the coal factory, and to the North was the city and its associated smog. The winds swirled some interesting atmospherics around us.
We changed the plumbing in the engine room, putting new stainless steel intakes on each engine. Pulled the shaft and checked it straightness and re-aligned the set-up. Also had the prop pressed back into its true form. Changed the rudder post while we were at it. All major jobs that cut down last years vibration. Gave her some new anodes to sacrifice themselves against corrosion. And a new bottom coat, or 3, of red anti-fouling to keep the barnacles in the bay, so to speak.
All in all a splendid time was had, but it was bloody relief to be out of that particular ‘boat hell’ and back in the water.
We had another week to kill to clean up the topsides and paint the deck and organise carpet and numerous small things….before we went surfing!!!