Year 2 14 July 2025 – Marlin Marina- Cairns – Another Busy Day
It rained a little first thing but we were up bright and breezy as we had a lot to do. C’est la vie.
The hydraulic man came at 8.00am and checked out the vang (metal hydraulic piston which pulls down the boom when activated) which did not appear to be releasing properly. It was working but he suggested the seal kit may need replacing. They would not be able to get one in time in Cairns. It is working and I can work out how to help it so we can get by but something to be done perhaps in Thailand.
The freezer men came next and considered that the problem was a blockage in the coolant so they drained it and replaced certain sections of the pipe. They then had to fill it with gas etc. To cut a long story short this all took a number of hours and when they fired it up it seemed to work. However, I put my sensor in and it started to go down in temperature a little and it was not going fast. Patience Nick – we will see as they said they will return at 7.30am tomorrow.
The leak man came next and took away the pipe section and cleaned up the metal and put it back and it was still leaking. It needs to be reengineered and he did not know who would do it. He spent quite a bit of time and in the end had to put in some paste which acts like a seal. I cleaned it all up and dried around the area so I could monitor it.
The heads man came regarding the heads in the double cabin which had blocked a little but it now seemed ok. He suggested that he clean out the breathers and that a descale for 24 hours would be sensible. He cleaned out the breathers as best he could and then put in the descaler. I asked him to do the same for the starboard fridge which he did. We therefore could not use the heads for 24 hours and hope this will clear everything.
We had a breather during lunch. William and Nicola had gone off to get some webbing for the anchor chain and a number of other things. They were away a number of hours back with most things which was good and William set about sowing the webbing into the anchor chain and the anchor locker could be put back together again.
Adam continued to clean the toe rail and did various other jobs and Mark helped when he could. The workmen had left by 4.15pm and we still need to fill up the gas bottle so Nicola and I jumped in a cab and headed to BCF and got it refilled. We all had a shower and met in Salt for happy hour and then had an unusual meal on the Prawn Star – which were 3 old fishing boats together where the menu was literally jumbo prawns, prawns, Moreton Bay Bugs (crayfish) and Sashimi Salmon. It was delicious but limiting.
It had been a busy day but productive. The freezer was not working so I hope when the man returns tomorrow morning that he has a solution. The picture of the day is the 5 of us on the Prawn Star.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com