It’s been so long since I’ve written an update on here I’ve nearly forgotten how!  Once again, back in Bali and on Salsa tucked into the little harbor of Serangan.  I’ve now been back for nearly two months and have in addition to my daily quota of beers I’ve been hard at work trying to get all systems on Salsa operational.  I guess on a positive note is that after leaving her basically unattended for five months nothing got stolen and there was no major damage other than issues form just sitting here during the rainy season in all the humidity?  Of course she wasn’t in pristine shape when I left for Thailand but I’ll give you an idea as to what happens to a boat when you lock it up and leave it.  The “new” problems I found include a layer of mildew on nearly every surface, inside lockers, cabinets, ceilings, floors, clothes, fabrics, everything.  There are a few days of work with a sponge, bleach, and water to get you started.  Then after half a day of inflating the dinghy, putting on all the sails, running rigging (halyards, sheets, etc) I decided to give the motor a go. By the way the batteries were all fully charged as I left on one of the solar panels on and the only thing running on the boat was a bilge pump and that was very rare.  So, the first mechanical issue was the electric fuel pump which wouldn’t run so about 3 seconds with a hammer scared it into running again (I’m now looking for a replacement even though it seems to run ok after the hammer).  Then after failing to get the engine to fire I decided to bleed the fuel line, and that did it!  I was amazed, for some reason I was expecting more problems (but they do come later).  Next I tried to throttle up only to find that the throttle lever was completely seized and would not budge, even the old hammer trick didn’t work.  Eventually a friend on shore with a vice and bigger hammer beat it to submission somehow without breaking it.  Next the Transmission shifter cable wouldn’t budge, beyond repair I found a new one here in Bali.  Next my trusted Toughbook computer which I use for navigation wouldn’t fire up, turned out it was the hard drive, UGH!  So two weeks later and three different computer specialists and a new hard drive and it is running (Total cost $80) but the internal GPS doesn’t work, seems I need a different version of windows to get everything functional but at least I have digital charts.  One day of bottom and prop scraping to get off a one to two inch layer of growth, and those were the basic tasks just to get her ready for a cruise.

The cruise itself then revealed a new list of wonderful opportunities for me to maintain and bond with the boat!  First thing that went offline, the motor, of course!  I probably should have left the fuel tank full when I went to Thailand to prevent moisture and condensation but no, I had a bit of water in the tank and that clogged the filter, just new filsters and another quick bleeding got her going again but eventually I had to drain the tank and clean it, I love that job.  Also the jib furling line was re-installed and misaligned so I kept getting wraps off of the furling spool, basically meaning I couldn’t take the jib in until I got that worked out.  One of the bronze cars that leads the Jib sheet to the winch broke off (got it welded here).   My second Plastimo (the spare one) flexible 30gallon water tank got a leak so I installed the old one I patched that seems ok.  Oh yeah, and my new Transmission leak!  These are just the things I can remember off the top of my head, but the actual to do list I have was around two pages.  I’m thinking I’m just going to live with the transmission leak and get extra fluid as I see two other boats here that have been stuck in Bali for over 5 months due to mechanical issues and difficulties in getting skilled help and obtaining the parts.   So now the to do list is closer to one page, after two months of work, that’s HUGE progress in my mind.  Still some jobs on the list include replacing broken cleats on the mast, greasing all the winches, waterproofing the bimini and dodger, rebuilding a few pumps, and the big one, taking off the rest of the toe rail and re-bedding it to stop the leaking, at least I already finished one third of this in Australia.

Another positive note, if you want help (unskilled labor with minimal English) you can hire a local “boat boy” as they call them for about $10 to $15 a DAY.  I haven’t employed anyone yet but for some of the jobs I have left and also some of the cleaning and polishing I think I’ll get some help for a few days.   So it seems the next month or two will be sent finishing off the “to do” list with a little bit of sight-seeing in-between.

Filed under: sailing

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