Damn you chain plates!!!!

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Geo: 7.97501, 98.3515

When Drew arrived in the marina poor Malmuirie was looking all a bit wrecked, he had 5 people on board for 10 days and the weather had taken it's toll. The rigging had taken a battering with the bow rod splitting which meant he had to take the foresail off altogether. A spreader had bust off the mizen mast and all the cap rails where just about threadbare, so once again we knuckled down and set about putting her back together.

Caring for Malmuirie is a labour of love, we started off ordering a new rod made to be made up for the bow sprit but unfortunately it will take a number of days. Drew had a couple of workers on board to clean and polish all the stainless stanchions etc. which came up fab, they were just all rusty. He arranged to have the aft handrail taken off, repaired and varnished as it was split and insecure and looked really tatty, and new hatches made up for the storage area as they were completely rotten to the extent they would draw termites to the boat.

He called a rigging specialist but with the age of the boat they're not interested in tuning the rig only replacing it but he was actually very complimentary about the set up and condition of the rigging he can see. But the masts are out of line to the extent the mizen mast is really tilted backwards so needs some attention.

While waiting on the new parts for the rigging, Drew and I set about stripping the cap rails and all the woodwork on the stern of the boat and starting the labour of applying 7 coats of varnish to everything. We spent a week on the port side before turning the boat around and starting on the starboard and stern, it's all about patience, between every coat we gave it a light sand, wash down and polish dry before applying another coat.

Finally everything starts to come together and she is looking a million bucks, the woodwork looks amazing together with all the stainless steel being polished up, the new handrail for me makes the biggest impact... wow it really looks great. New hatches, new water bottles, everything cleaned and ship shape again and finally we get the rigging rod back from the stainless guys.

The new rod was a perfect fit and meant Drew could now start tuning the rigging, although he's never done it before we gathered and researched a lot of information and were given a great book by one of our friends John which was really in depth. I have to admit I was nervous about the rigging tuning process because I know the tonnage involved to have the masts straight and working properly with the right tension.

Carefully Drew measured everything to guage exactly what tuning was required, beforehand everything is slackened off and tied to hand tight then it's all carefully measured by the millimeter adding the right degree of pressure onto the rig. He was doing a great job and really pleased with the way it was all going when 'bang'... I swear the mast lifted off the boat and slammed back down, one of the main chain plates had split and to be honest I felt devastated, but instead of Drew being negative about it he was simply happy it had happened in the marina and not out at sea.

It puts us back again however and instead of getting one new chain plate made up he took the exact opposite from the starboard also and had two new ones made up but due to the steel required we were struggling finding someone with the right materials. Our friend Tony gave us a contact who could do it and instead of taking 10 days we had been quoted he could make them up much quicker which was great. So time for a bit of chilling, we can take her out because the masts are unsecured so end up staying in the marina until the work is done.

Finally the chain plates arrive and Drew manages to tune the rigging without any further mishaps and she looks great great, the masts all nicely back in line and the rigging tight with the right pressure. So now's the time to head to Myanmar but unfortunately I decided not to go, financially the costs of getting into Myanmar are way out of my budget so I only sail with Drew as far as Chalong before heading back to the marina and trying decide what's next.

While I was on board heading to Chalong there was no wind so we didn't get the sails up for a test run but he'll manage on his trip onwards. I'll be around when he gets back and hopefully do some sailing around Phang Nga area which is close by so I bid him safe travels and leave once more, shame we were stuck in the marina for two months as my whole plan for cycling back was to get into Myanmar before monsoon season but it didn't happen.

Here's to our next trip...

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