RETURN TO BOAT LAGOON, PHUKET, THAILAND

JANUARY 28, 2016

Phyllis and I returned to our yacht “Solstice” on January 15^th, 2016.  We had left Thailand on September 24^th and flew back to the States to visit family and friends.  The SW Monsoon and consequent rainy season was not favorable for starting the Northern Route to South Africa via Andaman Islands > Sri Lanka > Maldives > Chagos > Seychelles > Comorros? > Madagascar > Richards Bay, SA > Cape Town for Christmas.

We left the boat needing only anti-fouling paint to be applied before launching.  This was done and the boat launched at 0900 hrs on January 21^st.  There were no problems encountered and we moved into Berth A-14 at Boat Lagoon.  Once we were safely tied up in the wet berth, we started to prepare the boat for Sea Trials.  The remaining items to be addressed were: 1)  Change the Seafrost Engine Driven Refrigeration from R-12 freon to the newer 134A freon.

2) Install three new 200 Ahr 8D Ritar Batteries.

3)  Have Canvas Creations put on the new Dodger & Bimini which had been made before we left.

4)  Trouble shoot an oil leak which was coming from the Raw Water Pump.  This turned out to be a Beta UK factory issue:  they forgot to plug a hole that had been occupied by a threaded stud.  This was easily solved by removing the Raw Water Pump and  threading in a stainless steel Allen head bolt with Locktite 242 to hold it in place.

Sea Trials took place on January 28^th from 1212-1342 hrs.  We had a pilot onboard and the general contractor, Wiwat Tachagulpongkon, along with the Beta Representative, Gary Gilbert.  It is rare that a Sea Trial is conducted without a few problems but that is exactly what happened.  The Beta 50 diesel was run out according to Beta’s recommendations: 15 minutes at one third throttle; 15 minutes at two thirds throttle; 15 minutes “full out” at 2800 rpms.  The MaxProp pitch and blade angle settings had been calculated by Fred Hutchins, the CEO of MaxProp, and were perfect:  12-1/2 degrees pitch with a 20 degree  blade  angle.  Kudos go to him and his expertise in calculating the pitch for various engines and their gearboxes.  We ran the engine at the max 2800 rpms and never saw a hint of exhaust smoke.  The throttle maxed out at 2890 and still no smoke.  No undue vibrations were felt in the drive train.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

So after being  on-the-hard for almost a year, the difficulties encountered in modifying the engine beds and installing a new engine, the end result is a most satisfactory job overall.  Now we can get ready to move back aboard and resume the cruising life.