Raymarine Electronics For Sale

We have for sale a package of Raymarine equipment :

• L770 Plus Fishfinder & Radar Screen
• DSM250 High Power Fish Finder Module
• RL70C Plus Radar & Fishfinder Screen
• 4D 24" 4Kw Radar Scanner (48Nm)
• Radar Cable
• HSB Connection Cable

All items are fully operational, presently installed on Crystal Blues (we have new systems on the way). Come and see them working at any time.

We're now at Rebak Island Marina in Langkawi, Berth D16.

Email :  svcrystalblues@gmail.com

Mobile :  +60-11-2769-8420

The package is offered at a bargain price, only US$900.00, though individual items may be sold seperately.
 

Cruisehiemers

Crystal Blues has been lifted out of the water and is on the hard stand at Rebak Island Marina, in Langkawi, Malaysia.

Ley (optimistically) booked for just a week, thinking we only had to do a quick anti-foul paint job and replace some plumbing - one week, should be easy.  

So now, almost three weeks later, no paint tins have even been opened, though the end is in sight.

In The Beginning

Removing the toxic underwater paint with normal electric sanding machines is not recommended.  

We now use an air powered random orbital sander that allows us to sand the hull wet, without too much effort. We keep the water running over the work area and the old paint is flushed away.  There is no dangerous dust, though it is still a very dirty and messy job. 

Once this was done I finished polishing the topsides, a job we started back in Singapore. Then followed all the stainless bright work.

So Far So Good

Next Ley tackled the brass-ware - aka cleaning the propeller ready for the new paint system.  

All was moving along quite smoothly until our neighbour Eddie said - "gee, you've got a bit of movement in that P-strut bearing".  Sure enough that bearing was badly worn - 10 years and almost 3000 hours of motoring will do that.  We ordered a new bearing from Australia, started to disassemble the drive train and the real fun began (click the link below).

Good Medicine In Penang

Crystal Blues had health issues, with "something" around the propeller.  So after a few days of rest and recuperation in Penang I dived on the propeller and removed an indecent chunk of rope.  What a pain - visibility in the marina was less that 12 inches, and cutting it away was a slow process.  I'm still amazed that we managed to maneuver the boat into the berth with this around the propeller.

In Penang we were medical tourists - we had our own schedule of tests and specialist visits (mainly dermatology), but we were surprised at the massive numbers of foreign visitors here purely for the medical facilities.  At Hospital Lam Wah Ee, the specialist surgeon who removed Ley's "lump" (a small BCC) said his business was directly linked to the number of Air Asia flights coming in from Indonesia.  Things have changed.

Penang is still a most attractive Asian city, one of our absolute favourites. It ain't perfect, but it is a shining example of racial tolerance and self awareness, welcoming visitors with a quirky sense of humor, great food and a multi-cultural social history that is alive and prospering. 

Our friends there made us welcome, celebrating our visit with embarrassing repeated dinners and seafood specials - what a great time we had.  It has been wonderful to watch Eileen and Gerome's children blossom into delightful , articulate teenagers who are now planning tertiary education.  It is also great to see how Onomichi Marine, their business,  has grown and transformed over the 8 years we have know each other.

On Board USS Carl Vinson

We sail with just 2 crew most times, so it was amazing to visit a vessel with a ship's crew of 3000, plus another 3000 "passengers" being the various air wing teams deployed aboard.  That's 6000 people on a ship that is 1000' long, and displaces 192,900 tons. 

Crystal Blues neighbour at Keppel Bay Marina was a very smart Riviera power cruiser that is owned by the US embassy in Singapore. Commander Paul Harris Wilt runs the boat, whilst his real job is Assistant Naval Attache at the embassy. Paul invited us to a reception on board the carrier when the battle group berthed in Singapore. The USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) is the third United States Navy Nimitz class supercarrier and is named after Carl Vinson, a Congressman from Georgia, in recognition of his contributions to the US Navy.

Onboard, we moved through an honor guard into a massive aircraft hanger, dressed with flags, where the reception was held.  Military music, food and drinks of course, on an otherwise "dry" US Navy vessel. 

The real fun began after the speeches and formalities - we were invited to ride the aircraft lift up to the flight deck and inspect the various aircraft up there.  An amazing site, dozens of aircraft of many types, positively eerie on the darkened flight deck.

We "Love" The Mallacca Straits

This was our eleventh Malacca Straits passage, and it turned out to be just like some of the others - a pain in the neck.  Keeping in mind that the boat hadn't been actively used for fifteen months, we started cautiously with a 40 mile passage from Singapore to Pulau Pisang.  A quiet night there was followed by a good 6 hours of sailing before the wind dropped and we started the Cummins diesel.  All systems were working fine and we spent some time on deck that day, completing the re-rigging - runners, preventers, down-haul and the like. The new Raymarine autopilot worked fine straight up and it was a joy to be at sea again.

With The Smoke Haze, It Felt This Black

That night things changed, with a decent 35 knot Sumatra (squall) coming in from the north west just after 21:00hrs.  It blew for a couple of hours and settled down gradually.  Our real issue was that I managed to receive a bad rope burn on the fingers of my left hand when releasing the traveler under pressure - substantial skin removed from two fingers and minor burning on the palm and others.  Yes it hurt like hell. After 52 years of sailing I felt like an amateur again - definitely out of practice.  We immersed it in ice water for 15 minutes, then cut away the loose bits, lathered it in Savlon and wrapped it (photo here if you're medically interested).  I have never been so glad to have good pain killers on board.  We call that Incident #1.

Bound For Penang, Smoky Haze

We departed Singapore this morning on schedule, clearing immigration just after noon and turning westward across the bottom of the island.  By 15:00hrs we should will be turning north west, up the Malacca Straits. 

The smoke haze from forest fires in Sumatra is very thick - visibility is down to about 3 or 4 miles.  The haze will clear as we head northwards, aiming to be in Penang by Thursday.  The past week was highlighted by a succession of send-off dinners with many friends, the final one was being last night aboard MV Alfa Nero (Robin & Dianna Enlund) at Kepple Marina.  Consequently we're a liitle slow today, but very happy to be at sea again.

Escaping Singapore

Crazy Curved Buildings At The Marina

That's us on the right, so keen to move, sitting here with our mainsail up in the marina. Only two days to go and we'll be away - north from Singapore to Penang, and then on to Langkawi for haul out and yard work.  

This will be our (count 'em) eleventh passage through the Malacca Straits.  Never again, we said last time....

Crystal Blues has been neglected for quite a while, so we're putting energy into cosmetic and systems work.  The mainsail has been bent onto the boom, tracks lubricated and sheets rove. Tomorrow we'll hoist and furl the staysail, and she'll be a sail boat again.  Ley has been busy stocking the freezer and pantry, while supporting me with the polishing, hull cleaning and the systems work. She's also been repairing damaged covers with the sewing machine we carry.


 We've hoisted the dinghy on deck for a thorough clean and minor patch job.  Still need to service the outboard engines, one more job. 

On the systems side, we always voyage with dual Autopilots fitted, with a changeover switch to select the "in service" pilot system.  This year the oldest Autohelm unit died (23 years is fair service), so it has been replaced with a new Raymarine ACU400 with the fancy new EV1 sensor core.  This of course meant running new cables from A to B and from C to D and so on and so on for several days, removing ceiling panels and drilling and painting yet more holes in steel frames - lots of fun for all. 

We've also completed installation of an AIS Man Overboard alarm system (more on that in the future), updated the voltage regulator for the engine alternator and many other jobs.  However the autopilot system was really the big one, as it meant introducing new data networks to the boat and finding ways for the older systems to share information with the new ones.  So we now (stupidly) have six (count them) different marine data networks on board, plus extensive ethernet and wifi systems. We'll talk more about that in a future post.

Sarah, Shaun, Sam & Harrison

Today we went to sea for the first time in six months, testing systems and tuning the new autopilot.  More importantly it was also to be our last picnic sail in Singapore, so we left the dock with family on board - Shaun, Sarah, Harrison and baby Sam, plus my brother Peter Langford who was in town this week attending a conference.  It hasn't rained for weeks, so of course the heavens opened just before our scheduled departure time.  We waited for the system to move through and then motored out of the marina - what a joy to be afloat and moving again. A great day, swimming, fishing and enjoying good food.  Four year old Harrison said the boat was "cool".

Singapore has changed regulations recently, visiting yachts now need to have a locally licensed captain on board - just to go for a day sail.  You can do an online license test, apparently a days swatting will get most people a pass. All private boats must also now lodge a voyage plan before every departure (only $20 at the marina office) and you must have AIS running as well.  Private boating is tightly managed here.  So today we had to hire a licensed captain to be on board for our daysail  ...  could not get a cruising permit without that.

Black Streaks Are Us

Escaping the grind of 12 hour work days in Manila, boat work seemed an attractive option and Crystal Blues has been ignored for some time.  Arriving aboard in Singapore twelve days ago, we were surprised how much attention she really needed.

 The acid rain here is (we think) the worst in the world - just one rain shower can have the boat looking zebra striped.

If the black is not removed quickly, it will eat into older gel coat and paint systems to become a permanent feature of the vessel.  

Our Awlgrip paint is five years old, but living in Manila for the past year we were simply not washing the boat often enough.  So we returned to a stripy hull and decks that resisted all attempts at conventional cleaning.

We really needed a solution.

Our Cruising Mantra - Retire Young - Retire Often

We first retired from our work in Australia in 2005, before going cruising.  For five years we stayed gainfully unemployed, before happenstance offered up a variety of interesting projects and challenges over the intervening years.

Since then we've been involved in making digital HD videos of beautiful villas in Bali and Thailand, project management at a zip-line ride and adventure park on Sentosa Island and consulting for a Singapore company, building an AV design team in Singapore and India.  These projects allowed us to experience the south Asia area in depth, and between the assignments we managed to continue our cruising life style.

Making Videos - Luxury Villas In Bali and Thailand

Project Management - MegaZip At Sentosa Island, Singapore

Building Systems - Axis Bank Mumbai, Video Walls & Multiple Meeting Rooms

Our latest contract has given us the opportunity to discover another country as we've been based in Manila for almost 12 months.  I've been working with a local company on a range of very large projects, including a museum, a luxury home and the largest temple in Asia.  Most recently I've been responsible for the design, implementation and commissioning of media systems for the new City Of Dreams Casino in Manila.

When the Fun Stops... Retire

Ley sends me off to work each morning with a consistent and clear message - have fun !  We both know that when the fun stops we will move on, returning to our cruising home.  

Retirement day now is now looming again.  On August 31 (in just one week), we'll be off again.  Yes, we are on a count down, there is water at the end of the tunnel and we are looking forward to sailing on it very soon.

Crystal Blues should depart Singapore in early October, calling in at Penang for a few weeks before hauling out of the water at Rebak in Langkawi (Malaysia) for some much needed under water anti-fouling paint. By January we'll be back to our old haunts around Phuket in Thailand.

Barnacle Busting

Barnacles and a solitary oyster living on the inlet fittings.

Almost two years since we last applied anti-fouling paint, and the barnacles are starting to grow on our hull once again.


Frustrated with barnacles blocking our raw water intake, in April this year we installed an Ultrasonic Antifoul System on Crystal Blues (read more here & here).  Though the Ultrasonic System is marketed to control barnacle growth on hulls, we were really wanting the system to keep our water intakes clear.  

Since the installation, the inlet hoses and filter basket have been growth free.  One victory for technology.  However the jury is not 100% convinced (yet) on the system's effectiveness on the hull.  Four months after the last clean, diving on the boat we find a fairly regular covering of small barnacles (the boat has been sitting in a marina in Singapore for the entire time).  Would it have been worse without the Ultrasonic system ?  Cautiously, we believe the answer is yes.

Systems Rich Neil

High Tech Cleaning

Removing the barnacles with a paint scraper is an arduous task, so this time we tried using the WaveBlade tool.  

We had looked at these tools with some suspicion over the past few boat shows.  Its like a hand held electric chisel, waterproof, and powered by 12 volts DC.  Faced with several acres of nasties, it seemed worth a try.

I can say this is a wondrous tool !  In use, the best description I can give is that its like shaving the hull.  With a light pressure and low angle, the blade glides across the surface of the hull and simply explodes everything in its path.  The small barnacles don't even slow it down, they just fall off, and the few large critters we found disappeared in seconds. The wave blade isn't specially fast, but it does make removing the critters an easier task.

Shaun & Harrison Helping Out With Scraper & Scrubber.

Low Tech Cleaning

Of course an even easier method is to send someone else in to do the dirty work.

Isn't that what grand kids are for ?  

You can never start hull cleaning too young, and  three year old Harrison was very keen to help Poppa Neil.  

Long may it last.

Another Gemini Birthday

Friday June 13, Lucky For Some

Time flies when you are having fun and it flies even faster the older you get.  Neil and Ley celebrated another birthday on June 13.

Neil's work mates had a surprise for him when he arrived at site, at the City Of Dreams Casino in Manila Bay.  It was in the form of a luscious, super rich, chocolate birthday cake.

After the candle was blown out and the cake cut and shared there was still plenty left over.  We left it at the office as we were flying out that afternoon to another birthday celebration in Singapore.

Ray and Jan Pitt, aka Crystal Blues part time "deckie and galley bitch" were coming to Singapore to continue the celebrations.

They arrived bearing gifts of bubbles and good cheer and quickly settled into their cabin and started to chill out after a whirlwind trip to Bali.

A little bit of Singapore charm was also added to the night as we had starters and pre dinner drinks in Tekka Mall in Little India.  

Then we rode the MRT to the Sands Casino and enjoyed fine dining, Italian style, at Osteria Mozza.

The Last Party for the Geminis

Just a week back, Neil's Pinoy work team joined us for fun at our local bar, Senore Paquitos.  Neil sang, we danced and all had a lot of fun.

Our Singapore Family

Shaun, Sarah, Harrison, Sam & Ley

Seems like we can't keep away from Singapore.

Now, our eldest son Shaun, wife Sarah and two grandchildren have relocated there. 

So we recently sailed Crystal Blues from her berth in Indonesia, across the Singapore Straits to the marina at Keppel Bay.  It has been a busy few weeks, helping the family with unpacking and house setup and enjoying the time with grandchildren - a luxury for two old sea gypsies!

The Job List

H helping Nana Ley

Our new Karcher pressure washer arrived, so with help from Harrison we gave the dinghy cover a good scrub.  Singapore is a great place for boat jobs, as parts and materials are so readily available.

First on the list was to repair the air-conditioning, which stopped working a few hours after we arrived in Singapore (of course).  

With some email support from Stephane of Siam Cooling, Neil was able to locate and repair the problem.  Stephane was spot-on with his advice - we found a burnt AC connection wire, under a cover on top of the rotary compressor housing - probably caused by the low supply voltages on the dock in Indonesia.  Lower voltage equals higher current - not good for the wiring, specially at the crimped terminations.  We replaced the crimp connection and  cool air was pumping around the boat very quickly - a collective sigh all round!

Second on the list was the completion of the Ultrasonic Antifoul system that we purchased a few months back.  We had initially set up a temporary install, but now all cables are loomed in neatly and the system is clicking away, hopefully keeping all critters from attaching to our hull.  We plan to report on the progress of this unit in the future.

Finally, soon after departure from Nongsa Point in Indonesia, our Comar AIS stopped working.  It had been operating faultlessly for 6 years. Robin Kidd from OceanTalk replaced the motherboard and all is up and running again.  Sailing visitors to Singapore should note that local regulations now require that onboard AIS beacons should operate 24x7 for the duration of the visit, even while berthed in the marina.  We have had to re-wire the switchboard supply to achieve this.

Three jobs down, plenty more to follow!

Marina At Keppel Bay

Crystal Blues has been snugly moored here for three weeks.  The staff are exceptionally friendly, and with many live-aboard cruisers around there is always a party somewhere. We think we are going to enjoy our time here.

Boating Therapy

We have visited quite a few boat shows over the past 20 years and on March 22 we added another one to the list. 

Sea-Ex Manila 2014 was held on the very muddy shores of pungent Manila Bay. There were 4 "big" boats in the water plus locally made large RIBs and an interesting array of canoes on the dock.

Once inside the exhibition space we meandered around and found a few stalls that held our interest.  We took a serious look at the new Sony HDR-AS15 and the GoPro Hero, but kept our money in our wallets.

We also spent time valuable time on the BLA stand. Luckily for us we met one of Mastervolt reps from New Zealand who helped solve a few questions that Neil had about their new smart engine alternator regulators. 
 
Retail Therapy

Our one and only purchase was a waterproof back pack.  Dinghy beach landings in surf, with electronics and wallets onboard are not a good mix, so hopefully our new Beyond Water will keep it all dry.

The Pinoy PT Team

In 2005 , as we were planning to leave Australia, Neil had surgery to repair a torn tendon below his right elbow.  He was warned that his left arm tendon would probably cause him problems in the future. It looks like the future is now!

So for the past month Neil has been in the hands of the very excellent Physical Therapy Team at De Los Santos Hospital here in Manila. With Ultrasonic treatment, massage and exercise, the pain has reduced and hopefully with time and rest, the tendon will heal.  If not he'll be visiting a surgeon again.......de ja vue!

The Local Pinoy Scene

Singing with Chucky at Senore Paquitos, our local tapas bar.

Six months now in Manila, and we're still loving this city.

Most Friday evenings we walk down to Senor Paquitos. It has become our local tapas bar and we love the ambience, the live music and the food.

It seems to us that most locals we meet can sing and play and this venue is never short of audience participation.  Most Friday nights Neil manages a song or two with Chucky. Recently we donated a rainmaker bamboo instrument to the bar - a drummer has to have something to do with his hands!

Pinoy Cuisine

It has taken us a while to understand Pinoy food, with American, Spanish, Mexican, Chinese and local flavour it takes some time to get "into" to the local dishes.  Of course it doesn't help that most menus are written in Tagalog.  But with the help of Google and asking lots of questions we are now enjoying a great many different dishes.  Some dishes combine two different styles of cooking, with meat, mainly pork, firstly boiled then deep fried and served with a range of condiments and sauces that use a variety of oils, vinegars, spices and a large serve of minced garlic. Garlic Bangus, Adobo, Sisig, Crispy Pata, Bulalo, often served with delicious steaming garlic rice, are just a few of the choices.

Garlic crab, delicious except for the oil    Mixed vegetable platter with pickled egg      Garlic Bangus, flattened fish 

Relaxing Down the Coast

Over the past few months we have managed a few weekend escapes to the south west coast of Luzon Island, staying at The Coral Beach Club at Matabunkay.  Hosts John and MJ and the delightful manager, Jennifer, offer a peaceful beachside escape from the noise, hassle and traffic of Manila.

With a pool, spa and excellent kitchen offering Pinoy and Western Cuisine, comfortable accommodation and this stunning sunset, whats not to enjoy.  John and MJ recently celebrated the completion of their new house, also on the beach, with a magic sunset party. An eclectic group of friends, both local and expat, spent a day sailing on John's catamaran and then partied on the balcony at sunset.  John charmingly referred to it as the "IPU" for his new house - "Initial Piss Up".  You can't take the aussie out of the boy.

Matabunkay Beach Sunset

"Relaxing" at Nongsa Point

Drilling a hole to mount the new stern light.

Well, not really relaxing.  Our visits to Crystal Blues tend to be pretty focused - always a list of jobs to do, keeping the systems alive, running and testing major components, and upgrading where we can.

This last visit, with only three days available, was a busy one.
- Wash the top sides and all the sun covers
- Using the Powerdive Hooka, clean the hull (well half of it anyway)
- Test all the on board systems, including refrigeration, air con,  genset, main engine and computer back up
- Check and test all the pumps
- Install a new stern navigation light

The only relaxing job was mounting and wiring the new Hella NaviLED Pro stern light. The job went smoothly and was completed, surprisingly, in a very short time.   We like these new Hella lights, as they have a completely sealed precision optical unit.  We are now around 75% converted to LED lights including navigation, cabin down lights and cockpit lighting.

Back At The Coal Face

Neil has now been working with the EVI team in Manila for over 5 months now.  Designing, co-ordinating CAD drawings and schematics, managing the project, problem solving and passing on his knowledge.

The four audio, video and control racks have now been built, and custom software written, all off-site. All the audio visual equipment and miles of cabling are installed.  Now it is up to the onsite installers and programmer John White to finesse these very complex systems into a living and breathing environmental machine.  It has been an exciting project, with many challenges both cultural and logistical.

Preparing the racks for shipping                   Commissioning the systems                             The transport team  

Floating Between Manila and Indonesia

Neil on a Skype video call to the team in Manila.

It didn't take long for us settle into work mode again....the boat became the home / office for Neil when he was not on site at Tandang Sora in Quezon City, Manila.

Crystal Blues is snuggly moored in Nongsa Point Marina on Batam Island, where she is under the watchful eye of our friend Acok. During the past few months we managed to remove the sails and most of the working lines and decommission the onboard systems.

Ley and Sam

In mid November Ley returned to Australia to spend time with her mother, Edie Worrall, who was recuperating from a hospital stay.  Ley's sister Sandra, who has been a rock of support to mum, was able to have a well earned break from being the primary carer.  Neil flew in to Melbourne in time to celebrate Edie's 90th birthday and spend time with our two grandchildren, Harrison and newly born Sam.

World Heritage Terraced Rice Padi At Banaue, Luzon Island.

Christmas and New Year were celebrated back in the Philippines, the first time we have been away from the boat in 15 years.

During the holiday break we loaded up the car with duvet, pillows, a freshly baked loaf of bread and a well stocked cooler box. We went on a road trip taking in Mt Pinatubo, Angeles City, and the Cordilleras region, covering just under 1000kms. Our last two nights were in Baguio, a hill station nestled in the mountainous pine forests, snuggled under the duvet as temperatures dropped down to 12 degrees each night.

This past week we've spent a couple of days in Singapore, and are now back aboard Crystal Blues in Batam for a short "vacation" - cleaning, hull scrubbing, running engines and generators etc.  All is well onboard. Wishing you all a peaceful and healthy 2014.