Now what?

Fun with cellophane and LED
fairy lights

With all our out-of-water boat work nearing completion, we scheduled a splash date on December 25, which would have meant finally getting back in the water. Even with our eleventh hour decision to get our standing rigging replaced, we thought we could make the date.

Perry with her new paint job
and vinyl boot stripes

Long story short, we will not be splashing on December 25 and will soon be traveling to Cambodia (by air, not boat), both to see the country and because our visas will be expiring soon. So, what happened?

Since our last post, Jimmy from Prestige Marine services finished the prep and sprayed our topsides with Awlgrip. A few days later (after we sanded the entire boat  below the waterline) his team sprayed Coppercoat onto Perry's bottom. A lot of time, work, and luck (especially with the weather) went into getting those two seemingly simple projects done.

These guys! Digging rudder holes in the heat...

Once the Coppercoat was on, we were able to get lifted in place by the sea lift to put our rudders in. We did get them in, but had to dig some holes because the lift couldn't get us quite high enough. With a delay caused by the lift driver feeling ill, the rudders weighing a ton (not literally, but they sure are heavy) while also being a tight fit, and the need to dig those holes, the day was stressful.

Fu Lin Kong Temple (part of the
Pangkor Island rally tour)

But, it was the moment of truth for our rudders and even though we were pretty sure they would fit properly, Matt and I breathed a sign of relief when they actually did.

Off with her mast

The problem with our schedule came with the rigging. The rigger here, who has been very professional and helpful, was able to get almost all the parts we would need except some eye-toggles in the right size, which would take three weeks. We did not want to wait that long and had resigned ourselves to giving up the idea of re-rigging.

Another random tour picture:
Conrad at the fort on Pangkor Island

Then another rigger with a seemingly decent reputation in a different town told us that his supplier had them in stock and we could have them in less than a week. We asked several times whether he was sure because we thought he must have the same UK supplier. He promised us up and down that he could get the parts and we believed him because he seemed sincere.

Cats watching us watching
traditional wooden boat building
on Pangkor Island

We pulled the trigger on the rigger here at Pangkor (putting down our 50% deposit and having him order the parts) and wired the money to the other rigger for the eye-toggles. We kept asking for a tracking number, which was never sent, but he assured us several times that the parts had been shipped. 

Mark and Cardie at the Fort, Pangkor Island

Finally, a week later, when we called for the umpteenth about a tracking number and that very morning being assured the parts had been shipped, we got an apologetic email saying that the parts had not been shipped and the supplier did not know when they would be. We have not had good luck with vendors lately. We did get most of our thousand dollars back (except for the $27 that got lost in wire transfer exchange rate purgatory), but the big problem is the delay. Now we are waiting to see just how long it will be.

Gua Tempurung - A huge cave
that we visited on our way back from Ipoh

Of course, we could have done the rigging at almost any point in our 8-plus month stay here at Pangkor Marina. But (1) we did not think it was necessary based on the age of the rigging according to the previous owners and (2) we had other priorities. As our Indian Ocean crossing looms closer and on the heels of a survey (for insurance), it seems like a good idea. The rigging would need to be replaced within the next few years and it will be cheaper here than in the U.S. or the Med.

Gua Tempurung - those are
stairs, to give you a sense of scale.

With the additional delay, our visas will expire before we are ready to leave Malaysia. So we are headed to Cambodia for a mini-vacation/visa run. Since we are flying on Christmas Eve Day, we celebrated the holiday a couple of days early. It's also the 7th anniversary of our move aboard Perry.

On our recent trip to Ipoh (for an MRI of Matt's sore shoulder) we visited the gigantic cave pictured above and stopped for the locally famous peanut candy (think a crispy, less sweet, and saltier peanut brittle). There was a long line and a couple of security guards, presumably to keep the peace. Like many Asian sweets, it's very subtle and not really a 'dessert' in our book but we give it a thumbs up as a tasty snack.

Ming Yue Confectionary. Almost as bad a
wait as Garrett's popcorn on Michigan Ave.