Satun - Thailand

Unfortunately the new crane driver for the Langkawi yard never eventuated so here we are in Satun after a heart pumping approach to the yard's creek. There are absolutely no navigational aid, the place is so shallow that I wonder how any monohulls get to this place! Eventually a fishing boat came and we followed it to the entrance of the creek doing a bunch of zig zags. We had to wait for a few hours to the optimum tide, and once we headed for the ramp, we couldn't see the trailer as it was already submerged in the murky brown water of the river. As we were being hauled out, we realized that the beams they put across the trailer were located totally in the wrong place. Too late, after a loud "crack" we screamed for the boat to be put back in the water. Once in the water Russ hopped off the boat and help the guys reset the beams. This after we had given them the plans, measurements and even photos! Russ even saw that the manager had the plans on his hands and still got it wrong! So Russ put some markings and checked the distances of the beams and back the trailer went. As we hauled out Russ realized they had not followed his markings properly and we had to jack the boat up again the next day to replace the beams. That's when we could see the two cracks under each hull. Thank Goodness Russ can fix all this as one of the cracks actually went through the boat hull, meaning we could see it inside! Oh well, welcome to Satan, I mean Satun... The place is a dump really. But people as usual is very friendly and kind of try to get things done but it's so mickey mousey I would never ever let anyone from here touch our boat! Here is a photo of where they placed our hulls! Just at the end of the beam!

As usual Russ befriended some young locals here and disappeared one night for over 2 hours, leaving me freaking out on the boat. Needless to say the ear full he got when he arrived! Next night the same young group invited us for dinner and out we went to this labirinth of alleyways to get to Loh's house. If you left me there, I would still be trying to find my way out! It was a lovely night. I got a ride back from a local young, how cool is this bike!


The work on the boat is going well, Russ has fixed the cracks and other bits and pieces we had to do, we have polished the hulls and are ready to spray the antifouling tomorrow. The plan is to spray the cabin top too. Now the best news is that our new propellers fit perfectly! We are very happy about that. All going well, in two days we are out of here!