The 2021 refit
We get to our sister marina at Krabi Boat Lagoon, 40% cheaper than Phuket but very remote – a 30 minute drive to Tescos! We haul out, move into a condo and Amarin suddenly finds that aircon and a walk in shower are a nice thing to have. I will have to give her some really horrible jobs so that she wants to move back onto the boat. In the meantime the team get stuck in. The two chief varnishers are girls, the boys very much doing as they are told.
I am having the varnish stripped from the interior of the cockpit and foredeck. My four inch square rubbing strake is being stripped yet again. Epifanes varnish is put on, coat after coat until I lose patience or run out of money. The masts are hard sanded and will be sprayed with polyurethane varnish, about 10 coats. The smaller spars I am dealing with.
My famous Blakes Victory toilet is removed; a back breaking job and then handed over to have the calcium removed and finish with a new paint job. Amarin is cleaning and polishing anything that she can find. My rusty anchor is getting a makeover - the engineer has, by complete coincidence, a stainless hoop exactly the right size and curve so some things are going well. Except the weather forecast is not good.
We are one week on and at least three more to go, weather permitting…
