{"id":6741,"date":"2019-11-06T22:52:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T22:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=6741"},"modified":"2019-11-27T05:54:23","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T05:54:23","slug":"with-a-little-help-from-our-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=6741","title":{"rendered":"With A Little Help From Our Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We\u2019re back in the duck pond in Tampa Garam, Sorong. It\u2019s getting crowded in here – there are 7 boats already tied up so we squeeze in down the end, with plenty of helping hands to take our shore lines. What a delightful mix of boats, nationalities and ages – we love this about cruising. There are currently Danish, Norwegian, American, Canadian, New Zealand and Aussie boats here, and Wes and Stine are very happy to have some young company for a change!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The day after we arrive we get to work installing our new trampoline net.  We have plenty of willing hands but even so it\u2019s difficult and strenuous work in the hot equatorial sun. We\u2019re so grateful to our friends, it takes 6 hours to complete – it would have taken us three times as long on our own.  I\u2019m not sure they really understood what they were letting themselves in for, but the finished result is fantastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The team at work<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Bruce makes supervising his forte!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Taa daa!! The finished product looks great and much stronger than the last one..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Everyone\u2019s invited for drinks on Toucan that night and we have a great time socialising, sharing information, telling stories short and tall and getting to know our new neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sabrina, Stine, Matthias and Wes enjoying a coldie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We finally get to catch up with the famous “Soggy Paws” crew, Dave & Sherrry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We also catch up with Sue & Jon Hacking from Ocelet plus many others<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next day is another party  – it\u2019s Wes\u2019s birthday and a farewell to Gary and Kaiya on \u201cKaiyasong\u201d so we enjoy some homemade margaritas on \u201cJams\u201d followed by dinner at the marina restaurant. Now, those last two words are somewhat misleading – this is definitely not a marina by Aussie standards, and while the pool and restaurant complex is huge it\u2019s unfinished and mostly unused.  The food is simple fare that you need to order in advance, basically just variations of Mie Goreng or Nasi Goreng, but it\u2019s tasty and cheap and it\u2019s another fun night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo courtesy of “Soggy Paws”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Wes’s birthday cake. Photo courtesy of “Soggy Paws”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Carol from ‘Jams’ with Wick in centre. Photo courtesy of ‘Soggy Paws’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our next important task is to get our mechanic, Rieman, to look at the clutch assemblies. Not being familiar with Yanmar motors or saildrives, he needs some instruction on how to pull them apart, which Bruce does with the aid of Youtube videos (what did we ever do without Youtube?!). It seems the thrust washers are worn, causing the slippage in the gears when the engines get hot, but trying to get genuine Yanmar parts here is impossible.  Rieman thinks he may be able to get some machined locally, with the help of Wick.  As a back-up, one of the other cruisers is heading to Singapore for a visa run and offers to bring back the genuine washers if he can find them.  We\u2019re very lucky to have such amazing help from people we hardly know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a couple of days Rieman returns with the clutch assemblies and locally made washers. We hold our breath as we test the gears. We have forward and reverse on both motors! But the real test will be to see if they still engage when the engines are hot.  So we\u2019re off for another sea-trial tomorrow, back to Batanta Island for the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next week we\u2019ll be back in Sorong ( I think we\u2019re attached to Sorong on a bungee cord) to haul out and install the prop and new bottom seals, and at the same time we\u2019ll do our first visa extension. Crikey, have we really been here almost two months already? And maybe, just maybe, after that we can go and do more adventuring of the good kind in Raja Ampat.
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We\u2019re back in the duck pond in Tampa Garam, Sorong. It\u2019s getting crowded in here – there are 7 boats already tied up so we squeeze in down the end, with plenty of helping hands to take our shore lines. What a delightful mix of boats, nationalities and ages – we love this about cruising. … <\/p>\n

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