December 2017 | MONTH IN REVIEW

Here's a quick summary of what we were up to this month.

• Alex flew back to Trinidad on 7th December via New York where he picked up more stuff for the boat.

• Not much to report on the progress of our boat projects though, as he spent the month recovering from a bad cough & cold. He also spent a lot of time re-arranging the tools.. {cleaning up the mess or so he says..} 😀

• This Christmas was extra special because I got to spend it with my family.  💗

• Happy one year anniversary to sailraptor.blogspot.com! ;) Can't believe it's been a year since we started this blog; it's definitely come a long way {if I do say so myself}, with over 120 published posts and forty more in draft. Will get it up-to-date someday. 😅

• It takes a lot of effort to maintain a blog but very fulfilling. Sorry for being a little slow with the posts. Been busy adapting back to life in the rat race.

• Just want to say thank you for your support by following our blog, reading our posts and/or shopping through our links. Every little bit means a lot to us. Thank you so very much.

• It's New Years Eve and it's been raining all day and night here in Singapore. Here's wishing all a happy & sunny New Year! 

Check out our posts this month:

TV | Movie Guide 2017

 

November 2017 | MONTH IN REVIEW >>

January 2018 | MONTH IN REVIEW <<

A typical cruisers travel bag - no clothes, just boat stuff

Most importantly, chocolates the size of his backpack!

Got Alex to send me some photos of New York

Christmas lights

"Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus right down Santa Claus Lane"

His breakfast!?! :O

Till next month!

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TV | Movie Guide 2017

We've been posting our monthly entertainment in our Month in Review posts. Here's the consolidated list of movies and TV series we watched in 2017! :)

January

11.22.63 (Season 1)
The OA (Season 1 & 2)
Orphan Black (Season 4)

February

Fargo (Season 1)
Jericho (Season 1)

March

Black Sails (Season 1)
Jericho (Season 2)
Taboo (Season 1)
Moana 💓 (2016)

April

13 Reasons Why (Season 1)

Fargo (Season 2)

The Expanse (Season 1)

The Last Kingdom (Season 1 & 2)

True Blood (Season 1-7)

May

Black Sails (Season 2)

Friends (Season 4-6)

Arrested Development (Season 1-4) <- wouldn't watch this again

June

Friends (Season 7-10)
Legion (Season 1)
American Gods (Season 1)
Wonder Woman (2017)
The Great Wall (2016)
The Lost City of Z (2016)

July
Breaking Bad (Season 1-3)
Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 1 & 2)
The Mummy (2017)
Okja - Korean (2017)
Iron Fist (Season 1) <- not good

August
Breaking Bad (Season 4-5)
Better Call Saul (Season 1-3) <- prequel to Breaking Bad
Guardians of The Galaxy 2 (2017)
Into the Badlands (Season 1 & 2)
Vikings (Season 1-4)
The Defenders (Season 1)
Daredevil (Season 1 & 2)
Orphan Black (Season 5)
Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 3 & 4)

September
Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 5 & 6)
Game Of Thrones (Season 7)
Dark Matter (Season 3)
Killjoys (Season 3)
Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
The Fate of the Furious (2017)
Lieutenant Ottoman (2016)
Miss Peregrin and Peculiar Children (2016)
Lion (2016)
Arrow (Season 5)
The Flash (Season 3)
Supergirl (Season 1 & 2) 

October
No details - home for holidays

November
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Justice League (2017)

December
I didn't have time to watch any, but I believe Alex was busy watching his favorite genre.. horror TV series. Most likely.. The Walking Dead 😀


What did you watch in 2017? We'd love to know what was your favourite movie or TV series this year. Any recommendations?

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November 2017 | MONTH IN REVIEW

Here's a quick summary of what we were up to this month.

• As some of you may already know I flew back to Malaysia to visit my family last month while Alex flew in to join me on the 10th of this month.

• The plan was to fly back to Trinidad in December, complete our long list of boat projects and hopefully set sail again by end January 2018. 

• Of course, things never go as planned... a couple of days in of my arrival back home, I had an opportunity to work again in my former company! (a contract role) :D

• Needless to say, I was a little conflicted at first, the thought of having to miss out on yet another season in the Caribbean was a little woeful (have not sailed since we arrived in 2015 - miss visiting new places, not so much the sailing/repairs 😀). I can't help but wonder if the universe is persistently trying to tell me something.

• You see, we arrived in Trinidad late February 2015, what was meant to be a quick haul out to re-anti foul our hulls (and some minor repairs & maintenance), turned out to be a much longer stay after Alex injured his back while lifting our 50kg outboard engine from the ground to the transom at 1 m high.

• 2 months later with his back still out, we decided to return home so that he could fully recover. We were very fortunate to find work and both ended up working back in Singapore and Australia respectively for 6 months.

• Due to some unforeseen circumstances, our return to Trinidad in December 2015 was delayed by another 9 months. Thus missing another season in 2016.

• We finally returned to Trinidad late September last year in hopes of completing our list of boat projects and sail the Caribbean in 2017. Unfortunately, the list of boat projects only seemed to grow and everything took a lot longer than expected. Read our past posts.

• We missed the sailing season again in 2017, as we spent a whole year (2 visa extensions & a visa run) working on the boat and we still have much to do!

• Sorry I digress.

• No prize for guessing I took the job! ;) I'm utterly grateful for this opportunity. Thank you! Thank you! (to my boss and colleagues, please be patient with me as I'm a little rusty!) 

• I guess I'll see you (the Caribbean) in 2019, maybe?

October 2017 | MONTH IN REVIEW >>

December 2017 | MONTH IN REVIEW <<

 

Gardens By The Bay

Marina Bay Sands

Did you know? The orchid is the national flower of Singapore

Alex's favorite Japanese joint in Singapore

Sushi Tei at Vivocity, Singapore

Gyuniku Roll

One of my favorites ;9 Sliced Pork Rice

Till next month! :)

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October 2017 | MONTH IN REVIEW

Here's a quick summary of what we were up to this month.

• Some of you may know, I flew back to Malaysia via New York & Hong Kong on October 6th, leaving Alex on his own on Raptor to continue working on our never ending list of boat projects. 

• It took a total of approximately 24 hours of flight time, 8 hours of transit time, 1/2 an hours train ride and an hours car ride to get from Port of Spain, Trinidad to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I finally arrived home on October 8th (after ~34 hours of travel time!)

• Haven't been posting much as I've been quite busy with family activities and duties. My first order of business when I got home was to send my dear niece to her swimming, music and ballet classes the next morning. I was also tasked to cook dinner on weekdays!

• On one of the nights, I made them my "famous" chicken rice! Unfortunately the chicken we had was.. well, kinda hairy {yikes}. My mum and I tried our best to pluck as much as we could, but my nephews found a couple of strays and they were horrified! I guess my famous chicken rice is now infamous! ;(

• I celebrated my birthday again at my favorite all-you-can-eat Japanese Steamboat at Sukiya in Paradigm Mall, had a delicious chocolate cake and also received lots of lovely birthday presents! Thank you family! ♥

• Time really flies by when you're busy {or having fun}. Much like being on the boat, the days just go by so quickly.. 

• While I've been busy with family stuff back in Malaysia, Alex has been working hard to make as much progress as he possibly can on Raptor before he joins me next month.

• He's been pretty good at taking photos of his hard work and sending them to me.

• He made quite a bit of progress on the Jib Sail Track project despite the rainy weather. Finally filled the cavity with fiberglass and foam, and of course, lots of sanding! See photos below. Stay tuned for a separate post.

• He also painted the fuel tank. I guess that's about as much as he can do on the Fuel Tank project for now. Till we get the parts i.e. fuel filters (Racor 500FG & 10" stainless steel Shelco), pump (Walbro FRB-22) & variety of connection fittings from the US. 

Check out our posts this month:

Hurricanes 2017

Jib Sail Track Project (Part I)

Jib Sail Track Project (Part II)

 

September 2017 | MONTH IN REVIEW >>

November 2017 | MONTH IN REVIEW <<

 

Flight home (Goodbye Trinidad!)

My famous/infamous chicken rice!

Made my favourite burrito bowl for my favourite family

Met up with Daniela's good friend Nicole from Switzerland in Sunway Pyramid

Cut-out pieces of foam to be filled into the deck (part of the Jib Sail Track project)

After many days of layering fiberglass, foam & epoxy and of course lots of unpleasant sanding!

And finally, the painted fuel tank

Lovely photo of the Lighthouse in Chaguaramas (unedited)

Goodbye for now Chaguaramas!

That's all for now.. till next month! :)

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Jib Sail Track Project (Part II)

Welcome to Part II of our Jib Sail Track Project. If you haven't read Part I of this project, click here.

After several weeks of trying to dry out the jib sail track (really hard to do during the wet season), Alex had to fill it with fiberglass and foam. Here's what he did.. (Fair warning: lots of photos)

Measuring the size in order to cut the fiberglass sheets

Once the fiberglass sheets were cut, he applies a layer of epoxy

Then sprinkles loose fiberglass to even out the base

Time consuming work but necessary

Next, he applies the cut out fiberglass sheet

And wets it out fully with epoxy

And the process is repeated

For 2 layers of fiberglass

Looks pretty good actually - the secret is having everything prepared in advance

This was then left to cure completely for a couple of days before sanding.

With a nice, flat reinforced base. Alex had to measure and cut out the foam to fill the cavity. We decided to make it slightly raised from the deck, so that water will not sit under the actual jib track once its back in place.

Look at that

Carefully measured, cut and marked for each of the 4 sections the repair was divided into

Foam pieces for each section

He even made a contraption to allow the foam to be sanded to an even height

The foam epoxied into place

Letting it dry

Filled in the gaps between the sections

Built a little dam around the edges with sikaflex & scrap foam, so that the epoxy will not run onto the rest of the deck when we added 3 more layers of fiberglass to the top

Shit happens when..

Something you can't control ruins your work (Alex was not happy! and neither was this guy)

Sanded and ready to be repainted

There you have it. The jib sail track surface ready for gelcoat.

Check out our post on Spray Painting Our Deck

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Jib Sail Track Project (Part I)

Finally posting our Jib Sail Track Project (Part I)! We first started this project back in August 2017 after we re-bedded all the cleats on deck with backing plates which made them a lot stronger than the small washers we had before. 

Of course, Alex wanted to do the same for the jib sail track (which makes total sense). If you've read our previous posts, you might've seen all the rotted wood we dug out from our deck core while re-bedding the other deck fittings. I knew it's something we had to do.. but did I want to do this too? Hell, no. And did that stop us? Hell, no..

First thing he did before working on it was to build a temporary dam with wood and plastic sheets to keep the water away {it rains every day in Trinidad during the wet season!}.

Here we go..

Removing the screws from the jib sail track

One of many corroded fasteners

The underside of the jib sail track (in the cabin)

Marking up the borders of where to cut through the deck

That's the fuel tank inlet just below the jib track

It's an orange kind of day..

Alex carefully cuts the deck with a hand saw

Gently peeling off the top layer of the deck (at this point we still thought we might re-use the fiberglass ... we didn't!)

The stains look pretty nasty

Alex using a chisel and hammer to remove the balsa core

Close up of the wood

Rotted balsa sections

Some parts were worse than others

Nicely chiselled and wood removed

What's this? A ninja star?

Alex made this to efficiently and evenly remove (about 20mm of) the balsa core - quite clever wouldn't you say?

Fits onto the end of the drill

It worked very well! Watch the video below

Volia!

✓ Removed the jib sail track
✓ Cut out strips on our deck
✓ Dug out the rotted wood

Next, we'd have to dry it out as much as we can (on sunny days) before we fill it with foam and fiberglass, making it slightly raised from the deck before re-bedding the sail track and adding a backing plate as well.

Hop on over to our next post on Jib Sail Track Project (Part II).

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