The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

I rush down to the boatyard to listen to the diagnosis from Dr Kiyuna on my sick little engine.

The engine has been through an serious examination and many tests are at the lab.

A few minutes later Dr Kiyuna makes a dramatic entrance stage left on his Harley.

He wears a Driza-Bone coat from Australia and US Army helmet.

Kick start 1300cc Harley with coke can exhaust. He has 8 Harleys – all vintage.

He is more than reassuring. He has excellent bedside manner. He insists that there is nothing seriously wrong  and he will start ordering replacement stuff such as alternator, starter motor and stuff and get on with the job. What a relief! I ask if I can help in the rebuild as I feel it is a good thing to know as much about my engine as possible.

Kiyuna san is a find.

With head off. Cylinder bathed in WD 40

The afternoon was more somber. I first came to Okinawa in August 2010 to reconnoitre possibly working at the OIST. Gil and Betty Hoffman invited me to their house, gave me lots of champagne and took me out for a fabulous meal. Their hospitality, energy and love of the island was an important argument in my decision to come to OIST. They continued to invite me around, although Gil was beginning to suffer badly from Parkinsons. A remarkable couple who came to Okinawa in, I think, 1961, Gil built up two very successful construction companies, whilst Betty became involved in a bewildering number of social, cultural and academic activities. Good people. Gil died last December and today there was a memorial event.

RIP Gil

Another day full of surprises down at the boatyard.

You will recall that my engine was extracted at lightning speed by China san. The next dilemma is: are this engine’s thunka thunka days definitively over or can she be rebuilt?  I can get a rebuilt 1GM from Osaka but that in itself would be complicated and costly.

I ponder all this as I spend the morning cleaning the engine compartment from many year of fuel spillages, oil leaks and general grime.

Not a pretty sight. I am in fact quite far on with the clean up before I remembered to take a photo

Better now.

As I have said before, I enjoy this kind of work. The results are immediate and there is no agony of “Am I doing the right thing?”

I also give all the wood work yet another coat of varnish. This is less rewarding, The first few coats of wood treater and varnish were fun as each coat made a difference but now it is just another coat. It takes about 2 hours to do a coat on all the  external wood and another hour for the cabin.

Two guys come up and ooh and aah.  They love the boat and are both seasoned sea dogs.  I show them around. They speak little English and I actually thing my Japanese comprehension is getting a little better.  They repeat ” Kulnishuskrimpelu” several times and I finally realize that they are referring to a similar English boat, a Cornish Shrimper.

One of my guests also says “Arthur Ransome.” I realize he is talking about Arthur Ransome, an English children’s novel writer who produced a series of great books about kids having  adventures in gaff rigged sailing dinghies, written between 1930 and 1945 ish. These books had a big effect on me and I have read each several times. I think my need to have adventures in gaff rigged sailing boats  is directly attributable to Ransome.

My new friend  says that he also read all the books when he was a kid and has the complete collection that he continues to dip into. Amazing. So we slash our palms with sharp knives and become blood brothers.

Great guy.

I also explain my problem with engine diagnosis,  10 minutes later they return with a gentleman who I had noticed riding around the yard on a huge 1940s Harley. This is Kiyuna san, a mechanic.

He is a very funny guy. I said that I had just left OIST to which he replied “So you graduated?”

Anyway, he says there is no way of telling if the engine is post thunka without taking the head off and having a look around. He says he can do it. “When?” ” I will do it now.”

Agonizingly, I had to leave before he set to work so I will only get the answer tomorrow morning.

Fingers crossed.

It is the most miserable day of the year. North wind driving in, squalls of rain, I mean the temperature is 11 degrees. This is as bad as Okinawa can get.

Notwithstanding, I go down to the boatyard.

This is what I see

The engine is out. Like a diseased molar, it has been levered out and now lies beside the boat.

Hmmm

What do you think?

This indicates a massive acceleration in the restoration timeline.

Now my decision is;  this engine, although on the surface shoddy, will she be able to  be restored to powerful throb? On the other hand, should I buy a restored version and ship it down from Osaka?

Retirement is so stressful.

People in the street have been asking me why I have been treating my woodwork with sump oil.

Dark

Well, all the wood was so dried that sanding it down  to a level where you could have appreciated the beauty of the original teak, would have taken forever.   Forever and maybe a little bit longer, I have gone for the African Blackwood option.

Saturday morning and I go down to the boat. I have things to discuss with Tabata san. My main concern at the moment is the engine. Clearly if I am going to spend the rest of my life voyaging around remote Japanese islands, then a trustworthy engine is essential.

Imagine the calm before the storm. A mega typhoon is coming and, as is fairly typical, the wind drops beforehand. I am out of sea with a engine that does not start.

The first step is to take the engine out of the boat. This a big job with tools and cranes and stuff. How can I find someone to do it?  I explain this to Tabata san. He casually cast his gaze sideways to the guy sitting close by and utters the magic words,  “China san.”

China, pronounced Cheena, san comes over and we bow and introduce ourselves. He grins and between his English and  my Japanese, which are similar, I find out that he is a mechanic, that he is 70 years old, that he does not like sponge cake, that he will take out my engine!  I ask when he can do it. He says, ” Today.”

This causes a turmoil of emotions. First, joy but then conflict as I have told my dear friend Naoko san that I will come to a cultural event that she has organized at the university. I have to go, but this means missing my engine being banished, a milestone in the history of restoration.

Strong Juju

At the boat, I talk, sort of, to China san. I lay bare my soul er like, let it all hang out. I tell him about propeller shaft alignment anxiety, wiring worries, support stress. To each whimper he says, “It’s OK, I can do that.”

My trailer is very fine but does not have any  support structures other than the uprights. This means that the boat will alway be tilted without complex wedging with wooden blocks.  This will be a nightmare when taking the boat out of the water. I need nice guides that will set the boat perfectly onto the trailer. China san gets it immediately and will build these onto the trailer.

Anyway, we get on famously and  slash our palms with sharp knives to become brothers.

China san

Anyway, I go to the talks and miss my engine being taken out. Probably a good thing as I would undoubtedly have got in the way. Cannot wait for tomorrow when, all being well, my engine will be parked beside the boat.

Once again my luck holds strong. Enterprise of great pith and moment can be fixed by being in the right place at the right time to meet people like China san.

Good day as my boat got her papers. She is no longer an illegal immigrant but an official Okinawan resident. To be frank I am not sure how it happened as the excellent Tabata san sort of took care of it with the minimum of fuss. I now have the registration document and all the necessary stickers for Kanusha.

Aregato Tabata san!

It was another very social day down at the boatyard.  First my new buddy Sato san  and I discuss new engine prospects. He has tracked down a 1Gm10 in Osaka that has been fully overhauled and what is more the people there will take my motor in part exchange. So next priority is to get the engine taken out of the boat. The organizational skills that I have honed over the last 40 years are under test, but once again the most important feature of getting things done is proving to be – make friends with people.

Sato san – he is a very funny guy.

I sand, I varnish, I clean.

All the wood was so desiccated  that endless coats of wood treater and varnish are needed. The black bits have had 4 coats of the former and two of the latter.

I also rebuild the floorboard thing for the cockpit. Many planks were broken, so these I replaced with new wood.  Somehow all the screws had become loose, which I attribute to  wood shrinkage due to intense sun exposure. I tighten and drench everything in wood treatment stuff.

My foundation for years to come

As I am about to leave, two guys pass by. They know my boat, they know Tagushi san, the former owner. They talk a lot, I understand little. I think they were somehow involved in transporting the boat from mainland Japan to Miyako Jima 6 years ago. Anyway they are clearly delighted to see the restoration underway and we slash our palms with sharp knives to become blood brothers.

So, the engine is a concern. My seafaring friends from Japan lift the engine cover and jerk backwards in horror. As you know the Japanese are typically inscrutable but even the most hardened seadog’s inscrutability is dented when they see my engine.

OMG

I have buddies,principally Ichikawa san, who in two days turn up 3 GM10s, er the engine that is in the boat. The plan is to remove my blighted Yanmar and replace with a better one.  I imagine that this will cost some money but my dreams of island travel are only possible with a very reliable engine, so I feel this is something I have to invest in.

Meantime I roll in skeg fun.

The new skeg is a perfect fit. I will cover in anti fouling before I finally fit with loads of silicon adhesive gunge.

Okinawa is remarkably short of marine chandlers. This is strange on an island where each time you turn your head to the left or to the right, you see a boat.

So be it, there is only one and you find it in Tomari.

I feel I could help them with marketing

I have ordered yacht varnish named Tropical Schooner.  What other varnish could I buy?

The lady who runs the place is typically Okinawan delightful. She always makes me a cup of coffee before we talk business.

So, I return to the boat and start the lengthy process of varnishing.  5 coats for everything.

First of five.

The suffix -ness denotes the quality or state of something, for example happiness. Well today I am in Skegness. As I mentioned in a previous post, the skag, or more commonly skeg, on Kanusha was much corroded. I took it to a local metal yard place and asked if they could make me a new one in stainless steel, Well actually the delightful Haruna san did most of the talking.  “No problem!” cry the happy metal workers. Anyway we go back today to pick it up.

Happy Haruna! Who wouldn’t be? How often do you get a brand new skeg?

I deeply regret not taking a photo of the exterior of the shop. It is total chaos.  The ground is strewn with every sort of metal thing you can imagine. There is no order, no pattern. Inside it is worse.

There are no workbenches. The guys, all of whom are as friendly as can be, squat on the floor to work.

New skegs for old. Note the chaos.

They have done a wonderful job and I treasure my new skeg.

This is the guy who did the job. He is standing beside a support he has built for a wave turbine.

As we talk on things metalwork, it turns out that they do a lot of work for OIST. In fact the guy who made my skeg is going to the Maldives next week to install an array of wave turbines with Shintake sensei.

https://www.oist.jp/news-center/news/2017/9/20/sustainable-future-powered-sea

I am so pleased that such an apparent shambles is contributing  to the forefront of sustainable energy research. It makes my skeg even more special.

It is very gratifying to have an occupation where the rewards are so obvious. After decades of generally promoting stuff with little feedback on whether my efforts were having any significant effect, now I take a paint brush dosed in varnish, smear it on a chunk of wood and the reward is instantaneous. Job satisfaction.

Cabin beginning to look good.

Sundays are very sociable at the marina. Today Ichikawa san, an OIST colleague and very fine sailor passes by. He then invites Sato san, who is a professional rigger, over to the boat. He comes with a crowd and we spend happy time examining  Kanusha in great detail.  A lot of time is spent discussing where to find a second hand Yanmar 1 GM. I have allies.

Thunder Box

I have spent the week sanding, treating, and now varnishing. As I have mentioned the satisfaction is immediate. What was dry and dirty now shines. The cabin is coming along very well. Today, between social calls, I paint the roof of the cabin.

Grime

Spot the difference.

I did this

Very smart

By the way, Neil Thompson Boats http://www.neilthompsonboats.co.uk/  who build Norfolk Gypsies, have been very responsive and helpful. Thank you. Buy boats from them.

So, back to the boatyard. Most of this is archival,-apologies.

More wonderful hard wood, anded and and treated.

Hand rails getting ready.

Trusty sander, what would I do without you?

Harry explains the mechanics of the gaff rig. She is typically kind.

Petit a petit

21st January

Such fun.

One of the things I like most about where I now live is a vegetable plot that is just up the road. I have spent many years of my life trying to grow vegetables and I know a maestro when I see one.

It is a tiny plot squeezed in between  nondescript buildings.  Yet it is a masterpiece.

Amazing cabbages

The gardener is an old lady. She squats between the rows, generally weeding and cleaning up. I cannot take a photo of her, it would be too invasive, but we grin at each other.

Daikon!

You cannot grow Daikon in clay. Much of Okinawan soil is clay. Clearly much work has been done to lighten the soil in this tiny plot to allow the white radish to thrive.

Potatoes, praties, tatties. You gardeners will notice that it is January and the potatoes are flowering.

When I am not admiring this vegetable patch, I am sanding, cleaning and treating Kanusha. I gently coax her from destitution to beauty.

Bits of wood before and after sanding.