Esper Refit Week Three - One Sacking, One Egg and Two Clips (5 pics)

[demonboy]

WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT BOAT MAINTENANCE UNACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT

Liz takes a close look at the metallic properties of an aluminium cupboard door and grows an egg on her head

Week Three of our refit in PSS Boatyard, Satun, Thailand, and we continue to make good progress. We've managed to annoy just about every other boat not by filling the place in fibre-glass dust, though that doesn't help our cause, but by being relocated to the end of the yard. This involved four other boats having to be moved, but on the track and pulley system here it's quite easy. There's a time-lapse video clip of Esper being moved in the Week Three Summary Video at the end of the blog post here: http://followtheboat.com/2014/02/23/esper-refit-week-3/

Main, mizzen, boom and spinnaker pole have all been stripped on their fittings, mouses run and now we remove the paint

Our little Burmese worker, Mey, moves from stripping the engine of paint to stripping the mast of paint. She's a good stripper.

The carpenters continue to smash the boat up. They finish up on deck with the toe rail (they don't start the deck itself until the tent is up), so now they're destroying our interior.

The veneer is coming off and the dated trim around the cupboard doors is coming off too.

The Esper refit gang, minus the poor bloke grinding the hull.

The team has been working well and Un, our project manager, is worth his weight in gold. Sadly I had to ask him to sack one of our workers who spent more time taking fag breaks and putting his mask on than he did sanding. It was a bit cr4ppy having to let him go, especially as he was a local lad, but since the rest of the team work so hard it seemed unfair to keep him on.

We've put together a three minute video clip of all the work undertaken in the last six days, and the usual video summary clip too.

POST HERE: http://followtheboat.com/2014/02/23/esper-refit-week-3/


Hope you all have a great Sunday. It's our one day off from the searing heat and I spend most of it updating the blog! It's like a constant reminder of the nightmare we are undertaking, but we're gluttons for punishment. We're boat-owners, after all

 

[All_at_Sea]

What sort of cost are you incurring there, storage, labour etc? You seem to have a lot of workers!

 

[vyv_cox]

That looks like a major refit. Are you sure they have the skills to put it all back? Really nice video.

 

[demonboy]

What sort of cost are you incurring there, storage, labour etc? You seem to have a lot of workers!

We'll break all that down in the magazine article. Costs, generally, are cheaper than Phuket. We've found in some cases to get a cost for a job, and in others to pay a daily rate. Average wage per worker is approx £20 per day, but that's for a skilled worker (carpenter, heavy grinding etc). Non-skilled, like stripping paint where I can spend 20 mins teaching them what to do, is closer to £10 a day. The costs are on their website http://www.pss-satun.com/.

 

[demonboy]

That looks like a major refit. Are you sure they have the skills to put it all back? Really nice video.

Hi Vyv. I hope they know what they're doing! They're refitted many boats here and Un, our project manager, has worked on hundreds as he's been in the yard since he was a teenager. The skills are there but you do have to stand over them and observe, occasionally stepping in to correct or guide them. This is one reason why we are paying Un to help project manage. He bridges the communication gap, as well as applies his knowledge on things... like putting it all back. Certain things I prefer to do myself and we're in the yard from 8am when the workers turn up so we're there every step of the way. When we get stuck on the engine, I'll give you a shout

 

[wazza]

I have now subscribed to the YouTube channel and will eagerly read your website..
Just for the record I've always enjoyed working with good strippers;-)
Good luck
Warren

 

[ribrage]

We'll break all that down in the magazine article. Costs, generally, are cheaper than Phuket. We've found in some cases to get a cost for a job, and in others to pay a daily rate. Average wage per worker is approx £20 per day, but that's for a skilled worker (carpenter, heavy grinding etc). Non-skilled, like stripping paint where I can spend 20 mins teaching them what to do, is closer to £10 a day. The costs are on their website http://www.pss-satun.com/.

Looks like you guys are making good progress , i dont envy you at all , thats a lot of work

 

[All_at_Sea]

What sort of accommodation do you have? Presumably not on site. Great videos, keep up the good work.

 

[demonboy]

I have now subscribed to the YouTube channel and will eagerly read your website..
Just for the record I've always enjoyed working with good strippers;-)
Good luck
Warren

Thanks, Warren. There's plenty of strippers here in Thailand

Looks like you guys are making good progress , i dont envy you at all , thats a lot of work

It is, Ian, but fortunately we're not doing it all ourselves. Right now we have ten of us working on the boat, including Liz and myself. It's that, or do it all ourselves over a period of two years, which other owners in the yard have opted to do. Horses for courses, and all that.

What sort of accommodation do you have? Presumably not on site. Great videos, keep up the good work.

We're staying in town in a rather splendid little new-build. There's a pic of the outside of it here (http://followtheboat.com/2014/02/09/esper-refit-week-1/). Includes wi-fi and is at the north end of Satun, convenient for the boat yard.