The party's over

Now that Nana has left us, it's time to start some of the boat work that we had postponed. Some of it involves boat parts that she hauled half-way around the world for us.

Every year we come up with a new 'tree' for Christmas.

Some projects are new. A couple of days after Nana departed, our refrigerator decided to die on us. The long version: The compressor was not cooling. The nipple (yes, it makes me chuckle every time too) connecting the pump output hose to the water cooling loop corroded off and there was not enough nipple left to connect a hose (so water was not getting to the compressor and was instead spewing around inside the bilge). The controller unit started reporting a 'motor start failure' and 'unable to maintain motor speed' errors. The unit was stopping and starting every minute or so. Our produce was getting droopy.

The short version is that we didn't have a fridge for a few days and it wasn't something we could fix on our own. Fortunately, the compressor was not dead and only needed a new black box controller (our nemesis). A local Phuket company was able to convert our refrigeration from sea water-cooled to air cooled for a reasonable cost and very quickly. The time and aggravation Matt is spared in not having to clean critters out of our system will be well-worth the investment.

We have also swapped our dinghy for a brand-new one from Highfield, under warranty. We were very impressed with the process and level of service and will be writing a blog post about the experience. In the meantime, we are enjoying the 'new dinghy' smell and trying to avoid the first scratch on our new 'car.'

New cushions, fresh from the upholsterer

Matt has made some progress in fixing the high-pressure pump for our water maker. Unfortunately, when he was almost finished, he shmooshed a seal that shouldn't have been shmooshed and we need to track down a new one. As we are back in more remote Nai Harn Beach, finding a rental car to help in our search is proving extremely difficult during this very busy time of year.

With Christmas approaching, we have decorated the boat. We are having fun hanging out with Field Trip and are continuing to chip away at our boat projects. The kids are enjoying the surf at the beach here, which unfortunately also means that it is not the flattest anchorage. Christmas is not a really celebrated in Phuket and, as usual, we are in a warm place, but we're starting to get into the Christmas spirit.