We arrived on the Ratanachai shipyard, south-east of Phuket on June 2, 2003. We were absolutely stunned by the professionalism of the divers who checked the keel before getting us on the proper craddle.

The next day, we decided to have some workers helping us. The price was certainly key to our decision: $14 per day for one worker sanding by hand, $17 for a painter, unbelivevable but true!

Everything was running smoothly under the sun. The heat was at high peaks and we were taking 4 showers a day just to keep "cool".
But, unfortunately, early July, all we want is to get out of here!
We really believe that it's hell on the shipyard!

The workers are friendly but the language is a problem and we call in the 2 girls who serve as interpreters quite frequently. Their names is Por and Rat, no kidding.

The Thaïs always smile but lack courage. As soon as there is a drop of rain, they stop and run away. We finish sanding under the rain on our own.
They are also hard-headed and are relunctant to admit they are wrong when they are. Asian are known for this (remember the kamikaze and the "harakiri"). We end up smiling but we really are desperate sometimes!

One month later, we are suffering more and more from the lack of cleanliness of the toilets and showers.
Is it the fact we are getting more and more tired or this rain which interrupts the work frequently these days. We don't know but we want our stay to come to an end.

By looking at the pictures, you can see the mammoth amount of work we are undergoing. From keel to deck, everything is being worked on to make "Minuit" look nice for her 20th birthday next year. We want her to be up to standard to continue the trip and to welcome you.

At the end of the day, we try to amuze ourselves, by testing the Blue Fanta for example? It's an eccentric drink which gives you a blue tongue after a few sips. Asian love these far-our colours and we honestly did give up the idea to buy a birthday cake yesterday since they looked quite "odd" to us: usually green (the colour of a Scotch Brite sponge) with pink decorations (colour of the Camay soap) and also lavender ones, why not.

Well, let's be optimistic, it's cheap and we are progressing anyway. Let's forget about the smell (when the wind turns to the east), of the 2 factories manufacturing cattle food with fish (not really fresh from the smell...)
It's hell on the shipyard, that's for sure but it will not be forever!

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Work in progress:

- Sanding all the antifouling coats (8 or 9) for an preventive anti-osmosis paint, to be done every 9 or 10 years.

- Sanding of the hull for a new paint applied by spray.

- Removal of the rudder to apply epoxy coats and to apply some anti-fouling coats.

- Removal of all the anti-skid, sanding of the deck, filler in some places, supports for several elements such as stanchions. We used meters of fiberglass to build those new elements to prevent any water from getting in the boat. We also paint the deck with local anti-skid material.

- Some woodworks are also under way for the arch, since it weights more than 100 kilos, f + the dinghy and engine.

- Full engine revision, new frame for the stainless steel watertank to allow for a handy cleaning, new through-hull for the toilet.

- And all the bits and pieces that we come across and need attention and far more time than expected.