We Need a New Engine? But Where Can We Haul Out?

We've been in Kota Kinabalu, on the north coast of Borneo, for many months now-firstly awaiting the birth of our newest crew member, Tao, and then trying to resolve some persistent issues with our engine. After years of problems with our 30-year-old engine, we've finally decided it's time to treat NV to a new one. But changing an engine isn't just about picking the right model-it's also about tackling the logistics. First on the list: finding a yard that can haul us out. That's no easy task in this part of the world, especially for a boat like ours with nearly five metres of draft. Fortunately, we'd actually hauled out about 100 miles north of here, in a sleepy fishing town called Kudat, about six months ago. But that haul-out wasn't exactly straightforward. The yard is mostly used by local fishing boats. While it's becoming more popular with yachties, it lacks some of the facilities you'd expect elsewhere. Plus, the owner doesn't speak much English, so communication can be a challenge. In fact, to even get confirmation that they could lift us, we had to go there in person. Then there was the issue of how they support boats out of the water. They use concrete blocks stacked on top of each other, which wouldn't be stable enough at the height required for our deep draft. Luckily, they agreed to dig us a pit-but it was too deep, filled with water, and when they first set us down, they refused to support the keel. That caused some damage to the hull where it rested on the supports. Thankfully, Timo was able to repair it easily, and in the end, the haul-out was a success. But all of this is to say: it's not a simple situation. Given how complex our last haul-out was, we're not entirely sure the yard will agree to lift us again. And when we've called to try and arrange it, they haven't confirmed anything-so we've figured we'll need to go there in person, again, to try sort it out. The boat yard is about 200 kms from Kota Kinabalu and about 4hours drive depending on traffic. We didn't video the conversation, but thankfully the yard manager said yes! There was a boat just about to go in our place but he said when they're done in about 3 weeks time, we can go back in our pit! So we celebrated by going to visit some friends of ours at there eco resort and jungle camp called Tampat do Aman, half an hr from the boat yard, close to the coast near the north tip of borneo where the Sulu and China sea meet and whose daughter is Nemo's best friend By the way if any of you are headed up this way or plan to spend time in this yard, we can highly recommend visiting Tampat do Aman for a few days of recuperation and exploration, to learn something about the local culture and meet the local wildlife. I'll let the owner Howard tell you a bit more about this special place he's created... 00:00 Intro & recap 01:46 Driving to Kudat 03:43 Visiting the boat yard 06:06 Visiting our friends eco resort and jungle camp Ampat Do Aman ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you'd like to support us on Patreon, our website https://www.patreon.com/SailingNV or with a one-off donation via https://ko-fi.com/sailingnv or paypal https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/sailingnv or if you'd like to help us buy something we need, you can check out our amazon wish list https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1G2NJ0EGJLKR0?ref_=wl_share ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you'd like to visit our friends Eco resort/jungle camp Tampat Do Aman you can contact them on whatsapp on +601116057737 or email tampatdoaman@gmail.com or visit their instagram Tampat_do_aman #boatrepair #boatlife #sailboat