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12th November 1998 Times passes pretty quickly and I have the feeling we slow down a bit. Maybe its because we have all this little things to do and don't see the results as we did when we sanded and painted the hull of AMBERELLA.

But better times are to come. By the way, I am planning to go to the beach since 10 days and never made yet. Yesterday was Sunday and we were supposed to take the day off, but suddenly the outboard engine started playing games with us again and I decided to take it apart for I don't know how many times I done it already. It is just not running properly. The spark plugs are always oily no matter what I try to change.

So once again I ended up with a whole day of greasy hands.

The YAMAHA outboard story:
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Bottom line of the day: Never ever, I say never ever buy a YAMAHA outboard engine!!!!
If you think you buy a brand and quality. Forget it! I really would like to know how other engine manufacturers put their out border together, but what YAMAHA does is very short eyed.
My engine is 2 years old and was I suppose looked after in a normal manner. Now when there is the time to exchange something, open up some lid to clean etc. there is no way to open the YAMAHA. Imagine they used normal ferro screws for bonding the aluminum parts. They are all oxidized and even with all kinds of things I tried , like heat, W 40 Oil and acid they would only break on the screw driver. The just to soft and low quality screws.
I had to open the whole exhaust and water channel because a thermostat that controls the cooling would not open.
In the end I broke 5 screws! Now I need to dwell the left over crews out and get proper ones.
YAMAHA seams not want to have this engines running for more than 5 years because the make mostly money on selling new ones.

Anyway that is I think always the issue on outboarders.
I am lucky that I am able to repair this myself. I would have invested another few hundred DM for Service.

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Beside the unscheduled work we did the following on AMBERELLA:

-I have the parts for the rig ready on Tuesday/Wednesday
-when I spanned the rig we are ready to sail. Only the winches need to go back on the cockpit...only
- the material for the new head is ready and I will start on this matter soon

- we started to remove the green protection foil from the new windows and glued already two windows back on.

Another news:
AMBERELLA is moored at the pier of Hotel Mediteran.
Hot showers, Light on the pier, 220 Volt and always plenty of fresh water made the decision easy, but I did hesitate because of the cost.

There always some sailors here and we know a few already. Its good to have some social live, plus Nastasja will love to play in the garden of the now closed hotel.

09th November 1998 Dolphin's!!!!!!

We get daily visits from 3 dolphins. Amazing that they come into this bussy bay. The are big species and one of them has a marked fin. Yesterday they were diving alongside the boats until late evening and it was allmost an unreal picture with the half moon rising and the silhouette of the dolphins in the water.

I still try hard to get a good picture. They come close but the lens of my digital camera is very wide and 20 Meters is almost to far out. However I figured out a way to use the binoculars as tele lens. I use the macro function of the camera and hold the binoculars in front of the camera. A little editing of the pictures is needed later.

06th November 1998 This week we removed the wall to the nav-corner and have now much more living space. The older navigation area will converted into the new galley and the former kitchen becomes the new navigation desk. This seams to be my biggest project in terms of designing and wood work. As well I removed all lockers in the salon and just replaced them with 2 big boards of plywood. Those added with new covers are going to be Pullman beds in the salon ( we would than have 9 bunks). It locks good and clean and I don't have to hang around with the repair of all those lockers.

I bough some cartridges sikaflex and decided to add a ceramic floor ( sorry what's the right english term:-)?)to the bathroom.

Additional I started to work on the rig, removed some of the spanners and hope to redo the whole rig until Thursday. If I finish the rig we could sail next week for a few days to the bays and work outside from Fethiye on AMBERELLA. That would be something to look forward to.

1st November 1998 Exactly one week now, the turks celebrate their National Day. 75 years Atatuerk, the Father and Founder of Turkey. The turkish music whines across the streets. I have a headache and stay way off shore...!

I am happy that I was able to call Nina and Nastasja. They visit my parents in Germany. Nastasja is a bit upset that her father is not around. I cant wait to see them again. But still need to wait until December

I worked on AMBERELLA, put the reeling back and did a few little jobs

29th October 1998 Had some time to load my pictures. Have a look...

AMBERELLA on the slide, later in Hide Park Corner Bay, the new name mirrors in the sea. Annemarie on Georgs Isenisca, a wreck in Fethiyes harbor as a little reminder...and the first clouds remind of the coming winter in Turkey.

28th October 1998 While away sailing with Georg, a little storm visited Fethiye and ripped the sunsail of AMBERELLA apart. At least I know that the anchor holds tight....:-)

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