Annual Status – March 2019

We purchased Indra four years ago on 22 March 2015 at Holiday Oceanview Marina (HOV), Samal Island, Davao del Norte, Mindanao, Philippines.  We had her hauled out and put on the hard on 4 September 2015 and she is still on the hard to this day.

Dates of visit.  The chart below reflects we have made nine trips to HOV Marina, Samal Island from Naga City, Cebu so far. Most trips take two full days of travel by truck using three Roll-On Roll-Off ferries to get there and another two full days of travel to arrive back in Cebu. This means with nine visits that about 36 days of travel occurred.  The chart reflects that in four years of ownership we have been onsite 280 days with 254 actual work days. In most cases a non-work day is due to us all going to Davao City for shopping purposes - it really takes (wastes) all day.  We also usually work 7 days a week, early morning to early evening (12-16 hours a day), and we take ample breaks due to the excessive heat and humidity.

Notes:

• Visit 1 was to look Indra over for purchase consideration - this trip was by airplane.
• Visit 2 was cut short due to the terrorist kidnapping of 4 persons from HOV Marina the evening of our first day of arrival on 21 September - wife and daughter did not want to stay.

Expenditures to Date - Total - $139,271.28.

Expenditure Categories.

• Boat - Indra purchase cost - $45,000.00.
• USCG - $1,194.73. This includes the cost of paperwork and fees to delete Indra from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) registrar,  initially register Indra with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), Federal Communications Commission (FCC) radio licenses, and annual USCG COD renewals.
• Haul Out - $341.00. This fee also covers the effort to return Indra to the water when she's ready.
• Rent - $12,837.43.  This covers the HOV berthage and hardstand fess for the time-frame from March 2015 through April 2019.
• Electric - $231.36.  Electric fee of 100 pesos (~US $2.00) per day of use.
• PI Labor - $455.50. Local labor is charge at 500 pesos (~US $10.00) per 8 hour day.
• PI Materials - $235.74. This covers material purchased through HOV Marina staff.
• US Materials - $68,964.85. This covers items ordered from a US retailer.
• Total Shipping Costs - $10,010.67.  Each item ordered from a US retailer was shipped to our balikbayan box consolidator in Los Angeles, California with a local stateside Shipping cost total of US $3,933.27.  We incurred a cost of US $872.79 in Taxes due to items ordered and delivered in the state of California - internet commerce is no longer all tax free. So far we have shipped a total of 71 Balikbayan Boxes (B-Box) at a cost of US $5,204.61 and they depart the US as ocean freight.  Earliest arrival for a B-Box was 47 days; longest arrival for a B-Box was 102 days; with the average delivery time taking 62 days for a B-Box.
• Each cost figure here is derived from electronic receipts, entered into and tracked on an Excel worksheet. There are additional cost items that are not contained in these figures, mostly items purchased at local Filipino stores - a rough cost estimate of these items is around $1,500 to $2,000.

Status of Indra. When we decided to purchase Indra our onsite review in February 2015 revealed significant discrepancies - we knew Indra was in the "project" boat category. So far we have accomplished a complete bottom job, replaced all thru hulls and hoses, replaced all standing rigging, replaced all running rigging, replaced the engine and house bank batteries, almost completely rewired the entire electrical systems, replaced the electronics, replaced the LPG system, partial overhauled of the engine, replaced the plumbing system, painted the bilge and hidden from sight interior areas, started the varnish tasks, sewed multiple projects, serviced the winches and windlass, and the list goes on and on. These repair issues we attempt to document in both our monthly log posts and on the To Do List - we're a little behind on the updates to the website.

What are the major areas of work left to do?  Fix the anchor chain free fall retrieval problem, reseal 10 of 12 portlights and replace all their rubber gaskets, finish the mast wiring, redo the woodwork in the head and aft starboard side quarter berth, install the wind generator and hot water heater, more paint and varnish, repair or replace the dinghy, and miscellaneous small jobs.

We have in our possession the latest shipment of balikbayan boxes with more boat parts, arrived in April - just waiting on one more parcel shipment that is overdue delivery as usual. Our goal on the next trip is to complete the major items and enough of the minor ones to splash Indra before we return to Naga City, Cebu via the truck.  We would then return by airplane and depart on Indra with goal of bringing her to the Cebu area.  Only the passage of time will reveal the outcome, but we remain optimistic!

Naga City, Cebu. What occupies our time when we are not at Holiday Oceanview Marina (HOV) working on Indra? We maintain and rent a 400 meter fenced lot with a duplex house on it - we rent both sides of the duplex house.  Here we grow fruit trees, vegetables, and flowers - Marilyn has a green thumb!  We also raise a lot of chickens, turkeys, quail, ducks, and pigs - we also have a few cats.  Each visit to Indra also entails hiring a house sitter to take care of things here.

We have about 2.5 acres (1 hectare) in southern Cebu on the ocean front that we completely fenced and planted a lot of fruit tree varieties on that we have to also visit.

Mary Ann attends local private school here when she opts not to home school - she accompanies us on some on the visits to Indra, but not all of them due to school being in session.

A detail review of the issues and pictures we take on Indra are analyzed here.  We prioritize the issues, develop a solution, research and order materials, and have them shipped to our location here - having a high speed DSL internet line makes this effort much easier than trying to attempt this at HOV Marina where internet speed and reliability is lacking.  After items are order we go through our pictures and notes and convert them to website content - this is done on our laptop computer that hosts our local website. Uploads to our online website are time consuming due to the amount of data and complexity of trying to make it a mirror site of our laptop content - we will figure it out eventually, or not.

Ironically we are retired but seem to be busier than ever - at least we are doing things of our own choosing! Life is too short to do otherwise!