Ko Muk is the epitome of a dream tropical island. Palm trees, white sandy beaches, friendly locals.
We had help from a local called Boatman who runs a longtail service for the Sivalai five star resort, and his friend Chai, who came to look at our drive shaft to see if they could help fix it (it was always terminal) and decided we could take it out, in the water, and get a replacement made in one day over on the mainland at Kantang.
We negotiated this through one of the receptionists at the resort. ("Just call me Tammy, it'll be easier for you than my Thai name") Boatman insisted she join us on Yana when he checked things out because he speaks no English. Tammy, now our much loved interpreter, told her manager she needed to spend the afternoon on our boat. ("These people come from the sea, we have to help them") She is the ultimate compassionate Buddhist.
So Boatman and Chai freedived on Yana and took the shaft out that afternoon. It wasn't exactly easy, but it was done all with lovely light humour and a lot of struggling on Tammy's part to translate the names of the tools they needed, but we ended up with bungs instead of a drive shaft. Success number one.
The next day Boatman took me in his longtail to the pier on the mainland and Chai and I took a driver to Kantang, then Trang. It seemed we could get the replacement drive shaft made in Kantang. They were calling it a "copy" which I wanted, not a "fix", which I definitely didn't want. Not that I know too much about these things, I just took the callipers so I would look like I knew what was going on. Unfortunately there was no stainless 30mm rod to be found anywhere. Verdict - only available in Phuket.
Meanwhile the Chief Engineer was manning the bilge pump, not letting Yana out of sight.
I was resigned to taking the six hour bus ride to Phuket the next day, perhaps staying overnight, when another of Boatman's friends, Braxsir ("Just call me Sir") offered to drive me to Phuket, pick up the "spare part" and be back on Ko Muk in one day. Stuff the 6000 baht ($200) expense I thought and yes I said - pick me up at 6:00 am and we'll do it.
Now that road trip was an adventure in itself, and it was success number two. Yay. The Chief Engineer spent the day on the bilge pump, not letting Yana out of sight.
I set off again in the longtail with my new driver to pick up the drive shaft "copy" in Kantang in the afternoon. Success number three! The Chief Engineer was getting a bit stir crazy by then, what with me off galavanting all over the country with the Thai boys, and him getting rather bored with the bilge pump.
Anyway, the new shaft was installed. It didn't leak and appeared to work fine. It cost 4000 baht, but I spent another 13,000 in transport to get it to Ko Muk. The Chief Engineer was delighted not to be manning the bilge pump anymore.
We celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary with cocktails and the most expensive item on the menu for dinner at the five star resort. Our TripAdvisor review might have gone something like "Strange Pina Coladas, Weird Barracuda". But we were still thrilled to be leaving the next day.
Then we discovered why the drive shaft had failed in the first place: a broken engine mount bolt.
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