Last week before returning for Xmas

Well, this week has been a blast. We have been working very hard to get various things finalised before leaving back for home for the Christmas holidays and when revieiwing the many photographs of the last two months I am struck 

again by how much we have been able to achieve. The surrounding photographs show what the boat looked like when we arrived in October. After Rudi's focused efforts in accordance with my mother-in law's tenet for tackling any seemingly excessive task to simply start at one end we have in fact cleared the mess and now have a rather cosy and livable barge.

I have throughout this last two months felt that things have moved very slowly, in fact too slowly for my expectation. However, one of the conclusions over this period has been that on a boat no task can be undertaken without doing a series of other things first! If one wants to install running water it means cutting out a portion of a steel bulkhead to allow the pipes through and for this you need an angle grinder that first has to be purchased from Hornbach. Also when you think you have now got it all prepared you realise there are two old defunct toilet inlet and outlet pipes in the way that require a day or two's work to allow the free flow of the new piping. Before you cut away these obstacles you need to be very sure that they have been properly welded shut and that by cutting them away you are not overnight dispatching your beloved barge to Davey Jones's locker. Everything constructive on the boat has required some prerequisite destruction!  What has taken some time for me to realise is that it does not help to work around problems. You need to take them directly and just demolish and dispose of what is in the way. We have kept odd pipes and wires and various bits of perfectly good wood only to find they have been in the way all along, really would require an unwarranted amount of effort before being servicable and pretty much all eventually find themselves being dumped in the garbage skip. We have tripped over, manouvred around and reorganised too many bits of ultimate garbage that has delayed our progress. The lesson is: get rid of it and clear the workspace from clutter. It might cost a bit in terms of planning and new material, but the savings in time and wasted effort more than makes up.

Looking back at the photographs of the last two months a few highlights come to mind, captured in the photos below. My brother Carl spent a few days with us after his visit to Canada and through his application managed clear the mountains of junk that had accumulated after the structural work. His visit also ushered us out of a stint of diarrhoea, which he unfortunately transported out of Zaandam with him. The boat was livable after he had cleared the engine room and topsides. Thanks Carl.

The visit by Jon and Niki Low from Geneva was a wonderful break from the grind in the early weeks. Thanks to them for their companionship and a great weekend.

We decided to invite our marina friends for drinks at the Black Smith pub to celebrate Rudi's birthday and on the way this stunning shot of the marina and Paul reminds us of the fun we have had. 

In the early part of our stay the new fore and aft construction left vast tracts of bare steel through which our precious heat would escape and to which litres of condensation would attach itself. We had to somehow contain this and every evening would erect this grubby groundsheet between our living quarters and the uninsulated new kitchen area. This area became a prime target for completion, with all the prerequisite distractions mentioned above, as the cold of winter crept up on us.    

Ah, this photo represents most of what one could call "running" water before I was able, in the very last weeks, to fill the 1000 litre tank and connect the pump that provided us with a tap and flowing water in the boat. I was moved to this not by an urge to quickly install a more convenient way of delivering water, but by a warning that the taps were to be closed off the next day to avoid the freeze-bursting of the pipes.    

This represents the working end of the water chain, namely the automatic dishwasher, which sadly lasted for all but the last week of our stay, when I installed a temporary zink basin and kitchen!

 

We visited Ikea and decided on the kitchen style we want to install on the boat. It will pick up on the traditional style of the current dining room/salon but brings in all the mod-cons, including dishwasher and "combi-magnetron", or convection micro-wave.


Andrew Auld, a friend and fellow member of Ma's Boys, a well-known male voice group in Pretoria, often asked me teasingly what we would be doing to solve the condensation problem. Well Andrew, we solved it....simply wait till it freezes!







So what did we achieve in the last week of our stay? First and importantly, Rudi insulated the new forecabin area. This noticably warmed up the boat and change the dark "deurmekaar" dungeon into a bright and organised store-room.

I managed to install new cold water piping, the gas cooker, a zink and temporary kitchen worktop! This allowed us to host our kind marina friends in two consecutive evening sessions at a lavish dinner of "Moules mariniere", we enjoyed the entertaining and cooking in our own kitchen and the worksurface and zink made us realise how much these simple comforts mean after for two months washing up on the floor in a bucket and sharing the food preparation surface with odd tools and boat things.

On Saturday evening the marina management arranged a fun evening of bingo which brought the disparate marina population together at the canteen and much fun, and beer, was had by all.

 The photos below show both how clean and large the new cockpit area will be as well as the temporary covering where the new teak hatch and entry doors will be installed. This hole was cut and the necessary welding for the sliding hatch and doors was done on a chilly, but not snowed in Monday. Grinding dust abounded and not only crept into everything inside the boat again, but caused consternation in the vicinity. This dust settles on any steel or paint and promptly rusts and leaves a ghastly mark so we sucessfully built a sort of igloo of styrofoam around the cutting area to avoid the dust from spreading. A good inspection on our own and the neighbouring boats showed no ill after effects.

 

One of the items that has been made redundant following the removal of the mast is the sail and mast winch. This was placed on the local auction website, "Markplaats" and received immediate interest. Hopefully we will be able to either sell it or swap it for an equally period anchor winch, which has a different capstan to manage the anchor chain. In the photo below is part of a very heavy antique anchor winch we have on board, which someone saw on one of the photos I placed on Markplaats and there is now also some interest in this item which we were pondering on how it could be incorporated as a conversation piece on the boat. 

 The last item of no further use on our boat is the top of the mast with its unique fittings for a tjalk sailing rig. We were on our way to the dump with it when one of our Dutch friends stopped us and said it too should rather be put on Markplaats, which we have now done.

The other major achievemnet of the last week was the cutting of the openings for and installation of the four portholes in the new forward section of the boat. The amount of light that these four portholes bring into this area and the new bright atmosphere it presents is quite astonishing.

We have left the boat winterised, namely pumped all the water out of the tank, pump and pipes to avoid freezing and bursting and have ensured that the engine is well filled with anti-freeze. We have a working, albeit temporary and incomplete, kitchen, a comfortable and warm bed, effective diesel "kacheltje" to ward off the big freeze, new radiators and speedfit pipes to be fitted upon our return before the central heating boiler is installed and hopefully will return to a boat with an elegant, and expensive, new entrance. We have enjoyed the two months immensely, grown even fonder and respectful of one another (Well at least that is my perspective towards Rudi: "Vir daardie hande staan niks verkeerd nie!") and in conclusion realise that this has been and continues to be a dream we wish to fulfill, despite the cold and distance from what we currently call home and loved ones and things. We intend to spend Christmas at home, visit the Cape in January, prepare the house for renting, store the furniture and then move back to the barge via France in February.

See you later, thanks for your interest and comments.