The White Week

Winter arrived in it's full glory!! Let me tell you I think we have forgotten how cold it really can get over here and living on water makes it even colder.... but, I am jumping the gun!

Let me first talk about the progress that has been made so far. I started cleaning the portholes and what a job. All the old paint has to be stripped and I can assure you that over almost a hundred years quite a few layers of paint were added on top of each other and it takes a full day to strip it all from a porthole.

 

Before...





....after

Last Monday the fuel boat arrived with our diesel for the little stove and that was another new exprerience! I just call it "Die Petrol Lorrie". It parks right at the back of our boat and hey presto 180 liters of red diesel  and 171 Euros later and it chugs off again with one very friendly petrol "joggie" on board. Quite a colourful contraption really!

Just want to make absolutely sure that everybody understands that I have once again decided that camping is definitely not for me, I am a woman who insists on and loves her comforts! I am getting to the point where washing and rinsing dishes on the floor from two buckets ain't no fun at all but let it also be said that I know how to go with the flow. A kitchen eventually will be fantastic!! I was hoping that by now we would have a kitchen, but I am glad we didn't rush it because the whole layout would have been disastrous seeing that the fridge and micro wave and washing machine have moved so many times on the plan! Now we have decided that the steel cupboard for the gas bottle must move to the back of the boat because it just continues to cause havoc with our planning and layout and only then can we move on with the installation of the new kitchen. I do declare that it is actually all my fault, insisting that we do not install temporary "things" but go for the real thing! Stupid woman!

Kitchen, dining table, workbench and card table



After a days slogging and planning and carting stuff to the boat, etc. etc. it is so pleasant to create order again, putting tools away, decide what's for dinner and then sit down together at 6 o'clock (no not before then!) and have a glass or two of red wine or a beer for Attie and discuss our day's progress and planning what is in store for tomorrow!

Birthday drinks at The Black Smith pub

Had a lovely birthday last week. Went shopping at Het Goed and the Kampeerwinkel with Lisa, bought a few things pretended to be busy the rest of they day while Attie was grafting away and later the afternoon we hopped on our bikes, in the rain, to buy a microwave/convection oven (Magnetron combi!!), printer and iron The microwave had to stay behind because it weighed 31 kg and was impossible to tie down to the back of the bike. After delivering the printer and iron we bought at the boat, we went out for a drink and dinner with our marina friends. It was a fabulous evening and we felt quite civilised again dressing up a bit and being served in a proper restaurant, although the service was really poor the food was great and we had a grand time!!

As I have mentioned, Attie went back to this huge electrics and electronics store the next morning to bring Maggie (magnetron) home! He actually took the wheelbarrow into town and pushed it all the way home. I thought my whole life is going to change in the instant having Maggy around, but it is a new and strange machine that has to be fully studied again! Also there is a limit on the amount of shore power we can draw and all other apparatus has to be switched off to ensure we don't trip the mains! Attie always says that on this boat of ours nothing can be done before a hundred other things have been done first, so there I was having to study this machine for hours before I can actually use it. You must realise that this is also a conventional oven, so I do have the chance to study again, even if it's only the workings of Maggy!

The other miracle in our lives is experiencing what it feels like to sleep on a proper bed again!! Attie the clever sticks, built us a bed!! No more sleeping on tne floor and what a life changing difference! My fault again, because we should have done it first thing after arrival. Ces't la vie! Notice the homely rug. Our Dutch  neighbours, Klaas and Griet had placed this outside with "neem gratis mee" sticker on it and asked Rudi whether she would not like a nice rug for free. While maybe not the long term design solution, it has made a marvellously warm difference.



Made with old sailing barge wood



This has been the white week for various reasons. First we have eventually more or less completed the insulation of kitchen, albeit without first installing new larger windows and hatch. We started insulating with rolls of rockwool, something akin to fibreglass. Less itchy, but still a bit of an effort to install without having hazardous dust and itchy bits floating around. Also the gunnels in the kitchen do not have wooden slats to which it can be properly stapled. We decided to revert to flame resistant styrofoam which is considerably cheaper, can easily be cut to size and leaves only light snowy waste that does not itch. This insulation of the kitchen area has been quite a frustrating stop-start exercise with the planning of the electrics, placement of new entrance hatch, bigger windows etc continuously getting in the way of practical progress. Now we have decided to remove the gas bottle bin which is going to open up the planning options considerably and allow for a proper fridge etc.

Secondly, the temperature has dropped below freezing and we have had frost and snow. Today the temerature is expected to drop to 12 degrees below freezing!

David, Penny and Rudi in the snow on the "steiger"

Are we pleased we have a diesel "kacheltje" that keeps us warm and allows us to watch a movie in comfort every now and then?

Thirdly, given the fact that the marina warned they were due to close off the main water taps to avoid bursting of pipes, I therefore decided to fill the main water tank, which I had wanted to paint inside first with special paint, but did not have the time to do, and install a (temporary!) tap. We still do not have a sink installed due to our agreed principle of not doing temporary installations, a principle that we have religiously kept to, but now have relented on for the sake of immediate comforts like running water and a bed off the floor.

We still have some 15 days before we return to SA for Christmas and remain committed to this incredible adventure, despite the cold and the slow progress. We have laughed and sworn often and with exceptional innovation, but never in anger. We have friends who have taken the same journey and are now well advanced in their restoration and are very comfortable on their beautifully restored barges. This week Alan and Sharon arrived from Scotland for a three month stint on the boat they bought earlier this year. Hurrah, we are now no longer the greenhorns and can say "we have camped afore ye"!

A Slow Process

Sunday the 21st November and we cannot believe that we've been here for 5 weeks already. If you look at the inside of the boat in general, it doesn't look as if anything has been done, but most of the work is not really noticable. No electricity on our arrival and now you just flick the switches and voila! The kitchen space was a dark hole and now it has a floor, insulation and plugs for utensils. I have made great innings with the roof, removing rust and painted with rust prevention, not nearly finished though. That job depends entirely on the weather, so I tackle it whenever the sun shines and that is not often. Attie is working really hard and I wish I had his know how so I could help him more.


We have made such good friends here. All very helpful and supportive. Had a great meal with David and Penny a while ago. She prepared Tilapia, a fish I had only known of as a product of aquaculture but had never tried before ... it was scrumptious! We also had a lovely dinner wiith Paul and Lisa the other night. What a treat to eat a decent meal that someone else has cooked. Lisa is also a terrific cook and made two delicious Thai curries with all the trimmings, just the right stuff for a cold winter's night! We remarked that this was only the second or third time in a month that we have sat down in comfort. All we have at present on Linqui are dining room type chairs and sitting back on padded seats or lounge suites on friends boats is just such a wonderful experience, something one would normally take for granted, but only with deprivation really notice and appreciate. We are learning to deal with the "hardships" of no running nor hot water, no shower and no WC on board but are deeply aware that we have the privilege of choice and the expectation that time will solve these minor irritations. !

Our new dutch friends Bert and Aukje popped in yesterday for coffee and they are a very kind and friendly couple. We find that the Dutch in general are very friendly and speak good English. I can just imagine how we would have struggled doing this thing of ours and the shopping we need to do if we were in France!



spirit level not always reliable on a boat!



New larger windows to be installed before kitchen cladding can be completed



some rockwool insulation installed!!!

 Ok ya'll want to know about the kitchen! No it's not in yet and yes it is now completely planned and we even  went  to Ikea on Friday to look at "our" kitchen again! Let me tell you, it's a good thing that we decided to take it slow otherwise we would not have had a fridge! Now that is worked into the plan and now we are ready to make the next move and are thinking to have it installed by Ikea when we are back in S.A. It will be a fantastic experience arriving in January with a brand new snazzy kitchen and no buckets of dishwater and rinsing water standing on the floor. That will be my best day ever! What a pain camping is!!

 

Current dishwasher....all automatic, you see!


The progress  in such a boating venture remains slow as the principle is that anything you plan requires a series of prerequisite actions to be completed. For example, the insulation of the kitchen is the current priority, but before we can complete the insulation all the wiring has to be completed and the cupboards and shelves under the gunnels and any new windows need to be installed.

Fixing the wiring is not an overly complicated process att this stage as it is essentially the 220v  system comprising of three circuits each on their own circuit breaker and switch. These we have organised essentially as port side circuit, starboard side circuit and the kitchen, which requires all plugs to be earthed. The boat had quite well distributed wiring in good condition so this we have kept as the backbone of the system and are now adding the new kitchen group. I have done some work on the new kitchen group and the unconnected wiring is hanging out of various installed orifices waiting for the plywood cladding to be installed, which in turn requires the insulation, which in turn requires the electrics and water connections, windows etc, ad infinitum.



Of course the planning cannot be done without assistance!

 Without Rudi helping to provide focus by cutting out the incidentals I think we would be pottering about flitting from the one thing that catches the eye to the other and never really getting things done. We sit every evening and review progress, typically disappointed at what has in reality been visibly achieved, and plan what has to happen the next day. We have reduced the long lists to lists of one or two specific goals for the day. This provides focus and seems a bit more achievable.

We have acquired a new family member called Snuggles and he is watching over us all day long. We even talk to him every now and then. I miss my dogs so much that I have decided to get Snuggles!

Progress




Merrily, merrily, merrily

 

It is Thursday the 11th. The wind is blowing like mad and some rain in between, 5 degrees C BUT happy days (and nights) are here!  Attie installed a new (pretty old) diesel heater! Quite a process, my shoulders ached for two days from the cleaning and polishing the brass and he cleverly installed the chimney, stand for the heater, the diesel pump and eventually after accidently cutting one of the pipes too short) hey presto we have heat. The difference was like day and night. We can now get rid of the heavy clothing while inside and a T-shirt is quite enough!! I want to add that I still want a nice wood burner!



There is a row of houses across the canal and the one nearest us is occupied by a little old lady who sits at her diningroom table all day long with binoculars close at hand. Well she is checking out all our movements, especially mine. "What is she doing now? Where are they going now? Who are they talking to? Geez she is carrying buckets of water to the boat! Oh she is painting the roof!" And I can feel her eyes burning into me watching all my comings and goings with a hawk eye, it is funny and everyone wants to wave at her, but I tell them to leave her be, she doesn't have much else to do. If I can amuse a little old lady then I do it with pleasure. Imagine sitting there all day all by her lonely self. Maybe I should buy her a puzzle and leave it on her doorstep! Enlarge photo and you will see her sitting there!

Attie is trying his best to install the insulation in the kitchen but he is getting there very slowly, because there are just too many distractions, like for instance one of his new mates popping in for coffee or sorting out his tools again and again or measuring something to death, which is right, because he has to go to great lenghts to go and buy what he needs and one doesn't want to walk back everytime if you have made a mistake, but he will be able to install the kitchen eventually!



Miles of coachroof to prepare!



Yesterday was a calm sort of sunny day, so I started preparing the roof for painting. First I had to use the scraper and steel brush to get rid of all the minute pieces of welding residue that clung to the surface and started rusting. One square block at a time, brushing, scraping and slide my hand over it to feel if it's smooth, wipe it clean and then first layer of rust prevention paint, called "mynie" here in Holland. The barge is 20 meters long and the roof must be about 15 by 2.8m, so I have quite a way to go still! It took me 2 hours to cover about a 1500cm square, so I am on a roll, ha ha! Blotches in foreground is what    I did yesterday!



Gazelle, we will fly!



Two huge things happened yesterday! My wonderful hubby bought me a cool bike, she is called a Gazelle so I will be charging around Zaandam with hair blowing in the wind! If you can imagine that, then you are good! I was planning on buying saddle bags and a basket for the front today, but with this terrible weather I'd much rather stay put, tomorrow is yet another day. Just want you to know that I am slowly but surely becoming a Dutchy. The other is that I have at last decided on a pair of nice comfy warm boots after checking out and trying on about 50 pairs. Important business this, because boots buying needs a lot of attention, especially for a boat. Water, non-slip, flat, warm, leather, short and long at the same time. I was exhausted, drained and now at last I am the proud owner of not cheap lekker comfy boots! Attie bought himself a bike on the internet on Marktplaats which he will go and fetch by train soon!



Paul and Lisa popped in the other night, they were going to Hornbach (huge DIY store) and did Attie need something? Yes he does! We have been building up courage for a few days to "make many walks" to Hornbach to buy the rockwool insulation and although it is big rolls, it's very light but impossible to carry more than maybe two at a time and we need quite a few. So Attie went on his merry way with them in their big bus and he could buy the other items on his list he needed. That was a very kind and and most helpful gesture. Thank you Paul and Lisa very much appreciated!

Attie promised that I will have a temporary kitchen by Saturday, so with that thought I am going to say goodbye for now and here is a picture of the "kitchen" as is at the moment!

Well, all the right tools are there now

The October Great Return

I truly cannot believe all the above and more happened in only one year! So now we have been back in Zaandam since the 14th of October. Unfortunately when we arrived at Linqui Attie became ill, picked up some stomach bug on the plane. He crashed into bed and to my horror I discovered that all the styrofoam that was removed by the "builders" was stuffed in and on top of every single shell and cupboard on the boat! What a nightmare, our beautiful clean boat!

I immediately started clearing up and carried on for another day while Attie was really poorly and then, at 2-30am Sunday morning I was attacked viciously by the same bug! Well, that was the end of all creativity and grafting for a whole week.

Carl, Attie's brother came to visit the end of that week and what a great help he was. He helped lugging away all the old wood, chains and whatever. By the time he left, Linqui did not look like a scrapyard anymore. The welders did an excellent job of the changes we wanted to make (apart from leaving her in such a state of upheavel!)

Brother Carl, who made such a difference to the state of the boat and our own sanity

Now problem number one is we don't have a kitchen anymore and we need to eat. We can use the kettle at least, but that's it. Problem number two is that it is quite cold already and we still don't have shower or toilet. So it's back to the ablutions at the club house. Ohhhh not pleasant walking out of a warm shower into the cold, but no other choice. Amazing how quickly one can adapt and our realisation of with how little one can cope. A mug, milk, sugar and coffee and a plate each, a few pieces of cutlery and hey presto, you have a life. We lived on cup a soup, bread and now and then a salad. At least now we've got the little grill oven cleaned and our diet is slowly changing.


washing up, camping style




A lot of work has been done already, during the last two weeks, seeing that we are pretending that the first week actually never happened. Sometimes we stand around, turning in circles not knowing what to do next. You cannot plan on for instance doing the kitchen, because before you can start building something there is a whole lot of demolishing that has to be done first and then cleaning up again, like lugging all the old wood away to a recycling station not far, but all has to be carted in a wheelbarrow!! That can take between one and maybe five trips. Every evening at 6 we start cleaning the boat so that you can at least feel civilised when you enjoy a glass of wine and a cup of soup or some kind of take away! At least we can say the boat is clean again.


Jon, Niki, Attie with the Rijks Museum in the background.





And other guests hoping for somthing to eat!

 Thursday after Carl left, Jon and Niki Low arrived from Geneva, especially to see us. Bless them to go to all that trouble and to give us a break from all the grafting. What a superb weekend. We went out to dinners, visited the amazing Rijks Museum and did a whole lot of walking. I was sad to see them go again. But as I always say you have to leave to be able to come back again. Maybe we can make a plan to visit them in Geneva soon.

Back to reality! All the materils and tools we need are stacked away in the front of the boat where the future 2 bedrooms and shower/toilet will be. Attie has cleared the new kitchen area, done the electricity wiring through the whole boat and now he is preparing the kitchen walls for the installation of all cupboards and different units! Whoopeeeeeeeeee! The first evening after installation I will cook one slap-up meal that will not easily be forgotten. I have this all-time need for loads of fresh veggies. Now the installation of the kitchen means first having to clad the walls with insulation which I am sure will keep him busy all day today and most of tomorrow. One gets a little despondent every now and then, because it is a very slow process!! But we will do it! I could not stop laughing last night lying in bed, I asked Attie what next to be done, he said install the wood for the insulation. And then? I ask. Then we think, he says. Think about what? I say. "Bugger me if I know!" he says. I am still wiping the tears as I write this. Planning is almost impossible, you make a whole list of things to do today and that entails so many small things to do first that by tomorrow you sit with more or less the same list for "to do"!

Kitchen taking shape.... slooowwly!

The weather isn't helping much, very confusing! Rain, hail, wind, sun and mist in 30 minutes! So the best is to ignore the weather totally and just go where you have to and remember your brolly! It is lovely living on the water. The ducks, coots, swans, grebes, seagulls, etc are lovely to watch and to hear. The slapping of the water against the hull at night when you are lying in bed is just so pleasant. We are doing an enormous amount of walking and I am sure, well, speaking for myself, that I have lost quite a few kilos. Yes, yes! We walked about 2 km to the hardware store last night, just to discover that they close at 6 and this was now 6.05, our info was closing time to be 7 or 8, so we walked back 2 km and had a glass of wine! C'est la vie!

April spring cleaning

Great excitement when we arrived in Zaandam on the 9th of April. Linqui, i.e. Linquenda, was absolutely filthy and totally forlorn. Her interior was an overall brown colour and she smelled of diesel. The diesel heater has been leaking for quite a few years and that was the cause of the horrible colour and smell. The top of the roof looked like a junk yard!! I remember thinking that it was a great idea that God had that day to have this wonderful sunshine, otherwise, I thought, now will be a good time to get back on the plane.



670 litres of dieselgunk sucked up from bilges and carted away!

But, after 10 and a half liters of bleach, a paint brush and toothbrush, Linqui was a lovely ivory cream colour. Shiny! Attie sorted the electics, water, gas, stove, fridge, hull, floors and what not and hey presto we had a boat, a tjalk!! He worked so hard, from morning till night and more. He planned, built and gippoed!



the old vs the new after litres of "dikkebleek"

  

Lovely outing with David and Penny



We met fabulous marina neighbours, mostly Brits and enjoyed, I must add, a hectic social life. The comings and goings non-stop and very pleasant. Especially the fact that they are keen on sharing information and assistance. Bless them! We have also discoverd Zaandam, which is a lovely town with all the shops you can ask for and then some. Wonderful hardware and boating stores and my favourite is Het Goed! Oh yes. Het Goed is a second hand shop, but a decent second hand shop. There you can buy all and sundry for the boat.....kitchen utensils, etc., furniture and even clothing. We visited Ikea, my utmost thrill and there we started planning our kitchen. What fun!!!!!!

David, Attie, Paul, Lisa and Penny after first sucessful sail

Festivities at Zaandam on the Queen's Birthday



Have to recall another small but very important fact. That is, Attie and I did our Klein Vaart Bewys exams. He passed the first time(what else did I expect?), I had to try again and fortunately got it! We also did the Marifoon Eksamen, i.e. VHF radio exams. It was difficult to do all of this in Dutch, but we were successful. So Linqui has a qualified skipper and co-skipper! It was during this time that our good friends Stuart and Flora Grant from the U.S.A. lost their beautiful son Chrisopher in a freak accident in Geneva. My heart was broken and it took a lot of effort to concentrate on the work at hand. Life can really be very unfair!



Pierre and Estelle, first visitors from home



We worked so hard and so busy everyday that we went to Amsterdam Central only once and that was to meet Pierre and Estelle van der Merwe, who went to all the trouble to come and see what Linqui looks like. Our first visitors from home! It was fantastic to have them here and proudly we presented our dream (still nightmarish) boat!

I would like to mention though, that this  first stay on Linqui was not all fun and games!! Often we looked at each other and said "Can we do this?" Yes we can! The four weeks flew by and it was time to return to S.A. There I almost immediately started sorting out cupboars, wardrobes and with great pleasure got rid of a lot of rubbish. Why? Because from now on I am only buying presents and planning for Linquenda!