Windy

Sunday 28th Feb
Not quite such a long day for Ian today.  He started late (10.00) and finished early (5.30).   With one side of the hull cleaned and primed, he started on the other side today.  You cannot believe what a nasty job this is.  The tar seems to be almost toxic and grinding it off turns it into a fine dust that sticks like glue to everything.  He has a good respirator and protective eye glasses but even so that dust infiltrates into the tiniest aperture.  I just go inside the “tent” to clean for a few minutes, when there is no grinding going on, and I come out filthy dirty. 

It was windy today.  As usual the temperature was around 4 or 5 at midday and I decided to go for a bike ride.  It didn’t last long – 40 minutes later I was back home (after stopping at the marina to see if I could find any friends there but it was deserted).  Cycling in the wind is no fun, and it was perishing cold!

Anne, mother of the household, has said I may use their washing machine.  Turns out they have 2, an ordinary domestic one and a big industrial one for washing overalls and other filthy things.   Guess which one Ian’s black tarry clothes went into!

Gilled sausages for dinner and Ian was in bed by 9.30.

Progress

27th Feb

Another long day for Ian, he is wearing himself out.  The tar stuff that he is grinding off the hull is terrible stuff.  Thijs gave him some Udder Cream to protect his skin but even so he is suffering.  His eyes are rimmed with black, looks like he is wearing mascara, and even after half an hour in the shower and copious amounts of shampoo and soap his hair and beard aren’t really clean.  Another long 12 hour day for him and he finally got one side of the hull clean and a first layer of primer onto the bare metal.  

    

Before- the dirty hull

Down to bare metal

First coat of primer

So, 2 days to one side of the hull – and the fiddly bits around the rudder and propeller are not finished yet.  That means minimum 2 more days to do the other side.  The other guys working in the yard say this is the worst job and rag him a bit, all in good humour and it keeps his spirits up.

Thijs has been extremely helpful and lends Ian all sorts of tools.  Ian is very impressed with the standard of work and equipment in the yard.   

I help out where I can – which means cleaning.  I sweep out twice a day so the piles of trash that Ian is creating do not get too deep.  And this afternoon I got cleaning stuff and a vacuum cleaner from Anne (mother of Klaas and Thijs) and cleaned our room, the toilet and the shower.  We are the only ones using them so I feel it’s up to me to keep our “home” clean.

A sausage and rice thing for dinner! 

First day of work

26th Feb

I woke up as the Polish guys left for work but it was still pitch dark so I snuggled down and waited till it got light.  Got up at 7.30 and woke Ian at 8.00, by 9.00 he had had breakfast and was ready to work. 

What a horrible job - removing every scrap of paint/tar/whatever to take the hull below the waterline back to bare metal.  Tiring and very dirty!  He is using a big power drill with a special fitting like a wheel that flays all the rubbish off the metal.  

He ends up looking rather like a panda – mostly black with a few white patches where the respirator covers his nose and mouth. 

Homemade soup and fresh baguette for lunch. At Lidl I bought 1 kg of Boerenwurst (farmer’s sausage, our favourite) and made a huge casserole for dinner (with tomato, beans, paprika), and still have loads of sausage left so we’ll be eating various sausage meals for a few days!

Ian worked till 10.00 – totally knackered.

24th February 2016 Arrival at Buitenbeentje Boatyard

Arrived at Brussels Airport at 23.30 and prepared to wait out the 6 hours till we got the train to Diksmuide.  Coffee for 2: €7.80, read for a bit, pushed some chairs together so I could stretch out and dozed on and off for an hour, Ian didn’t even bother, but in his wonderings found a Starbucks open so we had more expensive coffee (€8.50 for 2), then found another shop open and bought a phone SIM card, a bottle of water and an apple juice.

Train tickets cost €24 each.  Got the train at 6.26. Pretty nippy looking outside, lots of frost, saw a time/temp read out that told us it was -1C at 8.00.  Called Thijs to tell him what time we were arriving and Klaas was there to meet us at Diksmuide station.

At the boatyard, the first thing we saw as we drove in was Njord, looking just as she did when we left almost 4 months ago,  but a bit grubbier perhaps.  Our room is one of 3 they rent out, it has its own toilet and is supposed to have a shower but that is not finished yet so we will continue to use the shower downstairs as we did when we stayed on board last year. The room is big, has 2 single beds, 4 dining room chairs (2 act as bedside tables), an armchair and a chest of drawers.  All a bit of a mish-mash but all serviceable, and it’s warm and comfortable.  There is a huge kitchen downstairs, well equipped, which we share with the other 2 renters who are single Polish guys and don’t do much cooking.

The day was cold, might have struggled up to 5 or 6C by mid-afternoon, but dry, sunny and really rather pleasant.  We got the bikes off the boat, batteries still fully charged, so we rode to the supermarket and stocked up with some essentials.  I got the bedding, towels, some clothes, etc off the boat and unpacked our luggage, turning our room into a home for 3 weeks.

This afternoon Ian washed Njord’s hull with a special degreaser and she was moved into the paint shed – ready for Ian to start on tomorrow.  

Yes, there is a boat under all those covers!

Then we paid a visit to Ian’s favourite shop, Delva, a hardware store, to buy a set of overalls and a really good respirator.   We had a couple of drinks, spaghetti for dinner and an early night to catch up on the sleep we missed out on last night.