Week 231: No man's land
The last three weeks have felt like we're "on the cusp." We're building toward something, ready to tip over the edge, but we're not quite there. Turning this project from destruction to creation is about as slow as turning all 27 metres of Delfine 180 degrees. It takes a while.
It's worth taking stock for a moment. Delfine is gutted. The front cabin is ready for builders, and the bathroom has been demolished entirely. As of yesterday, demolition was completed in the stern cabin, too. It was a lot more challenging than we expected for such a small bathroom.
Front cabin bathroom done. Cleaning up the wood inside the skylights. Bathroom mid demo - we have retained the toilet for now, it works, there's just no walls!
The only intact room is the mid-cabin bathroom. Demolition will start on Monday, and we're still debating whether to completely remove it or just take out the shower (the most challenging part) for a start. Aside from that, it's one wall of the kitchen. And demolition is done. Or is it?
Karina was in the stern cabin, and she called out, "I've thought of something else we have to demolish"
"No, you haven't." I tried the old Jedi mind trick. "This is not the demolition you're looking for."
It turns out I'm not a Jedi, and there is one last thing we'd forgotten – the linoleum in the wheelhouse. That needs to be removed as well. Regardless, demolition is close to being completed.
Once demolition is done, the question is when the building will start. Progress was made this week, with the first draft of the contract sent through. While the initial price was about where we expected it to be, it still needed some improvements. We've done enough remodels now to know that the only way is up (baby).
Construction will start off-site soon and installation will be in March. Which, if the demolition is complete, might leave us with a bit of time on our hands! Wouldn't that be a lovely surprise? We can use that to complete the ES-TRIN certificate for the boat, the Belgian commercial Meetbreif, the route planning, meeting with tour guides, and finding a chef. Oh yeah. It seems we'll remain busy after all.
We spent a few days at Simon's workshop, putting the final two coats of varnish on the hatch. It's a thing of beauty now, and I can't wait to see it installed—hopefully on Tuesday this week. While it cost a bit more than I thought, it's a feature I'm proud to add to Delfine—something that will make a statement and last for another 50 years.
More progress shots on the hatch. It will be about 120kg complete with the glass installed.
Slowly, though, we turn to positive activities. Karina has been diligently working on the window frames, and now only four small ones are left to complete in the stern cabin. Each renovated frame looks fantastic and are hugely improved from where we started.
The console was fitted and ready for Martin to reinstall all the electrics this coming Monday. The new switch plate arrived too, which triggered that. The hatch is ready for install and we got five coats of paint onto the steel as well.
Jonas, who works with Simon, drilling holes for the hatch to get bolted to. The first of the final colour to go back on Delfine. And the hatch this morning, 3 coats of primer, and 2 between layers DONE.
Painting a steel boat. Oh boy, I never realised how complex that really is! These commercial two-part paints are no joke. We have two different colours of primer – gray and green. We alternate those to ensure that we have a complete coverage. Then on top of the primer, we put a "between" layer, which is another epoxy, but this time tinted to the final coat and with a different formulation. We ended up putting two layers of THAT to ensure that we covered the primer properly. Finally, there is the "final coat", which is a polyurethane paint.
Each of the paints (Primer, Between Layer and Final) has its own hardener, which must be mixed in specific ratios. 4:1, 4.56:1 and 5.6:1. All these "weird" ratios are because, really, the systems are designed to pour an entire pack of hardener into a newly opened tin. The ratios "work". But when you only want to do a small patch, there's way too much math trying to measure it out (100ml of paint and 22ml of hardener).
The console, ready for the electrics to be fitted.
We keep pushing forward. We're delighted to tick two rooms off the demo list and move to new projects. This next week will be a significant milestone because we should have the electrical work completed (perhaps still pending the solar, but that will be on it's way) and the console back in place. We could, in theory, take Delfine for a spin!
Scraping the vinyl off the walls and the wood underneath.
For now we keep pushing on, trying to get over this hump. The weather is improving slowly, which helps too. Unusually for a Sunday, I'm out here on Delfine, because it was too good not to put another coat of paint on the hatch and let it dry. We have to grab these moments, because it's due to rain again this week.
I received a lovely written review in the DBA newsletter, my first "official" review, not on the Amazon listing. You can find the links here if you're interested in reading about our adventures aboard Matilda in Greece. Footloose 📖
Until next time
Tim & Karina