Week 232: The hatch goes in

An old friend, Bruce MacKinnon, pointed out to me that renovation is a choice–it's okay to take a break now and again. Since we returned from Australia, we've been working hard six days a week, and I've also been writing each evening. With some positive progress this week, we decided we'd have a two-day weekend and also took Saturday off. It's been a refreshing change.

We finally had the heating expert out to the boat, someone willing to work on the boat and our system. Bart was very competent and helpful. Most importantly, he believes we need to upgrade a few things, not replace the entire system as we thought. While it's not yet working, he was able to help me understand a lot more about the heating system and some of what's going on. He has a methodical, step-by-step approach to diagnosing issues, and after he left, I've now managed to get the boiler running and heat into the radiators.

One of the issues is the circulation pump. This moves the hot water through the system so that it's "ready to go" at the tap, and flowing through the radiators. On Delfine, we have two. One is integrated in a typical fashion, but the other has been added after and has something to do with pushing water from the engine heat exchanger through the boiler. This one was installed backwards. Instead of feeding cool water into the boiler, it was pushing hot water back into it, causing it to overheat and cut out early.

Bart tested several things, cleaned some stuff, and left it with me. "You seem like you know what you're doing. You can save some money if you swap that pump around yourself." Well. I'm always one to save some money. Queue the worst day I've had on Delfine and the second coldest I can ever remember being.

Being a boat, nothing is accessible. The circulation pump in question is up against the hull, behind the boiler, viewed only when you're lying on your back, upside down and reaching up high behind your head. It's possible but challenging. Bart advised me to wait until the water in the boiler had cooled (which I did).

It was very windy (40+ knots) on the quay, so the boat was moving a lot. The outside air temperature was just above freezing. I was upside down in the engine room, lying on a cold steel plate. I opened the pipes and extracted the circulation pump, only for all the cold water (sitting at about 15C) inside the boiler to DUMP down the pipe, straight down my sleeve. I always knew water would come out, but the sheer volume caught me by surprise. Still, you press on. I flipped the pump and managed to fit it back in, only to look down and see the washers which were inside the pipe fittings lying beside me.

I gritted my teeth and decided to try again. Undid the pipes. More water. I failed. For the life of me, I could NOT get the washers fitted again and now, I was starting to feel very nauseous. I tightened them as best I could (there's a very slow drip, but nothing concerning for now) and, with a lot of swearing, went back inside.

Soaking wet from head to toe, cold and feeling very "off", I called Karina, who helped me find some dry clothes and warmed up some food, and then I rage quit. An hour and a half was all I had in me; we stopped and headed home. Of course, I was still cold with wet socks, riding in the wind and 2C. By the time I got home, I was the second coldest I can ever remember feeling (the coldest was playing field hockey in Clare when I was a teenager) and quite miserable. Delfine got the better of me that day.

This was the lowest point. Which, to spin it a little more positively, means that everything from here on is heading up.

And, overall, it is!

We met with the architects (Eva, Emile and Thomas) later that day and had a very productive meeting discussing the project thus far and the next steps. A crucial thing with the mostly completed demolition was to get them back out to the boat to discuss a few points in detail and to check some measurements. Given what we now know about how the drainage system works, the stern cabin layout almost certainly needs to change from the original plan.

The weather switched in our favour, and Simon came to install the hatch. This was a much more involved process than I expected! Despite all the careful measuring, things didn't quite line up. Welding steel is imprecise; the heat warps things, and we were a few millimetres out, which meant shaving off a little from the inside wood of the bottom part of the hatch. Then there was the levelling. Delfine is a curvy lady with very few straight lines. The most important one is the stairs–you want to hit the top plate level to step over it safely. This meant a lot of playing with shims to get things aligned as we wanted them (and of course, lining it up to the floor of the boat means it's not lined up to the roof, which is curved anyway), but eventually, everything was good, and the hatch bolted down.

While I was playing with the hatch, Karina was out visiting plumbing supply stores and selecting some of the taps, showers and sinks. We have samples of finishes and need to match them to the new taps (faucets).

Eva and Emile had a productive on-site visit on Thursday, and it was good to share our progress. It's nice to step back and look at what's been achieved. Two cabins are ready to go, the jackhammering and concrete removal are complete, and only part of the central bathroom and a bit of the kitchen are left, which we'll do immediately before builders start.

I also spent a day pottering around with the heaters. With the circulation pump changed over and a bit more knowledge of how the system works, I managed to get heat into the radiators. It was a lot of fussing around, and it doesn't "work" yet. We're missing a thermostat; the heaters seem to heat and then cool. There are some upgrades to go, and the system isn't balanced. But it's progress! It's been 4 months since we've had any heat inside Delfine. With this step done, I can get Bart back out to further diagnose and advise on the next steps.

Martin and Geoff also returned to Delfine. They measured the console and adjusted some wiring to make it fit properly, and a big square hole was cut into the lovely new board! They also started measuring the locations of the solar panels. They are marking exactly where the brackets need to go, then cutting yet more holes into Delfine's ceiling so that we can have those welded on. We debated screwing them down (to avoid the ceiling holes), but ultimately decided that the holes in wood that need patching are the lesser evil compared to holes in steel that WILL leak eventually.

Finally, on Friday, we borrowed the truck from the shipyard to make a big run to the recycling park and get rid of the building scrap we've been collecting, including around 45 bags of rubble! We spoke with Peter about getting another skip on-site, but it didn't make sense. The skip is €400; we'd need two (one for general and one for stone/rubble), and of course, we no longer have enough to fill it to make it worthwhile. Instead, by doing three runs to the recycle park (one as a "test run" to work out the system), we spent more time, but only €8 to get rid of everything!

By Friday afternoon, we were satisfied with our progress but aching and sore from all the heavy lifting. Taking a break on Saturday just made sense.

In other news, my Belgian resident card has finally been approved (I'm on a temporary one), so that's a good next step. We also made progress with the website, using a local designer, Peter, to create a couple of graphics, and I completed Goblins & Guidebooks, my cozy fantasy, which is now out for beta reads with a few people (if you're interested, just let me know and I can send you a copy).

We have a week of sunshine ahead, so it's time to get back to windows, clean the boat and paint while the rain is away.

Until next time,

Tim & Karina