Week 243: Panels and palettes

Perhaps it's the fantastic Belgian weather, or just the change in tasks in front of us, but things are looking up! We're keeping busy and feeling like we're finally making real progress on Delfine.

I think we've been very lucky with the weather. It's been several weeks of non-stop sunshine here now (the occasional light shower overnight). Presumably, it gets horrible, as most Belgians we meet always ask, "Why would you move here? The weather is terrible!", but frankly, it's been stunning. We decided to live like the locals on Sunday and get out and about, and make the most of the fabulous sunshine.

First on the agenda was a visit to the Museum of Industry. This is an old cotton mill and a fascinating place if you're into Industrial Revolution era machines (I mean, come on, who isn't!). It also had a lot of interviews with people who worked in the cotton industry here.

While Gent is very gentrified these days, up until the mid-70s it was a very industrial city. It made all its wealth through linen and cotton, as I might have mentioned previously, and was the second city after Manchester to experience the industrial revolution, with all that entails. There's a strong labour movement here, a heritage of a transition to industrialisation that included child labour and long working hours with no breaks. The museum does a great job of putting everything together, has some excellent displays and working machinery, and has stunning views over Gent.

On Monday morning, it was back to Delfine. Karina worked on the wheelhouse doors, I added a piece of trim in the bathroom, and we chased up a few admin items. Now in the implementation stage, we're starting to run into little bits and pieces that are not clear and need us to follow up on. Who is doing this? When does that happen? Did this change get communicated to the right people? Nothing major, but we're having to keep on top of it. I continued sanding the front of Delfine, ready for priming and managed to get the first layer of primer on.

We've been talking with the US broker we're working with to sell our holidays. She's arriving this week (Thursday, the 24th) and will visit to meet us, see Delfine, and get a taste of what Gent and Belgium have to offer. As part of this, we're taking her to a local restaurant, so we decided to do a taste test first and booked lunch.

If you recall, when we arrived in Belgium Week 204: Exploring Gent and settling in we took the first apartment we could find. It's fine, but it's not what we need next. We needed somewhere so we could establish the company, and of course, an address was critical for residency here—all important things. The standard in Belgium is that properties are leased roughly 2 - 3 months before they come available. Another thing we need to do is find a new place to live.

With some bookings for visits to apartments lined up on Tuesday afternoon and now, a lunch in the city, we worked from home Tuesday morning and then headed to an enjoyable lunch at Pakhuis in the centre of Gent. We wandered the streets, planned where to take our guests, and scouted some chocolate shops. Finally we headed to the apartment viewings.

We visited two apartments and liked both of them. It's very competitive for rent here, and we met one couple that has been searching for 6 months, so given we liked both places, we put in an application for both. On Wednesday morning, we were notified we were successful on the first one, and, just like that, we have a new apartment. Of course, things don't always go according to plan–it's vacant, so the lease starts in May. We could push it back to the 15th of May, but it's still a few months earlier than we wanted. Still, it works out for the best! We don't want to be ALSO moving apartments when Delfine is kitted out and ready for guests.

On Wednesday, we headed to Simon's workshop to start work on the roof panels. The edges have all been fitted, now it is time for final preparation. This involved routing out a 2mm V along all the "seams" in the wood and then filling with a 2-part epoxy hardener to ensure it stays waterproof. The process of routing and filling took most of the day.

Thursday, Bart, the heating specialist, returned and completed the fit-out of the heating system upgrade. This is now all completed (a couple of new radiators are coming, but that doesn't impact the operation). Of course, now that it's all working, there's no point in running it, because a) we have no taps for hot water and b) a good 2/3's of the radiators are not connected at the moment. Still, I'm pleased this job is done. It's been a bigger upgrade than expected, but having reliable hot water and heating is going to be crucial here in Belgium (although, in all honesty, with the weather we're having, maybe AC will be more important!)

After the heating was completed, it was back to Simon's to work on sanding all the panels and the epoxy. Karina noted that a surprising number of nail holes had been missed. Simon just laughed and said that was perfectly normal, you never get them all in one go. We spent the afternoon sanding, smoothing, and patching the few missed holes, and by the end of Thursday night, we were ready to start painting.

It's always surprising how much work is involved in something like the roof panels, but seeing them come together is very satisfying. I feel very invested in them as I've worked on every step along the way. While I have relied on expert support, I've also done about 70% of the work involved in building them.

The paint we're using is the same as the top layer on the steel, the Oyster White 2-part polyurethane paint. We spoke with the shipyard, who contacted the supplier, and we're fine to use it for the wooden panels, but for the first layer (primer), we're using 30% thinners instead of the typical 5%, which helps it soak in and bind to the wood better.

Friday evening, after we completed the primer on the panels, it was back to Delfine, where we could finally experience the new colour in the bathrooms! This was an exciting moment as it was the first time we'd seen the start of the colour scheme in action. It's very bold. Not to make excuses, but remember that we're going for a high degree of visual impact. The bathrooms have to 'pop' and feel 'lush'. They need to make a statement and make an impact. It's been interesting chatting with the painters; they said that the bathroom you design for your home differs significantly from the sort you put into a space people use for a short time. Hotels (and hotel boats) often have visually impactful spaces that make a big impression that stays with you, but you probably wouldn't want to use them daily. Home bathrooms tend to be a lot more neutral.

With all that caveat out of the way, we love it! The colour is rich and will feel warm and cozy in the fairly dim bathrooms, with the soft lighting, brass taps and other decorative touches.

Finally, on Saturday, we were back on Delfine, where we spent the day masking up the windows in the salon and kitchen so that we could apply primer to the walls. It's a touch early for this, but there's no great time. There are so many "bits and pieces" happening everywhere that getting this first coat done before the building starts properly made more sense. That way, all the walls are at least primed, even if they get built over, and we can now see where we have imperfections and need more patching and painting.

Karina also finished the final coat of oil on the outside of the wheelhouse doors. She has completed all the exterior sanding of the wood, and everything is oiled. We'll move to finishing out the interior now.

It's been a fun week. There has been a lot of variety and some good wins. This week, we're looking forward to another site visit with the architects and Kristof, the builders returning to finish the stern cabin bathroom, the bathroom walls being completed, and our day with our guests on Thursday. We expect to get some timelines for installing the kitchen and the lounge soon. Simon will visit during the week, and we'll do a first fit of the roof panels to make any final adjustments before we finish the painting.

Until next time,

Tim & Karina