Week 248: Fit-out starts

We're loving our new apartment in the centre of Gent. It's a thrill each morning to leave the house and ride past the castle on our way to work. Things are so much more accessible here, too. Nothing is more than a ten-minute walk away.

On Monday morning, while Karina returned to Ledeberg to clean the old apartment, I headed out to Delfine. I finally finished the prep work for the solar panel decks and met with Kristof and a shower panel installer who measured the bathrooms for glass shower screens. In the afternoon, it was off to Depot 09, a mid-century/vintage furniture place where we found a new desk, table and sideboard for the apartment. Then, back to Delfine, where I primed the rails I'd finished sanding that morning. A big day! I painted until almost 7 pm.

All this prep meant that on Tuesday morning, we could start painting the solar panel deck. The intermediate layer went on, and now just over half of Delfine is in her final colour! We painted again on Wednesday and Thursday to get the finishing layers on, and that's all now done. The bollards up front were completed with their anti-slip, and we also put a layer between the inside of the bow, ready to cover it with blue soon.

Our new deck furniture has arrived. It's currently sitting, still boxed, on the front deck. The goal is to finish that front guest deck (which would complete maybe 80% or more of the exterior painting), set it up to enjoy it, and have it ready for when we have our first family guests at the end of June.

The weather has turned Belgian again. After a long and deceptive period of several weeks with clear blue skies, 20+ degree days and no rain, it's gone cool, wet and windy. That sent us back indoors, and Karina has been focusing on the sanding in the wheelhouse, prepping that for painting. I worked on oiling the stairs.

The rain has been a steady, consistent drizzle—the sort that penetrates everything. We're finding that we're still not as waterproof as we'd like! While heavy rain washes away, this slow, consistent rain seems to find its way in. The new stair hatch and the big dog hatch still have a couple of leaks. Back to applying more silicon! I'm at the point where the big dog hatch might be a losing battle, and it makes more sense to get a cover for it.

Thursday afternoon, when we'd just finished painting the roof, we got a call from the builders.

"I have good news and bad news," said Kristoff. The bad news is that it's started raining again. The good news is that we will start the furniture fit-out tomorrow."

Which, of course, meant we had to run around and change plans to prep a few last-minute things, because we were planning for them to arrive on Monday next week.

Friday was hectic but fun. I met the builders out at Delfine, and the first set of furniture (the sofa and dining seat) came in through the dog hatch. The furniture is all cut up by a CNC machine, and then they test assemble it in the factory and package it. So it's like a very involved Ikea flat pack when it arrives! Some parts are partially assembled, but nothing is so large that it's too hard to bring the pieces in through the roof.

Usually, they deliver all the furniture together, but because of the restricted space on Delfine, it was decided to do it bit by bit. This is a good thing! When we had all the parts for the sofa in, the whole living room was full, with barely any space to move.

While the builders are generally self-sufficient, some supervision is also required, especially since we are on a boat. Because the walls slope or cut in and out, they weren't always clear on where measurements were taken from, so being able to guide that was useful (and saved some "false installation" times). The people doing the installation aren't the same ones who do the measurements.

Things should now move very quickly. All the furniture will be installed in about two weeks, so we'll have toilets, showers, a fridge, a stove, etc. But it's been a long time in the planning. Remember, we've been working with the architects since September and the builders since November. This final stage is the culmination of a lot of work by many people.

Which also led to panic on my part as I realised that in a couple of weeks, all the holes in the walls will be sealed up, and in some cases, behind furniture, etc. What have I forgotten? I sent a panicked message to Martin about the anchor light before remembering that we decided on a different install location (so I don't have to run a cable after all). Then, I remembered that we haven't made plans for the air conditioning yet, so I had to get Bart out to give us a quote and plan how we can do the installation.

In addition to the build starting on Friday, we also had to collect the furniture we purchased for the apartment. That involved riding to collect a van, driving into the city, getting lost AGAIN (because I thought I knew where I was going, but typical Gent, the route that's bike accessible is not car accessible), and then returning the van and riding back to the shipyard.

Simon has been very busy and unable to get to Delfine, but he popped by on Saturday to check the status. We're not forgotten!

We headed out into the city early on Saturday morning, hunting for breakfast, only to find that it's not a "thing" here in Belgium! Even the coffee shops don't open until after 10 AM (that's FAR too late to wait for an early morning coffee). I rarely miss living in Australia, but when I do, it's a good breakfast cafe!

Aside from breakfast, there was some essential admin to be done, a bit of shopping, and organising the internet for the apartment. Important things.

Then it was back to Delfine, where we painted a few things that will be harder to access once the builders have finished fitting the furniture. Finally, it was loading up to take as much trash as we could to the recycling park. We're doing a reorganisation of storage "as we go" because the room we've used for painting and paint storage is shortly about to become a bedroom again, so we need to move all that out of the way.

There's still a lot to do, but the visible change is coming much faster now, and we can tick things off as completed. We still have moments of two steps forward and one step back (when we have to remove something we painted, for example), but it's okay overall. It's part of the process.

Aside from the constant work on Delfine, we also enjoyed meeting some of the other boaters in the shipyard. We met Lucille a few weeks back; she was here again. An American couple, Steve and Maria, on Dulcinea is also working on fixing their boat as they get ready for their season. It's been great to socialise a little and chat with others.

Next week will be both a big step forward and probably quite interrupted. We have Ascension Day holiday here in Belgium, and it's a short three-day week (most places are taking Friday off as well). But we'll keep chipping away and enjoying the progress.

Until next time,

Tim & Karina