Week 249: Kitchen capers

In three days this week, the laundry is (mostly) in, the kitchen is (mostly) in, and the lounge and dining are (mostly) in. That (mostly) is doing a lot of heavy lifting. It's incredible how quickly it's coming together, but it's also a leap forward, followed by a stop for a four-day long weekend here in Belgium.

The body of the kitchen furniture is in, but we're now waiting on the stainless steel countertop to be manufactured. The plumber needs to work on placing the pipes and installing the fittings, but they probably won't be installed until the countertop is in place.

However, the layout of the interior is now mostly in place, and we're able to enjoy seeing how Delfine will work and feel the space. It's tantalisingly close, yet still so far. The glimpses of the floor that we get as we pull back the paper to install furniture are fantastic, quickly followed by horror as we walk back and forth over it in our work boots, then relief as we realise that the industrial-level finish we chose is holding up to the wear.

Despite all the measurements and preparations, there are also minor issues that have to be addressed on-site. The kitchen cabinets overhung the access hatch in the floor a little too much. This caused a delay of several hours as plans and ideas were debated on where and how to shorten the cupboards, then another few hours to implement the change.

Our projects are running a little slower. Where we once had a free run at doing what we wanted, now we have to negotiate our way around builders and their workspace. Who are possibly as frustrated as we are, that the owners are "getting in the way" of them completing their jobs. Consequently, we've moved mainly to the outside of Delfine while they take over the interior spaces.

We've continued down the deck towards the bow and completed sanding the next section of railing. Karina has done most of the heavy lifting on this section, as I've been bouncing in and out to supervise the builders, and then had a couple of other things to attend to this week as well.

Our emotions are mixed. Excited about the progress, yet frustrated as the next steps become clear and we see there's more to do than we realised. But each day, we tick off something and it becomes done. Only to find another item that needs adjustment and sends it from complete to one step back. For example, the stern light fitting – after prepping and completing the painting, we found that the new light requires a different attachment, which meant grinding off the old one, damaging the paint, and now that's no longer finished. There's a bit of touch-up to go!

We knew this week would be interrupted, and we decided to make the most of it. Thursday was Ascension Day, which is a public holiday in this part of the world. Of course, many businesses, including our builders, also shut down on Friday to create a long weekend.

On Thursday, the shipyard has a big annual BBQ with all the workers, and it's also Peter's daughter's 8th birthday. We were invited to come along and we had fun meeting and chatting with the other boat owners, the workers and Peter's family. There was a jumping castle, face painting, boat rides, and a massive amount of BBQ, which reminded us of other Balkan foods from Greece and Montenegro. Delicious!

Friday, the new internet was scheduled to be installed at the apartment. We were chuffed when the contractor rang at 8 AM, thinking we'd be able to have it done and get straight out to the boat, but when he arrived, there were no parking spaces available. He had a cherry picker and needed to access our second-story unit to run the fibre. We were given some traffic cones and waited for a spot to come free. Karina went back to Delfine, and I eventually scored a space, then had to wait another 2 hours for the contractor to be free again to return.

Gent is a city full of festivals, and this week it's the Braderie Publique, the summer sales where shops are open for four days and display their clothes on racks outside the stores for people to browse. It's made the city very crowded, but it's great to be able to dip into the crazy and then turn the corner and be home. Our ride to the shipyard has become a little more chaotic, though!

The decision to move is proving to be the right one! We're loving being able to get out and explore the city so much more easily and to dip in and out of various events as we please. We're also exploring our local neighbourhood more. The chocolate shop is across the road. The comedy club, which has an English show some nights. The patisserie on the corner, where we've replaced our Saturday morning tradition of baking frozen croissants with buying fresh ones instead.

On Saturday, we cleared out the interior of the wheelhouse and focused on getting that painted while we had some space to ourselves. The wood is severely damaged in many places, due to water, light, and age, but we're embracing it. Delfine is a historic vessel, and this isn't a total restoration, although it feels that way! We've now applied two coats of epoxy to the lower half of the wheelhouse and finally repainted all the black areas. It's a nice lift, everything feels clean and tidy.

This week, it's pushing on with getting things done. The builders will start on the stern cabin. We're still waiting for Simon to become available (we're confident he will be this week) and for Martin to complete the electronics. We're going to aim to get the front "guest deck" done, so that we can get the outdoor furniture set up. We'll see where things get to with the builders, but no doubt, we'll get to "mostly" completed and then have lots of little "next steps" that have to happen to finish it out.

Delfine is getting closer and closer to being done. It feels like there's still an overwhelming amount to go, but we know it's not far now.

Until next time,

Tim & Karina