Week 250: Emerging from the chaos

Bit by bit, step by step, things are being marked as done. But every step closer reveals more things that need to be completed, shapeless icebergs in the distance that take form and break down into one hundred little tasks as they become clearer.

There are also moments of outright panic, when we remember that we promised air conditioning for our guests, but hadn't made concrete plans on HOW we'd install it. Fortunately, we now have a team of great people behind us, and Bart, who completed the heating, was able to come out and provide us with a quote. Then it was panic stations to get the piping for the aircon in place before the last of the furniture was placed and the walls were sealed up.

It was an uncomfortable moment. In general, we've stayed on top of things, but this one, we let slip. Bart was installing the piping for the aircon, which delayed the builders, who pointed out (only somewhat jokingly) that I was tearing the walls down faster than they could repair them. But by Friday, all the piping was completed and in place. Now it's waiting on the electrician to wire up the panel, and then Bart will return to install the units (which are already at his workshop).

Wanting to keep pressing ahead, I went out last Sunday to paint the wheelhouse and finish the black, only to find that the tin of supposedly black paint was a fetching shade of grey. Of course, the paint store was closed on Sunday afternoon, so instead, I applied a final coat of blue to the inside of the bow, taking advantage of the weather. When I returned the paint on Monday, they replaced it free of charge – someone had mixed it using the wrong base.

Karina and I spent most of Monday prepping the red railings, sanding them back to bare metal. It was a slow and time-consuming process that took several days to complete. We were hampered by the weather, which was very windy. The problem when it's windy is that all the paint flakes blow into the canal, so we had to wait for the wind to calm down to prevent creating pollution.

Tuesday was bedlam aboard Delfine. We started the morning by completing our onboarding at the local health centre (basically signing up for a GP), then headed out to the boat. Eva and Emile (our two architects), Kristof (the project manager), Thierry and Anthony (the builders) and Frederic (the electrician) were all on board. Add us, and then the contractor who came out to measure the stainless steel countertop. There were nine people all aboard, all trying to work.

Eva pointed out that the finish on one section of the shelf in the shower was a little rough, so the bathroom team returned to redo that section. It was fun to have them back aboard Delfine; we'd missed Björn singing Top 40 hits while he worked. It's a sign of people who take pride in the quality of their work – they seemed genuinely pleased to be called back to make it better.

Simon, Jonas and an apprentice came to Delfine on Wednesday to start working on the ceiling in the wheelhouse. It's a very involved installation, but it's coming together well. A couple of coats of paint and that job will be completed. Unfortunately, there's a delay on the glass for the front of the wheelhouse – the company manufacturing it says it's complicated because it's hardened glass and they won't have it completed until August! We'll probably put Perspex back in the short term, so that we can move the boat.

With the prep on the foredeck completed, we were able to get the between layer on, ready to put a final coat on this coming week. We're hopeful that the weather (which has been very wet) improves enough for us to apply two coats by Tuesday, so that we can let it harden a week before setting up the deck furniture in preparation for Ella, Inge, and Gro's visit.

We've been using the Albert cabin as storage for rubbish. With the rapid progress everywhere else on the boat, we decided it was time to condense our belongings back into the forepeak and clean it out, ready for the builders. Friday morning, we sorted through everything, emptied some unused items from the forepeak, and made a run to the recycling park. With Albert empty, we're now able to start prepping the walls for painting, and Karina has been hard at work on that.

Thierry is very diligent about making sure things are "clean and proper." He's been on the boat by himself the last couple of days as Anthony has gone to get married and then on to his honeymoon in Greece. Unfortunately, we can't speak Dutch, and he doesn't speak much English, so our communication involves a lot of hand waving and hoping. He intently described what's happening this coming week. It involved descriptions of the upholstery and the stainless steel, but I have no idea if he meant they were delayed or if they are all happening.

We've already been warned about delays with the new toilets – the rule of thumb here in Belgium seems to be that everything takes eight weeks. We don't know when our new lights are coming, and even once the stainless counter tops are installed, when we'll get the plumbing in. Everything feels simultaneously close, yet so far.

Our ES-TRIN requires a Class A AIS installation. Martin helped find someone to do it. They are located in Terneuzen (Netherlands), which is only 35 minutes from here by car, but they are so busy, they can't get anyone to install the system for months. They said that if we can bring the boat to them and park outside their office, they'll be able to do it on short notice (basically, the technician who mans the phones will do it in between calls). Of course, we're unable to move the boat at the moment because we're covered in builders and we can't see out the wheelhouse! At least there is a clear next step. Most likely, we'll let the builders finish up here this week and next, then take a week off with Ella and Inge before heading to Terneuzen for the installation. We came to Gent without AIS, so I guess it's not a significant issue. I asked them, and they advised that if any water authorities question us, we say we were heading there for the install, and it would be fine.

On Wednesday night, we went to Alex's boat with Peter and Sophie (from the shipyard) for drinks and dinner. We had a great time, enjoying their huge barge (40 m and 6.8 m wide), chatting in three different languages: French, Dutch, and English! Peter and Sophie were the most fluent across all three, so they translated on occasion when we got stuck, but we all did okay. Peter said the most challenging part was hearing us English speakers chat in French and the French speakers talk in English! We drank far too much – it took us the best part of the rest of the week to recover.

Of course, it's the night that I go out drinking to midnight that I then have to be back on Delfine at 7 am the next morning to receive a delivery. Our beds have arrived. There was a bit of confusion (which is often the case with domestic deliveries to the shipyard when they expect a house), but once that was cleared up with a couple of phone calls, the beds were stored safely in the warehouse. Hopefully, our carpets will be installed soon before we have to set up the beds for Ella, Inge and Gro. At this point, I shrug. We'll know it's happened when it happens.

Saturdays have become one of our favourite times on Delfine now. With all the builders and contractors off the boat, we get her to ourselves, which means tackling some inside jobs. We decided it was time to push forward with the final coat of paint on the interior. The lighting is all roughed in, so we should be good to proceed. If we need to touch up a spot later, so be it. It makes sense to push ahead because once the upholstery is installed, the floor coverings are removed, and the carpets are down, it will be more challenging to paint.

We got on a roll (literally!) and completed the ceilings in 80% of the boat. The second coat was completed in the main salon, the corridor and the Simone cabin. Of course, there are the odd walls here and there that need attention – behind the stairs, where the pipes for the air conditioning have been installed (which I had to remove). The spot on the wall in Simone where a plug was removed and now needs to be filled. The baseboard on one side of the corridor had numerous holes patched, ready for a large sliding door for the laundry. However, these are relatively minor issues in the grand scheme of things.

It was incredibly satisfying to pull the tape off all the windows, and Delfine is leaping forward to becoming a proper living space again.

Today, we're relaxing at home, but actually, there's still a lot of work going on, just of a different nature. We have the sheets we want to trial for the beds, but, of course, they all need to be laundered, so there's a lot of washing going through the machine. We've been researching the best vacuum cleaners and starting to think about the things we'll need as Delfine inches ever closer to finally being complete.

Until next time,

Tim & Karina