End of April I quit my part-time job to have more time for my education (and other plans). Because of this the possibility ensues to spend a whole month in Varel and to get as much work as possible done on our boat. Jaqueline takes two weeks off and will come and help me after three weeks.
I start off with completely removing the interior of our boat. Countless times I climb the ladder up and down, partly carrying really heavy stuff.
All that was once in the boat
Inside I closely inspect the steel of the hull. In some parts, water seems to have leaked into the boat, causing rust. After using various tools, I even break through the hull in some places. The keel area however looks better than expected.
Rust next to the seacocks
Water tank and keel area
But where does the water come from? Unfortunately I learn that our wooden deck is not only glued, but also screwed to the deck. Those screws are hidden beneath the planks and have started to leak. Repairing this is close to impossible, so I decide to remove the wooden deck completely, an ugly job which takes a week to finish. I still work with hammer and crowbar on the deck when I actually planned to prepare the interior already. It’s a huge mess, and none of the planks survives this massacre.
Partly finished
Aft deck
A week later, we start to grind and paint the deck in a hip battleship gray.
The painted deck
We also make progress with our hull: Together with the experts at the shipyard, we decide to replace big parts of our hull. To do that, we have to cut the old steel plates. At first it is a rather strange feeling, but after some time we get used to it and cut holes in our boat like hell.
Seems to be tight
In the meantime Jaqueline has arrived, and together we try tro straighten our deformed hull as good as possible.
Jaqueline removing some welding seams
During all the work, we have to deal with the fact that our construction site is also our living-, dining- and bedroom. Every day, we have to store our sleeping bags etc. away and rebuild our berth in the evening. This costs valuable time, and so we are back in the train to Vienna way too soon, leaving a half-ready boat behind.
Comfy berth or construction site?
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