Koos's progress

Two days and two posts...what's happening? Well, summer is coming and that's when we get busy with the boats. Added to that, my work gets back to more reasonable levels, and I actually have time to think about things other than lesson plans and student assessments. I'm still going to be quite busy but nothing like as hectic as it has been up to now.

Anyhow, the ongoing story of the Hennie haha (our shared project)is always lurking, and while I was in Rotterdam teaching last week, Koos was in Zelzate grinding away at the doubling plates that have to come off the Hennie Ha for its insurance inspection.

To cut a long story short, the previous owner replaced the bottom with good 6mm steel, but only doubled the curvy bits along the sides. This he did with 3mm steel. Big mistake. The insurance company requires a minimum thickness of 3mm and their testing machines will only measure the outer layer. With a few years of degradation, then the thickness measured was less than the necessary 3mm, so they told us all this doubling had to come off so they could measure the real thickness off the original hull.

We are holding fingers, toes and thumbs that the old iron hull will measure up. Meanwhile, Koos's labours can be seen in the pics here. He has been grinding for all he is worth, and has done a great job of stripping the dreaded doubling away. It will be several days before he has finished this stage, but I think he's doing really well. It's very hard work and needs lots of stamina and patience, so hats off Koosje. You're the hero of the week!