Getting decked out

Since I came back from France, it's been fairly full on with both work and, well, other work. The work work is routine, but it keeps me pretty busy. The upside of it is I can do it anywhere, and if the course doesn't involve real time Zoom or Teams sessions, I can also work at a time of day that suits me. With the days growing longer and just a matter of weeks until the summer solstice, this flexibility gives me the possibility to work on my barge, weather permitting, of course.

That being the case, it was some months ago when daughter #1, Jodie, committed to helping me for a week in May. We made plans; or rather she did. She's better at that than I am. We decided we were going to start replacing the wooden panels along the side of Vereeniging as they were rotting to the point of no recovery. I last replaced them about ten years ago, as I recall, but that's the thing with wood. No matter how much you prime, prepare and paint them, they inevitably deteriorate in such a wet climate.

It all started last Friday when we went west to the town of Oostburg to buy materials we couldn't seem to find closer to home. Oostburg is roughly 40 kms from our village and it has a substantial and well-stocked Gamma, the hardware store we mostly use. However, having loaded up the roof-rack with large sheets of rather light insulation, we noticed the wind had picked up so we decided to take the by-ways rather than the highways to get home – slower, we told ourselves, being the safer option.

This decision proved to be a blessing. Despite having bought two slats to act as support for the long sheets of insulation we'd bought, and even though we'd strapped it on well, it wasn't long before we noticed the insulation was flapping in the wind like huge birds ready to take off. We had to pull into a lay-by sharpish to prevent them from lifting off and away in a manner akin to a magic carpet. Luckily, we had a spare strap, so we looped it around the ends of the sheets at the front end of the car and tied them tightly to the wooden slats. Situation rescued, if not totally secured, we headed off again, but neither of us could help peering out of the window to keep an eye on our flighty purchases.

As it turned out, the back road we took was exceptionally pretty and I'm now sorry I was too worried about the safety of our load to think of taking photos. It was pastoral Holland at its burgeoning spring best and we enjoyed the trip when we weren't keeping an anxious eye on the roof.

On Saturday, however, we decided to postpone the start of the great panel job until we'd painted the decks, a job I'd not succeeded in doing last year and was much needed. Over the weekend, we both scraped, sanded and painted like dervishes because we knew that rain was forecast for Monday. Luckily, we managed it all, as the very pleasing results show below.

Scraping the flaking paint off was the first job

Then out came the sander and the extension cable

Here I am scraping the engine room

First stage: the roef or back cabin complete 

Doesn't it look nice?

Then came the engine room roof. Easier to paint because there’s less of it.

And finally, the foredeck, which was the biggest job of all

The foredeck in glorious close-up

Phase two has begun. We've removed one of the panels and cut its replacement, but it still needs prepping and painting. Rain has delayed the next step and both my able assistant and I have had to work today, so we're hoping to get on with it tomorrow. Fingers crossed that my next post will reveal a set of smart new panels, but nothing is guaranteed when we are at the mercy of the fickle Dutch seasons. Today, I spent the cold, wet morning marking assignments, but I did manage a few touch-up jobs on board this afternoon, which included some more prepping with anti-rust treatment, as well as hacking down , sorry, strimming the knee-high grass and nettles on and next to the path leading to my barge. 

However, the best, as they say, is yet to come, so I will provide more pics next time.

For now, allemaal, keep everything crossed for us that it doesn't rain for the rest of the week, and enjoy yours wherever you are.