(Ply)wooden drawers

An aerial view of Claudia sanding the plywood drawers for the Dankbaarheid kitchen.

Big tug for IJsselmeer crossing

The Anna 7 arrived shortly after the last screw was driven to take 'Dankbaarheid' to her new home in Zaandam.
We'll follow her in the New Year with the drawers, fronts and doors to finish what we started.

Ship shape

On Monday we got the kitchen cabinets in place and fixed down so that Eddie could cross the IJsselmeer to Zaandam with 'Dankbaarheid'.

Day of rest?

Me working on a Sunday?
Must be very unusual circumstances.

Save the best for last

Of course cabinet number 10 is the most difficult.

(sounds like there's a UK political joke in there somewhere)

5 down, 5 to go. #in

50 percent of the cupboards are now aboard Dankbaarheid.

One week kitchen

With a week to get everything aboard and assembled, we've both been working on the kitchen for 'Dankbaarheid' today.
By the way, Dankbaarheid translates as Gratefulness or Thankfulness.

My first jointer*

Not strictly true but our borrowed jointer has gone back to it's rightful owner and I've bought a 3-meter long Hoffmann jointer, 1960's model.

* We have 2 jointers on combination machines but this is the first dedicated joiner I've ever owned, and probably the last.

Inside and out

While I glue up four pieces of Guariuba to make a compass window for 'Dankbaarheid', Claudia has set to work sawing birch plywood that will become kitchen cabinets in the hold of the same barge.

Eddie's windows

Marja's windows too, of course.
The picture Eddie took can be seen on their Dankbaarheid weblog at zeldzaamheid.nl

Overhead cabinets #in

With a little help in the lifting department from me, Claudia hangs her new kitchen cabinets on the outside wall of the new bathroom.
Then I sawed holes in the lower cupboards for the sink drains and water pipes.

Tents are up, down to work

With the temperature below freezing at night and the days grey and not much warmer I've spent the last couple of days building plastic tented areas in the workshop.
Now I have the tents ready and the heaters on I can get back to the windows for 'Dankbaarheid' and epoxy on the walnut worktops.

A tale of two kitchens

Having reduced our living space to the bare minimum by building the new bathroom before tearing down the old one we have now made our lives almost impossible by placing the first four kitchen cabinets on what was almost the last open piece of floor.
We're certainly going to be spending the long winter evenings close together.

Up to a certain point

So far the window job has been production line stuff. Four top bits, four bottom bits, eight side bits, all with a 15mm rebate for glass.
Next week it's time for the complicated angles.

Four windows

Started work on the four windows for the rear cabin on 'Dankbaarheid'.
Of course nothing is square and as Eddie want's to do everything as it was done 100 years ago it seemed wise to knock up a dummy from a bit of pine before going to work with the expensive wood.
We solved a couple of problems and learnt something new. Now back to work.

Gluing up walnut planks

Getting a bit ahead of myself here, but the glued up planks will be just as easy to store and I thought I'd better put them together while I could remember which one has to go where.

Looks familiar?

Another 2 meters aboard Op Hoop van Zegen scraped and greased before the floor of the new kitchen gets screwed into place.

Back aboard

The 'Watergeus' is back and Peter and I are once again folded up under the rear deck working on cupboard doors and benches.

Claudia's Ferrari

On our way with Em to the half-term Optimist training camp.
Kwark safely strapped onto the roofrack of our new 1996 Golf Estate. Rolling Stones 'Voodoo Lounge' edition (as if that makes it cooler :)

Army bathroom

The 2K primer for thebathroom said yellow/green on the tin, and was to be a good undercoat colour for the orange top coat.
Mixed, it's the colour of an armoured car. Actually quite nice, though a bit strange for a bathroom.
Hope we don't get problems with the orange.

199.998 to go. #in

This morning I hung doors and drawer fronts to finish a second Laser sailor's kitchen.
with sail numbers in the 200-thousands this might be an avenue worth pursuing.

Won't forget Steve Jobs

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

A grand day out

We couldn't have asked for better weather for the door job on the 'Nicolaas Mulerius' in the Zuiderhaven in Groningen. Jeroen fires up the angle grinder and we're up and running.

Good news first

The good news is that the doors fit the frame just right and close quietly against the rubber strips.

The bad news is that the previously trusty Asser Glas en Verf have let me down (twice) on the delivery of the glass. I'll now fit the doors on Thursday but have to go back in the weekend to put the glass in.

And who pays for that? Piggy-in-the-middle.

Em Club Champion 2011

Em recieving the trophy and burgee as winner of the Summer Season competition for Optimists at VWDTP.
Next year Team Kwark goes National. This means a lot more kilometers for the team driver.

It's such a perfect day

... so while Claudia cycles to the market I've removed the hatches.
The roof of the new bathroom container will get a final sanding and a first coat of paint today, while we enjoy the late summer weather.

Good morning Groningen

I'm not so happy that it's almost dark when my alarm goes off in the morning, but the sun coming up as I walk the dog is a pretty good way to start the day.

I'm done

But as everyone knows it never works out like that.
Got the lock fitted in it's mortise, the hinges in little rebates and then the last bits and pieces fitted and glued up.
Tomorrow a bit of sanding and the first coat of varnish can go on. The frame has had all four coats of undercoat varnish.
Lets hope it all fits together next week. Somehow things never quite go together the way they were when you took them apart.

Am I on the line?

Today we practised getting on the line and staying on with the kids from the VWDTP OptiTeam.
Here we are doing a dry run in the classroom, learning about transits through the pin end buoy.

All glued up

Got the doors together with plenty of glue (except where the panels are loose in their rebates).
Now on to the fiddly bits.

Tenon and Mortise

Tenon and mortise sounds magical, could be a shop on Diagon Alley in a Harry Potter book.
The Dutch call it 'pen en gat' - pin and hole. Can't get more down to earth than that. Though the mortising tool I use is called a 'square hole drill' here.
Maybe a bit of magic after all.
These are the new doors for the klipper 'Nicolaas Mulerius'.

Surprisingly difficult

I knew the new doors for the klipper Nicolaas Mulerius weren't going to be easy, but I had allowed for that.
What I hadn't reckoned on was how much trouble I would have making the new door frame to fit the existing opening.
One of our clients always says 'see it as a challenge' in a situation like this.

Sail camp Neptunus

No card for us (@birg ;)
Not a big surprise, but photo proof that at least Em hasn't been starving.
Had hoped for evidence of a bit of sailing, though we'll hear all the stories when we pick her up from Zeilschool Neptunus tomorrow.

Open top

With Em and Jip off for a week's sailing in Friesland we've got the hatches off to be able to trim the bathroom roof to size and cut the window openings.
If it'll just stay dry for the rest of the day...

Fillet meditation

Mix epoxy, add filler, put into bag, squeeze into corner, round off, mix new epoxy, add filler ... again and again and again.

Thirteen years later

In 1998 we bought a broken mast from a sailing barge, squared it up and planed it round again to become a loading mast for our barge.
We then had a daughter, moved to Gouda, then Groningen and lots more. Slowly though we've been working towards the point where our barge will have a mast and boom again.
This weekend we drilled the hole for the large bolt through the tabernacle and slid the mast into place. We're a long way from getting the mast upright but still moving gently in the right direction.

Bathroom sanding #in

Second day of epoxy sanding in the bathroom.
A quick check round friends and colleagues suggests I'm the only person in the world who actually enjoys sanding.
Any other happy sanders out there?

A prize for a year

What really pleased Em the most, on receiving the Optimist A prize at Schildweek 2011, was discovering the engraved names of her two favourite trainers Thomas and Jelmer on it, both past winners.

O brother, wherfore art thou?

If you don't dare to make mistakes you'll never do anything new.
Having said which, putting black colouring in the second epoxy layer on my new boom wasn't a success. What I had hoped would give it a modern carbon-like look leaves it looking like a piece of impregnated pine you would buy at the local garden centre for a fence post.
No time to do anything about it as we are off to the Schildweek in an hour's time, but when we get home I'll sand it back to bare wood and start again.
Unless of course it turns out to be a very fast fence post.

Solar energy has arrived

A combination of some fine carpentry on Claudia's part and some fairly simple wiring on mine means we now have 2.5 m2 of solar panels on the roof of the wheelhouse.
On connection they happily started pushing 14 amps into the houshold batteries. Tomorrow we're off for a week's sailing at Schildweek, where the new panels can earn their keep.

Sneek - Leeuwarden #boadskipper

Boom again

Trial fit. Sail fits new boom perfectly. More epoxy and varnish then ready to race.

Stainless steel magic by Sjemstra.

On it's way

The new tiller is on it's way to Zeeland to be attached to the boat, which will the sail North to Terschelling.

IJsselmeer Optimist crossing

The GPS tracks of the Optimists, who sailed from buoy to buoy, and the Splashes [typical teenagers] as they crossed the IJsselmeer from Medemblik to Workum last Saturday.

Leaving Medemblik Regatta Centre. As they made the 15 NMile crossing the wind picked up and the sea state was very different when they arrived on the lee shore at Workum.

photo and gps thanks: Iris Sappé

One dimension at a time

Broken tiller

'Help, I've broken my tiller and I'm going on holiday next weekend'.
Step one - planing and glueing a new ash blank.

Big Boom Theory

New 16m2 boom is coming along nicely. Reckon it'll be finished just in time for Schildweek.
'Boom' (rhymes with home) in Dutch means tree.

Big Brother

As of lunchtime today we're sending out an AIS signal, required by new European law for ships longer than 20 meters.
Now everyone can see where we are all of the time.
www.marinetraffic.com
What's it good for? Search me.

Is this summer?

Wet, windy and grey as we wait for the Oostersluis to open on our way back to the UTD.

LED lights

These LED lights from Klemko are still my favourite. We've used them on a number of projects, starting with the Cinclus, and now at last get to use them on our own barge.
At 1.2 watts they are more than 15 times as efficient as halogen spotlights, no problems with warmth (degrees C nor light colour) and a hundred times more pleasing to look at.

(at last I've worked out how to put links in my mobile posts - I hope :)