God save the King

Today The Netherlands gets a King. Willem Alexander the First.
15 million Dutch people will sing the national anthem for him, the second line of which goes, " I am from German blood".

To celebrate we thought it fitting to buy a new German van.
Team Kwark is now the proud owner of a 1981 (the year I moved to NL) Mercedes-Benz 407D, low roof model.

Bastards

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The radio cost 60 euros.
The new window will cost 400.

Clinker interior. #in

With the ceiling, bulkhead and most of the hull panels fitted it is at last beginning to look as if a carpenter has been working in the rear cabin aboard 'Steady'.

Ho, ho, ho!

It only took an hour for the insulation spray team to turn the rear cabin into Santa's grotto.
It's going to take a couple of days to get to the point where the real carpentry can begin. Miserable days, too, but someone has to do it.

New sails

Em and I have new Laser sails for the 2013 season. My sail cost me more than my boat did, but then there's 30 years between my sail number and Em's.

Portholes

Second coat of injection epoxy on porthole frames this morning. Now back to battens; have to be finished on Thursday as the insulation sprayers will be here Friday morning.

Back to black

At the end of week one all of the old woodwork is out of rhe rear cabin aboard 'Steady' and the first battens are in, defining this part of the boat's complicated shape.

Steady

Possibly the nicest little ship in Groningen is now tied up in front of our workshop.
We will be fitting out the rear cabin over the course of the next few weeks.

Our white period

Continuing our white theme we have built this almost four metre long work bench for an industrial designer (and sailor) in Groningen.

As the finished piece is too long to get into the building we had to put it together in place.
Instead of spray painting, yacht painter Gerrit Heerema did the shiny white 2-pack finish with rollers and brushes.