While back aboard Op Hoop van Zegen ...

A week without our professional welder means things are quieter in the engine room. We've been painting of course but Claudia has been sorting out the old planks from the hold too and filling the gaps in the floor left by bathroom No. 1.

Roof ready

By the end of the day the second side was closed up too. This afternoon the roof felt guys are coming round to measure up and make a date to get the roof waterproof while the spell of good weather holds up.

Meanwhile, back at work ...

With three days of dry weather forecast we set to work to build a roof above what will end up as the master bedroom.
Following tradition we have chosen to go for a central beam and (permanent) 'hatch covers' rather than a steel roof. We're carpenters after all!

Like a glove

After a couple of weeks of measuring, maths, welding and painting we hung the new diesel tanks in the crane and held our breath.
They fitted through the deck opening, swung in under the engine room deck and slid into place on their supports. Within half an hour we were done; the pay-off for good planning.
Not done yet, though. Through deck fittings, venting and other pipework to get in before we can hoist the new Deutz through the same hole.

Red diesel, white diesel

New European laws mean that we are no longer allowed to have red diesel in our tanks.
By a surprisingly good piece of planning we are down to our last 20 litres of red diesel. Our new tanks and the new white Deutz will only ever know the white stuff.
Our first litre of red diesel cost us 33 Guilder cents in 1994, now we pay more than 150 Euro cents; ten times as much, almost twenty years later.

Many tanks

A lot of thought and some remarkable welding bij Jeroen / deLasserij means we have a couple of new diesel tanks to paint and hang up in our engine room.
There goes the weekend.

Back to the beginning

Our first days aboard the Gina and it's that old familiar feeling of lining the floor out with battens 'shot' against the hull frames.
It's always a good moment when the first flooring panels go in and we no longer have to step over the frames as if we are counting their number, over and over.

Witte Deutz

Our new white four cylinder Deutz diesel arrived this morning wrapped in shrink wrap plastic. We're too busy finishing things aboard Steady to unwrap it, but it's not easy to leave it alone.