We are spending the whole summer on the Grevelingen. After all, we are going to stop working November 1 this year so we don't have a summer vacation planned. Instead, we are making it a "working vacation. The first part of the summer is especially hard work for Toine when the boat is on the shore for major maintenance. In the second part of the summer, we partly live on the boat, usually anchored somewhere on the Grevelingen. While we are "just" working.
From June 21 to July 26, the boat will be on shore in Brouwershaven for 5 weeks for major maintenance. For the last major jobs in preparation for our trip. This is hard work for Toine because he does as much as possible himself. First, the underwater hull must be completely bare to be able to apply coppercoat
In addition to applying coppercoat, we also have all the rigging
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When the underwater ship is completely bare, Toine finds out that many of the valves (in the underwater skin) are no longer good. We apparently suffered galvanic swarm current in the marina and that affected some of the valves. Partly because the insulator (to stop the current coming into the boat from the shore) broke down. We suspected this because for the first time the anodes were completely depleted. So we also replaced the valves. This costs Toine a lot of energy and is a setback in our tight schedule. The shipyard is closed for the entire month of August, so we would like to be back in the water before then. Toine keeps working on a tight schedule. Before applying all the layers of paint, Toine replaces all the valves. He regularly spends the night on the boat.
We have a nice division of labor. Henri continuously mixes a little paint, distributes it in our bins and walks around himself with the brush for the parts we can't reach with the rollers. Eline and I roll one side together, and Toine and Marinthe the other side. We work from back to front, the girls on the scaffolding with wheels the high part and Toine and I the low part.
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We are at various anchorages on the Grevelingen and have nice encounters with friends including the TARA.
Other preparations we are making for our sailing trip is clearing out and rearranging all the closets and storage spaces in the boat. For example, we suddenly have a large now-empty storage space under our bed free for food supplies. We are also planning a first aid course for sea sailors (first week of October) and ordering a good offshore first aid kit. We also follow blogs from Snow Bear, Pat Panick, Aegir, Belafonte and Saphir. The first three boats are sailing the Viking route from Iceland through Greenland to Canada this summer. Something we might want to do in summer 2026. The Belafonte has been in Svalbard this summer and is now sailing south through Scotland and Ireland to Madeira. Something we may want to do in 2026 as an alternative to the Viking route. The Saphir has been in Svalbard for the second time this summer. It is great fun and educational to read the blogs of these boats and follow their track.
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