Just before our departure on March 2, after an overnight anchorage on the Grevelingen, we decide to replace our current AGM batteries with lithium batteries after all. In the morning the batteries are far empty with "for us normal use"...
Final preparations for our departure on March 2
We are busy making final preparations for our departure on March 2. Fortunately, we have plenty of time for that these weeks. It feels like a special "in between" time between a busy work life / our trip to...
A special and active last quarter in 2024
The last quarter of 2024 is special and active. Special because we both stop working as of November 1 and also get on a plane to Australia right away that day 🦘🇦🇺🌏😊. There we will stay for 7.5 weeks. A perfect start...
Summer 2024 - 'working vacation' on the Grevelingen
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...
New sails
The last major maintenance before our sailing trip is new sails. We are forced to do this because our old EPEX laminate sails have completely delaminated after 8 years, leaving holes in them. Completely unusable. Toine goes on...
New rigging
The boat is now 17 years old and that is how long the rigging has been on it. Usually 15-20 years is given for the lifetime of the stay. For us a reason to switch to new rigging now so that also...
Coppercoat
We did hesitate for a while ... are we going for coppercoat or not? For those who don't know what that is ... coppercoat is an underwater paint that consists of an epoxy resin supplemented with a good amount of copper powder. Hence ...
New composite valves
When the underwater hull is completely bare, Toine finds out that many of the valves in the hull penetration are no longer good. These were put in new in 2017. Does that happen so fast? We apparently suffered from galvanic current....
Spring 2024 - including trip to Chatham and London
Spring, like last winter and fall, is also relatively cold and very wet. Never before has so much rain fallen in the Netherlands in spring 🌧️. That's because last year was an El Niño year which made...
Starlink antenna installed
For when we leave next year, having a Starlink antenna on board will come in very handy. For those who do not know what Starlink is ... "it is satellite constellation under construction by the U.S. space company SpaceX (Elon Musk) for providing...
Winter 2024 as landlubbers with three sailing weekends
It is a cold and especially wet winter. It has not rained so much and heavily in years. Therefore, we don't mind living in our fine apartment and not on the boat. Partly because our daughters are there...
Temporary 'landlubbers' again 😉 🏠
We are temporarily 'landlubbers' again now that we have been living in our fine newly completed apartment since December 8 😊. We call this the 'family rescue zone'; a place where we can always be 'home' as a family during our future traveling existence....
Indian summer and autumn in Bruinisse with lots of time for our family 😊
How time flies. It is almost November already and winter time has just started. The boat is back in "winter mode"; the cockpit tent is up (enlarging the living space), the plexiglass windows are fixed in the top windows, the...
Solar panel on the davits
On top of the davits is a great place for a solar panel with a standard size of 2×1 meters. We got tips from other boats on how to attach the panel. Toine finally chooses a way he made up himself. The mounting pieces are made according to...
With unstable summer weather to southern Brittany 🌦️💨
It has been 5 years since we have been to Southern Brittany, so we think it would be fun to go there again. Partly because friends boats also go that way. The challenge is to go in a summer vacation....