Last Day in Office!

The title pretty much says it all - today is my last day of work in the aircraft industry :) Now I can start doing something useful with my time!

Spaced Out

A wet weekend, but warm. The backing plates for the yacht legs are in place so, in theory, I can now drill some large holes into the hull.

Susi started lining the forepeak with the heat-reflective insulation material we chose from the DIY store. We were considering using cork but this turned out to be too expensive, then we thought about carpet or lino but settled on our final decision as a good compromise. It's silver! It looks like a spaceship! I liked the idea but Susi was a little sceptical until she finished fastening the first sheet in place - now she thinks it's cool too. Pictures to follow.

Backgammon

The saloon/nav table is finished!! Here is a picture taken moments before our inaugural game of backgammon. Susi won, of course, so I sent her to work in the cramped confines of the forepeak - maybe she will let me win the next time!

I have now started on the yacht legs. In case you didn't know, these will allowthe boat to stand upright if we stay in a drying harbour.

Übrigends wenn wir unterwegs sind kann Susi etwas in Deutsche schreiben. Ich kann naturlich nicht.

No Turning Back

Well, that's it. I've handed in my notice!

Scary stuff, but it's got to be done. As of 31st March I shall be jobless and heading into the unknown. What have I done?!

I promise never to work on a boat during the North-European winter ever ever again. It's just too dammn cold: Minus 14 deg. this morning, so quite glad to be sitting in a nice warm office, especially since I've managed to catch a cold. This was not so much due the temperatue as to having wet feet all day Saturday from the snow. Here's how the boatyard was looking :

(all pics were taken at the wkend - the false date is due to user/technology incompatability)



Anyway, enuf moaning.

Since Susi was away getting drunk and having fun with her family I was able to devote all my efforts to finishing the portside interior and playing with my new digi camera. As you can hopefully see, it's pretty complete by the last photo even though this was still on the Saturday. During the week I shall get Susi to do lots of varnishing so that next Saturday we can put it all together and we will never have to build another table again!

It was kinda fun really, playing with circular saws, jig saws, belt sanders and drills.

Digital World

Check out the new links on the right. In particular the link to photos where I have added images from previous adventures. Unfortunately, as with most of us over the age of about 10, the vast majority of my photos are not in digital format - maybe I will get around to scanning in some of the best ones eventually, but I doubt it. So, enjoy these while you're waiting for The Adventure to begin.

35mm SLR rules! Therefore my Cannon AE-1 will be the official Expedition camera, although I hope to compliment this with plenty of digital snaps from Standby Expedition camera Vivitar Digi Summat.

Present will be Past

Soon this will be a thing of the past!

I know it's nothing to do with the refit, but I bought a digi camera yesterday, and I'm not afraid to use it! Only cost me 49 Euro, plus 30 Euro for a memory card - amazing!

Intro

Consider this a test post. Soon to follow are some details of the refit.