June 6th, 2013

...now browsing by day

 

June 6th. From winter directly into Summer.

Thursday, June 6th, 2013

Summer arrived on June 4th. The day before the mercury still dropped to zero centigrade in places here. I washed my winter clothes and have been in shorts the last two days. The morning and evenings are in the mid fifties but midday it gets up to between the mid sixties and mid seventies. This means that I have to do my epoxy work on “Fleetwood” in the early morning. The temperature under the roof of the shed I am in gets at least 15 degrees higher. I have sanded the interior (clear mahogany) hull and the (white painted) coach roof and cabin sides. This is the first time that I have had the opportunity to refinish the interior. It is nearly impossible to do when your boat is also your home. I filled in the damage from the removal of the deck and the the nail and screw holes and am now nearly done sanding it. I should be having the new deck installed within the next ten days . Then the exterior works start. I’ll have to repaint the house and the cockpit, the hull and the anti fouling. With a little luck I should be floating again by late July. Then I have to get the mast in Lelystad and do some work on it.

I will lose my spot on Paul’s boat here in “De Schinkel” marina in the next ten days. He is getting ready to fix the boat up for sale. So, I am looking again for a place to sleep and, if possible, cook my meals. Preferably near where I work on the boat in Buitenveldert. Als U op vakantie gaat pas ik op Uw huis of boot en ongedierte.

Yesterday, Evert Slijper, stopped by and we went to lunch on the “Veranda”, near here. I met Evert in 1972 in Eugene, Oregon where he still lives. (People often wonder why/how I try to remember dates. I use my divorce dates and the years of my cars, 1972 was my first divorce…) Coincidence has it that Evert happens to know many of the club members here at “de Schinkel” he frequently sailed in their “Freedom” class sail boat races. He is visiting his mother in Haarlem this week. He also sails “Thistles” and we have mutual “Thistle” friends in Gig Harbor and Tacoma, as well. So, we had a great time catching up sitting outside on the edge of the “Amsterdamse Bos”.

"de Schinkel" from the side where I work on my boat. My, soon to end, water view home is the tallest masted boat.