This is a little blog entry almost entirely devoted to Ali and his projects. If any of you reading know Ali you will know he is not one to spend a lot of time relaxing and needs things to do to fill the time and he had spent the whole time getting to Barcelona thinking up things he could do to the boat. Here are a few of these projects
The first job to do when we got to Barcelona was to construct a gang plank as we would be moored stern to for four months and wanted the gap between the boat and the pier to be big enough we didn't have to worry about it when it was a bit rough and the girls could nip across on their own too without being lifted a big bonus.
Next was the deep cleaning of the boat, we took down the sails, took off the child safety netting all around the outside of the boat and then scrubbed the deck within an inch of it's life.
Then for two whole days there was polishing to be done.....
Polishing his chimney.
More polishing.
Ali wants to patent his hull scrubbing device that he invented. It is a hard brush attached to floats so that you can put a bit of pressure on under water.
Alistair helped Fergus to fix his gang plank that had snapped in the swell at New Year.
Ali's blow torch came in handy at lunch on Toni and Mike's boat to melt the sugar on the 'creme catalans' for pudding. Now he thinks he is Gordon Ramsay.
The construction of the most amazing cockpit table the world has ever seen....
This was Alis main project of the winter and took weeks of research (searching out the cheapest wood and fixings he could find in Barcelona) thank you to Marvin for this as Ali had him dragged around all the wood shops in Gracia translating for him. Finally It was time to begin production.....
The cutting out of the pieces.
Ali showing off the underside of the table and his folding design.
There were several coats of marine varnish to apply - whilst the girls were at nursery.
The finished gleaming work of art just about to be christened with..... a cup of coffee - honest.
Ali had a little wood left and so decided to make a wine box for under the table. Almost incredulously to us mere mortals he forgot to measure a bottle of wine until after he had screwed it all together and had to cut out two little notches, hard to believe but true!
The old generator got hauled apart, tuned ad even got a new coat of paint.
New LED lights for the mast.
If you were beginning to think there was no end to his talents here is Ali turning his hand to a bit of tailoring - he sewed in a new panel to the wheel cover so that it was big enough to cover the new table!
And if you are wondering what I was doing whilst all this was going on then....
Firstly there was the tea coffee and snacks for the hungry workforce and school for the girls and the dinner to make and the general boat cleaning that never ever seems to end!
But as the time to leave Barcelona approached it was time to deep clean the boat as we had done when we arrived there.
I stripped the girls room completely.
When everything was out I couldn't believe how much we had managed to cram in there, it was a bit of a shock to Ali too and ht vowed to dump as much as he could get away with.
Lovely clean fore cabin.
Next was our cabin's turn to be emptied and cleaned.
All of our bits and pieces.
It is nice to go to sleep in a lovely clean cabin.
Then everything came out of the kitchen.
Sparkly once more! But it was amazing how quickly two little girls can make a boat into a pigsty again........
Cleaning the sails at Port Forum.
Ali had been trying to think of a way to clean the sails ever since he had been quoted by a sail company in Barcelona the royal price of 500 Euros per square metre. This is what he came up with along with Jordi the harbour master who very kindly let us do this and even arranged an extra long hose for us too.
We hauled the sails from our locker over to the car park and scrubbed each side in turn.
Then hosed them down as we hung them up from the railings above.
Where we left them for a couple of hours the only hiccup being that it started snowing again so we wet back and had lunch to wait for the sun to come out again. We got a shock when we came back as the jib seemed to be missing but it had just blown up over the railing - phew!
Then we rolled up the sails with a little help....
The sails back up again, looking a lot better.
Lifting the boat out at Port Olympic, Barcelona.
We got a good price at Port Olympic and decided just to go for it and lift the boat out at the beginning of the season as we have heard about the high prices almost every where. We were really lucky with the weather as it had been snowing just one week before we lifted out and we had thought to do it that week originally. We were allowed to work and stay on our own boat at Port Olympic which is also a rarity around here but great for us as we could then work a really long day....
Ali making sure they were lifting his 'precious' correctly
Getting into position it was amazing to see how they maneuvered the boats in the yard, sometimes coming within just a few inches of the boats around them, and a little scary when you are standing under your boat!
The girls thought that all the slimy hanging creatures were worth a scream or two, but not as bad as the lady next to us when an eel jumped out at her!
The propeller, it just didn't seem that long since all the effort I had put in in the summer scraping sanding and painting it and here it was all fusty again.
We were very surprised to find that the anode we had put on the propeller in July had completely disintegrated and would have fallen off quite soon.
Worms!
Rusty bit on the keel
There were even a couple of mussels growing at the top of the rudder!
Ali pressure washing the hull, since it was only eight months sice last time the dirt came away quite easily.
The girls were very well behaved, especially as they weren't allowed down in the yard unless for trips to the toilet. They just played inside the boat quietly and didn't even make that much mess, amazing really.
Ali always does the cutting in and I do the rest of the hull, apparently he doesn't trust my neat painting after I got yellow splodges all over the kitchen ceiling at home!?
Scrubber - scrubbing!
Alistair polishing the hull until he could see his face in it.
And the after pictures!
I don't know who painted the hull but boy have they done a good job!
No slimey creatures in there now!
That that for enoo!
The first job to do when we got to Barcelona was to construct a gang plank as we would be moored stern to for four months and wanted the gap between the boat and the pier to be big enough we didn't have to worry about it when it was a bit rough and the girls could nip across on their own too without being lifted a big bonus.
Next was the deep cleaning of the boat, we took down the sails, took off the child safety netting all around the outside of the boat and then scrubbed the deck within an inch of it's life.
Then for two whole days there was polishing to be done.....
Polishing his chimney.
More polishing.
Ali wants to patent his hull scrubbing device that he invented. It is a hard brush attached to floats so that you can put a bit of pressure on under water.
Alistair helped Fergus to fix his gang plank that had snapped in the swell at New Year.
Ali's blow torch came in handy at lunch on Toni and Mike's boat to melt the sugar on the 'creme catalans' for pudding. Now he thinks he is Gordon Ramsay.
The construction of the most amazing cockpit table the world has ever seen....
This was Alis main project of the winter and took weeks of research (searching out the cheapest wood and fixings he could find in Barcelona) thank you to Marvin for this as Ali had him dragged around all the wood shops in Gracia translating for him. Finally It was time to begin production.....
The cutting out of the pieces.
Ali showing off the underside of the table and his folding design.
There were several coats of marine varnish to apply - whilst the girls were at nursery.
The finished gleaming work of art just about to be christened with..... a cup of coffee - honest.
Ali had a little wood left and so decided to make a wine box for under the table. Almost incredulously to us mere mortals he forgot to measure a bottle of wine until after he had screwed it all together and had to cut out two little notches, hard to believe but true!
The old generator got hauled apart, tuned ad even got a new coat of paint.
New LED lights for the mast.
If you were beginning to think there was no end to his talents here is Ali turning his hand to a bit of tailoring - he sewed in a new panel to the wheel cover so that it was big enough to cover the new table!
And if you are wondering what I was doing whilst all this was going on then....
Firstly there was the tea coffee and snacks for the hungry workforce and school for the girls and the dinner to make and the general boat cleaning that never ever seems to end!
But as the time to leave Barcelona approached it was time to deep clean the boat as we had done when we arrived there.
I stripped the girls room completely.
When everything was out I couldn't believe how much we had managed to cram in there, it was a bit of a shock to Ali too and ht vowed to dump as much as he could get away with.
Lovely clean fore cabin.
Next was our cabin's turn to be emptied and cleaned.
All of our bits and pieces.
It is nice to go to sleep in a lovely clean cabin.
Then everything came out of the kitchen.
Sparkly once more! But it was amazing how quickly two little girls can make a boat into a pigsty again........
Cleaning the sails at Port Forum.
Ali had been trying to think of a way to clean the sails ever since he had been quoted by a sail company in Barcelona the royal price of 500 Euros per square metre. This is what he came up with along with Jordi the harbour master who very kindly let us do this and even arranged an extra long hose for us too.
We hauled the sails from our locker over to the car park and scrubbed each side in turn.
Then hosed them down as we hung them up from the railings above.
Where we left them for a couple of hours the only hiccup being that it started snowing again so we wet back and had lunch to wait for the sun to come out again. We got a shock when we came back as the jib seemed to be missing but it had just blown up over the railing - phew!
Then we rolled up the sails with a little help....
The sails back up again, looking a lot better.
Lifting the boat out at Port Olympic, Barcelona.
We got a good price at Port Olympic and decided just to go for it and lift the boat out at the beginning of the season as we have heard about the high prices almost every where. We were really lucky with the weather as it had been snowing just one week before we lifted out and we had thought to do it that week originally. We were allowed to work and stay on our own boat at Port Olympic which is also a rarity around here but great for us as we could then work a really long day....
Ali making sure they were lifting his 'precious' correctly
Getting into position it was amazing to see how they maneuvered the boats in the yard, sometimes coming within just a few inches of the boats around them, and a little scary when you are standing under your boat!
The girls thought that all the slimy hanging creatures were worth a scream or two, but not as bad as the lady next to us when an eel jumped out at her!
The propeller, it just didn't seem that long since all the effort I had put in in the summer scraping sanding and painting it and here it was all fusty again.
We were very surprised to find that the anode we had put on the propeller in July had completely disintegrated and would have fallen off quite soon.
Worms!
Rusty bit on the keel
There were even a couple of mussels growing at the top of the rudder!
Ali pressure washing the hull, since it was only eight months sice last time the dirt came away quite easily.
The girls were very well behaved, especially as they weren't allowed down in the yard unless for trips to the toilet. They just played inside the boat quietly and didn't even make that much mess, amazing really.
Ali always does the cutting in and I do the rest of the hull, apparently he doesn't trust my neat painting after I got yellow splodges all over the kitchen ceiling at home!?
Scrubber - scrubbing!
Alistair polishing the hull until he could see his face in it.
And the after pictures!
I don't know who painted the hull but boy have they done a good job!
No slimey creatures in there now!
That that for enoo!
You're a real cleaning inspiration, Linda and Ali. And, Ali, that is an awesome cockpit table.
ReplyDeleteYep it is so awesome he had to 'christen it' at least four times with the crews of each boat and show it off!
ReplyDelete