At the time we bought Linde, we had not looked at her ourselves. In several blogs of 2021 you can read exactly how this process went. But conclusion is, we bought a boat without physically viewing it ourselves.
People sometimes ask us if that's not very scary. What if everything is wrong with it. Of course we thought about that and did have the boat inspected in The Azores. But besides this inspection, the previous owners were very open about the boat and indicated exactly what was good and what was not. They even doubted at times that they were not being too negative 😀.
But all this gave us a good idea of what to expect. So we made a budget at the time of purchase of any costs that could happen quickly and those that could take a little longer.
It was clear that the refrigerator it contained had been in the boat since it was built in 1994. We asked if it didn't require enormous power, but it turned out that it wasn't that bad. We thought we would have to replace it, but we can do that next year. The advantage is that you can then immediately think carefully about whether you want the same kind of refrigerator in the same place again. We also thought about a larger one with drawers, or a top loader from the kitchen sink. We can take our time with that nicely.... So we didn't. When we were in Sneek it turned out that Friesland was really too hot for the refrigerator this summer. Butter, milk everything was lukewarm. Pretty special, this refrigerator has sailed halfway around the world, has cooled in the warm places of the Caribbean Sea and is about to give up in Friesland(Friesland, whats in the name!!!).
Fortunately we had good experience with AquaSolar in Sneek and they helped us tremendously. Carla and I with the dinghy through the rain to water sports area the Ges in Sneek and with the right advice we now have a beautiful new refrigerator, with LED light!(We do not even have at home!)
The first time we entered the marina with Hans, we wanted to enter the box in reverse. That meant using the bow thruster a lot to correct the bow of the boat. After using the bow thruster several times, almost nothing happened. Hans immediately said, could it be the battery of the bow thruster? On the Azores at the inspection it was indeed indicated that the battery was no longer in good condition. Still, it seemed to work. But now in Lemmer it stopped working. While eating pizza we try the bow thruster again and yes, it works again. So not the battery after all?
The next times I sail into the trade myself in Lemmer, it happens with some regularity that the bow thruster sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Until we wanted to enter the compartment with a strong wind, after we had left Sneek. Then the bow thruster turned out not to be at home. The dinghy saved me by getting stuck behind a pole which kept the boat from drifting further.
Conclusion: battery replaced. Immediately arranged at the marina, but yes, still 2 days delivery time. So I made use of this time to refresh and paint the compartment where the battery is located. After the new battery with the same capacity arrived at its place after 3 days, I did not have 1 more problem with the bow thruster.
When we went out of Friesland onto the IJsselmeer it was blowing very hard. You can read about this shortly. We decided not to hoist the mainsail at that time and to anchor in the harbor. After the weather calmed down, Carla and I wanted to tie up the mainsail neatly on the boom. This meant in port hoisting the mainsail in calm weather. And the moment we were doing it, we noticed a 7-inch tear at the top of the sail. How lucky we were not to hoist the sail on the IJsselmeer with the thick wind. Now it is still repairable. Our first time making the sail with special sail tape. Neatly rounded corners, a piece on both sides. Proudly we clean up the sail afterwards.
At the beginning of the vacation, 1 hinge of the rear storage box broke. After a long search for exactly the same hinge we gave up and after the vacations I installed other hinges. But that is not like a piece of wood screw out other screw in. A polyester boat has a core in the middle which is not plastic. The place where at Linde the old screw holes have to close and the new ones have to come has a wooden core. If you don't seal this properly, the wood will rot from the inside and eventually you'll have to do a major repair. No, this is where I have to go with Epoxy. Now last year I watched the YouTube channel Refitting Athena all the way through and in it Mett explains how to proceed. Seal holes with Epoxy, thickened with thickener. Then drill new holes where the new screws should be. Seal this again with epoxy and then drill the correct size holes in the epoxy and no longer in the wood. This way the wood is completely sealed in the epoxy and no water can reach it. If you then also screw the screws into the boat with a sealant, it's all done. Sounds simple, but including drying times it took me about 3 days. Job done.
This blog shows that on a boat you are never done. On Casper it was a matter of small things(10 minutes of work), on Linde it's all more drastic things. And in itself that's not so bad, only, at home I have a shed where all the materials and tools are. On Linde not everything can be together and things are often behind a backrest in the sofa, under the bed etc. So when I get busy, within 5 minutes the boat is completely upside down.
In conclusion, boat chores are actually a part of sailing and being present on the boat. There is always something to do and time flies by. I tick off the chores in my digital notebook with a feeling of satisfaction. But new ones keep popping up just as fast.
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