Boatyard Capers

Well, finally, after 4 weeks (almost exactly) we got out of Boom shipyard.

In the meantime, we were ‘floated’ as other ships left and entered, no fewer than 6 times.  Of those, four were pretty distressing!  The first because the blocks that were placed for our boat were in such a position that it put two dents in the bottom near the back: the second and third because on both occasions we had an ‘exciting’ ingress of water as the extra strain on the bottom had opened up new holes and the new plating had not been finished. 

The fourth occasion was OK because, on learning that another change of ships was due, Alex pleaded with the main man to finish welding the last remaining bits before the tide came in again, and he agreed (even though it was Saturday when usually all is quiet.  He managed to find ‘volunteers’ to complete the work.)  The fifth floating should also have been alright except that the ‘fishing boat’ behind us (more later) was too heavy to raise off its blocks (for its third attempt to leave) and so they used their engine to force their blocks to fall over under the boat and then it could escape out of the dock.  Unfortunately all that disturbance caused our rear blocks to fall over as well, so that when the tide went out again, we were supported on two blocks at the front, two in the middle and nothing at the back.  The back-end was hanging in the balance.  Appalling creaking noises below alerted us, and when Alex looked he couldn’t believe that Riccall hadn’t tipped over backwards.  Foreman Victor quickly put in a support and drove wedges in to take the weight but, of course, not soon enough to have prevented some distortion to the fabric of the boat, meaning that the shower door, the sliding door at the bottom of the stairs, and the bathroom door, don’t now close properly.  It can all be fixed!!???

The sixth time was our own ‘get out of dock card’ moment and actually it was the best of all, obviously because everything was finished, all rivets welded, all plating done including a few extra bits which had become apparent, and all the painting (some of which we did ourselves) and the cooling pipes re-assembled.  And all nearly at the quoted price.  We had to add a bit for extra anodes our surveyor had recommended, and some extra plates which Alex felt would finish the job nicely.

So - to the fishing boat - Perseus!  This strange little ex-trawler arrived when LECHAIM left (the occasion of our first wetting) together with a 50m privately owned Belgian ex-commercial barge ST ANNA 2 which had come in for portholes to be installed and various other works to be done.

But we watched amazed as a team of around 8 guys on PERSEUS loaded a whole heap of stuff from vans on shore, including generators, winches, metres of rope, anchor chain, fridges, freezers, beds, and then finally two enormous yellow buoys.  When we asked where they were off to they said the Cape Verde islands for fishing.  Some fishing trip!   

But by that time we were convinced they were treasure hunters and knew of some wreck that they were going to dive on (PERSEUS after all was a treasure hunter).  They were determined to leave the dry dock after they had loaded everything on board (and had several under water level repairs done by the yard, plus the installation of a fetching figure-head on the prow) but despite being advised that the height of the tide was insufficient, they insisted and failed on the first two attempts.  At this point in the month the tides were approaching springs, so each day there was a bit more depth of water available to flood the dock, so it was on their third attempt that they really forced the issue and toppled their supports (and of course ours).  Their problem was that they had put so much weight on board that they were sitting around 20cms lower in the water than when they had come in!

In the meantime, on the first flooding, ST ANNA 2 had tried to re-position in front of us to allow JEAN BART, an 80m x 8m fuel barge in where she had been.  This was the same position as LECHAIM had had previously.  I hope you are keeping up here, because these barges are all positioning themselves like in a game of musical chairs, except that it’s not when the music stops they all sit down, it’s when the tide goes out!  Of course, when there are no changes to be made a bloody great steel door is raised from the floor of the dock, at the entrance, to close it off from the next high tides. 

Anyway there was not enough room for ST ANNA 2 in front of us, on the supports placed there for her, so they just moved her to the middle of the dock where she eventually settled down on her bottom with no supports at all!  (But that was fine for her, with her flat bottom.)

At some point in the midst of this this, Alex looked up at the quayside and there was a familiar face - Peter Mastenbrook - who had dropped by as he was in the area and knew where we were.  How nice to see him again after nearly 3 years: his support was very welcome, but as we were about to be floated again and needed to check for leaks he had to cut his visit a bit short.

So, to recap, we now had JEAN BART to the right, ST ANNA 2 in the middle, the ‘scrap’ boat (which had come in with LECAHIM and was being dismantled) at the far end and PERSEUS behind us.  When PERSEUS finally squeezed out past the stern of JEAN BART and got out of the dock, ST ANNA 2 managed to squeeze in front of us as the scrap boat had been moved over a bit.  I must say all this kept us amused for some time, which we would have enjoyed more had we not been somewhat on edge about our own works, possible leaks and departure.

Finally, after a frantic penultimate day during which the lads managed to finish the welding of the rivets down the keel and we had primed and first-top-coated the underside of the boat, it was going to be the day of release – high tide at around 4pm.  That left until 1pm to put the second top coat of paint on the underside and refit the keel-cooling pipes (down to Alex and the lads).

After a night of virtually no sleep we got up at 6.30am (unheard of for us normally but the lads start at 7am, and not quietly either) and after a hasty breakfast Alex went out to help/supervise the re-fitting of the cooling pipes and oversee the painting of the final coat.

Miraculously, by 11am all was done as far as RICCALL was concerned, but JEAN BART was still waiting for paint underneath and for some reason, at this late stage, her engine cooling box had been re-opened and was being welded closed again with the tide rising by the minute.  The under painting was called off and as the tide came in she was still having welding carried out at the front end, topsides, as she began to float!

Eventually, at 4.30pm she backed out and we spun round in the dock and followed her (forwards – no way did we want to exit the dock into an incoming tide backwards with no bow thruster!).

After a 15 minute wait the rail bridge opened and we got to the waiting pontoon for Klein Willebroek Lock, which leads off the tidal Rupel and into calm waters on the Brussels-Schelde Zeecanal.  Goodness knows why there was a 45minute delay, but eventually the gates opened and a small replica tug preceded our own rather inauspicious entry.  Well, in our defence, the tide was now running out, a huge commercial was powering downriver towards us and we were new to the vagaries of this particular lock entry.  Needless to say we ricocheted into the lock – watched of course by the lock keeper – much to Alex’s chagrin, and lost a little bit of our new paintwork.

Still, at about 6pm, after an 11 hour day, we moored up on the lock moorings for a bottle of bubbly and, thus far, no leaks!

Then the lock keeper came by with his ‘advice to boaters’ info sheet to inform us that the second lift bridge on our route for the morning was being closed between 8am and 12pm for repairs.  So once again, we set the alarm for 6.30am and another early start – bloody hell! 

But still no water ingress – touch steel!  Well, of course there shouldn’t be any after all of the above.  For those interested, we have had 38 sq m of 6mm plate put on the bottom, a couple of thin areas overplated at the front port side and two at the very front, about 500 rivets welded including 350 or so on the keel and 3 coats of Sigma paint – 1 primer and two top coats.  PHEW! 

And incidentally, all for a price around two-thirds that of Vankerkoven’s quote, which was for far less work.

After a couple of leisurely days and another easy trip on the Ronquières Inclined Plane (we had time to go to the excellent museum this time) we got to our booked moorings at Seneffe.  We collected the car from Boom and spent 2 weeks in the UK for the usual doctor and dentist appointments etc, and collecting all the spare bits we always seem to need, and now we are back on Riccall (still dry thank goodness) and ready for cruising!