Ship - preparing for dry dock

We had actually hoped that we could save ourselves the trip to the dry dock for the time being to avoid the high costs. And it almost worked out. We were able to repair the bilge (the inside of the keel, so to speak) and the large space on the lower deck. There were holes in the steel, but they could be welded from the inside.

However, when restoring the aft (rear) seminar room, it quickly became clear that the condition of the steel, which the previous owners had described as „fine“, was anything but fine. The steel is porous in many places. And in some places it is so thin that it breaks if you work more than a metre away from it. That is not okay.

Now we are preparing everything for transport to the shipyard. That means sealing the bulkheads (bulkheads are similar to petrol caps). Seal all the holes. And prepare everything so that the ship can be towed into the shipyard.

Only then can it be decided how much steel needs to be repaired. Estimates are at least 15 square metres - perhaps a little less in the best case. In the worst case, three times as much. One square metre of steel costs around 120 euros plus labour. That's puh........

The advantage is that once it's done professionally, you're on the safe side - for a long time. Then I'll take a deep breath.