Ship - the interior work begins

I’m sooo grateful. The last 18 months have been all about the complete refurbishment: clearing out, removing rust, restoring the steel, and so on. Really hard work. In some cases, we had to remove rust from the hull whilst working overhead – not for the faint-hearted. And it was a tough time at the Hamburg shipyard – during the coldest winter in over 40 years! Working on the hull in freezing temperatures. Definitely not for the faint-hearted either!

The major refurbishment is now complete; all the interior spaces have been derusted and coated with anti-corrosion paint. It’s starting to feel more homely now. Today we’re starting work on the ship’s interior: it’s time to fit the insulation, walls and floors. That’s going to take hundreds more hours of work. At the moment, one of my friends, who has a lot of experience in ship interior fitting, is helping me.

I want to press ahead with the interior fit-out as much as my budget allows. My budget is a mix of what I earn from my publishing business and coaching – minus what I need for food, rent and insurance – plus what I earn from selling second-hand books and other items, and gifts from friends.

Some of the building materials I need are already on board – I bought them at the same time, and over the last few months we’ve lugged them from one corner to the other what feels like 50 times! I’ll need to buy the rest. I reckon that an hour’s interior work will cost me an average of 25 euros. If you’d like to cover half an hour or a full hour (or several of them) – you’re more than welcome! I’m looking forward to the first walls – and especially to the insulation… it’s just so much nicer to be warm than cold!