We’re in our ninth week of boat work. NINE WEEKS. Even while channeling my best devil’s advocate, I would not have believed we’d still be out of the water.

I need the contact details for The Tradie Whisperer. You know, that person who can magically say the right thing in order to get boat trades people to arrive when they say they will. Anyone got their number?

Our current list is divided in two parts:

1. Jobs we need a tradie for – e.g. fixing a condemned gas system that would most certainly kill us if we used it, and
2. Jobs we can do ourselves – e.g. sanding and painting the windows.

The failure to complete tasks in part one is why we’re not back on the water and moved in.

We even tried choosing an arbitrary deadline to give us focus (something I usually avoid while managing projects at work), but that date simply sailed by (pun intended).

While Chris remains as chilled as ever, I’m anxious and itchy. It’s coming up nearly a year since we’ve had a home to call our own. Temporary Airbnb accommodation, moving every other week and forking out the big bucks for the fun of it has been AH-NOY-ING.

Or, in the wise words of my Dad, it’s been truly character building.

What exactly have we done so far?

“What exactly have you guys done so far?” Asked my friend Serena recently while she helped us out with a spot of sanding and painting at the boat yard.

Chris and I both laughed. A lot.

“I think I need to work on my delivery,” Serena laughed. She didn’t mean it like that, but it’s clear there’s still a lot to do.

So for Serena and everyone else, I’m going to round off everything (that I can remember) we’ve done so far in a neat picture list. So there.

1. Grit blasted and re-painted the hull (perhaps too thinly, we’ll find out soon)

2. Re-plated a small hole in the hull that was uncovered by the grit-blasting process.

3. Stripped, sanded, puttied and varnished the front doors

4. Repaired the rotten wood on the pigeon box (work in progress)

5. Cleaned and re-sealed and siliconed the portholes (the before shot)

6. Cleaned and organised the bow and stern hold (before, pictured)

7. Scrubbed and cleaned the decks and roof – over and over again

8. Removed old roof vents, sanded and primed rust spots on the surface

9. Prepared, primed and attached new ‘mushroom’ vents to the roof and siliconed them in place

10. Cut inspection hatches to check for water leakages

11. Emptied old standing water from the bilge (apparently ALL boats have water, eeks!)

12. Cleaned the dirty, oily, full-of-crap engine room

13. Painted the steel and concrete beams along the walls in a nice black gloss

14. Removed the old water tank and pipes, ready for replacement

15. Removed the oil drum-come-fuel tank (that is totally unsafe) ready for replacement

Ahhhh, that feels better.

Sometimes it feels like we’ve hardly made a dent in the to-do list. Looking at everything on the list above makes me realise we’ve already come a long way actually.

The next arbitrary deadline for launch is next Monday 24th. Wish us luck.