Birthday Reunion

Tuesday 20 December was a fantastic day for all. Not only is it Rufus and Wilhelm's birthday but this year it marked Melody's one year anniversary as our boat. 

We decided to celebrate the occasion with an official reunion/birthday snoek braai at the Gordon's Bay Angling Club, in front of Melody's mooring at Harbour Island. Our families and close friends joined us and the evening was filled with lots of laughter and happy stories of the few months spent apart in Zambia and S.A.

Its great to chill together again!

Kate

First published on offtheline.co.za

Cooking On Gas

It is amazing how a fresh coat of paint and a few wooden trims can transform a space and tie up months of hard work. During the past week the newly constructed saloon settees were painted and dry-fitted in place. What an improvement!
On Saturday and Sunday the fiddle around the galley top and the shelf trims were fabricated and fitted. The joinery would not have been possible without Greg’s radial arm saw. The resulting hairline mitre joints were well worth the effort of slogging the saw down to the boat – thanks Greg!

The fact that all the trims were fabricated from reclaimed wood, our old cockpit benches, made success taste even sweeter!

The galley top and newly fitted fiddles were sealed just in time for the return of Melody’s stove/oven.

The guys at Strand Gas Depot did an amazing job with servicing the retro beauty!

We should be cooking on gas before the end of the week! No more hotdogs – YES!

Wil

First published on offtheline.co.za

Tanked Up

Wow….what a weekend! On Friday afternoon the diesel tanks were finally sealed up – It won’t be long now before the 80hp Fomoco roars back to life! Revelling in our achievement we decided to push on with the saloon bunks and ended up camping out on old Melody after watching some live music at Bertie’s Mooring.

Chris and Carla popped in for lunch on Saturday, which only added to our motivation. By late Sunday afternoon the saloon started to come together, with both the Port and Starboard settees in place. After tidying up we went for a celebratory beer at Bertie’s where we bumped into Pieter, Beth and friends. Pieter and Beth visited Melody shortly after she arrived in Gordon’s Bay and were pleasantly surprised by all that has happened since then.

The aim for this week is to get the settees sanded and painted, so that hopefully we can start on the wooden trims next weekend.

Wil

First published on offtheline.co.za   

1. Extreme Carpentry is not always fun 2. Closing up the diesel tank 3. Diesel tank 4. Lighting things up 5. Viv dominating the stb settee part one 6. Viv dominating the stb settee part two 7. Chris pulling out a not so uncommon South African specie 8. Carla, Viv & Wil 9. Stb settee 10. Saloon, looking aft 11. View from companionway 12. Batmanning overboard aka Aquabatting 

Not So Puzzled

After having the floor boards sanded down, Wilhelm and I slogged them back to Melody to do a dry fit. Replacing the boards was more like putting a puzzle together and required a little sawing here and a little planing there, before accomplishing the nice snug fit we were after. Having the boards returned transformed her interior and gave us an awesome glimpse of what she'll be looking like in a couple of weeks time. After all the excitement we regretted having to haul them all out again and take them back to the workshop, where we gave them a nice glossy layer of Glatex. The good news is that once we return them to their rightful spot we will be able to finish off the saloon and they will hopefully remain there for a while.

Cole and Lisa made their first appearance at Harbour Island to pay us a visit and after a thorough tour of our future home, we had a celebratory lunch at Ocean Basket. This weekend was a milestone. It marked a year since we first set our eyes on our Old Melodious, as well as, only 6 weeks until Rufus and Kate's return - We're counting down the days!

First published on offtheline.co.za

Emotional Rescue

Well it's been a while, and over the last few weeks it has been another challenging time over at old Melodious. Lifting the floor boards left our lady looking a little less then pleasant and the discovery that the diesel tanks needed to be cleaned and repainted, due to a built up of gunk, was a little blow to our morale. After an amazing trip away with friends to the North of the country, we returned feeling rejuvenated and ready for the under floor challenge. With help from Bobby, we managed to have the tanks nicely cleaned and Wilhelm was able to coat the entire area with a glossy coat of paint - the saloon is looking a whole lot better, even with the absence of the floors. After great anticipation we gave the galley countertop a coat of Glatex 8 and it's looking super shiny! The front face was also fixed and given a couple of layers of top coat, so now the galley is only a few steps away from being ready. Things are on the up and with the added motivation from the Rolling Stones it just keeps on getting better!

First published on offtheline.co.za

1. Viv sanding the galley front face.  2. Saloon with table and engine cover in place.  3. Painting the counter top with Glatex 8.  4. Shiny galley!  5. Table base plate.  6. Diesel tanks.  7 & 8. Painted diesel tanks. 10. Saloon.  11. Painted galley front face.  12. Viv and Wil.