Time for an update. After several days of hard work Isabell is turned into a river boat. The mast stepped down on the deck, Isabell can go under bridges higher than 2,5 meter (or 25 dm as they use on the Dutch water charts), which is about 90% of the bridges where I am now. Later on it will be good for 100% of the bridges.
It was firstly very hard to find a place to lower the mast. Every crane operator here in NL seemed to have taken a holiday. But with the help of my uncle, himself a vivid boater, I found a shipyard with a bunch of wonderful persons/characters. And the help of both my twin sisters was enormous. Took a few days, but it is done and I am on my way south again. Weather still sucks, but hey, this is Holland. One of the reasons I left here fourty years ago is the rainy weather. Meantime, it has been fun visiting with ol’ friends and family. I even ran into boyhood friends that I had not seen for fifty years. Such a wonderful experience!
Now the mast sits on supports on the deck. I disconnected all cables and had to remove a bunch of items from the deck to have space for the mast supports. It feels funny, empty up in the sky. But had to be done. Let’s hope I remember how all the parts fit together, so that once the mast goes up again I manage to put the boat back together. And I have raised the Swedish flag because my dutch flags are too big and get stuck on the supports. Boat is registered in Sweden anyhow, so that is allowed here. Love hearing all the positive comments from passer by people on the towpaths. What a lovely Swedish boat here in the rain…