17 July 06 - Melting in Athens

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Still hot here!

Today I was told that I would receive the original papers for the boat. The papers include the bill of sale, the VAT documents and the deletion certificate from the Greek maritime registry.

Full of optimism, I called Panos to hear if he got the address for the pickup of them. He said he had already got them and would provide them to me a couple of hours later. So I waited for him, in good mood, and with anticipation.

When he arrived, I got the papers... a telefax and a copy of a document. Not exactly what I was expecting. I asked for the originals, and was, after a phone call to someone, told that I could pick them up after 14:30 today at some address, actually not far from our hotel. It was around that time anyway, and I decided to go there.

Its not always easy to find way in Athens, specially because the Greek have their own characterset, which do require some getting used to.

Anyway I found my way to the accountant of the seller, who should have the originals in her possession.

I must say I got quite surprised to find out that I got yet ANOTHER photocopy. I asked for the originals. She made a phone call, and I was told they would arrive in the office tomorrow, but I shouldnt come to pick them up until Wednesday.

Ahhremm.. I was thinking... ok... this is gonna be last chance... if I will still be pulled around by my nose on Wednesday, my usually very friendly Danish mood would suddenly turn quite vikingish. On wednesday I wont leave the office until I have the papers in my hands! Its quite incredible that it is so difficult to get the papers, specially since they seem to be ready.

Its yet another Greek thing Ive noticed... the following saying is quite common here: "Dont worry... it will be ready by tomorrow". It has been said about projectmgmt, work, papers etc.

This morning 2 workers (one of them being a retired Greek submarine mechanic) were busy scraping out botyl glue (some black sticky stuff used for glueing windows and lightcases in cars and seemingly also boats) from the big overhead window in the saloon.

The carpenters found that the pieces that needed to be put into the boat were to big to go thru the main entrance, so the big overhead window had to be removed. The window was originally designed in size, to allow for removal of the main engine from the boat.

After lots of scraping from both sides, they succeeded in removing it. I remember a lot easier way.. using a steel string to cut the glue by pulling it from both sides of the window. I tried to explain to them how to do, because otherwise one risc to break the glass (thick plexi).

Unfortunately they didnt understand or wanted to understand, and from what I can see, the window did get some cracks... which is quite annoying!

The carpenters arrived at 10:00 and promptly started work. I must say that they do seem to want to get the job done, and they also try to take care not to scratch stuff while doing their job which cant really be said about the two working for Panos.

They have supposedly been working until around 21:00 this evening fitting interiour walls for the toilet/shower room. After the fitting, they remove the walls again to get them varnished and polished in the workshop to look great before reinstall. Sounds wise to me.

The forward bulkhead has been installed. Some fiber glass gluing is needed to make it watertight, but that is expected to happen around the same time as they put the fiberglass floor down in the toilet/shower.

The freshwater pressure pumps has been connected, and the new water tanks has been filled completely up with water. Wohoo.. the water came out of the kitchen tap.

I made amongst others, the following notes for today and presented them to Panos to sort out:

• The generator wasnt even turning when trying to start it. The battery seems to be flat.
• The frigos that are running on a compressor attached to the main engine do not cool.
• The glass of one of the hatches has loosened and needs regluing.

The GM/DSS VHF radio's backup battery has been reinstalled in a different compartment, as the original one is now taken up by all the freshwater pipes and valves.

I was also getting information that the mainengine and generator has only run around 5-10 hours after their last full service, that included change of oil and oilfilter, removal and cleaning of injectors and more. 

Here are some of todays pictures:

 

Walking near hotel in Athens	Picture in Katharina hight	Removal of large overhead window	Open overhead windowarea 1	Open overhead windowarea 2
Installing new bulkhead 1	Installing new bulkhead 2	Installation of new hand laminated shower wall.	Our dinner somewhere in Athens