Lively Levante

It's just great to be back outside away from all the dust of the osmosis shed. It has been convenient to be under cover but now the hull is finished and watertight it's so much better to be outside. Even though the weather is rather cold and wet, at least most of the work to be done is down below. We're now on the far side of the other workshop in a sheltered position, and most important of all, adjacent to a power distribution panel to gain advantage from the work over Christmas installing the shore power system! The rain has washed away most of the dust leaving the hull sparkling after Bassie had done such a great job of polishing it a few days ago. At long last it's starting to feel like a yacht again now that it's more complete and after the removal of many of the boxes inside. The new instruments and compasses give her a very different feel outside, still traditional Contessa but updated.

The last big job got started this week, the removal of the floor which we'd left to the last. Naturally there was  a bit of a horror story underneath but nothing that's been too difficult to remedy. The floor bearers have delaminated and are caked in baked on engine oil and dirt. It's now cleaned up, repaired, and with a new hatch making the area look like new; hopefully James will be able to give the floor itself the same treatment as well as strengthening it and tidying up the access panel surrounds. The countdown to re-launching in mid April is generating a sense of urgency now! there's too much to do and only a few days left so it's time to have a hard look at priorities and defer all the other things that can be done later when she's in Chichester.


On the positive side the galley really has started to come together. The corian top that's now in place complete with new fiddles all round looks both smart and practical. It may not be the cheapest way to go but we really wanted a change from tiles.  Eggo has made a particularly neat job of the cold-box lid which fits snugly and the infill for the sink has a chopping board in the reverse side; a nice touch of luxury! The job now is to put in all the plumbing, connect those taps up and get the water system working.

After much too-ing and fro-ing with the Registry of Shipping and Seamen we've finally got the name sorted out. As it's fully registered, not just on the small ships register, we've had to choose a unique name and most of the obvious ones have already been taken. After Shamal, Meltem, Lebeccio and Alize we just had to name her after a wind and Levante, a breeze that blows around Gibraltar sounded right. FIrst we tried four different spellings but they were all taken, then a few other more obscure winds, we were trying to resist the suggestion from the Registry folk that we add "of Chichester" to the name. None of this worked but we finally thought of "Lively Levante" which, we think, is particularly fitting for a Contessa and that proved to be unique and is now her name. With this critical decision behind us it's now possible to get on with all the other bureaucratic stuff like radio licences and the more interesting choice of the sign writing on the stern.