Drydock

On Tuesday evening, for the first time in 12 years, I stood onboard a ship going into drydock.

2 tugs pulled us out from the quayside, turned us round and then lined us up with the dock.

Earlier in the day, the previous occupant had left the dock. Then it had to be emptied so that all the massive wooden blocks could be precisely postioned on the dock floor for Logos Hope to sit on.

About 5 pm they began filling the dock again and by 7.30 the dock was filled up to the level of the sea and the huge gate swung open to let us in. A number of teams who had been out from the ship arrived while we were coming into the dock and so they cheered us in. However they weren't cheering so much 3 hours later when they were still waiting to get back on board. Until the water has gone down enough for the ship to be resting on the blocks, you can't put the gangways out.

As soon as the water had gone down far enough, the yard workers started cutting the hole in the ship side through which the generator would be taken. I don't know exactly what time the hole was finished but it was after midnight.

On Wednesday, the dock was completely dry. Large concrete blocks were placed next to the hole in the side and steel bars put on top to allow the generator to slide into place. This piece of machinary weighs 40 tonnes so it is no easy job to get it into position.

Throughout the day, the dock workers pressure washed the ships hull and began touching up the paint work. We were able to put on hard hats and go down into the dock. Logos Hope seems big at any time, but when you are standing right underneath it, she is massive.

Late afternoon the genny was lowered down onto the rails and the process began of moving it in to the ship. It took many hours of hard work but by the early hours of the morning, it was in place on the foundations.

Today - Thursday, the side has been welded back on and we are on target to leave the yard on Sunday.

We probably could have been out earlier but Saturday is a national holiday in Sweden - Mid-Summer so everyone is off.

Thankfully the yard have been very kind to us and are allowing all the families to move onboard on Friday evening as our on shore accomodation ends that day.

On Sunday, everyone not sailing with the ship, will be bused over to Koge in Denmark, where we will have a few hours to wait for the ship to arrive.

Meanwhile, back in Edinburgh, Heather and the kids are enjoying meeting up with friends and making the most of their last few days in Scotland. They fly out to Bremen in Germany on Sunday night and stay overnight at a friends house before driving our car up to join the ship in Koge.

ps - we have a nice new logo painted on our funnel now as well.