More Amsterdam

I woke up on Wednesday determined to check the VHF connections before calling in the professionals. Fortunately Ben insisted on taking over before I got too far. In due course we phoned Phil Munslow, who has installed our AIS and many other electrical items over the years, who made a number of useful suggestions, and Ollie Ballum of Seapower who did the electrical work on the engine and (I thought) installed the tiller pilot, who told us he had never seen the AIS splitter and was rather unhelpful. 

In due course we found the AIS splitter right next to the tiller pilot actuation unit. There was a coaxial plug plugged into it but the cable had completely parted company with the plug. Surely not a complete coincidence that the cable fell out just when another item was installed three inches away. Ollie assured me that (a) a different engineer had installed the actuator unit and he was normally very careful, and (b) the cable must have been loose to fall out. That may be true but coax connections notoriously degrade over time and I think it should have been checked. 

Ben, Anne and I went for a walk to a DIY store to buy a soldering iron. On the way back we passed a promising-looking outdoor goods store, and as we went in Ben said “I’ve been here before.” Indeed he had, the store was Rien de Wolf and we walked there from the Sixhaven in 2009 to buy a waterproof jacket for Ben and a Wateralmanak. This time we found a better soldering iron, a continental to UK adaptor so we could plug it into our 240v system, a cable for Ben’s camera battery charger and a spare VHF coax connector. Brilliant. 

It took most of the rest of the day to finish and check the repairs, and get the headlining back in place to Ben’s satisfaction. I took Sam for a shower in the impressive accessible facilities via our equally impressive wide pontoon. . 

Friday looked just as windy as Thursday had been (F6-7) so we hired an Uber to take us to the Rijksmuseum where we spent four hours or so. Not a cheap day out - €60 admission for three of us (Sam was free), plus €40 for a soup and sandwich lunch - but a fantastic immersion in culture. My favourite picture was the portrait of Sir Thomas Gresham by Anthonis Mor, court painter to the king of Spain. 

We walked back to the boat, which was knackering but worthwhile, and after supper I enjoyed the very best feature offered by Marina Amsterdam, something I have longed for but never found in any other marina:

...yes, a bath, with a view over Amsterdam and a window which can be made opaque at the push of a button. Fabulous.