I am back on the ship again working with getting it certified. I work closely with the skipper Stefan, and we are now receiving help from a third party consultant that guides us with primarily designing the bilge, fire and sprinkler systems on board. He is also taking care of the discussion with Sjöfartsverket, the Swedish Maritime Administration.

I just sent in 22 finished drawings documenting the whole electric system to the smallest cable and fuse. It has been very much to do, but I have also learnt a lot on it.

Stefan and the Elida Board have had a meeting with the Administration the other week, and they got a list of things to do before a certificate can be issued. It is a 30-point list that is very comprehensive. Happiness is now when you are able to remove one item from the list, usually Stefan gets one or two off every day.

Elida V is now a ship with masts! I need to get some photos up on this beauty, she is really looking like a real sailboat now.

Life on board is also becoming easier all the time, with toilets working in the crew cabin, the summer is getting closer with better and better temperatures, and the kitchen is working better. We also got a load of fire extinguishers, something I have felt a bit nervous about. Now the ship should be sufficiently secure for having camps on board.

SP, a company we have hired to write the fire safety report for us, have been working feverently to get the report finished. They just sent us a draft of the qualitative report documenting the prerequisites and how the ship is constructed. The test results and recommendations should come within a week or two. The fact that the Maritime Administration called their first report (110 pages stuffed with calculations, simulations and safety research) an “embyro” made SP write a sentence in legalese that basically degraded the Administration to idiots. Fun!
The fire report basically states that the only realistic source for fires on board the ship is a determined and deliberate fire. SP has not yet given their opinion in the report because it is preliminary, but reading the report reinforces our knowledge that we in fact have built a really safe ship.

I am a long-time user of christiantorrents.com, and I just found some good music that I downloaded. I have discovered Extol, a norwegian metal band that are very good musicians. Especially the song “Paradigms” makes me really happy.