Angel Founders

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Crtd 05-11-26 Lastedit 15-08-20

Wrong Screws, No Wood
Angel Founders and...
(continuation of subtitle)

At my visit last Saturday I found, to my surprise, the Angel Gabriel working at the front deck..
Gabriel: "You will have to forgive us, we are human".
I had no idea what that was supposed to be about, but I resolved to find a suitable occasion to ask: "Now Gabriel, please show me exactly all places in the hull where you have been human."
Daniel had planned first to finish hull and floor, then to paint, then to launch, and finally make the deck while in the lake. So, having thought the deck to be still far ahead, I now had to set my mind at it at once

I had given Daniel and his two best carpenters all designs, including the deck design, but nobody had bothered to inform Gabriel. He used planks of 25 cm instead of 12, but 7/8 inch instead of 3/4. I decided to call Daniel to us and make the following general start:
Do you realize that if I have 13 people on that deck it is the same weight as my pickup truck?
Are you going to walk on it? Gabriel said with surprise.
Not only am I going to walk on it, we will have parties and everybody will be dancing! And not only should the deck not crack or break, once they get asleep drunk down in the cabin and the rain starts they should stay perfectly dry!
But is that not dangerous when you are sailing? Gabriel asked, hoping to bring me in doubt.
This will be when I am moored, I told.
Gabriel looked hesitating to Daniel. After a silence, Daniel mumbled something in Kiswahili and Gabriel said: it will be strong enough.
I decided to give myself some time to decide whether or not I would object to the 25 cm plank width. When the deck has many joints (12 cm) shrinking and widening of joints due to temperature and moisture differences is smaller per joint, reducing crack and leakage risks. But for minimizing working of joints when you walk on the planks, 25 cm is better. I chewed on the question what is the most serious risk (later I concluded I did not know, in dubiis abstine, so to leave them doing it their way - but they should make the carvings for the kit, of course.)

Why are you not finishing the hull first? I asked Daniel, it would be finished two and a half weeks after my TSh 2 000 000/= contract payment, we are now two weeks late!
Gabriel looked again hesitating to Daniel. Then, immortal words resounded from the past: we are waiting for wood. I felt a heavy cushion falling on my head.
When will wood come? I heard myself asking, remembering the 40 times or so I had asked this in May.
Daniel: four days.
Daniel's number of days should always be multiplied by at least five.
Gabriel, I said, now you have time, check the board plank screws carefully, I said. I see a lot of screws still missing.
Gabriel promised.
On my way out, I did some checking myself. Screws are firmly tightened, so you barely see the screw sitting in its deep hole. Peeping in some, to my astonishment I saw ordinary grey colored metal screws and not the more expensive copper screws that we had so intensively debated!.

	May 4th: Daniel: "we need the agreed copper screws. They cost TSh 15000 a box of 100"
May 7th: I find the real price of copper screws is roughly half. I offer to supply all necessary screws for TSh 15000 to Daniel who accepts the deal but later comes back to the issue. I let him off the hook.
May 19th: Daniel swears that now I allow him to buy his own screws, screw shortage will never cause delay

As a rough estimate over 1000 screws were not copper. I decided first to ask some technical questions about that to my inspector, Tumaini. First Tumaini said that with copper screws no replacement is necessary. Ordinary screws should be replaced after 10 to 15 years. Then, probably after realizing we are considering damage claims, and fearing conflict with a colleague, he puts copper screw replacement on 20 years. When later I call him to ask about the cost of a screw replacement, he started to evade the matter altogether and advised to change Daniel only TSh 100 000/= a very small amount. This of course makes me dump Tumaini as my inspector. I decide Daniel should simply replace all non-copper screws with copper ones.
I did take the opportunity however to ask Tumaini about the proper way to make a 24 m dhow gaff (folmali), without mentioning either my opinion or Daniel's. The folmali is made from eucalyptus, for its bending strength. You need to join two eucalyptus stems. On dhows, you see two types of joint.

My intuition yielded a preference for the skew joint (below), because it will bend regularly over the whole length and not have a stiff part in the region of the joint, at the two borders of which you will have a stronger strain with cracking and breaking risks. Tumaini's preference clearly agreed with mine. Daniel had sworn on his expertise that the skew type is only for small dhows. I asked Tumaini about this opinion, without mentioning Daniel. He denied. But the skew type is the more costly construction. The total reliability of Daniel was once again shown: you can completely trust that he will always lie and cheat.
Later I told Gabriel I wanted the skew type, and I informed him about Daniel's stance. Gabriel promised I would get it my way.

Coming home I was informed by my house mates that two men, in the company of a policeman in civilian clothes, had been searching for someone with a white pickup with a blue tent. My pickup satisfies the description, but there are many.
One of the wives of one of the gentlemen had disappeared but was spotted in such a pickup. If the pickup owner wanted his wife this gentleman wanted money. Apparently the wife was considered to be stolen property but the thief could keep it if we would pay. Tanzania police apparently agreed with the interpretation and supported the operation with a covert officer. I know that women here only run away here if the beatings are really unbearable, so these should be unsavory types indeed.
I only learned about it because my house mates had also been driving a white pickup with blue tent, and were stopped. I know nothing about a woman. For security, since police can of course even decide for arrest, and an East African prison cell is no fun, I stayed home one day. One day is enough: people here can be very excited but they are generally unable to persevere in it for more than one day. After that, there will be new concerns. We live day by day in Africa.

The next day I told Gabriel all screws should be copper. The non copper screws should all be replaced. I gave him some papers that he needs in order to know how to construe, and some others showing the essential conditions of the contract (among which: delivery date, fines and copper screws). Gabriel had asked Daniel about his change of screw type. Daniel had told him copper screws were too expensive. Now Gabriel got straight and told me he has to be honest. Daniel had been lying and cheating. He had misused my money advances to do some business on which he lost. Daniel had not given him details. Daniel had called him for help because he was broke now and feared to end up in prison.
That last one, of course, was good news indeed!

Now all Daniel's strange stories about wildly expensive screws, wood and an immensely overstated amount of square meters of sail cotton fell into place. If I would have believed him and given him what he asked I would now have lost TSh 13 000 000/= and my state would have been roughly like this:

I assured Gabriel that having a carpenter charged with finishing my dhow in prison is of no use to me. But I tried to keep the menace up by showing the contract knife I had on Daniel's throat with the issue of too thin hull planks and the delay fines, without getting in the danger zone of making him or Daniel realize they might not see a shilling of my final payment TSh 2 000 000/= on delivery, if I have my way. That was a delicate dance of stick and carrot, I can only hope I did well.
Gabriel agreed with me we can forget about the official hand over at December 28th. His hopes were for somewhere in January. He told me he will stay until the boat is finished. He does not get paid, he told. Daniel is broke. He will help him. And me. I will have that dhow. We will have to pray to the Lord.
Why do help him, Gabriel?
I love him. And I love you.

......Falls??
(Continuation of subtitle)

At home, I am telling this curious and puzzling love story to my housemate Gerald. His opinion, straight, without hesitation: Gabriel has been together with Daniel in the business in which they used my money advances and lost it. Now Daniel has told him to share the burden and come to finish my dhow. A surprising, quite realistic hypothesis. Not sure, but surely love can't match it. I will have to consider how to verify and exploit the situation.

Graph: Monday, November 28, 2005. The far right white triangle is the latest addition: Daniel reaches the (red) Fine Line (explanation of graph)

When can we expect delivery?

Daniel would no doubt say: we'll be in time (and then of course not be so).

Gabriel believes January is doable for delivery.

My latest estimation is end of February.

We should put three persons' expectations lines now in the graph. One for each of us. I decide to put something between Gabriel's and mine: January 31. Exactly on the (red) Fine Line . Any further delay will cost Daniel TSh 50 000/= a week, after February TSh 100 000/= a week.. We are now in inertia for more than 100 days. Sure some things happen. But then this is more than compensated by unexpected additions to the list of what should happen. Unexpected always for me, sometimes may be even for the cheaters themselves, who knows.
Cheating now assumes its bluntest form. I told them all paint is available now, stored in my pickup. They eagerly asked whether I could not store it with them. No way, of course. When we start painting I will even have to give them one can at the time only, and I will have to sit and watch to prevent them from mixing it or replacing it by an inferior type. I will even have to lock the open cans for the night. They clearly keep trying anything even after being caught a few times. There is no shame. This is Africa.
In the evening, lying on my bed of cardboard boxes, listening to Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht, watching the smoke of my cigar rising and escaping through the mesh of my mosquito net, I must admit to myself this is not a pleasurable phase in my life here. Another two, three months to go. I will consider how to further improve my techniques of disciplining these little rascals. My "Grand Finale" was a good piece of work that brought me largely in power of the situation. Daniel now really fears and brought Gabriel in. But if the money is gone, no more workers can be paid. Wood, copper screws, sail cloth, rope and cord traders will refuse to supply Daniel. And the hole thing progresses as fast as Daniel finds money. Where?
I could reassume my role as business man and dhow yard supplier and sell on credit some bottleneck issues, like the copper screws. I might speed things up buying stuff for as little as TSh 400 000/=, ( 300,-). Of course, my credit sales to such a doubtful yard could be for a considerable risk bearing profit.
My fellow Yacht Club members and lawyer Malongo might give me advice of how best to exploit Gabriel's confession of "Daniel's" misuse of my money advance. My present thoughts go to a confession by Daniel in the presence of Feleshi and me. That should make him an obedient and fearful carpenter. I cannot achieve more, no money is no money, and the character will try to cheat until the end, unable to see other behavioral options. It should also give me a fair chance to keep my final TSh 2 000 000/= in my pocket. Such 15% reduction on my dhow, 1500, seems peanuts, but I feed myself half a year with that money in Mwanza. The operation is not safe to succeed and will require some good thinking and elegant maneuvering.
It could be accompanied by some waiting until on the dhow yard there is a peak of small boats ready for delivering, and then seize them legally.
But I am getting tired. I am glad I got hardened and sharpened by the thugs with whom I fought my battle on my conditions for leaving my university lecturer's job (click here - in Dutch). The main point is to keep the job within a specified and limited compartment of yourself, not to let it overflow other issues, and remain able to see the grotesque and comic aspects of it. Actually my present rereading of Voltaire's immortal short story Candide is a good help:

"Martin surtout conclut que l'homme tait n pour vivre dans les convulsions de l'inquietude, ou dans la lthargie de l'ennui " (translation)

To Martin the two alternatives are equally undesirable. But I am longing to get my feet up in my dhow and wave for a shashlick to the Mwanza Yacht Club restaurant. It will come.

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