Month: May 2020 - page 3

Stern – A hard day of working

8th May 2020 – In the morning we had to pick up our cars. On the way back I stopped in Beernem to start working on the Stern. Removing paint. I had a lot planned, but only managed to remove half of the paint. Before leaving, I gave it a quick coat of primer  until I ran out of paint. People will now at least notice the difference and see it is a project. Nothing worse then loose bits of paints.

Stern – Moving to Beernem

7th May 2020 – My initial plan was to move her tomorrow, but  I was already thinking of moving her this evening. Just do it by myself. At the start of the Covid period I even had a plan of moving her at night.

I arrived at five o’clock in the evening, filled up the fuel tank, started the engine and unloaded my van.  I had some tools with me, but very limited. The spare battery was still on Tordino and I had no generator.  I had all the official equipment with me like lifejackets and some spare oil. A VHF, paperwork and my own documents were aboard the Watergeus. This was the first time I started a journey so badly prepared. It reminded me of the time when we moved boats with Andy.

A friend wanted to join, so I called to check if he was available and he arrived one hour later. We left Ghent at 18h30 and arrived in Beernem around 21h30. A nice trip, nearly no boats, a lovely sunset and most of all: a good running engine!  

In the old diary of the ship, they mentioned overheating of the engine. We started slowly but reved up the engine until we got a proper speed of 10km’s an hour. It was the first time I wasn’t nervous during a journey with one of my own ships.

 

Stern – Painting the mast

6th May 2020 – I gave a second coat of brown to the mast. The top was painted white and the foot light brown. I started making a new pennant for the mast. It will be in metal so it lasts a long time.  A friend gave me a thin sheet of metal. I will cut it tomorrow. 

In the evening I gave a third coat of oil to the namesigns on one side.

I am also planning on moving the ship on Friday to Beernem. Not sure yet, but next week the weather is not looking good.  I will need fuel, oil, lifering and tools. A lot to do in a short time….

Stern – Building a mast

3rd May 2020 – I had the mast of the Arma in storage. These are the kind of items that can always be used at some point. It is a small mast, three meters long and extremely light. The foot is heavy and at least 2 cm thick. I cut the foot in half and welded both pieces with a different angle. Paint was removed from the mast and the foot.

 

Tordino – Checking the boat

3rd May 2020 – I went to check Tordino and had some time in the hold. Before I will be able to open the ship, it will need a god cleanup. I also dropped some furniture for making the accommodation more pleasant.

Stern – Namesigns

2nd May 2020 – The first attempt of building a namesign as no success. While I was in Oudenburg yesterday, I brought a nice wooden plank with me. Today I cut into 5 namesigns, one big one and four small ones.  They received one coat of oil.

 

Stern – Namesign (2)

1st May 2020 – After waking up depressed, I continued working on the big namesign. I gave it a first coat of oil, I don’t know what the result will be. In the afternoon I was at friends in Oudenburg. They had some nice wood left, I will use it for smaller namesigns on the bow.

Watergeus – Lockdown

1st May 2020 – It is getting heavy, seeing no friends and always working from home, no social contact besides seeing the people walking by on the towpath and street. I can’t work on my projects, it is bad weather and I’m running out on inside jobs and energy…

In the evening, I started working with cleaning a metal hatch to protect a window on the front deck. It is an old hatch from the Aquarel, I will use it in winter time or when I’m moving the ship.