16th January 2021 – They predicted snow and they were right. We had some snow today, well a lot of snow for Belgian standards. I took some pictures and inspected the Stern. Everything was fine, but I keep the heating on until tomorrow.
Author: frederic
10th January 2021 – Another cold night. I had a look at the Stern. She was looking fine!
9th January 2021 – It was a very cold night. We noticed it last night when decks were frozen. The canal was back on its normal water level but it had frozen very hard. I wasn’t expecting it to be so cold, so I hadn’t put on the heating on the boats. I quickly put them on but there was no damage!
8th January 2021 – Water was again very low but when I arrived in Bruges, I was surprised to see the Stern hanging in its ropes and the Watergeus being grounded. I heard from two other neighbours they were also touching the bottom of the canal with their barge.
6th December 2020 – It had been a long time since we made a trip on the Djoey. Busy times as we are both working on our own projects.
5th December 2020 – First the good news: the new charger is installed and I have heating again!. This is great. Thanks to my friends for helping me.
There was a small rotten piece under the door of the wheelhouse. While taking it away, I discovered more and more wet wood. So after about ten minutes of work, I just realize I can better rebuild the wheelhouse. There is now a cover over the roof. This will keep dry for a while. In the meantime the old interior will be removed. It is nothing special anyway and it exists of several layers of plywood and Formica. Time to make it look more traditional again. Maybe I’ll use some of the recovered interior from the Jeanne.
Together with my mother, we made some traditional curtains for the windows. The next step is to remove the modern rolling curtains and also replace them with traditional ones.
2nd December 2020 – One more of piece was needed to finish the ceiling. It took me some time since I had to make it twice. One time wrong and once good. I painted the cupboard in the corner and some more of the ceiling. Slowly getting there, but there is still a lot of work that needs doing!
1st December 2020 – I ordered a new toilet, an electric one. I cleaned out the space, finished the woodwork and gave a first coat of paint.
30th November 2020 – I woke up early and noticed there wasn’t AIS signal again. When I arrived aboard, the charger went in failure. I switched the heather to the mains power, which is not so reliable, but at least, it is working. Batteries are charging and AIS is on. Heating now works as well, let’s hope, it stays well.
It reminds me of two years ago when I had to go to the yard. Just at that moment , I had a faulty inverter. Now it is cold again and this is happening. It is nice to have comfort and automatic systems, as long as they work!
29th November 2020 – I had a quick check and the charger is holding it. In the meantime while I was there, I did some measuring of the new entrance and I’m getting there how to build it. It is difficult how to make a nice entrance and and still let it look traditional.
28th November 2020 – I already noticed late in the afternoon I had no AIS signal so there was no power aboard. When I checked the engine room it was not the mains power but the charger that is broken, a very expensive one… It lasted over ten years, so I can’t complain.
I used another charger to keep my ship alife since all my equipment is running of the inverter aboard..
25th November 2020 – I finished t &g on portside and did an experiment with dark oil on starboard side. I want to mirror the colour of the cupboards on portside with the wall on starboard. Later in the evening, a friend came and we had a drink aboard with the electric heating running.
24th November 2020 – Just spent some time finishing insulation and t&g around the windows in the living room. Slowly getting there….
23rd November 2020 – Early in the morning, I cleaned the living room. the oil on the windows was still wet so I couldn’t start cutting the wood. After lunch time I covered the windows with plastic foil, painted the wooden frame on portside. Inside, I finished the skylight and did some more t&g.
22nd November 2020 – Still exhausted from yesterday, I decided to do at least something. I removed the green cover from starboard side and gave the windows a second coat of oil on the inside. Whily my brush was used anyway, I gave a second coat on the dashboard and the step in front of the steering wheel.
