28th December 2012 – Time to go to the shop and get some paint. The bedroom is totally finished and ready for painting. I spent the last couple of days partying and working in the bedroom. Putting down the floor, finishing the lists around the windows and mounting the stairs.
28th December 2012 – I’m proud to say the bedroom is finished. All the woodwork has been done. In the afternoon I bought the paint and I’m hoping to paint it somewhere next week.
It takes nearly one hour to make the wooden lists fit around the windows. I have five windows (two portholes, two windows and a skylight). The floor is a wooden parquet. I spent most of the week finishing the bedroom. When a job is finished, and for the last bits you buy the right equipment, then you say: ‘I should have bought this on day one’. Well a compressor with a nail gun is no luxury, believe me!
27th December 2012 – Lining out the wood around the windows in the wheelhouse is one of the most difficult things I’ve done so far on this project.
16th December 2012 – The whole day was spent on finishing the wood work in the living room. Things that looked easy cost me a lot of time.
15th December 2012 – I’ve been using the living room more or less as a storage space. Most of the woodwork was finished. A few corners had to be done. There was one power cable I had to hide and around the windows was also some more work.
By the end of the afternoon, we managed to sort out the living room and to make it empty.
9th December 2012 – Always working is no good to anybody. I drove to Izegem to see some boats and to visit a small exhibition in the local yacht club. I have pretty much the arrogance to say I know most spits barges in Belgium. Nevertheless, I discovered one I didn’t know. I looked it up in the evening and found her history. Sometimes I wonder what I like more, converting them or looking for their history…
7th December 2012 – It’s been quiet on the blog and the website. This doesn’t mean I took some time off, not at all! I’ve spent a lot of time driving around to see some boats. It is becoming colder, so working in the evening aboard the Hornblower is not that nice. We had our first day of snow as well today.
When I have some more time, I’ll try to update the site again!
18th November 2012 – I mainly worked in the wheelhouse.
10th November 2012 – I’ve been working with no structure or plan for a while. The project is getting near to it’s end. Everything is falling together now and I could finally start thinking about finishing the bedroom. The wood got a first coat of primer.
Most of the multiplex is finished in the wheelhouse. I still have one leaking window. I didn’t put any wood around that window. Where the multiplex is finished, I’m now putting t&g wood. 
6th November 2012 – A problem these days is it becomes dark very early. When I’m back from work, I need to put on lights to work. It is not as nice as daylight.
5th November 2012 – While the old windows were in the wheelhouse, most of the metal work got badly damaged by leaks. I removed the rust, and put a lot of rubber to protect it. I believe in paint when it is a dry area. I never know if the new windows will leak one day. When there is an interior it takes a long time before you realize it. Therefore I’m using rubber. It becomes hard after a few days. The only way to remove the rubber is a grinding tool or a torch.
4th November 2012 – A little positive note today: There were a few leaks less then yesterday and I solved some more.
I finished the bedroom. It is now ready for painting. Once she is painted, I can finish the frames around the windows and put the floor.
3rd November 2012 – It has been raining continuously for nearly a weak. I was home, in bed but with worries about my three leaking windows.
When I had a look in the boat, I discovered many more leaks. Two portholes were leaking, they were always dry before. The air vent in the living room, the three windows in the wheelhouse, the search light, the brackets of the hatch on the front of the ship, etc…
There was some sunshine in the afternoon. I used this period to close the leaks and to weld the brackets of the hatch properly. It was everything except a nice experience today.
3rd November 2012 – I’m back after a week of being ill. I worked on the Hornblower. It was a big disappointment to find back the boat full of water . There was no place that was dry! I should have taken some pictures to illustrate what water can do and where it can enter a ship…
28th October 2012 – I made a trip in the country instead of working. I went to Péronnes, Oudenaarde and Ghent. The weather was surprisingly good. Besides a lot of nice pictures and some ideas for my own conversion aboard the Hornblower, I found some ships where I believed they were scrapped a long time ago!
I’m planning to go there more often!
