14th February 2021 – No matter how hard I tried keeping everything warm, the outlet pipe for the bathroom is frozen. I can’t use the shower or toilet at the moment. It is really cold, dry air and minus 5°C. I added another electric heather in the technical room. Let’s hope there is no permanent damage.
10th February 2021 – We made a small trip in the canal. Going to Nieuwpoort was not possible since the lockdoor was frozen.
9th February 2021 – I did a quick check on Tordino. After a phone call in the wheelhouse I felt asleep for an hour. It was so lovely in the sun behind glass….
The entrance was still in position. I was a bit worried when the ice would melt, that the whole construction could slide down.
8th February 2021 – I just checked my ships today and it wasn’t a bad idea at all to do so. Snow blew into my door of the Stern. On the Watergeus, I had forgotten to switch on the heather but on Tordino everything was fine. I’m not feeling so comfortable with these temperatures.
30th January 2021 – Just like in Bruges, water is high on most rivers and canals at the moment. I had a check on Tordino to make sure everything was fine.
29th January 2021 – I have never seen the water so high as today. I was glad to be at home so I could keep an eye on both my ships. The Stern nearly ended up on the wooden beam on the side of the canal. Watergeus is much deeper in the water. Since water was raising quickly, there was the chance that Watergeus could lift up its gangway or gets stuck underneath it. None of this happened!
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.
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!