Category: Daily Life around the water - page 10

Visiting a yacht

24th July 2019 – I went to see a yacht during lunchtime. It was in a shed in the harbour of Ostend. Besides the fact it was already warm outside, it wasn’t much better inside. The advertisement mentioned finished for 75%. It didn’t look that way at all.  After 20 minutes I had seen enough. A nice hull, no guarantees on the engines and a lot of work on deck!

In the evening I made a phone call with my offer and she was tempted to accept it straight away. I suggested her to wait a few days. She called me back a few hours later.

These are the pictures on the add. In real, it is much worse!

Looking for a yacht

29th June 2019 – For some time, I have been looking for a yacht. I’m not difficult in what I want. It must look old fashioned, made in metal and it needs an interior that is useful. The budget is very limited. I have two ships in mind.

One is a motorschouw with a broken engine, but a finished interior. The other one is supposed to have a running engine, but no interior.

Today I went to see both of them. The first one was in Raamdonksveer. On arrivial, I noticed it was a riveted ship, but with some rotten parts on deck. Underneath the bollards was fibreglass, and some silicone in the deck to avoid water coming through. The engine is indeed broken, but the ship seems fine. The cap on the back deck needs replacing. It was a warm and dry day, so was the ship. I couldn’t find any other issues of leaks. But there will be something else wrong for that price…

The second ship was much bigger, it was a Ten Broeke kruiser with a massive Mercedes Engine. I was not convinced how the engine ran, never mind the rest of the ship. Metal work was good, but most of the windows needed replacing. The interior was rotten and the smell unacceptable.

 

Once back at home, I knew which one I wanted, but not at their asking price….

Rainy weather

10th June 2019 – I have been sitting inside the whole day because of the bad weather. Rain…. Let just hope that the whole summer won’t be like this. I really like to continue painting my two ships.

In between two showers I fixed three leaking windows on the Watergeus. Silicone doesn’t last forever…

Later in the evening, I went to the English neighbour and had a few beers, talking about boat conversions and why you should start doing such a project. Another neighbour joined a bit later.

Moving the Anwi from the Coupure

6th June 2019 – A spits barge of 30 meters was moored in the Coupure. The owner wanted to leave and to make preparations for going to England with the ship. We helped him moving to my ship. Since I’m painting the Watergeus, we decided to put the vessel alongside the neighbour who doesn’t live on her ship. It took us a few hours since the bridges closes between 16:30 and 17:30 for traffic.

 

Visiting a ship in Drimmelen harbour

27th May 2019 –  A friend wants to buy a small boat for cruising around and having some fun. He found a special ship. It looks like a sleepvlet, but was mainly used as a multifunctional work boat. The inside is a bit smaller then expected, but easy to convert.

While I was walking around I found a very nice IJselaak. It was to expensive for my budget, but on the outside it looked like a traditional conversion of the early seventies.

I would go for the ship with the most rivets….

Website nearly up-to-date

17th May 2019 – Since January 2018 I have been working on this new website. I was moving the old content to his new system. The plan was to move everything in a few months. It took me over a year, a bit like boat planning…

Besides the conversion of the Watergeus, most content has moved and additions have been added. Comments, suggestions? Let me know!

Maritime expo in Gorinchem

9th May 2019 – We went to the annual expo in Gorinchem, a nice event where you learn all the new evolutions in shipping and equipment. It is also the ideal place for networking. Outside the building, a group of ship model owners were giving an explanation on their hobby and their models. There was a very nice model looking like Tordino…

A day in Vlissingen

4th May 2019 – I’ve been visiting a lot of maritime museums. One on my list I hadn’t done was the museum in Vlissingen. Certainly worth a visit. I would also recommend visiting the kazematten. There is a separate museum located in these old buildings.