1st October 2010 – I’m using my girlfriends camera. New pictures will be illustrating the text again. Thanks Carmen!
Category: Daily Life around the water - page 12
3rd August 2010 – We went back to Antwerp to visit the spits barge a second time and to finish the deal. A new barge will find it’s way to become a houseboat in Bruges.
1st August 2010 – Once in a while; people ask me to join them to visit a barge they are interested in. Today I went to Antwerp to visit a spits barge. I was amazed to find such a traditional looking barge with so many original fittings. Whether the sale will go through, I don’t know but at least I had a great day and have seen some nice barges!
26th July 2010 – Since I have my ship I met many wonderful people. There is an English woman waiting for her barge to be brought over to London. Next to her, another English couple is moored with their barge. We all went for a drink!
21st May 2010 – The Ontario is back next to me, alongside the Watergeus. For a day I had a view on the water. I’ll be glad when she is gone, not for the view but for my ropes and steel cables.
20th May 2010 – Some stuff has to be taken out tomorrow, so we moved the Ontario by hand to a mooring with land side a bit further on the canal. It was not a real mooring, but we had to improvise something.
12th May 2010 – A few weeks ago, a friend, one of my neighbours, came to talk about buying a boat together. We talked for hours, had a beer and then all went home. A few days later we started mailing boats we found on the Internet.
Today we went to have a look at a barge, a small Beurtschip. The same shape of hull as the Watergeus but with a small wheelhouse, no accommodation and most likely, she was used as a tanker.
The ship was on land at a yard in Zwartsluis. Zwartsluis has many yards, on one of them the Watergeus was lengthened in 1962. After driving for over 4 hours, we arrived. At first sight, she was looking good. There was not much known on the barge. The engine was there, but condition unknown. The hold was filled with a lot of stuff and there were as a lot of work on the hull. At the other side, the size was good and the bottom of the ship as well. She had been doubled.
Since we were now having a lot of questions, we made no decisions and returned to Bruges. We shall see the next coming days what the future brings…
7th April 2010 – I visited another barge with some potential for the future. It is more of wreck then a barge. At the other hand it is a historical vessel and certainly not in a better condition then the Watergeus once was.
At this moment there are a lot of barges for sale in Belgium. There are a few reasons why:
- Regulations have changed and are changing constantly
- Every ship needs to have a hull survey (every five year)
- Most ships for sale are expensive to buy and no bank will lent you the money
- There are not many free moorings available at this time.
Therefore I’m still doubting whether I will take such a project or not. Buying the barge may be cheap, converting it will cost me a fortune.
21st March 2010 – With a big hangover, we had to clean the Oceana we rented out for the party. It was a hard job.
In the afternoon I visited a few barges and had a nice chat.
4th January 2010 – I hurt my wrist again, sliding on ice and hitting the ground with my bike. A few of my projects will have to wait.
20th December 2009 – It was snowing the last couple of days and so it continued today. It gave me the perfect occasion of taking some pictures:
In the afternoon, the owner of the art ship was giving a midwinter party!
16th-17th-18th – 19th December 2009 – I had my annual holiday in England and the Netherlands visiting friends and barges!
19th October 2009 – Friends asked me to visit a ship wit them and give my opinion. It is always hard to give an opinion so I try to do this as minimum as possible.
The positive side on this is that I meet new people and visit new ships. On this ship I found an East German or Russian engine. It was very similar to an American GM, but I had never seen it before.
1st June 2009 – I quickly went to Oostende voor Anker. Since I wasn’t feeling to well I only stayed for a hour. For pictures, have a look at the Gallery.
3th February 2009 – The Julie was dry-docked today. Good luck to the new owners and my respect for taking on this job.