14th September 2017 – One of the items on my wish list was an old back accommodation from a barge. There were four spits barges at the scrapyard in Hoboken. I managed to buy one of the interiors. It took me all day to get it out with the two of us. It is now in storage and should be one of the main items on Museumschip Tordino in the near future.

10th September 2017 – More information will follow.

30th August 2017 – Found some time again to update this site. It has been a few months since the last update. I have been working nearly every day on Tordino to get her ready for the 10th September 2017. There will be an exhibition about the history of Inland shipping.

14th August 2017 – While I was in Amsterdam, I stopped in Zaandam to have a quick look on the Aquarel. She was looking good, but a bit squeezed in between two other ships. I was a bit disappointed about the paintwork of the hull. For a sandblasted ship which was coated with epoxy, I found red paint coming through on several locations. Something must have gone wrong during this process.

16th April 2017 – There is a historical shipyard in Vreeswijk. Partly a museum and partly an active yard for historical vessels. Very fascinating. Even nicer is the harbour full of older ships, all maintained as it should be.

15th April 2017 – One of the jobs was to create a second level in the hold, behind the Library. There are two water tanks and they take most of the space in this area. By raising these tanks, I could reuse the space underneath. It took me some time to build a solid frame. These tanks, filled, have a weight of 1.2 tons each. I wanted to add a small fuel tank as well, so it must be strong.

The other job involved building a solid frame for the doors and entrance of the library. I want a small stage in front of the door. This was easier to build, but it still took me most of the afternoon to finish it.

7th April 2017 – Just an evening picture. It is good that days are longer again! At least I can now work till late in the evening.

1st April 2017 – There is a small museum in Dordrecht, totally dedicated to the inland shipping. It is located aboard a pusher and a barge. It was surprisingly how much stuff they have and how good it was presented. There was a free guide who took his time to explain everything.

30th March 2017 – In the early morning I drove to the shipyard Carron in Zelzate where friends of mine have a ship. It is their last day out of the water. I’ve got a lot of stuff from this ship that will serve in my museum aboard Tordino.

There was a heritage meeting in the afternoon. I followed a few sessions and had an interesting afternoon.

8th March 2017 – One of the ships along our moorings was sold a few months ago. The new owner is converting his ship at the yard. he is extremely passionate about converting ships and we had a good chat. Looking forward to have more of these evenings!

18th March 2017 – A friend of mine lost his wheelhouse a couple of weeks ago. I quickly helped him putting a few sheets on so the cover doesn’t hang with rainwater.

17th March 2017 – One of the best planned days of the last couple of years. Having to reply on three companies and several people to help you with moving a wheelhouse, toilet unit and a lifeboat! It was a great success today!

16th March 2017 – While I was in Temse to order my toilet unit for Tordino, I took a few pictures of a sunken barge. The accident happened two days ago.

1st March 2017 – When not working on the Tordino or the Watergeus, I made some time working on the website for the museum aboard the Tordino. Please have a look:

http://www.museumschip.be

17th February 2017 – I visited some friends at the yard in Zelzate. While I was there, they had just lowered the spits barge Pièrre in the water. She will leave tomorrow for Harlingen. Strange how people start looking for boats. I buy one in the Netherlands and they buy one here…