4th September 2018 – I’ve started on Tordino, taping the frames. Later in the evening, I drove to Aalter to help with my neighbours. A diver came to check the cooling unit under the water line of the ship. Everything was clean; a bit of a disappointment. Now we have no idea what might cause the engine not to cool down. The only thing left might be a broken pump….
To be continued, somewhere next week.
3rd September 2018 – The plan was to finish Tordino for Open Monumentendag. The object I got last weekend were mounted. Behind some paintings I put tape to make sure they wouldn’t loose if another idiot of a skipper is running with waves behind his ship.
Later that evening I went back to my neighbour who was still in Aalter. We tried some more, but there is still no water coming out of the engine. We decided: no water = no sailing. We will call a diver for tomorrow.
2nd September 2018: We moved Tordino closer to land in the early morning. Therefore we had to move the two other barges a bit more ot the front.
Till lunchtime, we managed to disassemble the whole cooling system. It was cleaned and put back together. There was sadly enough, still no water coming out of the engine.
A small trial journey was done, and the engine was still fine. We left Beernem for Aalter, but after two kilometers, the engine started steaming. The next ten kilometers, I was busy filling the engine with water trying to cool her down…
1st September 2018 – Today was a busy day. I left Bruges in the early morning heading for Holland. The old skipper of Tordino invited me. I had an old box aboard the ship that belonged to his grandfather. It is now back in the family. He gave me plenty of photos and objects of Tordino and his previous ship. Valuable items for my museum. Objects with a (hi)story!
On the way back, I stopped in Vreeswijk at the museum shipyard. There I met another skipper of Tordino.
In the evening, my neighbours tried moving their boat. It was stuck in the mud and had no cooling. With Tordino, we managed to get her of the mooring and put her alongside another neighbour. The rest of the evening was spent working on the engine.
30rd August 2018 – My neighbour in Beernem needs to go to drydock for its periodical maintenance. He has a beautiful air started Klockner Deutz engine. We tired starting the engine, but it didn’t show much life. An air pipe was broken. We managed to get the auxiliary engine started and the bottle filled with air.
We give it another go tomorrow evening.
When I was back aboard Tordino, I built that Library cabinet I got on Monday.
20th August 2018 – I don’t like it when people are passing at high speed. A neighbour has a nice small boat with an 50hp engine that needs some adjustment. We made a small journey….
The conversion of the Aquarel has moved to this new site. The conversion of the Watergeus and the Hornblower will follow as soon as I have time!
10th August 2018 – Since I put away my tools aboard Tordino last month, it feels like I have nothing to do, no active conversions. I had the preparations of the crossing, but now this is done as well.
There is still so much I need to do, like making the Watergeus ready for her survey, painting Tordino, working on the content of my museum, etc….
I am now making plans of converting the last space aboard the Watergeus. This is a low budget project. I first need to cut away a ballast tank I welded 11 years ago. There is still the cleanup of the frontdeck, removing an old generator and a support for a workbench.
At the beginning of next year, I will insulate the middle section of Tordino. I’ve seen this summer it was to warm.
So where to start first…
5th Augusts 2018 – After a good night sleep, we started the engine and headed for Gravesend. At Southend, we dropped anchor, had a swim and picked a crew member up from the pier. It was an old friend, who I helped two years go bringing over her barge to London.
Just before arriving in Gravesend, we dropped anchor, had a second swim and went of to the mooring It took us some time to properly get the boat in position. We had no space left and had to pull her in by hand. She is now moored in a nice small dock with a lightvessel and a Thames Sailing Barge. The old tug Kent is on the other side of the pontoon.
4rd August 2018 – We got up around 7 o’clock. I had a brief chat with the tenants of my neighbour before boarding the sailing barge Johanna. The Johanna is a Stevenaak built in 1901. She arrived a few days earlier in Swale, also coming straight from Holland.
My idea of boarding was to take some pictures, not to be turning the winches or pulling ropes. I had to unpack sails, mount them and clean the decks. I have nearly no sailing experience, neither did the owner of the barge I did the crossing with . We were standing on the front deck and managed to get the sails right, just after grounding. So we could lower them again and wait for several hours until it was high tide.
Once the ship was floating again, we started the engine and went back alongside Pro et Contra where we stayed for a while, having a drink and changing clothes.
There was a party in the evening on land, near an old shipyard. They also gave the prices for the winners of the contest and surprisingly enough, we won a price!
It is hard to describe the ambiance and the ambiance there was hanging at that yard. I met a few people of the DBA, had a nice chat and ended up around 9 in a small dinghy getting to the sailing barge we grounded earlier that day. Alongside was an old Dutch Coaster. We were introduced to the owner and had a guided tour aboard. Very impressive! There was a kind of house warming on the Johanna and later that evening, when drinks were gone, we went back to the coaster for some more partying.
The hardest point came when they had to drive us back to our own ship. Totally dark, only a few lights running. We managed to find her and went to bed!
3rd August 2018 – After many preparations, we set of this morning at 11 o’clock, direction Nieuwpoort. About ten minutes later, we had to go to the side. The Scheepsdale bridge only opens at 12 o’clock. I jumped of board and helped my neighbour who was following us with the Frantsis. I put two ropes around the bollards so he could wait, just like us…
Once we passed Scheepsdale, the journey went fluently. At some point the Frantsis returned after cooling issues with the gearbox. We hoped he could join till Nieuwpoort, but the risk of damaging the engine was to big.
After we passed the lock in Plassendale, my old ship ‘Op Hoop van Zegen’ followed us until he hit the side of the Canal when his rudder got stuck. The small canal from Plassendale to Nieuwpoort is small and steering is a bit harder then on the other canals. Bridges were often built where the canal made a turning.
In Nieuwpoort, we left the lock and went straight to sea. We left at05:07 and arrived in Swale around 03:30 the next morning.
It was dark, only the light of the moon and some mast lights. It was great to see the cntours and the shadows of the Thames Sailing barges. They were all asleep. We moored alongside the VIOD II, who was anchored like all the other ships.
2nd August 2018 – A lot of work needs to be done to get the Pro et Contra running, but my neighbour wanted to make a small trial with the Frantsis. So we all joined, including neighbours from another ship. There were a few minor issues but the trials were a succes.
That night, I had to pick up the skipper for the crossing. We first drove to Tordino to get a mobile generator, life jackets and some more equipment.
1st August 2018 – The water tanks were filled with water. So after fuel and water, we only need food and some life saving equipment. All ready for leaving on Friday!
29th July 2018 – Probably the best maritime event of the year. A nice selection of high quality barges in the canals of Leiden. Well organized, and most ships were open to the public! I will certainly go back next year.
27th July 2018 – The canal was closed till lunchtime. No traffic was allowed, but nothing happened. By the evening, the current has turned and the fuel came back.