8th August 2021 – Since I’m still new in Oudenburg I made a nice walk with a neighbour, something I do every few evenings. She lives by the water and I live on the water. Two different worlds, but both of them are just the same in many ways. Where I used to watch the boats and the people on the water, I now start looking more at the environment, trees, open fields, birds, …. Living on a canal is more then just boats!
Category: Daily Life around the water - page 2
8th August 2021 – The owner wanted to move her ship to have a few days off. I took the opportunity to move the little dinghy alongside. While we had some wind issues in the beginning because of a broken bridge, the rest of the journey was great. Just before arriving in Plassendale, I detached the little boat, jumped on it and made it to the side!
7th August 2021 – To gain some time tomorrow, and not to have to pass the lock tomorrow, I asked the lock if I could move my ship by hand. Then I rowed it to my houseboat. It took me much longer then expected. Water and wind were an enemy while in Oudenburg, I had a feeling it would have helped me. The boat is now alongside my houseboat.
6th August 2021 – In the late afternoon I salvaged a sunken dinghy. It is around four meters long (Pioner 12). Together with the previous owner we managed to make it float again. I will try to see if I can tow it tomorrow.
22nd July 2021 – A friend paid me a visit with his tug. He used to live in Beernem in the old days when I was converting the Aquarel. Shortly after he moved to Ghent and is now back. It was nice to catch up!
22nd July 2021 – A very nice converted luxe motor was passing by in Plassendale. Nice to see!
18th July 2021 – I’ve just done nothing today. In the morning I started the engine of the Baron to check if it was working again and yes it did. So the alternator is broken of the battery totally dead.
I had a couple of friends with kids who came to visit the ship and have a few drinks. A relaxing day!
16th July 2021 – The Arie sank in Ghent. It is always dissapointing to see a ship sinking, this one especialy since it once belonged to a friend of a mine and we had a great time aboard! It was ten years ago we towed it on the mooring in Mariakerke…
16th July 2021 – A converted lifeboat arrived this afternoon. Not an old riveted one, but a more modern version, the kinda of models that are now very popular in the UK as tiny houseboats.
11th July 2021 – Today we had our big jump in Oudenburg, a small event where people jump in the water to promote the clean water. With the little boat of my neighbour we mounted the safety line and I was standby on the boat if something would go wrong…
In the evening we hand another small trip with the vlet…
2nd July 2021 – An important day for the community of Plassendale, for the first time in years, a passenger ship moored at our pier. Press arrived and everybody had to give an interview.
28th June 2021 – The pier a bit down the canal was taken by several yachts so the cleaning boat moored alongside, a nice aluminium working craft. Could easily server as a floating bar in my opinion…. Very easy to manoeuvre and a lot of space…
13th June 2021 – I went to see a little Dutch ship in Antwerp. It is a flat bottom sailing boat from around 7 meters. I like it a lot, but I’m not sure if it is worth the effort. It certainly looks traditional, but it hasn’t been maintained for years. I’m also worried about the logistic nightmare for bringing her over to Bruges, since I need to sail over the Schelde. The other issue is I’m still in negotiation about the sailing ship Baron…
1st May 2021 – After putting my distance keepers in the water, it was time to put back the little boats of the neigbours in the water. Hopefully the weather will become a little warmer so we can have some fun again with them.
20th April 2021 – The owner wanted me to move the ship to Ghent. I asked a friend to join so I was sure I had somebody reliable on the front deck. When we left, I nearly hit the lock but could quickly turn around. The ship was so hard to steer and it didn’t listen at all. If you went to slowly it didn’t listen at all. Thankfully it had a reliable bowthruster that helped me a lot. We were not even out of Bruges of the engine was more or less a steam engine and in Beernem the engine stopped working. It started again and slowly we continued the journey but had to abandon the trip at the marina in Beernem. We are halfway….
My battery of the phone died in between, so I could only take a few pictures from the beginning of the journey…
