27th January 2021 – The idea was to have a quick look on the wheelhouse of the Julie. They are building a new roof and I wanted to see how it was being made. We ended up having a few beers, then Port and in the end we had a pita. A whole day wasted, but it was fun.
Category: Daily Life around the water - page 5
30th November 2020 – I woke up early and noticed there wasn’t AIS signal again. When I arrived aboard, the charger went in failure. I switched the heather to the mains power, which is not so reliable, but at least, it is working. Batteries are charging and AIS is on. Heating now works as well, let’s hope, it stays well.
It reminds me of two years ago when I had to go to the yard. Just at that moment , I had a faulty inverter. Now it is cold again and this is happening. It is nice to have comfort and automatic systems, as long as they work!
23rd November 2020 – I always believe in the quote time is money. I have a limited time and maintaining three vessels, working on several project and having a fulltime job. I’ve noticed over the last couple of months, I’m always working in periods of several weeks. A few weeks on Tordino, a few weeks on the Stern. Just a thought…
9th November 2020 – Yesterday I was cruising on the water with and old boat, today I’m working on my own little yacht Stern, sleeping in my houseboat and thinking about how to paint my museumship. This is pretty much what I’m doing lately. Working on my own ships or talking to friends and making even more plans. I’m glad to have a good hobby, certainly in periods like this where everyone is a bit more down!
The only bit I am missing are those maritime events in Holland…
28th September 2020 – I managed to save some parts of the interior of the 1949 built spits barge Jeanne. The ship is heading to the scrapyard and it was the last day I could remove old bits and pieces for my museum and for the Stern. It took us several hours but most of it was saved.
At night I unloaded my van since I need it tomorrow.
26th September 2020 – It was not a pretty view to see the boat laying on it’s side in the water. Certainly not after all the effort we did in the Spring to make her ready for cruising. We started pumping out the other two boats so we had access to the sunken one. We put some ropes around her and tried lifting the ship with the car crane of the big one. After two attempts we could keep her just above the water to start pumping. After one more hour it was floating by itself. There is major damage to the engine and electric equipment.
26th September 2020 – The day after the storm wasn’t great. I didn’t sleep, never heard the Watergeus making so much noise. I also received a message from a friend his boat had sunk. In the early morning I checked the Stern. Some rain water had come in. Something I will have to deal with at a later moment. I drove to Tordino where everything was fine, except the wheelhouse. The roof is leaking badly. Another thing on my list. Then I drove to Oudenburg to see how bad the situation was and it was bad!
12th September 2020 – I picked up two friends who have their barge in Nieuwpoort. They will be towed to Ramsgate tomorrow. I am always nervous when moving one of my bigger ships, but they were nervous as well. No matter how I tried to calm down the situation, there was a continuous doubt. We had a good meal and a drink and when I left I was pretty sure they would make it with no major issues.
28th August 2020 – I went to Friesland to take some pictures of vessels, visited a few ships and stopped at Shipyard Talsma to pick up some windows for the Stern.
15th August 2020 – We had been talking for some days about bringing the tjalk Anna Sophia from Nieuwpoort to the UK. I was not convinced about the weather, the owner was. First it was a maybe, later a yes and when I had my stuff packed it became a No. The weather is to unstable to move the ship. So we wait for another time slot…