Category: Daily Life around the water - page 5

Pintje, Porto and Pita

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. 

Tordino – No power again

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!

Time is Money

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…

Reflections on my daily life around the water

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…

Salvaging a friends boat

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. 

The day after the storm…

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!

Stress for the crossing

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.