16th June 2011 – After making a phone call, I heard the bulkhead was finished. I can’t wait to see the progress. This means I can now start doing the final cleanup in the front, put grease on and start doing some proper woodwork.
Category: MS Hornblower - page 15
14th June 2011 – The third day aboard was getting hard. Even you sleep well, it is not the same as at home. There is some comfort like a bed, toilet and shore power. At the other hand it is cold or to warm, a bed smell and a lot of shaking around in an unstable boat.
During the day we welded some more ribs in the boat to have a solid and straight construction. I grained the rib for the bulkhead of the engine room and cleaned some more bilges.
By the end of the day the windows were mounted permanent and glued as well. 
As a finishing touch, the new mast was welded on the wheelhouse!
13th June 2011 – I continued cutting the sheets of Mulitplex and screwed them on the wooden frame. Because of the bad weather, not much welding was done today. I removed the wooden bulkhead / wall between the living area and the engine room. At the end of the day, the windows were not mounted and I had a big pile of wood.
I took some time off, or how else to describe it and went to see some friends in the area. After a while you need to change your mind for a moment.
12th June 2011 – In the early morning I cleaned most out of the bilges, and started building the frame for the wooden construction. I had to move around twice with all the wood, but I got very far in the evening.
I learned a lot while drilling the holes. You really need to be carefully where you drill or it becomes to close to the side of the rib, a rivet is blocking a bolt from entering, etc…
It is good working in Sluiskil. I know a few people here, but at least you can work without having to chat to everyone and be nice. I’m moored third in a row, so nobody really sees me.
9th June 2011 – I mainly helped placing the windows and cleaning the bilges. My first wood I ordered for the Hornblower arrived today as well.
It is always much easier to fit windows in blank steel. If there are already some holes cut it makes it twice as difficult. Lining out where they should be mounted took us some time as well.
Once the wood was delivered, I painted it to protect the wood from damp and wood worm. By the time I was finished, it was already 5 o’clock.
7th June 2011 – While tracing the history of the Hornblower (Ex- Carpe Diem, Ex-Thunderhead) I contacted a few family members. I discovered the Carpe Diem was moored in Groningen at the Bloemsingel (Winschoterdiep).
On a site I found a few pictures taken in Groningen in 2003. Copyright belongs to the woman who took the pictures (‘Morgen Ster 3 ‘ on Picasaweb):
5th June 2011 – I mainly worked in the front area, cleaning the sides, removing the last bits of wood and cleaning the bilges. I bought six second hand windows and had to clean them as well. By the time I was finished it was to dark to take descent pictures. They will follow next time I’m there.
28th May 2011 – On each side of the ship, there are two big holes. They must have been there for years, but I want it to be solved. One one side we cut out the plate, and we will weld a new one in.
In the afternoon I painted the hull. She is looking much nicer now! She was painted with black, white, yellow and red paint.
Only a little bit of each colour was left. Now everything is red, the same red as the Escapade and Frantsis used to have. The Watergeus is also painted in red. It is a good primer that has shown its quality before.
27th May 2011 – Today the two old bollards were welded to the ship. One of them was broke before I bought her, the second one came loose during the tow. Both of them are welded on a solid plate.
22nd May 2011 – I only did one job today, cleaning the living room bilges. All the wood is gone, so I started removing rust, grease, insulation and dust. After 8 hours of this work, you are broken and thirsty. It was a good result to see clean bilges again.
21st May 2011 – I decided to sleep aboard and left Bruges in the late evening. I woke up in the middle of the night, heavy lightning and thunder made it impossible for me to sleep. Since it was raining heavily, I switched on the lights and went looking for possible leaks. Beside the hole in the deck, it looked reasonable dry.
16th May 2011 – A major job aboard the Hornblower is cleaning the bilges. I firstly removed the wood by driving a few times to some people with a wood fire. The rest, I took to my parents in Ostend. It is sad you need to remove the wood, but it is rotten and badly damaged during the last conversion.
The bilges haven’t been cleaned for years!
Everything you remove makes you think. It had been put there for a reason, people spent money on it. If it had been better maintained, it could have lasted much longer! Now I need to remove everything, clean the metal again, etc…
I’m pretty much convinced the ship has been doubled, I found to many tiny holes in the original bottom of the ship.
15th May 2011 – Besides breaking stuff down, I made a nice sitting room from the wheelhouse by breaking down, what else did you expect, the storage unit.
It is important, when you work on a ship not to break down to much at the same time. You have to much rubbish and you have no place to live anymore. Breaking down goes much quicker then building it as well! When I’m tired, I can relax in the wheelhouse, drink a beer and look at the yard on the other side of the dock…
7th May 2011 – I continued ripping out the floor of the bedroom to clean the bilges. Andy came to remove the old heater and batteries. I filled up my car with wood, till, it became dangerous to drive. At least four layers of floor were built. I believe every owner added another one. There is no such thing as a cheap boat!
While cleaning he bilges, the screwdriver felt out of my hand, straight through the hull. Fortunately, I quickly discovered she was doubled on that area.
4th May 2011 – The insurance company discovered she was built in 1901, this makes her exactly 110 years old!