Category: MS Stern

21st September 2020 – First of all, I was tired from work. It is killing me the way it runs at the moment. I was glad to be home and to do something where you see progress, where I can make my own decisions and be responsible if it goes wrong…

I am  nearly out of wood, new wood was ordered on Saturday, so I started moving the ballast from the Watergeus to the Stern. Eight cans of each 30 kg. It makes a slight difference. I went up by 2 cm at the back. The front lowered around 3 cm. 

The joint of the ceiling from the living room and the wheelhouse was left open in case there would be a fire while welding the wheelhouse.  Now I finished it and build a wooden frame to make it stronger. I used my remaining filler to close the little holes from the nails.

Late in the evening, I made the holes bigger for draining the water from the roof. They are talking about rain on Wednesday.

[Show slideshow]

20th September 2020 – While waiting for the family to arrive, I filled up the holes from the nails in the ceiling of the wheelhouse. I made a quick patch for the the doorstep so no rain water can come in.

[Show slideshow]

19th September 2020 – While the weather was still good, I mounted two solar panels. I will use them to charge my living battery. Just mounting them and bolt them to a metal bar took me two hours. I still need to make proper supports, but I don’t know yet how I will make them.

In the afternoon, I put insulation and t&g in the ceiling of the wheelhouse. I really need to be careful with the weight at the back. In the evening I dropped two sheets of plywood and I’m lowering quickly at the back.

[Show slideshow]

17th September 2020 – Some more painting was done. I put a coat of brown around the wheelhouse and the decks are black again. It is starting to look good and that is what is important for the neigbourhood apparently…

[Show slideshow]

16th September 2020 – I finished the primer on the wheelhouse. I removed the old paint at the back and gave everything a coat of primer, some parts a second one.

16th September 2020 – Just some pictures of the Stern in the early morning in the fog…

15th September 2020 – I have some spare fuses left at Tordino. Went to pick them up before heading back to the Stern. I mounted the fusebox but that’s where it stopped. I did some research on where to put the antennas on deck and I continued looking for windows. It is so hard to find cheap second hand windows…

14th September 2020 – Today several small jobs were done like mounting an outside socket for the shore power, installing a temporary door, building the wooden frame for the wheelhouse and a lot of cleaning. I found it so important to start cleaning the inside of the wheelhouse.

I want to avoid that dust is coming into the engine room compartment. And yes the engine was still running after all we did the last week. I cleaned the mooring, removing Tomorrow back to work. I’m tired but it was a good holiday, doing a lot of work in a short period.

13th September 2020 – I finished the welding of the border around the wheelhouse, painted it and the ceiling. I have one window that fits for the back of the wheelhouse. It took me two hours to mount it. It will not be an easy job for mounting the other windows.

[Show slideshow]

12th September 2020 -I started by drilling wholes in the ribs and mounting wood. I want the wheelhouse to be more solid before I continue welding.

Some welding had to be done like small forgotten parts, ribs and a whole in the ceiling. Once this was done, the wheelhouse was painted in primer. Looks better for the neighbourhood. Some people were already looking strange at my project and some other neighbours complaining of giving critics.

Not that I bother to much, but I don’t want to provoke….

[Show slideshow]

11th September 2020 – Another day of mounting metal and welding. One more sheet had to be put in position and a part of the strip around the roof.  Some of the welding was tricky since wood was nearby and I could not remove it.

In the evening, I closed a leak in the deck. The ship should be dry now if it rains.

[Show slideshow]

10th September 2020 – We redid the roof. It was not looking good at all. Once the roof was looking better, it was time to continue with the sides.

[Show slideshow]

9th September  2020 – A big day today, I started at five in the morning removing the old wheelhouse. The first few bits came off easily. Once I was at the front, it became more difficult.

[Show slideshow]

8th September 2020 – I started removing the back part of the wheelhouse, welding a platform, and the first part of the shield of the wheelhouse. It took me some time to drag the sheets aboard the ship. I don’t want to remove the cover yet since I have no idea of the weather. It is so unreliable at the moment. 

[Show slideshow]

6th September 2020 – I started late today, had a good sleep first. The toilet is the next room I want to work on. I changed the support for the toilet and continued with t&g.

In the afternoon, we moved the Stern behind the Watergeus for welding. A lot needs to be done, so it was easier moving her behind me where the mooring is free at the moment.  I had no time of taking pictures since we were with three and all needed both our hands.