Category: MS Watergeus - page 36

Watergeus – Electricity in office space

22nd September 2008 – Today we started placing the electricity. Not as quick as I thought, but by the end of the day we made some progress.

We wasted most time in going to the shop, making holes for the switches and sockets, figuring out how to put the cables behind the walls without removing the panels, etc… In the end we just removed the panels again.

By the end of they day most of the electricity has been finished in the office space.

Watergeus – Old navigation lights

20th September 2008 – Today I went to a second hand market in Ghent. I didn’t find anything suitable or affordable for my ship. In the evening I went looking for some old navigation lights aboard a spits barge. The old skipper sells a lot of stuff. So I left the ship with two bronze navigation lights and two bronze search lights.

Watergeus – Buying t&g

18th September 2008 – Went looking for some more decorative wood. Again a lot of money has gone into a small amount of stuff.

While making a hole for the cables through the front cabin, I heard some water running, quicker and quicker. My first thought was one of the plastic tanks below was leaking, so I continued making the hole. Since it didn’t stop and I couldn’t see any thing I went looking for a pocket light. I had stored all my stuff at the entrance of the forepeak, so I took me a few minutes to get to it. When I started looking around, I saw a lot of water coming from a rivet. When I looked closer, the water came from above the rivet, on the watertight compartment. A bit higher was an old abandoned water tank, I presumed was empty. It was leaking a lot. I took a bucket, to hold underneath it, but it quickly filled.

Since I have the ship I have always known water in the bilges, not realizing the cause. Now I did. By the end of the evening the tank was empty, and so were my bilges. I continued hovering till it was dry, filling over 30 buckets!

So again, the support for the cables isn’t finished. Tomorrow is the last day, so I have to be sure it is finished.

I also ordered my new batteries and charger. This time I’ll go for something decent.

Watergeus – Open Monumentendag

14th September 2008 – Today, the Watergeus was open the whole day. In total, including yesterday, 364 people visited the ship. Where I had intention of making groups of five people, I twice 10 people aboard, 10 in the back accommodation and the in the hold. My father stopped them at the entrance of the ship, while I was explaining the ship to a group. The other group could walk freely in and around the ship.

By the end of the day, not the ship but I was a wreck! I don’t think I’ll do much the coming week!

Watergeus – Open Monumentendag

13th September 2008 – 63 people visited the ship in the afternoon, not bad for a simple partly converted house boat! Double the number of people who had subscribed. I was glad to tell my story several times, but by the end of the evening I couldn’t speak anymore, having trouble with my voice.

Watergeus – Preparing for Open Monumentendag

12th September 2008 – Mainly prepared the ship for Open Monumentendag tomorrow and Sunday. I emptied the whole back accommodation, just leaving an old laptop with some pictures and a lot of old stuff. It really looks old now. I will be sleeping in the hold for two days.

In the evening we lowered the mast and put some new flags. Since the winch is broken, we have to lower it by hand, not an easy job. Let’s hope the flags will last a year, like the others did…

Watergeus – Painting

8th September 2008 – During the day my mother painted a second coat of paint on the den, front cabin, entrance to the hold and tabernakels.

In the evening I went searching for wood for the sides of the sleeping room and office space. I bought laminate for the sleeping room as well.

Later that evening, I put the metal net against the side for the insulation and protected the wood with carboline. The last piece of framework is now also protected against wood worm. Later that evening some insulation was placed as well…

Watergeus – Painting the den

4th September 2008 – During the day my parents painted the den on my ship. I bought the paint over a year ago, but since so many things happened around the den I was never able to paint it. Items such as placing extra portholes, welding a roof, replacing windows, fixing the hatches caused serious delays in painting the den.