9th February 2016 – I started building the floor of the kitchen. A slow progress. I need to cut every plank so I can use the old hatches for inspection. I just know the kitchen area is the worst and I probably have to redo the plating in this area when I go to the yard. It is still leaking underneath. I have control over the situation and with the hatches, I can keep it like this!
Therefore I used a thicker t&g for the floor. Once I’m back from the yard, I will look for a quality floor.
4th February 2016 – Planning, this is the word at the moment. I’m not able to do much. I ‘ve painted the kitchen together with my mother. She helped me on the positions I couldn’t get to at the moment.
24th January 2016 – What else can somebody do who can’t lift a toolbox? Just go shopping. I went to Ikea with my friends. I bought my kitchen. They loaded it in a truck and unloaded it aboard.
Sometimes not being able to do something isn’t that bad anyway…
2nd January 2016 – The Waterway organisation put up a sign near the ‘Op Hoop van Zegen’. Only moorings for commercial service was mentioned. A friend with a small ship came to move the ship. Maybe, what we used as a tug was to small and light. My ship has a weight of 35 tons. We managed to move her without hitting any other ship. It was sometimes close, but only a minor damaged to my rudder was the result of a near collision.
18th January 2016 – I ran out of shelves. A friend came with some new shelves and mounted them for me. In one week, I realized, I hadn’t done much, but it also came to mind that I’m keeping a lot of stuff on my ship.
Will I ever need all this equipment and parts?
16th January 2016 – Time to make a list of what needs to be done and what has been done. The perfect time to take some pictures:
13th January 2016 – Being able to do nothing is very annoying. Last month I build some shelves, so I started sorting out my small tools and parts. I bought some boxes and a label machine. I started putting a label on every box. It is a major job, but it is the only job I can handle at the moment.
9th January 2016 – My mother came to drop some white dry-out sand on the concrete in the bilges. I hope it will suck the fuel out of the concrete. Once the sand becomes yellow I will replace it with new sand.
8th December 2016 – The whole floor, the metal sheets and some old furniture are gone. The room looks bigger and now I can clean it much easier. The fuel smell is still terrible. I don’t know what to do at this stage. The more stuff I remove the worse the smell becomes. May I should leave the windows more open again.
6th December 2016 – I removed the shower and the last remaining walls/ ceiling from the main area. Sadly enough, the smell of the diesel is worse again after removing the floor last week. I found out there were more puddles and even big ones near the bulkhead in the middle of the ship.
The metal is visible in every corner and now I can start cleaning, removing rust and insulation beads. No matter how carefully I had tried removing the insulation, many sheets did break.
5th December 2015 – Working on a ship is great, having a party even better! There is an old lightship in Bruges, called Mayflower. There was a birthday party of some friends and I had a great time!
4th December 2015 – I had some metal from a neighbour. It will serve to build the new engine room on the Lemmeraak.
3rd December 2015 – Instead of working a few hours ever now and then, I worked a whole day. The bathroom got a second coat of paint. The room was to white and bright for me. It didn’t feel right. Instead of driving to a shop in Bruges, I had a look to see what paint I had left in my workshop. I found some light green, just enough for two coats. One was done today, the other one will be for next weekend.
Painting a few parts green does break the bathroom. It gives a more home feeling. Once the plumbing is done, I’ll put a floor.
30th November 2015 – Working on the Aquarel is with ups and downs at the moment. Maybe I’m spending to much time on the ‘Op Hoop van Zegen’ at the moment, I don’t know… Like Andy once said, it is all about the hours you spend on a ship.
The bathroom is the next logical step in finishing the hold. After the old accommodation and the kitchen area, the bathroom is another big area. This room is not so big in size, but it has several corners and small places. I finished the woodwork for the first part and put another coat of paint on it. I like to have at least three coats of paint in the bathroom. Humidity can severely damage wood.
I’m already looking forward to connect the plumbing and toilet. Then I can at least sleep aboard with some comfort.
29th November 2015 – The engine room is the only area I haven’t touched. Time to clean it out, fill the engine with anti freeze, close all the cranes to the water circuits and to make a list of things that can go. I closed the floor again. The engine is covered in some blankets and looking down, it is clean. At least one area…
I noticed most of the smell is gone in the main hold. There is still some rubbish around, but I’m making progress.