26th August 2010 – As a real tourist, I made a little boat trip in Briaire. Besides the spits barge, also point of depart, and a visit of a lock, there is actually nothing else worth mentioning.
25th August 2010 – I visited a few locks, for one way or another, French locks interest me a lot. Many of them are still turned by hand.
In the afternoon I visited two very interesting museums. One of them was an old Toueur, the other a mine. The Toueur is a tugboat that pulled barges on the Loire. It had a fixed route and used chains to make its way on the river. Only five of them are still in existent in France.
A little further down the road, there was a walenmajol (wooden spits barge). The visit of the mine, even noting nautical related,
23th August 2010 – During the visit of Bourges, I found a small shipyard with one dry dock. Around the yard there are several houseboats and barges that will be converted. A few of them were already shortened as well. Besides a tjalk, there was one specific spits barge that got my attention. If anyone has more information, please contact me.
21st August 2010 – The first day of 7 days in the French Burgoyne region. The area has three rivers that can be used for cruising: Canal Nivernais, Yvonne and the canal Lateral de la Loire.
7th August 2010 – By the end of the month I would like to see the whole deck of the Watergeus painted. It has now taken over 4 months since I started the job. Sadly enough, in the afternoon the rain avoided me from working outside.
Since I’m still working on the back accommodation and front cabin, I knew what to do…
8th August 2010 – In the morning I started removing paint until it was raining. The afternoon was entirely spent in working on the front cabin.
6th August 2010
3rd August 2010 – We went back to Antwerp to visit the spits barge a second time and to finish the deal. A new barge will find it’s way to become a houseboat in Bruges.
2nd August 2010 – The front cabin is nearly ready, once side needs to be finished. Once the wood work is done, I’ll do the fittings for a sink and washing machine. Then the whole room needs painting. I’m still looking for a floor.
1st August 2010 – Once in a while; people ask me to join them to visit a barge they are interested in. Today I went to Antwerp to visit a spits barge. I was amazed to find such a traditional looking barge with so many original fittings. Whether the sale will go through, I don’t know but at least I had a great day and have seen some nice barges!
29th July 2010 – I continued removing pipes and heating elements. I disconnected the fuel from the heater and moved it slightly away. That old rusty thing is just to heavy to be moved by one person. Once everything will be gone, the engine room will look much larger. All those pipes made it look like a very complex system. There is now better access to the propeller and the water tanks. I’ll fit the new boiler and pump for the back accommodation where the fire used to be.
28th July 2010 – It must be done, but it certainly is a boring job: cleaning the deck. Paint was removed between the fore deck and the front accommodation.
26th July 2010 – Since I have my ship I met many wonderful people. There is an English woman waiting for her barge to be brought over to London. Next to her, another English couple is moored with their barge. We all went for a drink!
25th July 2010 – The front accommodation of the Watergeus exists of three areas, a working space with the water tanks, the front cabin and the fore peak. At the moment we are finishing the front cabin in the same style as the living room. The two other areas are for a later period, probably next year.
Nearly a year ago I bought some light armature for the living room, corridor, sleeping room and entrance. I was still using the old bulbs on a socket with a few wires. I finally changed this. A little job but a big difference!
24th July 2010 – Since I have some big plans in the near future with the Watergeus, I want the back accommodation to look as good as possible.
The whole weekend I had the help of my parents, so it was a productive period. While my father and I did the front area, my mother cleaned the back. I had been living for nearly four years in the back accommodation. It was surprising to see how much stuff I had collected and stored in that little area during those years…
