10th August 2019 – Last week, we mounted the computer screens, today I finished two computers already and mounted them to the screens. Some more books were added to the inventory.
9th August 2019 – I had a phone call in the morning asking to verify a few numbers found in the hull. After a bit of research I managed to get her historical record. She was built in 1902. The new owner just found the ‘brandmerk’ numbers by cleaning the hull. After all these years, we finally know where and for who she was built. The ship stayed for a longer period than expected in commercial service.
The Hornblower was measured in 1902 and carried the name ‘Borgercompagnie Groningen VV’. Owned by J. Bakker from Borgercompagnie. The ship is 16.04 meters long and 3.42 meters wide. It was built that the yard G. & H. Bodewes in Hoogezand.
4th August 2019 – In the morning I did some cleaning up and in the afternoon I walked around the barge with a tin of brown paint to finish some details.
2nd August 2019 – Weather was not good, so we worked inside the Watergeus. My office space still needs some finishing. I spent most of the day working on that. My mother painted the skylight.
28th July 2019 – I started working in the corridor of the bedroom in the Watergeus. After the fire incident in 2015, I had rebuild the walls but, I never finished the woodwork around the portholes. There are still seven portholes that needs finishing. I managed to do two of them.
26th July 2019 – We went to Alkmaar for a gathering of over 200 historical barges.
24th July 2019 – I couldn’t sleep. Doing nothing is not really my style. With another project on track, I had to do something.
24th July 2019 – I already knew when reading the weather forecast, it would become an issue. High temperatures and living on a boat. So yes, I didn’t sleep at all. There is always the option to sleep outside, but there to many mosquitoes.
20th July 2019 – The anchor winch was painted. Some paintings were mounted and books sorted out in the Library.
19th July 2019 – We started cleaning the anchor winch of the Arma by removing the old paint. The winch started leaking and there was no other option but to empty the oil tank. Most of the tank was filled with water, but at the end, I hoovered out around 120 litres of dirty substance.
It was primered in the afternoon.
15th July 2019 – My mother painted the bedroom, everything got a second coat now. It is looking good. Another item finished on the Watergeus.
13rd July 2019 – We had our annual Kolenkaai Feesten. It was a good edition, better then last year!
12th July 2019 – I got the anchor winch back from the Hornblower. I bought it in 2011, but it never really got in use. Now it is time to restore it to her original condition and put her in the museum.
12th July 2019 – My neighbour is back from the yard. That means that everybody is back for the Kolenkaaifeesten tomorrow.
7th July 2019 – While I was open to the public, I ran the engine for over one hour, including the steering system. It had been a while and no issues came up!
