22nd November 2020 – Still exhausted from yesterday, I decided to do at least something. I removed the green cover from starboard side and gave the windows a second coat of oil on the inside. Whily my brush was used anyway, I gave a second coat on the dashboard and the step in front of the steering wheel.
20th November 2020 – The windows arrived…
19th November 2020 – Time for some cleaning in the living room and wheelhouse. Taking away extension cables, tools, pieces of wood and sawdust. It doesn’t only look better, it makes more space and this is what we need tomorrow!
18th October 2020 – The cupboards are nearly finished now, so is the dashboard of the wheelhouse. Can’t wait to have my windows on Friday so I can finish the bedroom and living room.
17th November 2020 – Having some trouble with my computers, I only had limited time left to do something. Paintwork on the outside was looking surprisingly well after the rain we had. I added some more t&g in the corners and where it was missing. Slowly getting there. Can’t wait to have my windows delivered on Friday.
16th November 2020 – I’ve just painted the outside of the wheelhouse, the living and bedroom. While I could still ‘open’ the windows, I wanted to paint as much as possible.
15th November 2020 – I was not happy with the join between the living room and wheelhouse. Also I wanted to reuse the original hatch. On the other hand cables were running through both sides of the wheelhouse and taking a lot of space. I also want to have full access to the dashboard in case I need to add extra cables. What I had done yesterday was not a success.
The entrance to the living room is a bit smaller now but I think I will manage that. After hitting my head enough times, I’ll get used to it!
I experimented with oil on t&g for the dashboard in the wheelhouse. Slowly I’m getting there….
Late in the evening, I gave the kitchen doors a second coat of oil. I will have to go for a darker oil to match the door of the living room.
14th November 2020 – Mainly worked on the electricity, sorting out the cables and connecting them to the right fusebox. In the afternoon, I finally got some hope the cabling will become ok. It is only a few months ago I put in the wires but by changing the location of the fusebox and building the new wheelhouse, I lost control….
I added some new sockets, like for the coffee machine and the battery charger. I continued removing the old wires and started the engine. It is still running, but the ventilation system isn’t. So I cut away to many cables…
In the evening, I tried building the join between the living room, dashboard and wheelhouse. I tried several things, not sure yet what I will take as a final solution.
12th November 2020 – If I continue working like this, electricity would have become a nightmare. I drilled through two cables already, had to break open several corners to get to cables. Not how I want to work. So I decided to do the cabling first. At the end, I managed to get five cables through the dashboard paneling: cabin lights, navigations lights (only two), VHF, horn and the depth meter.
11th November 2020 – I’m building a box to have an easy access to the batteries and to put my feet on when steering from the skipper’s chair.
11th November 2020 – Today we cleaned the decks of Tordino, worked in the museum hanging out new objects, adding more labels and lowering an one cylinder Bernard engine.
9th November 2020 – Yesterday I was cruising on the water with and old boat, today I’m working on my own little yacht Stern, sleeping in my houseboat and thinking about how to paint my museumship. This is pretty much what I’m doing lately. Working on my own ships or talking to friends and making even more plans. I’m glad to have a good hobby, certainly in periods like this where everyone is a bit more down!
The only bit I am missing are those maritime events in Holland…
8th November 2020 – I quickly repainted the red wall in the kitchen and the back metal part of the wheelhouse. It was already late in the evening but the air and metal were dry.
8th November 2020 – A beautiful day, nice weather, no wind and not to cold. A perfect day for a trip. After some hasle with batteries, the engine started and we went of from Oudenburg to Nieuwpoort to Diksmuide and back. I had never done the trip from Nieuwpoort to Diksmuide. Marvelous!
