23rd November 2020 – I always believe in the quote time is money. I have a limited time and maintaining three vessels, working on several project and having a fulltime job. I’ve noticed over the last couple of months, I’m always working in periods of several weeks. A few weeks on Tordino, a few weeks on the Stern. Just a thought…
23rd November 2020 – Early in the morning, I cleaned the living room. the oil on the windows was still wet so I couldn’t start cutting the wood. After lunch time I covered the windows with plastic foil, painted the wooden frame on portside. Inside, I finished the skylight and did some more t&g.
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.
21st November 2020 – We went with the three of us to Franker to have a meeting and to do some work. The meeting took some time but we got there in the end. Once in the hall where the vessel is being converted we had the unpleasant discovery that the ship is not as high and as wide as we believed so. We made new plans and by changing the position of the bulkhead, and adding the watertank to the front, we can keep the same living space.
Most of the afternoon was gone by removing tar from the side of the ship while one of us was scraping the bilges. A whole barrel of dirt came out. I hoped to discover some older marks, but instead I found a rotten spot and a few old old scratches from hitting something. It is so interested to be so close to to a ship, you start feeling her history. I removed some paint from the bow to find out the old colours that were used.
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.
17th November 2020 – Working on a ship is more then just doing the technical planning. There needs to be done a lot on the mooring as well. There is no shore power. I’m using cheap extension cables for my yacht, but once there is proper houseboat, wee need enough power to run the ship.
Secondly, I contacted the Belgian survey company. It is only possible in Belgium or Germany to get a CVO survey done on an old ship…
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.
16th November 2020 – Sadly enough, I could not be with the transport. I have seen it before years ago with the Frantsis… The truck was late and transport took much more time than expected.
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.
15th November 2020 – We made the Pettersson ready for transport. Putting covers, rope and foil around her to protect this beautiful ship during transport. It is not the fact it is built in wood, but the shape that makes her look beautiful.
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 – We had another meeting with the architect to make a final plan and yes we did. How simple it looks, I would never have come to certain ideas and certainly not so quickly.