7th January 2019 – We had our annual New Year’s drink with the boat people. The weather wasn’t right, and a lot of people didn’t show up. Nevertheless, we kept it going till midnight.
6th January 2018 – We went to Ghent to measure the Hornblower and see how to solve a few issues.
5th January 2019 – I just did a few small jobs like mounting the ships bell, drilling the holes for the namesigns on the bow and continued on the new bedroom.
4th January 2019 – While going to the yard as an unannounced visit, they were working hard craning out the bowthruster on the Arma. The front space and the engine room are now one big room, it starts to look good. While cutting out the bowthruster, they noticed the bottom of the engine room was doubled. They now have to weld both metal plates together before inserting a new one where the hole is. Another delay?
3rd Janaury 2019 – My neighbour moved the ship forward. He used new ropes and cleaned the quay. Everything looks better now. The officials will be happy, or at least that is what I hope.
1st January 2019 – During this journey, I’m staying on a Luxe motor at Tower Bridge mooring. There are around 30 barges on that mooring, most of them ships built in Holland. There are a few rare and very nice examples of older ship types that we barely see in Holland anymore.
31st December 2018 – We visited Canary Wharf, the docks around it and the Dockland Museum. I recommend you to visit this museum if you are in London. Count on a few hours to visit the building with all the levels. I only went for the second floor.
30th December 2019 – Thanks to a friend, I was able to visit the Hermitage moorings in London. A small set of nice vessels are moored near Tower Bridge. Again, most of them were Dutch barges with a few exceptions. When walking around, it was like walking in a Dutch historical harbour.
29th December 2018 – I arrived earlyy in the morning a Gravesend. A friend has his barge in a Marina together with several other ships. Most of them are Dutch barges. In the corner of the dock was a bigger ship, the Albatros. It used to be a Luxe Motor in her early days. She was later converted for fishing at sea and became a houseboat through my friend Andy in London. After he passed away, I lost track on most of his ships.
25th December 2018 – I had a look at the Arma on the yard. Nearly no progress was made….
22nd December 2018 – Together wit my father we cut some wood for the frame in the bedroom. A quick job with the two of us.
17th December 2018 – Another evening working in the Library aboard Tordino. I’ve added around 30 magazines and 20 books to the inventory. The magazines were put into boxes, labeled with date and name. It is a lot of work and many more hours will follow.
16th December 2018 – After emptying the storage room, I started insulating the roof of the new bedroom. I cut some t&g and started mounting it. Half of the ceiling is done.
16th December 2018 – I hadn’t started the engines since the beginning of September. The bowthruster and the generator started straight away. The main engine didn’t. Batteries are broken and need to be replaced. Another cost to add…
13th December 2018 – My neighbour and I just bought the Hornblower back from the previous owner. He wanted to scrap the vessel since he didn’t get a mooring for the ship.
We met at 7 o’clock in the evening, had a look around and made a deal. She will need a big cleanup, a rebuilt of the wheelhouse and a lot of paint.
