25th October 2024 – People often ask what I’m doing now I only have one ship left. Well, briefly explained, most of my time goes into the museum project. Besides the ship as museum, we are doing a lot of research. The results from the research are freely available online in our BBS application.
12th October 2024 – The Stern is sold. The new owners will continue where I stopped. Finishing the boat and sailing with her!
I will always remember her as the little boat I spent hour sailing wit her, probably the only boat I ever owned that I used for sailing instead of a static use!
5th August 2024 – Engines started up beautifully, so we set sail to the yard, about 1.2km in reverse. We made it safely and could dry dock quickly.
Once we were lifted out of the water, they pulled us to a spot at the back of the yard where the ship was cleaned with 500bar.
In the evening, the ship was looking good and I started removing the rust from the waterline.
4th August 2024 – The gangway was removed today, so where most of the ropes. We are ready to go tomorrow.
21st July 2024 – I tried working a little on the anchor winch. Somewhere next month I need to go to the yard. I can’t remember it ran when I bought the ship.
20th July 2024 – Time to check the navigation lights. They all need working for the next survey.
5th June 2024 – There have been no updates since March, mainly because I’m working heavily on the BBS project, an inventory of Belgian inland vessels and their skippers.
The other reason is the weather, not really allowing us to do much outside!
27th March 2024 – A window was replaced in the wheelhouse. There used to be a cheap plexiglass , but now it is proper glass. The hinches at the front of the ship, where the emergency exit is, were replaced with more solid versions. A new sign ws mounted to show the entrance of the museum and finally some new museum items were added.
20th March 2024 – The back of the wheelhouse is sanded down. It got a first coat of oil. I also painted several bits and pieces in dark brown.
I tested the equipment like the VHF radios and the AIS.
In the evening I started building the wall with spits barges.
17th November 2024 – I removed another section of seagoing vessels to make room for the inland waterways. The idea to remove all seagoing stuff was already a plan of last year, but sadly enough there was no time.
I also continued scanning postcards and adding them to the online library. Nearly there…
16th March 2024 – A few jobs I should have done while making the entrance back in 2021. This is how I spent my day aboard Tordino. Doing some small repairs and touching up the entrance. The sign was painted and so was our panel.
14th March 2024 – Just welded the two supports for the new entrance sign for the Museum.
13th March 2024 – I made a new entrance sign at my workshop. It will be mounted on top of the entrance of the ship so people know the museum is on the inside.
9th March 2024 – About time to clean the decks of Tordino. It was all green and it became slippery. Also, looking from the other side of the canal, the ship started to look neglected. I’ve been working so hard on our BBS platform and some other (private) projects, I didn’t had any time to maintain Tordino.
9th March 2024 – While cleaning Tordino, I also cleaned the Stern. It was getting about time to give her a good cleanup. She will need some new paint in the very near future!
