Month: January 2007

Watergeus – Painting and messing around

27th January 2007 – Painting in a t-shirt with wed feet (boat was leaking) is not recommended in January! I was ill, something I’m certainly going to have trouble with in the next couple of days! Besides a bit of painting and disconnecting my neighbours Lister engine, not much was done today!

Watergeus – Painting

26th January 2007 – When arriving, all holes were made in the den for the windows. They only needed to be a bit more enlarged to fit the windows in, but the clarity I’ll get with those windows will be much more then with those eleven portholes!

The outside of the back accommodation and wheelhouse were repainted today, so she is starting too look nicer. I tried to paint the hull with tar, but because of the bad weather, my little boat wasn’t stable and when it started raining, I had to quit completely.

In the late afternoon, my engine ran for an hour. I had new diesel, so I tried the engine out on full speed in reverse and forward. She is still going strong!

Watergeus – Diesel tank

21st January 2007 – Today, an extra diesel tank was placed aboard my boat. I sold my spare Lister engine and the anchor from the back was moved forward.

The spare tank will be used for the heater in the living room (has to be build). It is now still the moment to put everything aboard the boat. Once in Bruges, there is no crane barge in the area.

Watergeus – Locating the Windows

20th January 2007 – Last week, I ordered some rubber to put on the den to protect the hatches. I will put it on just before leaving Bruges when all welding works are finished.

Besides cleaning the bilges, the technical room was repainted in a lighter colour. Last year I painted it black, not knowing what intentions I had with that room. The welder continued putting on the other windows.

In the afternoon, we drawed the lines for the six windows, mentioned in December 2006. those six windows are slightly curved and much more difficult to place. It is hard to miss with a porthole, but those windows, if one is wrong, you’ll notice straight away.

This job took us over three hours. Trying from the inside and from the outside. In the end, we worked from the eye and didn’t measure anymore. If it looks right for the eye then it was good. There is nothing straight on a boat, so what to use as a fixed point…

Watergeus – Painting the anchor

19th January 2007 – This afternoon I arrived in Sluiskil. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it earlier. There was indeed no damage to my ship. The neighbour had lost his name sign on the bow and some paint. Instead he is now having some blue fishing boat paint…

While I was there, I started working, painting my anchor, which I was planning to move very soon to the front.

Watergeus – Storm

18th January 2007 – There was a big storm in Europe, especially in Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. I was at home, so I could only hope that my hatches would hold it. My neighbour called late in the evening to let me know that the trawler in front of us broke free and had hit our vessels. There wasn’t much damage.

 

Watergeus – Cleaning the bilges

13th January 2007 – Today, I mainly cleaned the bilges.

In the afternoon, I cleaned my deck and upper structure with a high pressure cleaner. A lot of the rust and graining dust came of, including the paint on the deck. This wasn’t such a big problem, since everything needs to be painted again before leaving to my mooring in Bruges.

The evening, I connected some cables to the generator. Earlier that day,Andy started the generator for me. He managed to do it without start pilot. Now the generator is ready for the trip later next month. In case something badly happens, the pump can now be connected in no time. Also during the trip, the battery charger stays on.

Watergeus – Electricity

12th January 2007 – Earlier this week, the welder continued making holes and placing the windows. It is a very precise and time consuming job. As can be seen on the following picture, on one side, the four portholes are already in place.

When both sides are finished, a nice coat of paint will make it look much nicer. A green deck, dark red den and white portholes.

Today, the lights in the mast were connected to the control panel in the wheelhouse. All the lights are now working. A new 24v cable had to be placed from the beginning to the end of the ship.

I had to drill some holes in the ribs to place the cable temporarily. The cable will be put in a tube when the cargo hold will be converted. During the drilling exercise, I lost three drills. So, I was convinced of the quality and thickness of the ribs… (or it were cheap drills).

Later in the afternoon, I started cleaning the bilges, removing the water from the conversion works, where there was no roof. So, most of the bilges at the back are dry.