31th August 2016 – We arrived at 9 o’clock in the morning, nearly 29 hours after we left Ostend. It was a great journey with a friendly crew.
Month: August 2016
30th August 2016 – In August a dream came through for me. I was able to join and help on a crossing with a Dutch barge from Belgium to London. It was a pleasant experience and I hope to do it again. I made new friends and discovered a different look at barges and how people use them. Many thanks to my English friends!
At 3 o’clock this morning, we left Ostend, heading to London. It was a nice journey with no issues. We arrived the next day, 29 hours later in London.
29th August 2016 – We had to move the barge back to Ostend. It was a short journey with good weather. One of my neighbours joined for the journey.
27th August 2016 – The last bit of the journey. We left the port of Ostend and headed for Bruges.
26th August 2016 – We left Bruinisse in the early morning and head to the Veerse Meer. From there we continued to Middelburg, where we added some more fuel. From Middelburg to Vlissingen was a nightmare. We had to wait 20 minutes before they would open a bridge. There were five bridges, so we lost a lot of time!
Once in Vlissingen, we passed the lock and went over sea to Ostend. Arrived in Ostend, we had a beer and a good meal! A successfully journey. If we didn’t had to wait for the bridges in Middelburg, we could have been in Bruges….
22nd August 2016 – I wanted to start building the frame in the wheelhouse, when my neighbour arrived with his small boat. I jumped aboard and went for a drive.
20th Augustus 2016 – The handle is a bit hard to move. I welded a strong support to bolt the steering system. It now works nicely and it looks good. A wheel, a forward and reverse handle. What else do you need for a journey? Standing in the wheelhouse now makes it possible to start dreaming.
20th August 2016 – I just went to Antwerp with a friend, driving around, looking for boats, wrecks, projects, etc… Had a few beers in some local bars.
19th August 2016 – I knew it would become a busy day since I had to go Antwerp. There was one job I wanted to do, cutting a hole in the engine room to have access to the wheelhouse. When I broke down the previous wheelhouse, the panel for the engine room wasn’t disconnected. it was lowered in the engine room and now I had put it back. So I made hole big enough to fit it through. I also pushed the forward/reverse handle through that hole.
17th August 2016 – I painted the boeisel around my ship. Eleven meters on each side, looks simple and easy. I didn’t want to bend over the side, so I used a small boat to do the paint job. People would describe it as a nice and warm day. I was sitting in a black boat with the sun shining on me. I was boiling. The little wind helped a bit, but I was cooked like a lobster.
16th August 2016 – The roof and sides needed a second coat of paint. I want the metal to be protected and looking good for a longer period. The green is not exactly as expected. it is to flashy and did hurt my eyes while painting. It should have been a more traditional colour.
In the evening, I painted the boeisel on one side. Halfway, I had to stop since hanging over the side with paint isn’t that great!
16th August 2016 – The wheelhouse got a new coat of yellow paint. She will need a second one. The lifeboat got her second coat of brown and the boxes for the navigation lights were also repainted.
15th august 2016 – Just painting brown and green…
15th August 2016 – The old lifeboat was finally painted after all those years. I gave her a brown color. This looks more traditional and I had some brown paint left from the ‘Op Hoop van Zegen’ I just painted.
10th August 2016 – Drilled some holes in the metal frame of the wheelhouse. I will bolt a wooden frame and put insulation in the wheelhouse. I want her to look as authentic as possible.