30th April 2021 – I went shopping for wood and t&g. Aboard the Watergeus I picked up a small door. This door has been used aboard the Escapade, was later installed in the Hornblower and will now be used aboard Tordino.
In the evening I bolted the hooks on the distance keepers.
28th April 2021 – I ran out of t&g, so I started filling the holes of the nails with filler. My mother continued painting the black strip and in the evening I did some touching up of the hull with the remaining paint.
26th April 2021 – The next problem is the old chimney with a kind of insulation you prefer not have. Taking it away is to dangerous so I made a box around it.
24th April 2021 – I mainly worked on the entrance. In the early morning we mounted the brackets for the distance keepers.
21st April 2021 -While my mother did some painting, I continued on the entrance. We started late in the evening. The first picture was taken early in the morning.
20th April 2021 – The owner wanted me to move the ship to Ghent. I asked a friend to join so I was sure I had somebody reliable on the front deck. When we left, I nearly hit the lock but could quickly turn around. The ship was so hard to steer and it didn’t listen at all. If you went to slowly it didn’t listen at all. Thankfully it had a reliable bowthruster that helped me a lot. We were not even out of Bruges of the engine was more or less a steam engine and in Beernem the engine stopped working. It started again and slowly we continued the journey but had to abandon the trip at the marina in Beernem. We are halfway….
My battery of the phone died in between, so I could only take a few pictures from the beginning of the journey…
19th April 2021 – I just finished the insulation in the upper part of the new entrance and finished two walls with t&g.
18th April 2021 – I continued with the entrance, cutting wood and building a frame. At the end of the evening I added some insulation and the power cables for the lights.
17th April 2021 – I mounted a porthole in the new entrance. I have never had so many issues making the hole. Such a tick and hard metal… It took me more then two hours, but I’m happy I could finish the job! Tomorrow some wood work!
16th April 2021 – In between interviews and people chatting to me I managed to finish the welding of the steps for Tordino. I had to make the entrance bigger as well. The next big thing is now building the interior with insulation and old panels from an interior of a spits barge.
While working, I noticed the old restaurant in Diksmuide was towed to the yard.
15th April 2021 – I had my first night in Oudenburg. Slept well, was so tired I didn’t hear of feel much. It became windy again today.
The stairs are mounted for the new entrance. They need proper welding, a job that I will do tomorrow. I had an interview with the local TV and I had to move the little yacht behind me. If it wasn’t for those, I might had finished my steps. Anyway, I was very pleased with the local press!
14th April 2021 – I slept aboard Tordino with the generator running charging the batteries. When I woke up, it was cold. I started the heather and half an hour later the main engine. The skipper from next door came, so did a friend from Oudenburg and my regular skipper for Tordino. We left and had a nice journey. All the bridges and the lock opened straight away. I was happy. We even fit under the old railway bridge which is normally limited to 5 meters 20, while Tordino is 10cm higher.
There was a small issue with Stalhille bridge which had a technical issue. Once it was solved we continued our journey and made it safely to the temporary mooring.
(c) Peter Velle
(c) Peter Velle
Once the concrete has dried out I can use the new mooring posts and move my ship around 300 meters forward.
13th April 2021 – We continued removing old paint and painting the decks. I stopped working late in the evening. All decks are now painted with the exception of the part on front of my back accommodation door.
When the temperature started to drop, I started the generator. It just started. I will keep it running for the night.
12th April 2021 – I started building the new stair. Each leg is around 100kgs and it took me three hours to position the first one and 2 hours for the second one. I couldn’t use a grainder for the damage of the sparks. I started using a saw. By the end of the evening, I was happy with the result but exhausted.
11th April 2021 – I started by running the bowthruster and generator. Then I sorted out the rope work so every rope is on a single bollard. Being moored for two years, having had a lot of loaded barges alongside, I often added a few ropes or just redid them.
It was to windy to work outside, so I cut the wall between the old and new entrance. I tried moving the supports for the stairs, but they are to heavy for me to lift.
