Category: Daily Life around the water - page 28

4th May 2010 – I have mentioned it before and it was an idea that had been playing in my head for the last couple of months: Saving the Ontario from the scrapyard. The Ontario is a 1924 built spits barge from the famous Belgian yard Jos Boel & Zn in Temse. This marvelous ship with a MAN 3 cylinder slow running engine, had been at the scrapyard before.

This vessel later returned to Bruges and had been vandalized ever since. Besides a fire, she was cut loose on several occasions and even made it into the local newspaper a few times…

The last couple of months, I had been in talk with several people to find out more about the history of the boat, yard visits, etc… Since the project would demand me to much time and I didn’t have any budget, A friend of mine bought the ship.

We will put it along the Watergeus for a short period, before it leaves for the Netherlands. At least, she will be saved from the scrapyard and this had been my intention from day one!

7th April 2010 – I visited another barge with some potential for the future. It is more of wreck then a barge. At the other hand it is a historical vessel and certainly not in a better condition then the Watergeus once was.

At this moment there are a lot of barges for sale in Belgium. There are a few reasons why:

• Regulations have changed and are changing constantly
• Every ship needs to have a hull survey (every five year)
• Most ships for sale are expensive to buy and no bank will lent you the money
• There are not many free moorings available at this time.

Therefore I’m still doubting whether I will take such a project or not. Buying the barge may be cheap, converting it will cost me a fortune.

21st March 2010 – With a big hangover, we had to clean the Oceana we rented out for the party. It was a hard job.

In the afternoon I visited a few barges and had a nice chat.

20th March 2010 – We had our annual meeting with the houseboat people of Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and a few other cities.

Besides the meal, party and performance of the band there was also an official part. Since today I’m the chairman of the Vlaamse Woonschepen.

14th February 2010 – The canal was closing with ice again. Last year it was cold, but only a short period. Now it is nearly every two weeks so cold. A few pictures…

3rd February 2010 – A friend of mine has bought a Luxe Motor. The Albatros was built in 1923 and is still having her original buiting (wooden floor in the hold). More pictures will follow!

1st February 2010 – For those who follow the conversion of the Watergeus, not much is happening at the moment. I have many plans and will start working soon again! I’m looking for pieces at the moment. Once I have everything I need, updates will follow quickly again!

In the meantime I’m still working on my book for (new) barge owners.

4th January 2010 – I hurt my wrist again, sliding on ice and hitting the ground with my bike. A few of my projects will have to wait.

1st January 2010 – Last night the neighbours of the vessels and those living in the street came together to have a drink on the New Year.

With little to no sleep I had to fix a heather problem on another ship in Bruges. It took me more then an hour, since I didn’t knew the system. After a while it was working, so I could return home.

This year, I want to finish the front area on the ship and the deck. A very big job that will involve a lot of work, including welding, cutting, woodwork, etc… But the first job that needed to be done was cleaning. I resumed cleaning the front cabin, a job I had to stop last year.

My chimney was extended with half a meter extra. A small cable is attached to in case the wind blows it off it can be recovered. A better solution was to put two cables so the wind can’t take it off. This was also done today.

16th-17th-18th – 19th December 2009 – I had my annual holiday in England and the Netherlands visiting friends and barges!

19th October 2009 – Friends asked me to visit a ship wit them and give my opinion. It is always hard to give an opinion so I try to do this as minimum as possible.

The positive side on this is that I meet new people and visit new ships. On this ship I found an East German or Russian engine. It was very similar to an American GM, but I had never seen it before.

26th September 2009 – We came back with the neighbours ship today. Getting up early was the hardest part, not feeling well didn’t made it better. When we arrived at the yard they were ready to launch her in the water. Ten minutes later we left heading to Bruges. It was a nice trip, it felt like a small holiday to me…

26th September 2009 – The Upendo was launched from the yard. We sailed her back to Bruges.

18th September 2009 – In the afternoon I painted some more of the living room aboard the Watergeus. In between I helped with the final elements on the Gallery Boat Jana.

The opening was a great success, many people came and everybody seemed satisfied.