Category: MS Aquarel - page 4

3rd December 2015 – Instead of working a few hours ever now and then, I worked a whole day. The bathroom got a second coat of paint. The room was to white and bright for me. It didn’t feel right. Instead of driving to a shop in Bruges, I had a look to see what paint I had left in my workshop. I found some light green, just enough for two coats. One was done today, the other one will be for next weekend.

Painting a few parts green does break the bathroom. It gives a more home feeling. Once the plumbing is done, I’ll put a floor.

30th November 2015 – Working on the Aquarel is with ups and downs at the moment. Maybe I’m spending to much time on the ‘Op Hoop van Zegen’ at the moment, I don’t know… Like Andy once said, it is all about the hours you spend on a ship.

The bathroom is the next logical step in finishing the hold. After the old accommodation and the kitchen area, the bathroom is another big area. This room is not so big in size, but it has several corners and small places. I finished the woodwork for the first part and put another coat of paint on it. I like to have at least three coats of paint in the bathroom. Humidity can severely damage wood.

I’m already looking forward to connect the plumbing and toilet. Then I can at least sleep aboard with some comfort.

14th November 2015 – Just about finished most of the old accommodation. It nearly looks like that many years ago when the carpenters were finished building the interior.

11th November 2015 – A day of doing several smaller jobs. The old accommodation got a second coat of oil and the cabinet were painted with a finishing coat of ivory white. The accommodation is nearly finished and ready for decoration and usage. Once the kitchen and bathroom are finished, I will have some comfort aboard. This means I can work a whole weekend without going home. Looking forward to use the microwave and eat some hot food!

I put a floor in the bar, so it looks similar to the kitchen area. A final floor will be done when I’m back from the yard. I prepared inspection hatches, but you will never know… A good quality floor is expensive and it is a reasonable big area to cover.

The hold is a major area to paint. It will take some time. Therefore, every evening I’m aboard, I try to paint an area. My tins of paint are 0.75l and this is just the right amount to paint something. Secondly, by the time I can paint everything, I need to clean the hold a bit more. There is to much rubbish around. I filled my car with wood and mounted the toilet. Gives me some extra space, but not enough.

7th November 2015 – After another day of removing vanish, it was now time to oil the old accommodation. It looks nice!

I painted the bar. It took me three hours for such a small area.

4th November 2015 – Sadly enough, the floor was still wet and I can’t walk on it. Therefore I started finishing the bar in the main hold. Doing little corners takes a lot of time. By the time it was dark, most of it was finished, but there was no more time to paint the bar.

Mother helped the whole day removing vanish. During a heavy rain period, I noticed the window that was not covered with duck tape and plastic started leaking heavily. So both windows are now taped with plastic. A solution can be simple (and temporarily)…

In the late afternoon, to do something totally different, I welded the brackets for the zwierbomen. I didn’t have the right pieces to connect the ropes and chains. Another item I couldn’t finish.

31st October 2015 – The floor in the kitchen area is badly damaged; it was the first part that was built. I had to cut it open at some point when there was water in the bilges. When I built the kitchen and later removed it, the sheets of wood were damaged again. I’ve now cut the good parts nicely and built some inspection hatches with the right brackets, etc… It looks better, walks better and the area is totally clean now. It doesn’t look wrong anymore.

25th October 2015 – Another day spent on painting. This time I did the kitchen area. By the end of the afternoon I was halfway and totally confused and high by the smell of the paint. I had to stop since I became to dizzy. The room is much brighter now and looks bigger. Every moment I have some time now, I will spent it on painting.

18th October 2015 – My parents came to help me. I have my deadline to finish the hold by the end of December, so it only needs painting. Instead of continuing, I now started with the old accommodation at the back of the ship. Today my parents removed the old vanish while I did the second cupboard.

It takes me an average of two days to make something nice out of every cupboard. The wood behind the paneling is rotten or just gone. Last week, I put a bucket under one of the old windows because I felt some humidity. Today the bucket was full of water. So that window is definitely leaking . It took us some time to discover the leak and yes we found it.

I removed all the silicon and paint. The windows is now covered with a bug plastic sail and some tape. It must dry out before I start repairing it. It might also explain why I had water in the bilges underneath the old accommodation…

14th October 2015 – I still had one load of wood left on the Watergeus, around 20 sheets of multiplex and some t&g. I cut the sheets the right size and transported them to the Aquarel. This are the moments you love your van….

13th October 2015 – I love to have a working toilet aboard the Aquarel. It gives some basic comfort. I have now the original bedroom that is clean and repaired, or should I just call it rebuild.

This evening I did some of the plumbing. I never like these kind of jobs, so to finish the evening, I did the remaining painting in the cupboard in the old accommodation.

11th October 2015 – It has been a long time ago, I worked three days in a row on the ship. The next area to finish is the bathroom. I only had a few hours, but I’m getting there. It is a bit more work then estimated, but nothing I can’t handle at the moment. All the water pipes are now behind the walls, ready to be connected. They are out of the way, which gives me more space to walk around. At the moment, I want to have as much free space as possible since next Wednesday I’m going to load my ship with some fresh wood that is still stored on deck at the Watergeus.

10th October 2015 – I spent a few more hours aboard the Aquarel, painting the brick wall and the wardrobe. I had to stop since I ran out of paint. The brick wall is a shame on the ship. Bricks don’t belong on a ship, but I can’t remove them. At some point, I planned shooting T&G over it, but the heat of diesel heather could cause a fire. Therefore I decided to paint them. While I was painting, I removed the heather and will put an electric one. Less chance of a fire, nice heat, but a bit expensive to run. I had some decoration left from the spits barge I emptied last year. makes it nearly look original.

9th October 2015 – It is a hard period for me. Motivation is one of the things I’m missing at the moment, just like some joy from the work I’m doing at the moment. If I don’t continue working, the project will take to long. I made a deadline, the hold should be ready by May 2016. Sounds acceptable, but when you walk around, there are so many small issues that needs sorting out. I don’t know anymore…

I ripped out the kitchen unit I built last year. I started doubting during the construction of it and a close friend recommended me removing it. It looked wrong, she said. Removing something I have built is a major job. Nails, screws, glue and silicon. It was that strong it survived hits from a sledge hammer. By the time I was finished, it took me another hour to repair the wall behind and make it look like there had never been a kitchen before.

While breaking down the kitchen, my mother painted the hall to get into the hold from the old accommodation. The old accommodation is a separate project, but we decided to clean out one wardrobe. Most of the wood was rotten, so I took it all out. What was left is now protected against woodworm and has been fixated as well. It would be nice to reuse the whole back accommodation one day.

My bedroom got a second coat of paint and some other small jobs were done today.

20th September 2015 – The idea was to work a whole day. Sadly enough, the evening before was a late one and I had a small hang over. I continued with the water system. I have now done the big runs with the pipes. It did take me much more time then expected, certainly when you are on your own. Now the pipes are done, I can concentrate on finishing the last side of the hold putting wood and t&g. Once this is over, most woodwork will be done.