3rd June 2019 – I had a quick view on the Arma and the progress of the paintwork. Looking good!
Category: MS Arma
15th April 2019 – I had a quick look at the Arma. A team of several people are working on the ship, removing old paint.
29th March 2019 – Most of the neighbours have a small boat for moving around in summertime. I used to have so many of those, but always gave them away or used them for painting my boat. There was an old Pioner 235 boat left on the Arma. Green by mold and dirt, but in a good condition. With three people we put it on the Watergeus, ready for cleaning and using this summer!
19th February 2019 – The Arma was launched on Monday. When we arrived, the yard was still working aboard getting everything done.
13th February 2019 –I was surprised to see how much progress was made. The hull was painted, the windows mounted at the front on deck and the engine room was closed. Water tanks were in position and the people of the yard were doing the fittings. A nice project for its purpose.
4th January 2019 – While going to the yard as an unannounced visit, they were working hard craning out the bowthruster on the Arma. The front space and the engine room are now one big room, it starts to look good. While cutting out the bowthruster, they noticed the bottom of the engine room was doubled. They now have to weld both metal plates together before inserting a new one where the hole is. Another delay?
25th December 2018 – I had a look at the Arma on the yard. Nearly no progress was made….
12th December 2018 – Just had another look at the Arma on the yard. The engines are still in place, but a hole has been made in the side to get them out.
23rd November 2018 – While I was in Ghent, I called a friend to help me picking up the old anchor winch of the Arma. It will become a part of my museum.
In the evening I finished two more Ikea cabinets for the exhibition space.
7th November 2018 – The surveyor arrived as they started cleaning the hull. So no survey was done today. We walked around the ship. I had some arguments with the surveyor. The Arma is a houseboat, where the engines will be removed. Every five years, they tow her to the yard. Nevertheless he was demanding certain strengths to be put in the ship.
Later that day, some friends arrived with their houseboat, accompanied with two small tugs. It was a group of people from the local Scouting group. I’ve rarely seen such a professional way of handling. They moored the ship nicely at the yard without hitting anything or making any damage. A nice job!
5th November 2018 – While I had to wait till tomorrow to be back in the water, they put my neighbour, the lovely steilsteven, in the water. In between taking pictures I continued putting another coat of tar on the Watergeus.
In the afternoon the people of the yard picked up the Arma with a tug. It took them around one hour to get the ship to the slipway and another hour to pull her out of the water. Everything went very slowly since it is a heavy ship.
12th October 2018 – At 6 o’clock in the evening I got a phone call that the tugboat would arrive in half an hour. I was still aboard the Tordino, so I drove to Bruges. I was just in time to climb aboard, undo the ropes and see how the tug pulled us off as we left the mooring.
The rudders were not straight and there was no option in turning them since the hydraulic and electric system were dead. After removing the hydraulic pressure by cutting the pipes, we managed to move the rudders with a wooden beam.
Once Bruges was behind us, we went aboard the tug for the rest of the journey. Rob, the skipper, gave us some food and seven hours later,we arrived at the yard.
A nice journey, just enough time to drive to Bruges, pick up my car and return to Tordino.
11th October 2018 – There is a chance the Arma will go to the yard tomorrow. I still had to tighten the shaft as it will be towed. The people working on the Arma took most expensive objects in safety and removed the railing around the ship and the gangways. Saved me a lot of time!
23rd October 2017 – We had to move the Arma. She was moored where a dredging company had to work. The company had a strong pusher and together with the bowtruster of the Arma, we managed to get to the other side. Halfway the manoeuvre, the bow DAF engine died and we had to rely on the pusher.
20th October 2010 – The winter is coming. Last night it was minus 2°C so I went to the Arma to fill the engines up with anti freeze.
When I was back aboard I made a solid frame for a bed in the back accommodation of the Watergeus. At least it was warm in my ship.