18th August 2018 – In the morning I went to an auction on maritime objects. I bought some nice pieces for Museumschip Tordino and for the Watergeus. I had been looking for some time to get myself a proper ship’s bell.
After I moved paintings and objects from the Watergeus to my museum, my living space started looking empty, soulless. I found a few nice decorative items I will now mount.
I spent painting a part of the gangway in the afternoon. The outside needs to be looking good as well!
17th August 2018 – So much grinding todo….
16th August 2018 – The generator was removed today. At least some more space on the front deck. It took us three people to get it of the boat.
You need to put the dimensions of your ship and the Certificate number on both sides of the ship. I made some wooden name signs and welded a bracket today.
I grinded some rust of the deck in the evening.
15th August 2018 – Another item on my list of upgrading the Watergeus is mounting a porthole in the engine room door. This is something I wanted to do for years.
14th August 2018 – Years ago, I welded a metal box on the front deck for a generator. I’ve never used it and now it is time to remove it along with several other objects. The old petrol engine for the anchor winch, a support for a bench vise and some old brackets were also removed. I now have some space on deck and it looks more like when she was a commercial barge!
26th July 2018 – In between talking with the police and fire brigade or the neighbours, I tried filling up my water tanks and those of my neighbour.
There was a massive oil spill on the Canal. Civil services were still cleaning around 2 o’clock at night. We have no idea where it was coming from.
25th July 2018 – After more then a year, I finally cut the last metal sheet for the engine room bulkhead. It was lowered in the hold, but mounting will be for another day. To hot to work!
7th April 2018 – After being away for one month, Watergeus needed some attention. I cleaned the remaining hatches with a high pressure cleaner. The other half was done somewhere last year. Gangways were cleaned and watertanks refilled.
In the late afternoon, I went with two neighbours on our small boat for a trip along the other boats and small canals. The start of the season!
21st February 2018 – I mounted my two VHF antennas on the roof of the wheelhouse. This was one of the last things on my list. Now I just need to close a bulkhead and make my anchor winch work again!
22nd January 2018 – Navigation lights are running, so is the blue board, the horn, the radio’s and much more! My 12v circuit is working. It feels good to know that another thing on my list is done. Next thing is to clean up the engine room and get the engine running.
12th January 2018 – All the wires in the wheelhouse had to be connected to three switch panels. Maybe a mistake I made, I should have counted how many instruments I had because three panels aren’t really enough. It took us several hours to get it all connected. Testing will be for another moment.
10th January 2018 – Just unloaded three fuel drums to put clean fuel in, while I can clean my tank for the journey in May. I removed some rubbish from the engine room, it starts to look clean.
Once the bulkhead is finished, I can do some updates on the paintwork.
9th January 2018 – When I came back from Tordino, I drilled two more holes through the wheelhouse to put some cables into the engine room. It is a very busy week and I wouldn’t know any other moment where I could do it. On Friday, we start connecting the cables to the batteries.
I spent most of the day in the wheelhouse. A few more cables had to be pulled through the floor. I mounted a second life ring, my life jackets and ropes around the other life rings. Some cleaning was done and now it is again possible to walk in the wheelhouse!
1st January 2018 – Last night, there was a New Year’s Eve Party aboard the Watergeus. Several friends came. It was the first party in over a year on this ship. I had been so busy the last year, I nearly forgot to party.
When we walked out the ship, water was extremely high. I’ve know it high, but this was exceptional!
