19th July 2008 – We worked mainly with multiplex today, building the sides of the ship. To have it straight, it is not an easy job. It looks simple, but it takes time, a lot of time!
Category: MS Watergeus - page 38
18th July 2008 – The City of Bruges came today to check if my ship is ready for Open Monumentendag, an event on 13th & 14th September 2008.
16th July 2008 – Perfectly on time, the man arrived with the cupboard. I was an hour earlier to prepare stuff I might had forgotten. My father and I opened the skylight and fixed everything since there was some kind of wind.
In the meantime I was at my neighbours who had no power on her ship after her television went out. Her forepeak was filled with 5 cm of water. After some research, she discovered a no longer connected hose was the cause. One end was attached to the tank, while the other side was open. When the tank was filled, water started running out this small piece of hose. Remarkable how this small hose could cause such a disaster. Blankets, hatch cover, thins of paint, everything was in the water. Fortunately she was having a metal buiting, so the water remained in position an did not make it’s way through the bilges.
With four men we put the cupboard in two pieces, in the hold. We put back the hatches and went looking at the power supply of the neighbour’s ship. It was a busy evening, but a lot had been done!
15th July 2008 – Today I painted the roof of the front cabin. It was well damaged and scratched when putting the propeller a few months ago. Since it was a little heavy I had to drop it. Tomorrow they’ll bring a cabinet for the living room I last Saturday bought. Since we have to enter it through the roof, I had to remove all the hatches from around it. This took me over an hour. I found it the perfect time to paint the area around the big roof window. It had never been painted and the metal plates looked relative rusty. I had to clean the metal first, undo some scales of rust and remove all the dust. It looks much better, I even believe without hatches she would look nice. Since the hatches are helping to have less condensation, I’m going to keep them. Also, she looks more original.
Since I have one room finished, I notice I’m sitting more in the hold then in the back accommodation. It really gives me a good feeling!
12th July 2008 – In the morning we finished the little floor underneath the stairs. The following job was to build the roof in the office space. The carpenter recommended to wait, but since I had seen how he built the walls, I started building it myself with my father. It took us all morning, but two third have been done.
In the afternoon we went looking to a piece of furniture, described as a library. In the end it was a big *****. I bought it and it will be delivered on Wednesday. Not many people like oak furniture, but it is nicely build and undamaged, I decided to buy it. The price was good and it will nicely fit into my living room.
I took an old computer from my parents place and installed it in the office space in the hold. It makes the room less empty and more useful. I’ll use it to look up my plans or other important items needed during construction. If I wanted to make something clear, we all had to go to the back accommodation to have a look, now I can show it in the hold.
11th July 2008 – Still with the concert in my head, I started working in the afternoon. We cleaned all the stuff that was stored underneath the stairs. In the last year, it became the place to store stuff that was hardly used or was toxic. A metal box for an engine was placed under the stairs, so nothing could leak in the hold or the bilges. I do need this box for my fire, so we had to take it out by three people!
I bought a second hand fridge for a good price, but it had to be delivered. It is now standing in the hold to keep my drinks cold during the further conversion.
8th July 2008 – Today we moved some furnish from my parents place to my ship. Since a room is finished, I can store my stuff in that room. The more comes over the more space I have at my parents place to store more stuff. Also when building the next room, I can use the furniture to estimate the size of the room.
7th July 2008 – This evening I cleaned the room that was built last weekend. I put a plastic table, two chairs and a Dutch flag as decoration. So it does feel as a room.
I did notice the room was slightly built to big, since I could not reach by hand the end of the table and the wall. when building I believed it was built to small. So you only notice it when finished.
5th July 2008 – The first room is nearly finished. I couldn’t realize it would take a whole day to finish the sides and build a wall with door entrance and door!
Since I’m using second hand doors from an old house we had to figure out which door would be suitable for the office space. All doors look identical, but there is a double door for the living room, and all the other doors have different sizes.
Building the wall was not that hard. We had done it before. The most difficult part was to get the door in position. We had to make the corridor wider for the door to fit. So the bedroom will become smaller and the bed I have might no longer fit.
It took us again some time to get the curve right of the ceiling. But in the end, it was a good day and actually wen can not only see the result, but also start making use of it!
3th July 2008 – The idea of yesterday is still in my head. To realize the plan I started cleaning out the engine room, building shelves and making some more room. I painted the exhaust pipe, removed and old compressor and cleaned the work table. I was surprised to find so many pieces I had never used, mainly from Lister engines. I hope one day to have a Lister again!
By the end of the evening, I was covered in oil and paint, but the result was fine.
2nd July 2008 – I ran my generator, after more then a year. She ran beautifully, but still I will one day put her on rubber pieces to have less noise and vibrations. She is welded to the ribs of the ship and you’ll hear and feel it very good.
It was a hot day, so I could not sleep. I therefore decided to photograph the engine room and make a plan where to put the new batteries, charger and cables. It took me a few hours, but my idea is looking good.
29th June 2008 – Having a short night, and a little headache, I started working at 9 o’clock. Besides ding some more insulation (halve of the hold is done now), I made a floor for the corridor and the entrance. I used the remaining azobe wood. What was still left and seemed useless, I gave away a few ships further. A heavy job, but by the end of the evening, the hold looked pretty clean and it was more easy to get an idea of the size of the rooms.
After building the floor in the office space last time, I had some azobe wooden planks left, not much but enough for the corridor and the entrance. Only I had several different sizes of them. By the time I moved all of them several times, I found enough for the corridor. The entrance was built with what was left.
Since I didn’t like throwing away all the wood, I decided to keep some for making stairs, etc…
23th June 2008 – In February 2007 I filled my waste water tank with canal water, so I could use it as a ballast tank. Since I have intentions to redo the waterline, I emptied the tank last month. Only some water remained in and my ship listed slightly to port side. I created a second hole in the tank and bought a hatch to fit in. So I could also pump out the remaining water. The tank is now nearly dry. The ship raised a few centimetres.
22nd June 2008 – Today I visited two second hand markets (called rommelmarkt in Dutch). I found a few pieces for the interior. Not exactly something I will need in the first couple of months, still the price was right.
In the afternoon I taped all the little holes in the anti-damp foil.
21st June 2008 – Today we worked on insulating the sleeping room, corridor and some part of the living room.