19th December 2007 – It is the first time I had to sleep with the fire on. It was freezing cold. When I woke up, I could not open the windows, they were blocked by ice. I don’t think I’ll work much today. (Addition: So indeed I didn’t).
Category: MS Watergeus - page 44
18th December 2007 – Freezing during the day, extremely cold at the moment. In the afternoon I put some oil on the metal in the cargo hold. Later I tried to fill my watertanks and these of my neighbour, but without success. All the hoses were frozen. We walked around to ask our neighbours in the area, but all of them still had water in them so not useful at all. Many of the people had to put on an extra fire, like for their washing machine, engine, etc…
The condensation in the fore accommodation was frozen as well. And the winter just started.
At the other hand I have taken some pictures, which will be used as a Christmas card background. So every negative element has a positive side as well.
Besides complaining about the cold, I painted some of the roof in the cargo hold with line-oil. This prevents the metal from rusting, also on a long term when insulation is in front of the metal. Oil prevents air and water to get in direct contact with the metal. Line oil is not that expensive if you know how well it protects your hull and metal. It can take up to three weeks or even longer to dry completely, therefore was now the moment to start working on it.
Later that day, I placed a mail box on the wooden gangway.
12th December 2007 – Was a very busy day for the lock in Bruges, four ships at once in the lock. hadn’t seen that much before. I noticed my hatches had moved again, so I made it even more tighter. The stronger I make it, the uglier it looks, but I prefer to still have my hatches next summer as well, so I’ve done an extra effort now.
1st December 2007 – Done several smaller jobs, like putting electricity in my new small office space, sorting out my tools and starting to clean the engine room. This job I just gave up after a few hours. It was cold and I didn’t have my hoover, so I just started doing it by hand and a small hand pump. I removed some 120 liters and quit doing it. I’ll see it another time…
A man, a little further in the dock, is cleaning his ship and I received some old ship tools, nice for decoration and a few are still useful for working today. It makes my ship again a bit more of museum (or to some people a rubbish field).
In the afternoon some more furniture arrived and went. I decided to remove the metal table in the old accommodation and replace it with a wooden one. In the cargo hold I put a metal box with tools.
I also decorated with some small Christmas stuff. It is early, but I just wanted to do it. If I remember last year, I were still working on the cargo hold and the new den, I believe I made some good progress this year!
By the end of the day I was broken, but hadn’t done a major job…
30th November 2007 – Quite unexpectedly they came today for replacing the exhaust. Last week they took the ring of the exhaust with them and now they had welded the new exhaust on this ring. This ring was bolted to the existing pipe and welded on the roof of the engine room. Two special made metal pieces were welded to hold the exhaust. In the early days the exhaust was only bolted to the roof, so it had to hold his own weight. This has changed now and will likely no longer cause it to break when it becomes rusty.
I’m happy with the result since it takes less space and the engine makes much less noise!
After the exhaust, it was time to replace the oil. The oil in the engine is at least five years old, so it was the perfect moment to change this and the oil filters. For the oil to change it needs to be thin. The oil was very thick, so the only solution was running the engine. I’m always proud with my engine, since it starts straight away, turning the key and it runs. Well my engine had not run for three months and it didn’t start. Batteries were flat. I always charged them so I had no idea. After checking everything I learned a new thing, filling batteries with water. Seems logic, but I didn’t know I had to refill my batteries with water. We added 15 liters of water in the two batteries. A few minutes later, the engine started. It ran for half an hour, then we switched it of, changed the oil and it ran again. So twice running the engine in an hour on the same batteries. A little bit of water can make a difference.
It is pretty simple to replace oil filters, but you just need to know it…
24th November 2007 – Putting the carpet was a hard job that took nearly a whole morning. The floor was not plat and the tiles needed cutting in detail. I would not recommend using tiles in such an area. I would not even know what to put in such an area, so try to avoid them!
Around the noon I went shopping for some details for my office space and in the afternoon we placed the table. It is a top of an old office desk with three metal feet attached to it. It did not stand stable so It is well stitched to the wall as well. I’m not sure whether it will hold a week, so my computer is on the ground and only my screen stands on it.
While my mother painted some pieces on the outside that needed primer for the winter, a man came to fix my exhaust of the engine. He took a part with him so he can prepare everything at home. So my engine will run again before the end of the year!
In the late evening I brought some furniture aboard, only one piece could not enter the cargo hold? I thought with such a big door,everything would fit, but no, sadly enough this was not possible. The worst thing is that this piece of furniture does not even can be taken apart. It is all glued and nailed…
23th November 2007 – Since I need some more space for living in the old accommodation, I decided to make some adjustments. I’m planning on removing one bed and make a small office space in this area. At the other hand I always decided not to touch the original accommodation, since it is so original.
In the early morning we removed the mattress and other stuff that was piled on the bed. This proved I needed some more space. The bed was very solid made. I tried to keep as much paneling as possible for the future. In the old days nearly every sing bit was made of hard wood, wood that is often no longer available these days. After removing several pieces, I had to use a saw or breakdown the whole accommodation.
The free space made with removing the bed wasn’t that big. Since I have a Luxe Motor, the back goes up above the waterline. This means the very back is only 50cm off difference with the bottom metal plate and the gangway on top of it. So I had a flat space of Ω meter and the rest went up, impossible to put a decent desk or table.
After cleaning all the old stuff under the bed (even from previous owners) I painted the wood under the bed. Normally this wood won’t be visible, but I like it to be clean at least. I stopped working early since there was a party next door…
18th November 2007 – A fair bit of work has been done today. While my father continued removing old paint from the front cabin, I insulated the sleeping room of the old accommodation, added new wind protected strips to the door of the wheelhouse, cleaned some other stuff and removed a few of my flags. The Dutch flag and flag of Bruges were heavily damaged of the storm from two weeks ago. The Dutch one can be repaired, the one from Bruges is lost. It is sad, but they shouldn’t sell flags that can’t stand a bit of wind in souvenir shops…
I measured the inside of the old accommodation, since I would like to make some changes, like adding a small office space for me to work in the evening.
10th November 2007 – Arriving on the boat I noticed something was wrong. The hatches closed to the front were no longer in place. They had been bolted to each other and seven of them were moved. When I stepped aboard I straight away realized the wind had blown into my hatches. result, I lost two hatches, probably over board and seven other were moved. Last week there was a big storm and it must have caused this and some other trouble, like blowing away my bike…
The only thing I did that day was securing the hatches in every possible way, ropes, metal, etc… It is not nice, but it works and that is the main thing!
29th October 2007 – Today the last bits were finished of the metal work outside. It has taken a long time, but finally I can say the roof is watertight and the Watergeus looks like I want her to look.
The hatches were cut up today so they would fit around the skylight. The last chimney was placed for the heater in the living room. he air vents from an old Kempenaar were placed and adjusted so they could rest on the hatches and still look straight. Handles and a fallback security system were placed on the skylight.
This means the end of a job started last year in September 2006. Starting with building a den, ending with the roof. There was a period where no metal work was involved, where I tired to solve the leaks of the hatches, but that was just a waiste of time and money. So if you would like something done properly, don’t try to mess around with fillers etc… Do it good, do it once.
28th October 2007 – Today a big day, I invited a few friends for a drink aboard my ship. I always talk about my ship, but it was actually time to invite some of them and show what I were doing. I knew a day later she would be finished, but there was no option of doing it on a later date. Most reactions were positive, only not many people realized the size of the ship and what can be done with such a space.
27th October 2007 – Since tomorrow a few people are coming I want the boat to be looking as clean as possible. Not only did we repaint the wheelhouse with primer, the foot of the crane, the inside of the portholes and a few other items were painted. With all the light colours, the ship looks much bigger. I have a big ship again 😉
26th October 2007 – The den didn’t look good, several different colours of paint, rust, dirt, remaining of tape, writings with measurements, etc… It was a big mess. The perfect time to paint the den again. The only primer I had was again Navy gray… So we pained the den, it took us half a day to paint it nicely. With the paint that was left, I painted the air vents that will be placed in the coming week.
22nd October 2007 – Today we cleaned the hatches. They hadn’t been cleaned since I don’t know when. I had never cleaned them and I own them since October 2006.
13th October 2007 – This morning we tried to put back the hatches, but since my hand has become worse, we had to stop very quickly. The boat looks much nicer anyway, but I would have loved to put them all back. It will be for another time.
The skylight is painted and looks very nice. I’m glad I placed it, but if I had more money I would have put a few more!
