24th April 2007 – My electrician came in the afternoon to provide the back accommodation with decent 220v power system and a new fuse box. He place the fuse box and prepared all the sockets.
Category: MS Watergeus - page 50
22nd April 2007 – Completely broken, I didn’t do that much. Cleaned some part of the cargo hold, where the floor will be created. The wood of the gangway was protected and I visited some friends.
21st April 2007 – Since I didn’t work on my barge the last couple of weeks, I made an effort and worked from six in the morning till nine O’clock in the evening. The roof is finished and one side has already been closed with pe-sprays. Instead of the gangway, we made a nice entrance in wood. Further, the area for the bathroom was cleared and a trial model of the floor was created.
I repaired my extensions cables, since most of them had their best life behind. It’s getting time to by some new ones. The water pump was moved from the inside to the outside. Always handy to have it ready.
8th April 2007 – A heavy night yesterday forced me not to work on my boat. I placed a table on deck and tighten the boat to the mooring posts that were placed last month.
A few people came by and started talking with me. There used to be an old boat in Bruges, a German built spits barge. it sank multiple times and believe what, it was on my mooring. We then did a measurement to know the depth under the boat. it is around 1,5 meters. I do remember some information on that German Spits. She was built as a war compensation in 1919. She was raised and scrapped in Antwerp. This must have been 7 years ago. I’ll try find a picture of that boat.
1st April 2007 – Finally made a cover for my electro motor of my crane. It is common for skipper’s to leave their electro motors outside without a cover, but their lifetime gets shorter. To prevent my electro motor from having a short live, I decided to put a small cover on it.
Painted the mooring posts on land. Will start making use of them next week. Besides ropes, I’m going to use steel cables as well.
25th March 2007 – Besides going to the engine room and discovering the stairs were still wet I didn’t do much on the boat. When having a house boat under construction, you need to take a break from time to time. I think that’s the best advice I can give…
24th March 2007 – Today we fixated already some of the hatches. First put some rubber under the hatches to protect them. The metal is sharp and can cause damage to the hatches. After that, we drilled a whole in the handles of the hatches through the metal of the den. We bolted the hatches to the den. Afterwards, the hatches were bolted to each other, creating one big roof.
23th March 2007 – Have seen my new mooring posts for the first time. They look good, maybe a bit tiny. But hey, we shall see.
18th March 2007 – The weather was changing quickly yesterday, having a big storm this night and most of the day. I decided this morning to put a car tier under my gangway. Now the only noise I’m hearing is the tier and no longer the metal.
I cleaned some more of the front peak. All stuff I will likely never use again has been moved to the technical space. Since the floor was not dry yet everything is on the water tank.
In the afternoon I put some strong ropes with small winches on my hatches to make sure they survive the weather for the next couple of days.
17th March 2007 – In the morning I went to a second hand shop to look for some more storage,but couldn’t find much, actually nothing that would suit in my technical space. I prefer buying stuff second hand, first of all the price but secondly in a second hand shop you often find the good old furniture hand made with a lot of charm and strength.
In the afternoon, I painted my waste water tank and the floor around. It is an old metal engine room floor I reused. There was some paint left, so I used it for painting the support of the engine. That little bit of paint makes my engine room looks much nicer.
16th March 2007 – When arriving at my boat I decided to get myself a bit more organized in the back accommodation. I didn’t have, and still haven’t enough space for living. I removed a table, re positioned another one and placed my old computer in the corner.
12th March 2007 – In the morning I started sorting my nuts, bolts, screws and nails. For every type I used a glass of jam. Whenever I need one, it will make it easier to find one.
My power cable is expensive, so It was locked through an opened window with a chain. A very secure system, only when it was raining, water came in through the window. Therefore I drilled two holes with a metal piece to hold my cable. It is more secure and I can keep my window closed…
Later I hovered out the bilges of the cargo hold. It was very sunny yesterday, so it was today and will probably be tomorrow. When most water is gone, the rest can evaporate.
In the afternoon, I had visit of a girlfriend who plans to buy a boat. We talked on some boats. Later I painted my future bathroom and corridor. I stopped painting when the paint was empty and the sun had gone under. A perfect timing. I just didn’t have enough for the railing of the stairs, but I’ll figure something tomorrow.
11th March 2007 – My family came today for solving the problem of leaks through the gaps. I started working on the railing for my boat. When they arrived they finished the job. With what was left of that railing, it was to big, we made a small space for putting the rubbish bins.
In the cargo hold there is the big red stairs in metal. Since we were working on the railing anyway, we decided to make one for there as well.
Since we didn’t have the right stuff to close the gaps, we decided to do it next time.
4th March 2007 – Went with Andy to a concert last night of a group called ‘The John Lennon’s Rifle Club’. It is a retro-punk group with some very good songs. It made me forget the mooring troubles I have.
In the afternoon, we placed some curtains in the wheelhouse. It looks much nicer, not only having some more privacy, but it know shows it’s a real house boat.
3th March 2007 – Didn’t sleep well at all, at the other hand we had a very bad storm, one of the worst in the last couple of weeks…
We cleaned the back accommodation in the morning. In the afternoon I had some visits and my mother continued working on the wheelhouse. I started cleaning the front of the boat and making an inventory of what I have left.