23rd November 2013 – There are so many little leaks in the boat. Most of them were nicely hidden by the previous owners. It took me a whole day to remove and close two portholes and two leaks in the old support of the towing mast – sleepmast -.
I decided to close the old outlet of the toilet. Most of the work was done yesterday. Today I welded a plate and bracket over the old pipe.
21st October 2013 – I finalized welding the roof. The boat should be dry now if it rains. It gives me a good feeling to know you are safe for the winter. A metal roof is one of the milestones in the conversion of the Aquarel. Later that evening I continued closing holes in the roof of the back accommodation, a job I will continue with tomorrow when it is daylight again.
8th April 2012 – There are two more things that need to be done on the bow. One of them is a support for the cable sliding along the deck when the anchor is dropped. The other one is the railing on the bow. I wasn’t expecting to finish this job in a half a day, but we did.
The bow, which has been has been the subject of several discussions is finally looking like I really wanted it to look!
My parents came to help as well. They sanded the original ceiling in the living room and did some wood work.
7th April 2012 – Today we put the railing pipes on their feet. The old feet still need to be cut. It might give a wrong impression, but I won’t use them as a fender or to keep boats away in a lock…
Last week, when welding a bulkhead in the engine room, a rotten pipe felt through the hull. Since this hole is only seven centimeters above the waterline, it is now closed by welding a little patch on it. I could have used fiber or something else, but it would not feel safe.
6th April 2012 – The ship had a railing on only one side. We never had the time to finish this project in Sluiskil. It certainly is not the most important job, but it looks nicer. When I’m going to the yard in May, I don’t want to carry all these length of pipe with me. They are now stored on the hatches of the Watergeus.
Today I cut the feet for the railing and welded them on the boeisel of the ship. A very time consuming job! Welding RVS pipe on metal is not that easy.
19th March 2012 – I cut up another sheet of metal, now for the front. It took me some more time then usual since the plate was thicker and my spare grinder started smoking and shaking.
26th February 2007 – In the late morning / early noon I started making the last preparations for the sailing. Realizing a lot of the the bulkhead needed to be welded, I started doing it myself.
Between some welding sessions, I helped moving a boat by hand and celebrated somebody’s birthday.
In the evening, the welder came to finish what I had started.
Taking goodbye of the people I’ve lived with, we decided to sit inside my neighbour’s ship and drank a beer. Half an hour later we heard somebody shouting their was a fire and when going upstairs, smoke was getting out of the pusher next to us. Together with him we extinguished the fire. There was a lot of damage. After an hour everything was under control and the fire had gone out. Cause, a diesel heater. So I ended my last day in Sluiskil in a very sad way.
By the time it was two o’clock, I went to bed, realizing a few hours later we would set sail with the Watergeus to Bruges…
23th February 2007 – I had prepared everything for the trip (see article), but forgot about putting weight in the back, so the propeller would be under the water, not halve above. If the propeller is above water, you can’t sail backwards! Therefore I filled the new waste water tank with canal water.
The deck was painted on the side visible in Bruges. This will make her look nicer for when we arrive somewhere next week.
The holes for the portholes of the bedrooms and corridor were drilled, those of the kitchen and bathroom re drilled.
Some more plating of the watertight compartment were welded.
In the late evening the preparations for the trip were discussed, while drinking some coffee and beer.
17th February 2007 – When arriving on my boat, the tank was nearly ready.
We drilled most of the holes for the screws of the windows. Over a two hundred holes were drilled! In the meantime the last places were welded on the tank and an inspection hatch was created.