December 2005: How we discovered the MS Watergeus
27th December 2005
Andy, a friend of mine, was looking to buy a new boat for conversion into a house boat. Since, I knew the area and spoke the language, I looked for several places, most of hem were scrap yards. A few exceptions were places were a lot of boats were being converted privately.
We first stopped in Ghent at the scrapyard. They only had one barge, the Avrachain. It was already completely stripped and used as a fuel barge. Disappointed, we drove to Sluiskil. There was a small fishing boat, the Z. 501 Tac Horne. People told me it was the property of the yard, so I went to the yard and asked if we could visit the boat. The told us that they also owned an old Luxe Motor at the other side of the dock, the Watergeus.
We had a look at both ships. The Luxe motor looked nice, so we went back and offered them a price. They wanted more, so we asked their price and agreed straight away. We made up the paperwork, which took us three hours.
After the paperwork, we got the keys for a first visit of the inside. Here are some pictures taken on 27th December 2006:
Back accommodation, windows covered with metal plates
Front accommodation with lowered mast
Gangway on starboard side
Engine room, partly flooded
Cargo hold, nearly completely flooded
Bow with her original water supply colors
View from behind
Side view of the ship, no roof to cover the cargo hold
