October 2006
There are more photos of October 2006 in the photos section.
4th October 2006
My hatches have arrived. I bought a set of aluminum hatches, an original Friese Luikenkap. It took some time before I got them, but they look nice. Why choosing for such a model? All Luxe Motors did have a Friese Luikenkap; in the old days in wood, later in aluminum or steel.
Some of my hatches
7th October 2006
Inside painting is not exactly my strongest point, so my mother painted the back accommodation, while my father tried to clean and recover as many wood as he could from last week's demolishing work. Where was I? Working at somebody else's boat. My girlfriend, who owns a spits, is going to the same yard I went too.
A rather bad picture of my crane
11th October 2006
Today...
12th October 2006
It looked a nice day, being on my own, I couldn't do much. I put away my stuff, loaded yesterday evening. In the morning, I visited Andy's ship. On my boat, I did some small inside repairs, such a fixing a heater, repairing the compass support and some more.
In the afternoon, I went to the scrapyard in Vlissingen. It's sad to see so many ships being scrapped, some very nice ships even. I bought a blue board for my boat. I took it from the Laverna. The Laverna was a sleepschip built in 1928 by Groot & van Vliet from Sikkeveer. She was 66,97 meters long and 8,119 meters width. The Laverna was motorized in 1955.
Laverna at the scrapyard with her blue board
13th October 2006
Early in the morning i helped my neighbor with his work to unload a cement barge. Two hours later we left for Ghent. Today, we would sail with my girlfriends spits to the shipyard in Sluiskil. We arrived at ten, left at twelve and arrived at the yard around five. Till six o'clock she was completely dry-docked. We had a drink...
Spits Varta at the yard, later that evening
14th October 2006
After a heavy night, we placed the roof on the newly created cabin. The roof wasn't good, so we started again. A very time consuming job.
The Blue board was placed in the late afternoon. My ship looks again a bit more like a real boat.
Blue board in position
15th October 2006
The first part of the sides was put in position. A couple of the hatches were placed to get an impression. It is not easy to create a side over the length of 24 meters and keeping it straight. Halfway, sand will be loaded in the boat to get her in a better shape.
Hatch in position
When the first couple of hatches are placed, the already build part will be finished first. The plates now need to be welded completely.
20th October 2006
I arrived late in the evening. The roof was finished of my new entrance. It looked good. Since it was already dark, I decided not to work, but rather to have a drink on my girlfriends boat that was still at the yard.
21st October 2006
In the morning, I helped aboard my girlfriends barge, cleaning the plates.
We have added the strips to the side of the plates. These strips will be the ribs of the upper structure. Just welding the side plates is not strong enough. Also the plates will have a waving motive if they are not attached to the ribs.
The set of hatches I've bought exists of a beginning and an ending hatch. For those to fit, a special gudder needs to be welded. It took us some time to get in place.
Making the gudder for the beginning hatch
22th October 2006
Another two & halve meters have been added. Since there are now enough plates and ribs, one of the major supports has been added. This support should keep everything straight and tightly together.
While removing a part of the old L-profile, used for the water tanks in the old days, I felt overboard with tools and clothes. I made it safely to my boat, but the tools and gloves were lost. Quickly changed clothes and continued working...
Three hatches in position (fixed), together with the ribs and the big support on starboard side.
