Living afloat

The story of the Luxe Motor MS Watergeus and how to convert a Dutch barge into a houseboat

June 2007

1st June 2007

I went shopping in the morning, while in the afternoon I cleaned the anchor winch, removing all the rust and old paint. I'm not even half way and already tired.

The anchor winch without paint, she doesn't look to bad with that colour

The good thing, she starts to look good. A shipyard came to check the boat and make a price for the roof. I'll have their answer next week. i'm quit surprised what they will ask. The man made a few remarks such ask:

2nd June 2007

A great day, we worked quit hard and made good progress on the floor. One third of the floor has been covered with multiplex and half of the boat has gotten it's wooden structure. It is taken longer then I taught, but it is a pleasant job, where you notice the progress you make.

The first layer of the floor is build with multi plex plates that had been used by the previous owner for creating the den and a roof on the cargo hold.

A part of a picture taken from the Watergeus with her wooden den

The company Blommaert came to check for new hatches and how they could possible find a solution for the hatches. They are going to make a proposition, since it the first time they work for a house boat with hatches. I explained to them they don't need opening anymore what made it easier for them to find a decent solution.

One picture says more then an thousand words

3th June 2007

As expected, we continued ont the floor, while my mother cleaned the wheelhouse. It is a common place where everybody drops his stuff, so it was getting time to clean it out...

8th June 2007

In the late afternoon the last of five people came to make a price for the metal roof. I'm very convinced of the ideas of the last person. I believe with what I've learned, I'll make nice detailed drawing of what I want.

A friend of mine came to have drink. She noticed my idea of removing the hatches and found it a shame, so I've decided to put the hatches back after the roof has been placed.

The hatches will be back after the metal roof has been placed

9th June 2007

In the morning I continued on the anchor winch, removing piece by piece to clean it properly. I have rewelded the handle for the breaks. It broke while trying to loosen the break a few months ago.

The anchor winch has again it's two handles (click here for a picture how she looked before)

In the afternoon we went shopping and I bought a small cupboard for downstairs in the living area. When getting back to the boat, I discovered, and this has happened multiple times, that it was to big to fit downstairs. So it is now standing in the wheelhouse...

Cupboard waiting outside

Cupboard in wheelhouse, a useful addition for storage, but not in the style of the wheelhouse...

15th June 2007

My neighbour still has plans on moving around with his boat from time to time. Therefore he wanted his gearbox to be repaired. I helped him moving from the boat into a truck. For such a small gearbox, that thing was really heavy.

My neighbour has a Katwijker from 1911.

16th June 2007

In the morning I visited my friends in Sluiskil. One of them is shortening a Kempenaar to 26 meters. It is starting to look ok, but their is still a lot of work.

The Libra in dry-dock in Terneuzen

In the afternoon I continued working on the floor, while my parents helped removing the tar from the wooden plates.

There was a big sport event in Bruges that day. A part of the triathlon passed along my boat, so I didn't have to walk to see it.

17th June 2007

We moved the wood from the back till the front. While moving we sorted everything out, what is bad is for burning, the rest for reusing as the final layer on the floor. It always looks nice when the old freight floor has been reused.

24th June 2007

Since the front of the boat had been cleaned last week, we built the floor in that area.

30th June 2007