Living afloat

The story of the Luxe Motor MS Watergeus, the beurtschip Frantsis and how to convert a Dutch barge into a houseboat
Also containing one of world's largest house boat gallery

June 2009

1st June 2009: Oostende voor Anker

I quickly went to Oostende voor Anker. Since I wasn't feeling to well I only stayed for a hour. For pictures, have a look at the Gallery.

6th June 2009: Front accommodation and bow rudder

In the early morning I helped a neighbour removing his rudder. It will be nicely restored. She is the only ship in Bruges left with a wooden rudder and one of the few that has an owner that takes care of it!

The wooden rudder being taken out of the water

During the day I insulated the front cabin and in the late afternoon I started creating a hole in the front deck to enter the bow rudder for the ship. In February I took it of from the Julie (the spits barge with wooden rudder) and now it's time to put it on my ship.

8th June 2009: Floor underneath the stairs

Underneath the stairs is a small area, a fusebox is the only item in that area. It was once planned to place a big pump in that area, later a generator, a set of batteries, etc... Now it will become a storage area for food and drinks.

Since the floor was still multiplex wood and I had some azobe left, I decided to put it in this area. halfway the floor I realized I had run out of this wood. Fortunately I had some left in the engine room, underneath the hatches and in the bathroom. Just enough to finish te floor...

The floor

10th June:

15th June: Boxing the water pipes

The water pipe under the stairs were in need of a wooden protection. Since they can get damaged easily, I built a solid wooden construction around them.

Box around the water pipe

16th June: Engine of the Arma

Friday we will sail with the Arma to a small yard for a major conversion. As expected, the engine wouldn't start. The only engine that ran was the generator since it is hand started.

Engine of the Arma

18th June: Kitchen

I went looking for a kitchen. Since I would like to live permanently in the hold by this winter, I needed a small kitchen. Since I had made up my mind and took a small plan with me it was relative easy to find what I wanted.

20th June: Kitchen

Since the kitchen will be delivered in September I have to finish it now. Th roof and one side are finished. It was done reasonable quickly, since we are now starting to have the feeling and experience of working with pine t&g! Let say it this way: it is getting a boring job and we still have to do a few more meters...

In the evening I mounted my satellite disc on the ship. My neighbour did no longer need it, so I can watch tv again. Since it is an analogue system, not many companies are still broadcasting this way...

21st June: Office space

I had some old wood left from another ship. I used it to finish the bar in the office space.

The wood on the left aboard the Arma was reused

The little bar in the office area

Satellite disc mounted on the back accommodation

22nd June 2009: Shelves

In the engine room I continued building shelves and storage space for my spare parts, paint and other heavy tools.

I went having a look at the Arma. The engine is running now. The batteries of the bow thruster will be replaced later this week, so we have no knowledge of the situation for the this engine.

25th June 2009: Living room

I finished the frame for box on the port side of te living room. In that box all wires are hidden, but still accessible if a new cable should be added.

26th June 2009: Arma

In the afternoon I went helping to close the floor in the hold together with some people from the organisation that owns the Arma. Later that day the skipper came to make a little test drive with the ship. After a few minutes the engine started to overheat. We sailed back with the bow thruster and moored the ship again on his mooring. It was clear, we wouldn't sail tomorrow to Harelbeke.

Leaving her mooring at full power, that would be a mistake a few minutes later

Making a test-drive

Since they really wanted to leave, I called a friend to come and help sorting out the problems. By the end of the evening, all covered in oil and grease, the engine was running. Air had come in the cooling system.

It was good to know we would leave Bruges tomorrow, but it wouldn't be on full speed. On one year time, the hull was completely grown with mussels and weed.

27th June 2009: Sailing the Arma to Harelbeke

• Click here to see the pictures of the trip

We left at 8:45 in the morning. Besides a lot of food, te skipper, owner and me we also took plenty of water with us in case we needed filling the engine. We slowly sailed towards the first lock. This was the only one we had to wait some time. My parents came by to say hello and wish us a good trip.

Leaving Bruges

The next lock and bridges to get out of Bruges all went smooth and quickly. Between two bridges we had some trouble loosing control of the steering but the skipper quickly discovered the cause. The regulator was slightly bended on the control panel.

Since there were a lot of mussels the ship sailed slowly, even on full power. Every know and then we had to slow down because a red light was warning us on the temperature of the engine.

We arrived in Harelbeke, having sailed most of the time myself, at 7 o'clock in the evening. It was a nice trip with nice weather aboard a nice ship! Sadly it wasn't going that quick...

The Arma and me in Harelbeke

28th June 2009: Bar in living room

Still tired from a nice day yesterday, back to reality, the hard work aboard of my own ship. I finished the bar that divides the living room from the kitchen.

Bar in the living room, the kitchen behind it

29th June 2009: Chipping rust

I would love to have my deck again in blank metal. Whenever I have some time I remove paint and rust. To make sure no new rust is coming, I try to protect my deck with some oil. After building some more storage space in the engine room, I spent most of the evening chipping rust.