Living afloat

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

December 2009

1st December 2009: Front cabin

As planned a long time ago, the front cabin will become a spare bedroom. It will be built like the back accommodation, traditional looking and vanished.

Since I'm living in the hold I used this area to store everything I no longer needed. It took mme three hours to clean the area, sort out my tools, put the nails together, screws, etc... I also realised how many screw drivers I have found back!

I still have no Internet, so I don't know when another update might be uploaded.

6th December 2009: Putting the Christmas tree

Last year I wanted to mount a tree in the mast but I had no money. This year I noticed my mast was already bending because of some ropes with flags. So maybe next year....

12th December 2009: Mast

Last weekend I decided to make some changes to my mast. The few remaining ropes were rotten and flags were all gone. I bought around 100 meter of steel cable, all different sizes and types. It took me around a day to finish the whole project, but the result looks good.

In the afternoon, one of the last remaining jobs was done in the living room. Double glass was mounted in the skylight to prevent condensation loose of heat.

16th-17th-18th - 19th December 2009

I had my annual holiday in England and the Netherlands visiting friends and barges!

London

Sluiskil, where I used to be moored

20th December 2009

It was snowing the last couple of days and so it continued today. It gave me the perfect occasion of taking some pictures:

Anchor winch and bow rudder steering covered wit snow

In the afternoon, the owner of the art ship was giving a midwinter party!

25th December 2009: Christmas

First of all I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

As you could read, the last two months I haven't done much work on the ship. I have many plans such as finishing the front, converting the storage area into a room, putting a new floor in the wheelhouse, sanding the inside and repair the wheelhouse, etc...

I'm making a planning for all these jobs. I would like to start halfway January with the wheelhouse.