Our crazy dog

As it is the TT fortnight on the Isle of Man, here is the Beast ready for the off.

First steam day of the year. I have volunteered to be one of the steam crane crew. More complicated to work one of these than I thought, but got it in the end. Very warm inside as you are next to the boiler. Great fun and looking forward to more.

Seeds like confetti

Elm trees have so many seeds this year, drifting seeds not good for any painting jobs. A week or so and they will be gone, but they do get everywhere.

It's snowing Elm tree seeds

Had a barbie again today with our Kiwi next door neighbour Nicky. the seeds that are falling off the trees are everywhere, must get a picture of it.

Different socket and plugs here

We have British electrical sockets as I like them fused, Dutch ones are not. So when we buy new things here with a Dutch plug we have to convert it somehow. I can't just change the Dutch plug until the warranty has run out, as its null and void if you change anything. Silly but that's it. Anyway here I am making our own converters, safer and cheaper!

We found this very nice British anchor light on the Queen's day market. I don't think they knew what it was! Needs a little TLC and new light fittings but will look nice on the terrace.

Sewage tank finished

We used to pump our stuffies straight over the side. Now it goes into a holding tank before going over the side. Reason is that when in dry dock we can still use the ships loos and when in a place where the water is clear, I do not wish to make it muddy! One day will come anyway that it will not be allowed to put Richard the thirds into the water!

Lightship on it's way to dry dock

I should have posted this last week, sorry. This landmark has been in the harbour since we were here and probably longer than that. Here it is just squeezing past our ship. Hopefully it will be back with a clean bottom.

Rust and more roost

I thought today was going to be easy, a little light rub and paint. Saw the red stuff coming through, so here I am taking years of neglect away. Found a big hole that somebody thought it a good idea to fill with putty. So it has to be done properly this time, all rust and rubbish away, fill with metal, prime and then paint. Just a few more days work never planned for, but that's living on the water.

Sick of the weather

Windy, wet outside so no painting. Very frustrating as I wished it finished in a couple of weeks. Ordered a new diesel transfer pump, old one gone to the land in the sky for dead ones.
A couple of vents welded on top, at least the weather does not stop me here.

Started the painting regime, talk about the forth railway bridge! Best news is that we had our first barbecue so spring is here.

Fork Andles

Very funny thing happened today. My friend next door phoned up with his heavy Dutch accented English, and asked what I thought to be, to borrow my axe. Off I went to fetch it from the front. Meanwhile my wife Jan answered the door, there was said friend smiling and thanking her for what she thought was the axe. I appeared with the axe, he looked at me then Jan wondering what was going on. He had asked to borrow two eggs!!!!!!!! We all then had a good laugh about such a misunderstanding.

I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok.

Rotterdam council cut this tree down because of Dutch elm disease, they left it so I came along with handy chain saw. Took us all day to cut into cheeses, then split it into logs. About a ton of good quality Elm ready for next winter, and free apart from the petrol.

I am going to use my other blog for day to day stuff and this for photos and things that are not to do with the building of our home.

Thought blooging days had finished

Panic job today as I thought I would have to start all this blogging again, could not find my home, thankfully I have a wife who is a bit more up to date with all this electronic gadgit stuff. I just got on with cement cladding the new water tank. Will take me a few days to finish.

This our permanent mooring, and so lucky to have it too. More or less in the middle of the city but very quiet to unless it's dance parade day, then its away for us as the noise is horrendous, they call it music too!
The people in the flats are very friendly too, especially one couple who play music with us now and then. Two artists live in the ship next door, they use most of the old cargo area as a studio.

The rest

I may as well show the rest of our floating home off, what we have completed anyway, well nearly.

The old cabin

I thought it nice to show how the original skippers cabin looks, It is pretty original, which is a miracle, I 'll say why in a second. The paneling is made from mahogany so the people who ordered it must have been quite wealthy. The war came 1939 and the Belgian owner destroyed the main engine, we believe it was a Deutz , the Germans had ideas to convert it into a troop carrier to invade the UK. Part of the cabin roof was removed, and an anti-aircraft gun instaled fortunately the owners had the forsight to keep the part removed safe. This is why it is a miracle. The cargo area was used to billet German troops.
After the war they "aquired" an engine from a sherman tank (a GM detroit) which is a 6 cylinder 2 stroke diesel. This was removed sometime in the 70's and an updated detroit fitted with a hydraulic twin disc gearbox. This is what we have today.

First day of using a Blog?????????

Well here we go and how I got here is a mystery, so hard to follow if no computery skills at all.
I started a few years ago writing a diary about how we were getting on with the barge we live on called Velocette. This seems a better way, but it will be hard going for me at first.
After nearly 5 yrs work and a heap of money I think we can look back and think it was worth the effort. I will try here to find a picture of our lounge as it was when we started. Amazing, I did it and now one as it looks today. This is my 60th party with a heap of friends who mostly all live on the water, I am playing the pipes here, well trying to as the alcohol was flowing well. We do (Jan and I all the work ourselves, she is a brilliant wood basher and I'm the welder, electrician, plumber, mechanic, and tea maker.
Enough for today as I can only take in a little at a time with this technology. A year ago I thought an apple was what you ate! Now I'm using one to do things I never thought was possible.