Sunday, January 22, 2006

Diary



The Oude Haven in Rotterdam, where I have my barge, has facilities for the maintenance and restoration of barges older than 50 years.
An important part of those facilities is a slipway for out-of-the-water maintenance. As a rule a ship remains on the slipway for a week. So here is the plan: I'll keep you informed about which one is sitting there high and dry. The 'change of the guard' is mostly on Mondays, so let's say you may expect a new image every Tuesday.
Deal?
Right then, here is the first of what I hope will be a long series.
This cutie is called RUUB (seems to be brief for Ruben). Built in 1915 and neatly converted for live-aboard purposes.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful ship. I want one!!
In http://www.havennaarden.nl indeed.
Kind regards,

Koos F said...

I spoke to the owner. He is completely happy with it (her, if you like). Bought it in Berlin, Germany, for a reasonable price. All the necessary things for living aboard are there. If I had to make a fresh start I wouldn't mind having one of those either.

For another stunningly beautiful barge see http://anthonetta.blogspot.com/ whoch is about a luxe motor.

Anne-Marie said...

Very cool idea, Koos! I love looking at ships.

Cheers,
AM

Mary Beth said...

What a beautiful boat! That's such an interesting mechanism for bringing the boats up out of the water - I don't think I've seen one before. How long does it take to haul one boat up on those rails?

E.L. Wisty said...

She is a beauty indeed. I have somehow very romantic visions of living on a barge...

Koos F said...

Hi Anne-Marie
Next one coming up tomorrow, you won't be disappointed.

Hi Mary-Beth
Interesting indeed, given half a chance I always watch the operation, which takes about 10 minutes. This here is the simplest form. On bigger shipyards they have clever contraptions to move the barges to different places to work on them.
Did you know that in Canada boats are put on some sort of railway to take them from one level to the other? It is the
Big Chute Marine Railway
. You might find that interesting.

Hi E.L.
It is, it is, especially when it's time to cast off the mooring lines and get moving.

Love,
Koos

Mary Beth said...

I'd never heard of that Big Chute Railway before - how embarassing, since I live in the same province! I guess it's kind of a substitution for a lock when they are unable to build one - very interesting. Thanks for the link! I see they have some beautiful pictures of Ottawa on that website too.