130716 Municipality identifies my cabin as "obstacle"
Mid July. Sleeping with open door, I woke up from engine noise on the river. A charming lady was dropped on my new swimming jetty and woke me up. She was municipality staff charged with identifying "obstacles". I was told to be alert on this but expected them from the land side^[more]. Anyway, she judged my cabin such an "obstacle" and it had to be removed. I told her I could do nothing for her since I was under orders of the land owner. Unfortunately a big signpost "FOR RENT" sported the phone number. She took some photos, got pulled on her boat by a  crew member, then went on the phone talking to the land owner, who decided to comply, and told me my stationing of the cabin should be discontinued.

... my cabin an obstacle according to authorized municipal staff ...

130717 Plan B 0.0 , a boat
We can moor a boat because the river is under authority not of the municipality but of the local Waterschap, and has different rules, carefully and elaborately stated on the internet. A Waterschap internet map shows that in this section of the river motorboat mooring  is allowed. What is a motorboat is carefully defined. Motorboats are not houseboats. Houseboats are not allowed. But you may sleep on a motorboat, though not permanently. Not all plots around here allowed for motorboat mooring actually have one. Anyway, I want to be right at the water as I am now, and finding a waterside place for a boat should be easier than for a cabin! A regular Water Authority authorized motorboat should be less than 4 m wide, less than 90% of the length of the shore of its plot, and only one is allowed along a plot. So I went back into surfing for boats ^{[earlier surfing]}. Motorboats are cheap in the present economic slump and can look quite nice, I like for instance the Swin Patio, introduced in the 60s. But they all look bigger than they really are and do not have my standing height. Would I just find one on a 150% scale! Or make one?

130801 Plan B 0.1 , a platform
How to live along the shore without breaking my back in a marktplaats-motorboot (marktplaats is our local Ebay)? I started to search for pontoons, then found a yard making custom aluminum vessels: Aluminiumjon. After surfing along their samples, I drew a draft.

... draft for a platform ...

For a draft name, we should be firmly in the realm of working vessel names, since working is what I never do: LINGE 2 (I had already spotted a LINGE 1, a waterschap workboat, join them!).

... I had already spotted a Linge 1 ...

Visiting Jobbe of Aluminiumjon, it got much better. It was not more expensive than a back-breaking second hand motorboat. It would probably reach speed up to 15 km/hrs. and be fit to lay dry on the sandbanks of the Waddenzee. Now municipality did not need to return anymore and proclaim repentance!

... Waddenzee photoshopped dream: O my God! ...

I ordered the platform. Expected start of construction 130909, three weeks for the platform, then a few weeks for removing the undercarriage of the cabin bolting it on the platform, and finalizing.

130919 Plates arrive
I visited Jobbe's shipyard Aluminiumjon curious for news about some delay of the aluminum plates. While talking they arrived! Monday start of the job. The next three weeks the job is fully defined. Wonder if I manage not to come and have a look. Monday 130923 will be DAY 1.

... they've done that before! ...plates too long for one lifter ... Jobbe (r) and staff in deep concentration not to miss the slot ...

130923 DAY 1 Evening photo arrives
Stunning progress on DAY 1.

... while sailing in Friesland I get this picture from Jobbe ... on DAY 1 1700! ...

130926 DAY 4 Steering wheel urgent at DAY 4!
Jobbe already tells me he is "waiting for the steering wheel", I told him I would bring. So, I immediately went to Bicycle shop Van Voorden, Beesd to buy it:

... an aluminum ship deserves an aluminum steering wheel ... bicycle shop van Voorden, Beesd found me a quite affordable second hand ...

131001 DAY 7 Deck and inside frame near finished
Got picture below emailed from Jobbe, adding that conical drag links of Yamaha cable controlled outboards are not meant to fit bicycle wheel centre hubs. O o I invented something "nice" again ... hope Jobbe still greets me at next visit.

... DAY 7 deck and inside frame near finished ...

131013 Pulling the cabin on the river dike
Sunday morning. Tomorrow is DAY 16 on which we plan to lift the cabin on the platform. The Verbeek family agreed to pull my cabin on the Linge dike after 1500 hours. It is already raining for 14 hours. The shower radar for morning 1100 hrs. is below: blue turns to red when there is more than 10 mm per hour (would amount to 24 cm per day). Lingekraal in yellow circle. Grass on my compound soaked and almost liquefied down to at least 20 cm. The river itself is over 20 cm up. I have 4 hours to get a good idea. The movement of system is North rather than East. Hope? A freight helicopter? Hot air balloon?

... 1100 hrs Linge level 20 cm up, how to get out of here ...

I decided to prepare: move in the Kangoo, and stow the cabin. Then, at  1700 hrs., the mud pool was the worst since I came here four months ago. But surprisingly land owner's Dick Verbeek's Landrover got its front wheels on the dike before having to block by pulling all handbrakes. His brother in law Henk tied his Landcruiser and together they pulled the whole train on the tarmac.

... 1700 hrs. The Linge river level 40 cm up Dick's Landrover and Henk's Landcruiser in train got me up the dike ...

... Roger (Uilen en Dierenpark De Paay) allowed me to sleep on the nearby Zoo's parking tonight. My neighbour here, a wet camel, is not very interested ...

131014 Day 16: removing the train

... on fresh back wind sailing North on the A2 I even reach 4^th gear and arrive at Jobbe without police curiosity ... 

... jokes while removing the train, platform on foreground ...
... see also Picasa video clip 1 and  Picasa video clip 2 ...

... a small step for a man ...

... my place for the night: the still rising Amstel river in torrential rain ...

131015 Day 17: cabin turned into boat hut

... cabin lifted on platform then fixed with bolts on welded aluminum supports as shown left under ...

A serious blow: no walk space along the hut. With the hut 2 m, my initial design platform width was 3.5 m. But we got seduced by the standard bottom sheet width of 2.6 m, both for strength and cost, trusting the board fade-out would make the side gangway floor widths of 30 cm each doable for passage. But in the end the board fade-out turned out to be a few cm only, and we had not realized that inside the frames the width would be even less. Thus we ended with 2.47 in-frame deck width, leaving us with 23.5 cm gangways, already insufficient. Then, I had added to the disaster by quoting the 2 m hut width on memory, and on measurement it turned out 2.13. But that was when the hull was built and the hut was in. Too late! If you are still with me, you see we ended with 17 cm between each hut side and its board. We decide to make wooden gangways on board top level hoping they will be passable.

I called in a nearby sail maker to prepare for foredeck tent. I plan to cross the Westeinder plas next week and moor right next to the sail makers' workshop to fit the tent.

... Artur riveting toilet/store room on, Jobbe helps me remove the posh brand marks off my new outboard (theft prevention) ...

131016 Day 18: toilet, store space, gangways, bicycle steering wheel preps

... toilet and store annex joined, I fix the insufficient width problem with gangways, our outboard turned into Hindi make ... (photoshopped, we still have to order the sticker)

... my friend Paul adds a flange to the steering centre piece for me to make it the hub of my "bicycle" steering wheel and bores the required 36 holes ...

131017 Day 19: foredeck roof, outboard control cables and steering console
Artur finished the entire foredeck roof in a day. Supports for my gangways are fixed, in the afternoon the anti-slip "betonplex" planks for gangways are reported cut by supplier and put in place. Jobbe now announces his holiday next week, which probably means: starting after tomorrow. He orders a truck for launching tomorrow 1530 hours. Still to finish: foredeck roof, fitting gangways, solar parasol,  swim ladder, and all those small things you only discover after basic construction is done. I ordered the swim ladder (that we have to customize at the shipyard) but did not yet arrive. One cable for outboard operation is late. Will it come tomorrow? I hear him thinking how to do a test trip without it. If Jobbe would have said he needed another day or three I would not have been surprised. I think we might be sorry for launching too fast, but Jobbe is in highest gear. I shun causing derailment by blocking him right now. He proposes that after the test launch the truck could take me to the Linge right away. I decline (for the fortunately true pretext that on delivery I will head for the sail maker nearby to have the foredeck tent made). But it's clear, he wants this platform done and gone.

... Until late night in my car, I frantically weave the spokes of the steering wheel (lots of swearing), some spokes now too long, will need to see a bicycle repair man ...

While frantically wrestling with the spokes I sat down on my spectacles and had to repair them with cable ties and glue. The basic issue stressing me is how to jam the brakes on Jobbe. My sleep does not come. During a stroll in the Amstel moonlight I decide that the only friction free method to keep the platform for some more days under the shipyard is more pretext, even if it be false. I decide to become ill and retire for the weekend, to buy time for Jobbe to cool down on holiday, and for myself to find a window to bring a list of final jobs in the game. And even only to prepare that list I need time.

131018 Day 20: customer ill but the show rages on: test trip

... he did not swing the platform on the truck with his bare hands, though from seeing him there you might think he did ...

... Jobbe full speed ...

131021 Day 23: customer recovered, returns to the site
On my sickbed in the weekend (at my mother's, I really got spoiled) I get pictures of what was reported as a successful test trip. To my surprise, some other platform jobs are being done as well. No holiday?
On Monday I return, entering at coffee break, expecting only staff, Jobbe on holiday. But I find Jobbe as well. The mood is gloomy. His father just died. Nevertheless he insists on taking me for a test trip immediately. To see how perfect everything is: I am going to have a lot of pleasure with this boat, he says while sailing a small round. Asks me:
"What are you going to do now"
"Stay here, look around and make a list"
"O I thought you'd be off to the tent maker right now"
"No all things at their time"

I was still unsure how to get my list of final jobs through without heat producing friction, but needed some more time to finish it anyway. 

... yes: steering wheel spoked, pumped and bolted ...

131023 Day 25: Still a lot to do 

The quick launch followed by a week pause - Jobbe not on holiday but immersed in family matters - turned out godsend, because I could work carefully on a job list while discovering small issues one by one and testing solutions afloat. I decide just to email the job list and give Jobbe time to chew on it. The jobs will require another visit to the workshop by truck. We made the platform's width too small even to pass from bow to stern along the gangplanks we mounted, or only with both hands free to keep grabbing the hut. My mother (89), to name one, will consider this slightly acrobatic. So we will need a rear door in the hut to pass bow to stern through the inside. But here also was an element of luck: though the rear door solution got forced upon us, it makes the platform's 2.7 m width fully acceptable: other things equal a narrower platform reduces resistance, thus reducing fuel cost and increasing speed, and the platform will fit to a much wider range of mooring locations.

Then under the planned normal load the boat's rear self draining puts will be slightly under, permanently leaving some water on the deck there. The 20 cm high watertight compartment under the deck just lifts the deck to the waterline. Next issue: I cancel the windmill. Too much construction effort at the present buildup. Pity. Windmill, complete (mast, regulator) now for sale, history of windmill. But still 20-odd indoor jobs before I could sail to the maker of the foredeck tent.

My list provokes a staunchly defensive reply. But then, in a tight conversation, Jobbe and I manage to stay focused on how to solve the issues. As for the low level of the deck Jobbe claimed my hut was heavier than I had reported, but the next day I found my observation was wrong in the first place: despite the platform seeming to lie horizontal in the water, I got the simple idea to measure board-top to waterline bow and stern. The bow side turned out 12 cm higher, which would imply the deck when exactly horizontal could bear another 2.2 ton before being down to the water line. Not something to really do, but, if correct, meets our expectations concerning the margin.

131024 Day 26: Waiting, some jobs
Jobbe is still in family matters. I am waiting, relaxing and doing some jobs, in my future property, floating in the Amstel river, until I get called for further action. My temporary neighbour in the house opposite me, a retired furniture producer, loves history and wine, like me. His wife moderates us in the latter enjoyment, corrects my errors in Bible reading, and has her birthday on which I have the opportunity to extend my acquaintance on both sides of the Amstel (here the border between Holland and Utrecht).

... Paradise in the making ...

131028 Day 30 Gale 9 on Amstel river
In the morning wind freshened then went into a Beaufort 9 (at the Dutch coast line Bft. 11 was measured). Wave foam took the air,  I was like in an old train on a bad railway ... on a small river! (click here for 5 pic slide show). In the middle of the afternoon it resided.

131030 Day 32: Back to the workshop

... this passage prompted memories ...

... shipyard is left around the Uithoorn shopping mall ...

131101 Day 29/30: The final list: first half

131104 Day 31: solar parasol

... Artur makes the solar parasol improving on my design (inset, see also draft design platform) ...

131105 Day 32: Rear door preps
Our in-called third party, door fitting prodigy Frans de Haan needs to order my door and locks, Jobbe gets short of alu sheets to finish my deck store boxes. No jobs until three days from now: Friday. With a mixture of impatience and relaxation to the level of sleep, I leave the premises for two days, for a look at my dinghy at the Linge (not stolen!) and a visit to a university library to scan to PDF a life time best selection of my own scientific publications, my paper copies of which I trusted, years ago, together with my ridiculously oversized Amsterdam University's doctor's testimonial, to Lake Victoria.

131108 Day 35: Rear door 

... foredeck boxes provoking memories of my African dhow steering deck ...

... caesarian section to allow captain's access to rear deck ... see also Picasa video clip  ...

... Frans enjoyed the making of this door ("just give it a push" watch videoclip) ...

131111 Day 36: Ready to launch
I sweep and clean ...

...I paint my new rear door and mount lettering on the outboard ...

... and put the name ...

131112 Day 37: Launch and GO!

... the widest bucket that can exit this workshop gate  ...

... moving into LINGE 2 ...

... Jobbe, Ilja, Captain, Artur ... 

... Westeinder Lake South Side ...

... departure ...

... Westeinder Lake North Side, in search for a tiny channel leading to my foredeck tent  maker Zeilmakerij Aalsmeer ...

131118 Day 41: Foredeck tent ready, solar parasol assembled

... the sailmaker's workshop has a roofed box next to the cutting tables, where my unplanned slim 2.90 m width made me fit exactly ...

... solar parasol assembled ... my closure time boat exit was along that rain pipe...

... tent mounted! ...

131119 assembled 131119 Day 42 Take-off

... selfie ...

The End

1403 Afterword

But the municipal authority returned the next spring to send me away again. They did not realize that now I was no longer under their competence but under that of the Waterschap (Local Water Authority), who has clear rules, published on internet, the ones I studied before embarking on the platform project. I had to talk them through my new local regulatory environment. Was told I would get a letter, containing the decision I was al right now. But at home they probably started to realize municipality had nothing to approve since I was out of their competence. I never got a a letter but they sent one, I heard, to the land owner, with a comprehensive summary of the rules they have ... for the land.

You get your freedom only when it is accepted. Think of the psychiatric patient cured from thinking he was a piece of grain, but still running for the chicken, since he felt unsure whether they knew ...

More pics (Picasaweb

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