Livet – an 1901 Dutch Canaller

So this very nice dutch canal boat, Livet is in the yard. She was in for some bottom work and a repaint. Looking on the web to find out about the vessel, I came across a post on the Tugster blog here all about her. She had previously been moored in the Hackensack River.

So I met the owner one day as he was working on her to say “Hi” and I got a tour of the inside. He said that he had bought her in Holland and brought her over on a large transport ship. He also said that he had spent quite alot a time getting the woodwork just right with none of the typical moulding you see to cover up poor joinery work. He likened it to a “jewelbox” and he did a fantastic job. Unfortunately a few days later, while patches were being welded on the hull to double over some bad spots, a spark jumped inside or the hot area near the weld was touching something flammable and it set the interior ablaze. I wasn’t there for the fire, but I arrived at the shipyard just as the fire department was wrapping up. Both the owner and the interior are gutted. What a shame!

I wrote to the Tugster blog about the status of the vessel and the blogs editor in chief, Will Van Dorp, came out to the yard on Thursday for a visit. I got to show him my project, my buddy Darren’s 1925 lumber tug Bertha and the exterior of Livet. He didn’t take many shots for his blog as the lighting was not great, but here are a few shots of Livet in her grey primer paint before the next coat of black was sprayed on.

Her hull is only 1/4″ riveted iron plate.