History of our ship
From freight ship till houseboat with working place
In 2001 Willem and I bought this ship from the cargo shipping to serve as a workshop at our company Tagrijn Salvator. After we first built a fisherman’s sea mantle in the hold, we started to renew the deck and the aft deck. We also furnished a part of the hold as a bedroom and bathroom, after which we could also use the ship as a home in 2008.
Until 2014, we restored and witnessed traditional ships from this ship in the Leuvehaven in Rotterdam. In that year Willem became ill and in 2015 he died. This immediately meant the end of the workshop.
Sailing charter in the summer / group accommodation in the winter
Since 1992 we have enjoyed sailing with guests on our sailing charter ship Aldebaran and for the last 15 years we have used the Aldebaran in the winter as a group accommodation and bed and breakfast in Rotterdam.
We have always had a lot of fun in contact with the people on board and it was therefore a small step for us to work out the idea of converting the Wilhelmina’s hold into comfortable, modern group accommodation / b & b.
Permit
The plan to rebuild the Wilhelmina from the workplace to a group accommodation / b & b over time had been there for a number of years, but due to the death of Willem and the sale of the Aldebaran I started working with it faster than planned. Obviously, getting a permit from the municipality took a lot of time. The only advantage was that it gave me time to dismantle and tidy up the workplace. A time-consuming and sometimes intense activity.
Renovation of the ship
In March 2017 the time had come: The renovation could begin! Together with two friends I brought the Wilhelmina to SRF Holland, a shipyard in Harlingen with knowledge of the matter. Since then, with the help of my friend Suus, I have been working hard to build top accommodation in the hold. The entire renovation can be seen on our Facebook page Rooms on Water Rotterdam.
Since mid-October 2017, the ship has returned to its permanent location in Leuvehaven in Rotterdam.
Group accommodation / b & b / meeting location is ready!
I am very proud of the end result and would like to show my guests the converted ship.
There is an undercover entrance with glass walls, so that you can immediately see the hall, living room and hallway to the bedrooms. Scheepse windows (portholes) in the bedrooms and living room and special hardwood cuckoos on deck / in the ceiling provide even more light inside. I combine this ship with a modern interior with a warm atmosphere and with a lot of comfort in the form of underfloor heating, air conditioning and a private bathroom per bedroom.
You can find a lot of information and photos on this website. If you have any questions, you can send me a message via this link.
