First aid for sailing heritage: maintaining boat with 'Lubrication'

Maintaining sailing heritage can be quite a hassle for owners. Old materials and building techniques bring problems for which the necessary know-how is not (or no longer) part of current knowledge. Anyone who wants to take care of such a piece of heritage with expertise can turn to Bart Verbeke of Monumentenwacht Vlaanderen. And that is what Leon Verhaegen does, who has four heritage vessels in his collection, three of which are protected: the ‘Ouderhoek’, the last flat-bottomed schooner of the ‘poon’ type still sailing, the ‘Allegonda’, one of the first motorised yachts from 1911, and the ‘Napoleon’, which was once the personal ship of the owners of the Baasrode shipyards. In addition, Verhaegen has another 1929 tugboat in the collection. “Monumentenwacht carried out thickness measurements for me for the various ships. That’s how I came into contact with Bart Verbeke.” Verhaegen, a passionate collector, is delighted with the service.