On Friday the 19th of August at precisely 17:25 in the year 2016, the stars aligned and we – myself Amy, and my partner Chris – agreed to buy our first ever houseboat, Odin. It had been a long search, but totally worth the wait.

Odin is a 52.5 ft early 1900s deck ship from Holland. We’ve been told she was used to transport tulip cargoes before her cosy living quarters were added decades later. We’re looking forward to uncovering more details about her history in time.

After a longer than expected wait, we finally got Odin back on the water in November 2016. We moved into our mooring – an island in the River Thames, a short commute from central London – and continued the restoration jobs from afloat.

We have a whole list of renovation plans, including building a wheelhouse and a small steel extension to the living quarters at the front. We’re booked into a boatyard to get this work done and Odin re-painted in Summer 2017.

This is Odin’s restoration blog, I’m documenting the story as it happens.