We Were WRONG All The Time!!! - The Truth About Flying Coneys History 

Thank you very much!

Thank you very much. Flying Coney was indeed for sale for two years before we bought her. The same two years we went on boat search. But for the whole time we thought (and still think) that 25 Meter is too big. But just so that we can say, we considered every option, we visited the boat. We immediately fell in love and the rest is well documented here on RU-vid.

Tomorrow there's a video coming out diving deep into the history of the ship when she was a true sailing ship. From about 100 frames about 20 need to be repaired and about 5 need to be replaced. Also the stringers in the cargo hold needs to be either repaired or replaced. Not that bad if you ask me. It's said that it's easier to hammer out the concrete while the ship is afloat but we will do it next to a shipyard and very careful. Also we will cary out the work one watertight compartment at a time.

Yes that's kind of the idea at the moment. The smaller generator is a one phase, 230 volt only generator. That's great for exactly this purpose. It would be nice to build a multi purpose auxiliary engine out of it. With an hydraulic pump, a water-pump and a 3 phase alternator attached to it with an electronic clutch to select what's needed.

@@FlyingConeyI do agree that the small genset might be your workhorse, simple and probably quite efficient. The idea of a 2nd multi purpose aux engine is loveley, you could couple whatever needed, watermaker pumps, holding plate compressors, hydraulics, you name it... on the other hand, wouldn´t it be wise to give it a thought about redundancy? if you install all the before electrically driven, and add another, rebuild 0- hours fuel efficient and silent genset and add a dedicated alternator to the Main engine, you could drive whatever equipment by whatever source by means of electricity, instead of having it coupled to only one drive... it is fairly cheap and easy to run cables, more so, if you intend to add solar, wind and else as alternative energy on the long run. I believe, the waterpumps resiliency speaks for itself!!! By the way, absolutely loveley, the uncovering of Flying Coney along the way... a real peace of history, thanks for sharing.

Well, I am not an expert but you should be able to put the generator's output through a power converter (or perhaps transformer). There could be some slight reduction in power in the process, but would likely be insignificant. See if there is a electrical supply store near you that could help you with the problem. @@FlyingConey

Hi Robert, I don't think there's a problem with the alternator. But I myself have not the knowledge to trouble shout a DIY generator from 50 years ago. The alternator part is probably way older. If you're looking at modern alternators they are about one third of the size. One thing I can say for sure is that all the electric isn't up to code. Back in the days that wasn't a huge problem because there wasn't much need for electricity. Nowadays a faulty electric can be catastrophic because of the high power consumption.

The whole purpose of this undertaking is to bring people together and teach the needed skills to sail and to run a sailing ship. This knowledge would otherwise be lost quite soon.

Flying Coney also started her life as a wooden boat with steel frames but was converted in 1950 and the wooden planks were replaced with steel plates. This type of boat was also used for minesweeping especially after the war.

Glad you've enjoyed it. Talk heavy subjects are always a bit more difficult to get right. But we learned so much about Flying Coneys history that we had to tell this stories.

Meeting the couple who run the ship as a sailing ship really was a game changer for us. So many things make sense now and they're also such a nice couple. We're really glad that we can add a few chapters in the book of Flying Coney and we also know much more about the previous ones.

We spent ours looking at details of the boat and tried to make sense out of what we saw. Now we know it instead of constant guessing.

Welcome aboard! Binge watching is the nicest compliment you can give any creator. Thank you!

Exactly. The long term owner beliefe that the KFK (Voorpostenboot) was built 1941 in Enkhuizen. The Deutz 150hp engine is probably also from this time. It's probably the reason why they altered the shape of the bow. If I recall correctly after 2 years the De Industrie came in.

@@FlyingConey The Meetbrief also states, first owners were Dirk Zwitser and Nicolaas van Duijn of Katwijk. Zwitser (1918-1976) was a blacksmith and machinebuilder who had a company repairing ships and installing ships engines and installations. My guess; Zwitser bought the steel remains of the voorpostenboot cheaply, moved it to Katwijk and finished the build there. Also; Katwijk and Alphen (seat of Industrie engines) are 25 km apart, connected by the river Oude Rijn (Old Rhine). Maybe the old Deutz was German war surplus and perhaps not reliable. During the war, Deutz built their engines with forced labour and sabotage was everywhere. That would explain the quick demise of the Deutz, and the fact Zwitser did not repair the engine himself. Zwitser might have had connections at Industrie, providing him with an engine amidst the material shortages during the post war period. Later, the KW-34 was sold to my hometown Scheveningen and became SCH-10 'Leendert", owned by L. Klein en Zonen. One of the sons Klein is still alive, and a friend of my father. I'll ask him for memories next time i see him.

It would be amazing to hear more stories of her fishing time. From what I've heard it was a good boat with the De Industrie engine. So please contact us again when you met Mr Klein again. The Deutz engine is described as crude oil (ruwe olie) engine with 150pk at 300rpm. It could very well be that the engine is from the KFK time. 150pk is not particularly strong so I guess as soon as Dirk Zwitser got hold of the engine of the SCH201 Sigurda he fitted it into his boat. Just out of curiosity, why was ABC an inferior brand? I once had a look at the SCH11 DeHoop and that engine was nice.

Back then real generators were extremely expensive. So the previous owner built one himself. The alternator part is a so called welding generator (Schweißgenerator). It was not only used for welding but also as a normal 3 phase generator (That's the DIY part about it) So I believe it can be used directly for welding or also for powering electric equipment. The original engine for that Frankenstein thing was an air cooled Deutz. I've no idea if the electricity is clean enough to be used with modern equipment. It was good enough for the water pump, that's for sure. Our idea is to build a multi purpose auxiliary engine. Strong hydraulic pump, belt driven water pump, 3 phase generator and so on. But the level of redundancy we have is already quite insane.

@@FlyingConey so that thing has multiple winding systems inside? so if it is dry and the collector and carbons looks good give it a try. the power quality can measured today very easy. it depends on the state of the collector rings & carbons and the speed regulation for the engine. today you can buy modern units they can control these old motors and generator very good.

there is another yt-channel "SmallEngineMechanic" the owner of this channel knows a lot about older engines, generator. he show some projects on his channel where he refits old gensets with modern type governors and control panels

Yes, the type of warship is called Kriegsfischkutter or KFK. These boats were built using steel frames and stringers and were planked with wood. Compared to a steel boats our frames are the other way around and the brand name KRUPP on them. So the steel is German. In the steel boat conversion the removed the planks and altered the first frames slightly to get a different bow. Also the spacing in between the rivets is slightly larger than on a boat that was built as a steel ship. Actually our boat was the first one that was converted. Fun fact the guy who draw the lines of the KFK was Austrian and the final design was done about 2.5 kilometers from the place were I grew up as a kid.

Thanks!

Yes, the original wooden warship was built with steel frames and wooden planks. In 1950 they've removed the wooden planks and riveted steel plates to the original steel frames. They might have also re-used the engine foundations and the engine. There are a number of similar ships around mostly still with wooden planks but also a few converted ones. The TRES HOMBRES has a wooden hull and the OCEAN SHERPA is a converted one. All built as the same kind of warship (KFK or Kriegsfischkutter).

@@FlyingConey that’s really amazing ! You would think they would just replace the wood as required. So they must have added the concrete after conversion to steel. Maybe the lead was stolen from the wooden hull too. Very very strange. It would be interesting video to find out more about why and the other ships that had this conversion Cheers Warren

Glad you enjoyed it! It always feels good if someone acknowledges the work behind the camera and the time that goes into editing.

Good to know! Thank you. The boat fished out of Katwijk and Scheveningen. In the picture she had the name KW71 Eckhart so in her last period as a fishing vessel.

I try my best to give you a complete answer. First of all we did a lot of rust treatment. We used a rotating blaster on the outside and an air chisel on the inside. Both methods are proofed and so far the rust isn't coming back. In a later stage of the project we will however aim for a better surface finish but on the outside this is only possible once we're done on the inside and on the inside it's better to have most of the welding done. So some of the tasks need to be done in order but sometimes a temporary fix is needed. Choosing the right blasting method and the correct coating is a very difficult decision. You ask 10 people and you will get 15 opinions. Not every blasting method is compatible with the coating you do want to have. Rust remover, yes or no? Sandblasting, Laserblasting or Hydrojet. All in one or inside first? Sandblasting isn't good for the rivets, Hydrojet on the inside is a pain and it leaves a layer of rust, Laser sounds good at first but it's difficult to find yards with experience and also it seems to be a slow process. Often when approaching a task like that it seems simple and a few months of research later you realize that at one point you have to make a decision, knowing that it will be a 20 year experiment.

@@FlyingConey wow... I do not envy your decision... I do however envy your journey.. You're brilliant and beautiful people.. You'll find a viable solution.. I love what you're doing ... Keep up the good work , your success and perseverance in this project will be in many ways, the world's reward for, as yet untold, unknown, places and time... I be watching and waiting... Peace, love, Safe journeys.. ..!

Well we will see. We have thickness measurements and below the concrete it looks good. But in order to repair the frames we need to remove a part of the ballast and then we know it for sure.

The engine that powered the ship from 1953 until the flywheel went flying was a De Industrie 4VD7. It was replaced by a Kromhout F249 in 1976. The DAF came in in 2008. Unfortunately I couldn't get hold of a nice picture of a 4VD7. I wrote to the Stichting: Brons & Industrie but got no response. The DAF 1160 is indeed a modified Leyland engine. Thank you for your comment.