From transport ship
to guest house

The ship of the péniche type was built in 1951 at the Van Garsse shipyard in Moerbeke-Waas and named RIGI. Owner is Leo van Hoecke from Antwerp.
The ship has a length of 38.85 meters, is 5.05 meters wide and has a GM diesel engine of 198 HP from an American Sherman tank from WWII.
The next owner is skipper Oscar De Raeve from Marchienne-au-Pont near Charleroi.

In 1975 the ship is sold to skipper Eugène Van Houteghem from Saint-Ghislain near Mons for 800,000 Belgian francs and named JUSTINA.
Until 1988 the ship will mainly work as a transport ship between La Louvière and Zwevegem.

In 2003 parquet installer Xavier Vannieuwenhuyse from Ghent bought the ship for 23,666 euros and converted it into a houseboat that he named MANUX. The ship will be moored at Gasmeterlaan in Ghent in 2004 and, in addition to a houseboat, will be used as a showroom for the owner's professional activity. In 2009, the new owners, the Tusschans family, renamed the boat to SAJARANA and in 2019 the ship will be moored at its current berth on the Upper Scheldt.
During the construction of the Louisa D'Havé bridge, the ship will move to a berth on the Schipperskaai in Ghent for a year.
The ship comes up for sale in October 2021, and as if fate has something to do with it, it turns out that the part of the Upper Scheldt where she is berthed is called 'Vertakking De Pauw' so I had to buy her.
In April 2022, the sale of the ship is completed and she is renamed to BELLEVUE. After some adjustments to the interior, the Boat & Breakfast starts in July 2023.

Bart Depauw, captain of the M.S. Bellevue