With the generous and able help of Miriam, Sulina is, against all odds, nearly ready for the start of our journey.
We had heard that the border between Germany and France was opening, so we tried our luck and crossed the Rhein. What a pleasure it was to see our Sulina again, still afloat after our long separation! We straightaway started painting the decks before dashing back home to pick up our daughter Miriam who had travelled down from Berlin to help us with the renovation and to join us for the first part of our trip.
Back at the boat, Miriam boldly jumped into the anchor box and cleaned out all the old rust before painting it a bright and cheerful RED. The list of jobs was very long and it seemed at times that we would need two weeks to complete all the tasks, but with the extra helper, the work went surprisingly quickly, needing only just over a week after all.
Of course, it wouldn't be a Braun family project without unexpected dramatic episodes, and this week we had a humdinger of one! We started up the motor to see how the long idle period had affected it and were pleased to hear an immediate purring, or should I say, rumbling? in the depths of the boat. But unfortunately, no water was gushing out the back, which meant the external water cooling system wasn't working. After the difficulties we'd had earlier on the Rhein when our transmission got ruined, we were very quick to turn off the motor and assume that there was a problem to be dealt with.
But what could it be? Everything looked fine and the impeller was brand new. The filter and pump seemed to be working, sucking up water from the river and pushing it through the boat, but no water came out. We assumed there must have been a blockage and began to manually pour water into the hose beyond the pump, unfortunately without realising that by lifting up the hose, we were actually pouring water INTO the motor! And then of course the engine could not turn over anymore...
Luckily there are wise and capable members of the boating community wherever you find yourself, and Straßburg was no exception. We had met Christophe at the other marina in Straßburg where we worked on Sulina last summer. He knew motors as he said, 'like the back of my hand'. It was a great coincidence that he had moved his own boat to our marina and we were now neighbours. He helped us through the process of removing the water from the cylinders and we saw Sulina's heart, cleaned her out and then were thrilled when, not only did the robust motor start again, but the cooling system also had seemingly repaired itself! Another hard and valuable lesson learnt.
A number of smaller and also bigger jobs were tackled in this week, among them, fixing the windows, putting up the bimini, and sorting out the gas for the cooker. It was such
fun whenever we could cross something off our lists. Putting up the bimini was a bigger job than we had imagined, and I really hope that it will never need to come off! And the propane gas... well, we had to combine an old existing layout with the modern connectors that conform to today's safety standards. Not an easy task. We visited four different shops in France and in Germany before we found the solution, components from a camping shop that were designed for mobile homes. So now our boat has two gas tanks stored outside in the bright red anchor box, and a great 4-burner stove with controllable flame, a real pleasure to use!
So now we are just about ready to go, sorting out the last details and soon to take the train back to Straßburg. Anybody who wants to join us on the way, drop us a line!
Welcome on board!