Awoke full of inspiration. We did not have water lapping at the boat so the river was seemingly past its peak and Today I would finally get to re shaft the boat and have her ready for lift in. I had spent an hour last night filing the new key ways to fit the shaft but had to first drill a dimple for the clamp grub screw. Big chief Si had told me this was all that was necessary, the old shaft had been drilled and tapped but he insisted this was actually bad practise. He lent me a tungsten 10mm drill and after 20 mins, the dimple was done but it was seriously hard steel. I did not enjoy it. Lancing had refused to drill it for me despite me giving them exact measurements and as with the prop nut they indicated it had to be done in position.
Mid morning I was ready to fit the shaft. I stuck a finger in the transmission output shaft just as a final check. Bugger Bugger Bugger, gear box oil on my finger. I was aware of a potential leak after Smeds and I visited early march but on our return I had checked it and all seemed fine. I had rotated the gearbox by hand a few revolutions last week and found no seepage. But now definitely a dribble of oil.
I decided it was definitely coming down the splines of the shaft through the nut and not from a broken seal so needed to remove the nut and replace with some thread sealer. oh oh its a 43mm socket required.
I seek Big Si who is up to his neck in water issues. He drops everything and comes and has a look at the problem. He finds a 44mm socket after much searching and tells me it will take a lot of turning as its a very fine thread to enable a tight fitting. I am nervous of the 1mm size difference and potential damage to the nut and or thread. It takes ages but I eventually get the nut off. Apply sealant and attempt to replace. With the nut just a few turns on, it locks tight. I am unable to move it. Damn have I cross threaded it? Disaster! Disconsolate, I trundle over to the ever patient chief. Best I come and have a look, sounds like trouble. be there in a couple of minutes. By the time he arrives I have managed to remove the nut. Thank god the thread is ok. I had applied too much sealer and it had locked up the nylock end of the nut. big phew from me. He oversees as I spend next 15 minutes getting the nut back on and torqued. I am shattered.It was just so stiff as they say!
It is now suddenly mid afternoon and Big Si tells me to turn the gearbox a few times and wait til the morrow to check it before fitting the new shaft.
I move on to fitting the cutlass bearing. Bit of soapy water and a very gentle push and she slips straight in. Is that right? too easy? Si was the call. He confirms it can sometimes be easy. I mark the bearing and drill dimples and the cutlass is fitted in just 15 minutes. Ah the tide has turned I consider. At last something has gone straightforward.
With renewed vigour its time to fit the stern gland rubber hose and stuffing box. I cut the new packing strips to length and fit the hose. It is immediately evident that with new hose I cannot fit the shaft clamp and coupling, I had removed the old hose to enable me to remove them previously. I reduce the length of this £26 110mm lenth of rubber. It broke my frugal heart, still with 4 jubilees eventually tightened on and three skinned knuckles, it was done. Thats enough for the day I concluded and am happy to retire to Doucettes bar for sustenance. Collette who has busied herself all day on boat chores offers support and consolation on my woes but still later I drift off with echoes of Bri, smeds, jezzer and Fred lamenting "always a bloody drama" haranging my peace.
Monday, 13 May 2013
Monday 6th May The Flood oh and Did you pack the Wellies dear?
The morning light revealed the worst. Flood waters had
invaded the yard. The lads were busy frantically moving stuff to higher ground.
People on the water were stranded on their boats and even the loos and shower
were in danger of becoming inaccessible without waders. The ducks were happy as
they say. Big chief Si was remarkably calm, not much phases him. I offered my
assistance which was very gratefully declined. He is getting to know me too
well I think. The yard was full of people by 11. Word had clearly spread and
boat owners were arriving to assess
their own situations.
Dave and anne the Australians were happy to water there
flowers.
Kate wife of Simons able assistant, Roger, had never seen anything
like it as the waters headed past the office steps.
A trip to the back door of the workshop revealed knee depth water to reach the loo facilities. yuk we hadn`t packed wellies so it was get down and dirty. The water had reached the top of the stern on the airbourne life raft. Staggering and just where would it stop! All i could think about was Mums impending arrival on Thursday. OH MY GOD, it did not bear thinking about!
Of course the irony was that it was a beautiful baking hot day!
Despite all his woes, Big chief Si taking a break from rescuing wood, tools, motors etc from the mess of his workshops, was cheerily banging on the side of the boat at 3.30pm. "Andy, it`s here, I am gonna make your day" The shaft had been delivered!
I have got time for this chap, I decided!
I was suddenly very nervous. Was it right, had I got those measurements to the thou correct. would the prop fit the taper? Did they remember the cutlass bearing and hose.
I needn`t have worried, all was good.
By nightfall, the waters were within 25m of Doucette and showing no signs of abating. We retired after a hell of a day dreaming of mum wading to the boat and me in snorkel gear fitting the new shaft. But that was all for tomorrow!
Sunday 5th May Epoisse 21st fete du vin, pain et Fromage
I awoke soo excited. On our earlier visit to Noyers we had
spotted an advert for the 21st Fete of wine cheese and bread at the
village of epoisse which just happens to be this boys favourite cheese.
We were delighted to find the river was receeding and the tide mark showed it had not quite reached the workshops during the night and so after a
quick coat of varnish on rails and flagpole, we were looking chipper in Sunday best and
with blue skies and old yeller shining down on us, we set off glad of heart!
Even uncle Roger was smiling dressed very smartly in his sunday rags whilst fixing his fork.
Bloody sat nav took forever to start and I had already
headed off in the wrong direction. My sat nav absolutely has a mind of its own
and appears to have a thing about me. A trip to town and it fires straight up.
As soon as I need it, it refuses to play ball. Of course we are out of internet
allowance so cannot use the ipad for mapping. The skipper shows the extent of
his rising irritation by suddenly pulling over and refusing to drive another
inch until it starts working. Fortunately the crew is a tad calmer and takes
over. Miraculously Collette takes the cd out re-inserts and immediately the
satnav fires up. I had done the same thing 7 or 8 times and nothing! I feel
like punching the screen but settle for starting the engine and heading off. My
mind is a flurry of crazy activity as to how the crew have somehow programmed
the satnav to just piss me off. There must be tablets I can take for this!
We enjoy a very scenic trip of 55 miles following much of
the route of the Nivernais we hope to soon be enjoying by boat. The villages
and towns we pass through very much wet our appetites.
The village of Epoisse is approached and the outskirts are a
parking lot. We find a spot opposite the imposing chateau walls and already can
see, this is going to be a very nice place.
We stroll down to the traffic free
high street which is a buzz with artisan stalls and I am in heaven. Degustation
Chablis, petite Chablis, champagnes, cremant de Bourgoyne, Irancy, Bourgoyne
aligote,pinot noirs and chitry wines, pain and sausage to die for and the
cheeses, every variation of goats and of course at the home of the Berthault
Fromagerie, epoisse cheese.
We enjoyed a lunch of 3 cheese and ham coleslaw salad
followed by, ham and frites, a fruit crumble and of course some epoisse sat in
the middle of the bustling street outside of the auberge. unbelievably everybody stopped to allow me to take this picture. Bit embarrassing but very polite!
In the main square we enjoyed the classic
French brass band and a groovy jazz quintet whilst sampling responsibly the
delights of the fair.
After making purchases of a case of cremant and some
epoisse, The skipper looked rediculously smug!
we strolled to the chateau passing a very unique doorway with a brilliantly clever use of a stone corner.
The privately owned chateau has been in the same family for
300 years and is only open to the public in july and august, but the parc is
open all year round so we paid our 2 euros and spent a delightful hour in the
sunshine. The houses near the entrance had been built by locals who had been
given this honour in gratitude for labours and defence of the chateau. The
staggering pidgeon tower housed 3000 nesting boxes and the wooden revolving
contraption allowing ladder access to every box was an engineering feat to
behold.
The peace and tranquillity of the gardens was just lovely
and it was nice to see chateau occupants enjoying the sun on the terrace as we
gawped at them through the iron gates. Collette particularly liked the stable
block with its horses head door handles.
Of course we visited the onsite
church.
The Sat nav was now obeying its master and we decided on
letting it take us the shortest distance meaning the longest time home. We
found ourselves following the meandering river Sereine. This was one of the
feeders to the Yonne that Simon had told us about. We were amazed to see the swollen waters had broken the banks some 100yds the other side of this stand of trees
We passed a police car thinking what a
strange place to see one on this quiet backwater road. We soon found out why.
The following village was in flood and the route Barre sign was up.
It was so
sad to see very worried villagers surveying the damage. Of course most French
houses have caves (basements) so much of the damage is unseen from the road.
The flooding was sobering to see with cows struggling to find dry land and some
up to udders in water
and we encountered route barre 3 times resulting in a
slow journey back to Migennes.
All this
water had to pass through Migennes so what were we instore for?
A first for us, we came upon a boulangerie open on a Sunday
evening in a tiny village just outside Migennes. I grabbed a pain which was so
hot I had to juggle it back to the car. What a treat!
Back at the yard at 7 we found incredibly that the waters had dropped and it
was back below the quay. Good news but what we had seen today did not bode well
and we noted emergency service helecopters buzzing around late into the evening
covering the river.
The bread and cheese supper was a delightful way to end a fabulous day.
Saturday 4th May get the suncream out!
Blue skies shinin` at me, nothing but blue skies do I see!
A trip to the loo and spotting the river soon brings me down to earth. The river is running at an incredible rate, Later confirmed at 10km per hour, the boats in the river are straining on their lines and the river buoy desperately seeks escape from its sinker bound ropes. It succeeds shortly afterwards and is lost down river. The river is also rising and is just 4 inches below the quay. It is normally 6ft.
I finish off the speaker shelves and get them fitted and stained. Collette risks all by doing some washing. We get the relaxers out and enjoy a long lunch of avocado and prawns before settling down for a sun bathing hour.
This is an Uffa Fox mark 2 airborne liferaft which Simon is renovating. A fascinating and quite remarkable story. Hung from aircraft they saved 600 odd airmen in WW2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/sjl8hS03Te2tBbBNK93j5w
We get some more coats of varnish on the wheelhouse floor and the upper helm rails and the flag pole before cracking and a large G & T and a Bacardi and coke signal its Saturday night. The crew settles down to the voice whilst I set about dinner. I par boil a fennel bulb and some potato slices and add them to a roasting tin with sliced tomatoes and courgettes. Some lemon, a couple of spoonfuls of capers and good splash of oil and into roast for 20 minutes before topping with the well seasoned fish for a further twenty minutes. It was one of those use whats in the cupboard jobs but gave a great result according to the grateful crew.
Friday May 3rd We are drowning here!
Well what should we expect, clean the boat so wake up to more bloody heavy rain. Right then, off to Joigny for a big Lidles shop. Just a marvellous event! I swear the pork is as good as anywhere and we got a lovely meat fest in for dinner tonight. Fish Friday, so got some nice white fillets over at intermarche for tomorrow night. Took over two hours shopping so it was lunchtime when we got back. Bumped into Big chief Simon who had very worrying news that the Nivernais was closed and the river was officially in Flood. This was not good having confirmed that my sis is bringing Mum over next Thursday and so whilst we are excited about that, we need the river to calm down. These pics taken yesterday just do not do justice to the speed of the current but suffice to say that 24 hours later, the bouy which had been there many years had been washed away.
By tea time the forecast of light drizzle had been proven a sham and we had endured heavy rain all day. The river was on the rise and with 220 kms of the rivers Armencon and Sereine both rushing their swollen bellies towards the Yonne, we were warned of a worsening situation. The talk round the yard is of frustration. The weather has stopped several boats being lifted in. One Danish couple have had to book into a Paris hotel to meet their son as they have been unable to get the boat into the water in time. The Americans Bill and Genevieve, yes thats right, are staying in a chalet on a local campsite, there are Aussies, other English and French all looking to the skies whilst making the most of the time by sprucing their boats.
We cracked open our first bottle of cremant of the trip and enjoyed a meat fest for dinner. Pork kebabs, merguez and chipolata sausages and chicken wings. Nice with some Soumaintrain and Roquefort cheese to finish.
Thursday 2nd May Doucettes makeover
The weather had cleared and with a solid forecast for the next week, it was time for Doucettes make up to be applied. Of course with the break in the weather, the water hose had been commandeered by a visiting artisan who was a professional hull power washer offer. This meant he would be here all day. Oh grand I observed, still by the time we had breakfasted and enjoyed coffees and made a start on the upper decks by hand, it was nearly noon and no Frenchman goes without his lunch. I slipped over and sure enough he would be back in an hour and a half. We went into overdrive. Finished the upper decks and quickly gave the hull a shampoo. Now it was restorer and finally a wax. The crew took to the task with gusto and Doucette drew admiring glances from all who passed.
Thouroughly knackered the tireless skipper still had time to make a start on some speaker shelves for the boudoir before the whole crew deservedly settled down to finish off the curry and whilst the crew read, the capitain watched Chelsea reach the europa cup final whilst emptying a bottle of muscadet. Very civilised!
Wednesday May 1st May day Rant
May day is a national holiday in France which means that it is treated as a Sunday and nothing but nothing is open for trade, Oh for such times at home. It very quickly becomes apparent when you spend time in France that this is clearly good for the soul, the family and the countries general well being. No jams of cars hurtling to the supermarkets for vittles that really could and should have been bought the day before. Just a little fore thought required but we haven`t got time for that of course, not in our manic schedules. You see they have got us by the short ones. Management are in total control, dear old Lenny Scargol will be turning in his grave at the total lack of respect for workers rights and despite the fact that everybody is seemingly working ridiculously longer hours added to the massive increase in the numbers available for work, as a result of the influx of women into the workplace since ww2, and yet, our production capabilities appear to be in free fall. This despite the fact that with this massive working community, hour upon hour of unpaid overtime in the name of office politic and job security and or job progression is now worked by our consumer, retail, borrowing driven lifestyles., As Gordon Gecco said in the Iconic 80`s film “Wall street”,
“The point is ladies and gentleman, that greed – for lack of a better word – is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms – greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge – has marked the upward surge of mankind.
I could completely agree with this speech if the last sentence had read “ has marked both the upward and downward surge of mankind” Harry got it spot on “loadsamoney”!
Any way enough on our 80`s legacy, I can only apologise for my ranting and I digress from the point of sacred Sundays. Consider, No mass exodus to marks and spencers to check out the same dresses that have been available til 8pm 6 days a week. Could we ever again see a boxing day news programme without the item on the queues of consumer retail driven mad English, all bleary eyed having spent Christmas day and night sleeping rough to save a fiver on a T shirt.
No, a return to spending Sunday genuinely relaxing or god forbid going for a walk and a family picnic seems so idyllic and oh so obvious when you get over the fact that “Sevens” is not open. Oh England, who do we blame because we always have to have someone to crucify don’t we? Maybe Power and celebrity seeking politician's, advertising agencies, eastenders, Greedy bankers, was it all Maggie's fault or perhaps we should blame ourselves for allowing it all to happen. Alright I will calm down now and get back to the blog.
In the name of entente cordiale with neighbours England, being a national bank holiday, It hammered down all day. I needed a baguette having forgotten to pick one up yesterday (ha ha) so slipped into Migennes and discovered that the big may 1st day is marked by everybody buying small posies of Lilly of the valley. A very nice tradition. They were even selling them in the boulangerie.
We spent the day hunkered down. The crew had finally, after a years needle twiddling, knitting, unpicking, knitting and unpicking again, finished Stacey`s beautiful jumper. Just the sewing together now apparently so should make a nice crimbo pressy. God I hope it fits! Looks dangerously petite to me. It is gorgeous though and Clo is justly proud of her efforts.
I cracked on with a few more coats on the wheelhouse floor. We watched some TV and enjoyed the first portion of my chicken and potato curry. Lovely with a couple of very old beers. 1664 to be exact.
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