What a day!

Tuesday 21st July was a day with many parts to it. It would certainly count as one of our most stressful…

It all began innocently enough. We had spent a lovely evening and night in the pretty village of Lutzelbourg and woke up reasonably early ready for a morning run through to Saverne. We did an engine check and while I swabbed down the dew-drenched deck C made a lovely breakfast of mushrooms on toast. We were at the lock at 8.15am, as arranged with the lock keeper the night before, and were delighted to find we were sharing the lock with only one small boat. As we were leaving the lock, a Dutchman called out to us that there was a New Zealand boat in the port in Saverne. At the time, we attached little importance to this announcement. Little did we know just how significant it would turn out to be.

Everything was going like a dream when, as we were entering the fourth lock behind the other boat, I put the boat into gear and there was the most sickening bang and growl from near the stern of the boat. I quickly put the boat into neutral and, as the other boat was in the lock waiting, I gingerly tried to put the boat into gear. She responded normally. We drifted slowly into the lock, C caught the bollard easily (we were locking down) and I put the motor in reverse to avoid climbing into the stern of the boat in front only to find no response at all! We were very close to the other boat and I quickly told C to stop the boat using the rope which fortunately she was able to do. While we were locking down, we discussed what we were going to do and decided we would let the other boat know we had a problem and we would limp along slowly in forward gear. However, when it came to leaving the lock we couldn’t move forwards or backwards. We were stranded in an empty lock.

A kind passing cyclist helped us to manoeuvre the boat to where C could climb the vertical greasy ladder (something she normally refuses to even consider) and make a call to the V.N.F. We knew there was every chance that another boat would activate the automatic lock and we would have the lock filling with our boat facing the wrong way - not the most welcome of prospects. While Catherine was making the phone call that is exactly what happened. We had secured the boat aft, mid and stern to keep her as stable as possible. I was in the lock by myself trying to make sure the boat didn’t bounce around too much. Quite scary really but not at all life threatening.

Imagine the surprise the two waiting boats got when the lock gates opened and they saw a boat pointing the wrong way! However, in true boating style, they backed up, moored their own boats and helped us to drag our boat out backwards and out of the way. It was a 15-20 minute bike ride to Saverne, the nearest port, so we tied our boat up to some bollards. We were lucky enough to be stuck in a spot where there were bollards to tie up to. C went off on her bike to see if we could get some mechanical assistance or at least the contact details of a local boat mechanic. (The V.N.F. said they do not get involved in these problems, their job is to keep the locks working.) She also took a pack and a shopping list as there was every possibility that we would be stuck there for a day or two. We knew the problem wasn’t the motor but for whatever reason the propeller wasn’t turning. At worst, we knew this might mean the boat having to come out of the water. We didn’t know where the nearest crane was and we knew the bank account could take a real hiding.

While C was off on her mission, I tried to think what the problem could be. I decided to check the stuffing box in case that was damaged and letting in water. I wanted to make sure we weren’t slowly sinking! That all seemed to be in order. It was hard to settle to do anything and at times like this your imagination can be overactive.

While I was trying to read my book there was the welcome sound of C returning with two kiwis, Adie and Lorna. C had noticed the NZ flag on their very nice barge and decided to ask them if they had any idea where one could get some assistance. When I was introduced to them, Adie said he wasn’t a mechanic but offered to have a look and see if there was anything he could do. He quickly verified the motor was working as it should but the propeller shaft was not. He then lifted the engine hatch and the problem was readily identified. A shaft comes out of the motor, and with a couple of plates and a ball and socket joint, is coupled to the propeller shaft. There are four bolts that hold the two plates together. He found one bolt had just sheared off with part of it still stuck in the hole and there was no sign at all of the other three bolts. He fossicked around in the oily/watery bilge and found all three of the missing bolts along with a few other unrelated items that had been dropped down there over the years. We have no idea how long the boat had been running with only one bolt holding the two plates together.

Boats are not always easy to work on; it is awkward to get to where problems are. Because the motor was replaced five years ago we seem to have a mish-mash of metric and imperial fittings - and a huge selection, some of which sometime fit the existing fittings. For all that, after nearly two hours from whoa to go, Adie had the boat back in working order. He was able to secure the two plates together with the help of an Allen key borrowed from the boat moored next to us. True, we have only three instead of four bolts holding the plates together but that is probably three times more than we had before!

Adie and Lorna kindly cycled abreast of us all the way in to Saverne in case we had a problem and needed to throw a rope to someone on shore. It was 4pm when we got to Saverne and there were no mooring spaces left but Adie and Lorna had fortunately invited us to raft up to their lovely barge called Ariana. C and I then had a quick bite to eat - breakfast was 8 hours earlier - and tried to re-hydrate ourselves as the temperature had been very hot all day. We’d invited Adie and Lorna to join us for a special “thank you” dinner on our boat and so we put our packs on our backs and walked to the supermarket to look for special ingredients. Lorna is a vegetarian so we had a curry planned for her and we found the best eye fillet steak for Adie. After nibbles and champagne we had a delicious platter of crudities, the main, cheeses and a fresh strawberry flan C made. We managed to do the shopping and have the meal prepared in just under two hours.

It was a magic evening, the air cooled down to a comfortable temperature and the view from the boat was stunning. At 11pm we said goodnight to our guests who only had to step back on to their own boat and we went to bed absolutely exhausted - physically and emotionally. A few hours later I woke up with a painful cramp in my leg, the result of hours of perspiring probably, which also woke up C. We were just settling down to go back to sleep when there was a violent wind storm. The noise of the flags and cockpit flapping on our boat to say nothing of the noise from all around us was huge. We were tethered fore, mid and aft to the barge and the ropes were tugging quite forcefully. We got up and checked everything as best we could. C rescued the mop off the gunnels. Other boaties - in various states of undress - were doing the same. Our herb planter was knocked over making a disconcerting thud on the roof and we hoped the two boat hooks would stay well tucked in to their possie on the deck. (They did) This lasted for nearly an hour and by then it was 5am. Tired as we were it was really difficult to get back to sleep.

Adie and Lorna made an early start to head to Lutzelbourg which meant that we had to untie ourselves from their boat, move out of the way and then thankfully move back onto the quayside in their space. Adie is confident his repairs to the boat will be sufficient until we return to St Jean de Losne when the sheared bolt will have to be removed and replaced. We know we have had a lucky escape financially and we have learnt a lot from this experience. And most of all, we count our blessings that C stopped to chat to fellow kiwis!

PS We were disappointed we didn’t manage to take one relevant photo to accompany this post. We were just too busy and distracted!