It was an exciting and early start today, not that either of us had slept much. Alarm went off at 05:30. The first part of the morning felt like any morning when we set off for a weekend away. Coffee, moan about it being too early, start engine, slip the lines and set off. But this time WAS different. This time we were not coming back to Fareham. This was the start of what we had been discussing and working towards forever - and we both had to scars to prove it!
It was a miserable day, raining and overcast but we didn’t care. Anyway it is the UK - we were used to it.
We left the mooring at 06h09 and got to Portsmouth Harbour at 06:45. I was thrilled to find that the wind had died down and the sea looked calm. So off we set. Deux went so well. The water got a little choppy as we approached Brighton but it was a good trip over. A little over 6 hours and I even got a little snooze in. Until Patrick tapped me on the leg to wake me - Dolphins. How special!
We got to Brighton Marina at about 12h00. I do keep a log so perhaps I should check it and be more specific. We called up the marina office to confirm our arrival and to ask where our mooring would be. They responded by asking if we were the gentleman’s yacht coming into the marina? I don’t think we have had a gentleman on this boat for years, but we still responded “yes we are”!
It was an easy mooring. We tied up, paid for shore power, unpacked a few bits that we had stowed away. We plan to leave for Eastbourne tomorrow, so we called and made a booking for 12h30. We then decided to stretch our legs and have a look around. It is a huge marina with a large number of clean toilet/shower facilities and also a laundrette. Surprise surprise to find ourselves in a pub/cocktail bar. Then it was back to the boat for dinner on board, shower and a very welcome early night.
We did it ... we are on our way
After more than 8 years of restoration, planning (and some playing) we finally said our goodbyes to Fareham and our mooring at Portsmouth Marine Engineering and started our trip.
Well sort of…. In true boating life style, the weather and/or tides never want to agree with your plan. We had hoped to leave this morning at 05h30 to catch the tide and get to Brighton early afternoon. However, the wind was predicted to gust to 42knots and this was not the way we wanted to start out new life. So we motored for about 10 minutes to the next marina and moored up there overnight as the wind was expected to die down.
So it felt like we had started our trip. Also it was 10 minutes closer to Portsmouth Harbour mouth and most importantly we got to spend the evening with our good friends for ANOTHER goodbye evening.
We called it a night early enough to be considered sensible and after a few tears we climbed aboard our boat and tried to get some sleep.
They were not joking about the gusting 42knots, never mind the rain!
Our toilet-shower-wet room upgrade is finally complete
All good things come to those who wait ….We have been working and improving this space from the moment we bought the boat! Each step first needed another AND another step to be completed, but it has been worth it.
We have run out of time .... will try again next year
The rain has continued for days now. More rain days than not. We had hoped to get away and travel up river, possibly even to Oxford and back down to Reading before the end of October. We plan to winterise Deux Poissons at Reading Marine Services; the engineers and owner have been really helpful and winterising is a service they provide.
So we waited and waited (and waited) for the rain to stop, even for a while. But it didn’t and even when there was a break in the rain and the sun did come out, the river continued to rise and the force of the flow became stronger and stronger. It was quite astounding how quickly the river did rise – only a few weeks ago when we arrived the moorings, on a steel beam, across the river were high out the water and easy to see. Now they were under water.
We woke one morning and resigned ourselves to the fact that our travel for 2024 had come to an end. Firstly, the sunken boat across the river was an indicator of the amount of rain over the past days and the forecast didn’t look good. And the river was now on “red boards”.
The non-tidal River Thames is managed by the Environmental Agency, a government agency. They monitor and report on the river conditions, particularly any warnings. The warnings are displayed at the locks on boards and also can be found on-line at government websites as well as navigation apps and websites. The warnings/indicators will either be yellow or red. Yellow is a sign that the “stream is increasing” and red is “strong stream”. Red boards are an indication that the strong flow makes navigating difficult and possibly dangerous. The flow of water close to weirs and sluices are particularly risky. In effect, the river is now under flood.
While locks won’t be closed as such, there is unlikely to be a lock-keeper who will operate the locks for you. The bollards used outside of the locks, to tie up to while “working the locks” will most likely be underwater and inaccessible. There was a lot of debris coming down the river – we saw whole trees, fenders, logs, some identifiable objects and a chair, never mind what was underwater. All of this is either going to smash into the boat or get caught up in the prop and make the boat dangerous to manoeuvre, especially in a strong current and boats tied up alongside the banks. And your insurance will not cover you if you travel on red boards and possibly not yellow boards either.
So Patrick and I spent the less wet days exploring the parts of Reading that we hadn’t seen yet and on the really wet days (95% of the time) googling Cape Town, South Africa – our destination at the end of October and reminded ourselves that we will soon experience dry, hot weather.
As that time approached, we packed up / winterised the boat ….. if it can be moved, it gets vacuum-packed. It is an exhausting exercise but worth it; ten-fold. All the curtains get taken down, all the cushion and seating covers are removed, all linen and towels are laundered, all clothing except holiday clothes, even books and magazines – basically everything - is shoved into plastic vacuum bags. We have done this every winter and on our return months later, everything is dry and mould free – yes!!
We have a full cover for the boat which also keeps her dry and protected. Reading Marine services will lift her and keep her on the hard while we are away. They drain the water tanks and the calorifier. They fill these with propylene glycol-based solution which prevents any water freezing, it also prevents bacteria growth and is safe. They keep the batteries charged and will run a dehumidifier periodically to keep the boat dry. And just before our return, they drain the tanks, refill them with clean drinkable water, put the boat back in the water. As an extra they will check and change filters and impellers, They guarantee that she is “key-start-ready” on our return. What a treat.
So we packed up, said good-bye to Deux Poissons and the full river and look forward to sunshine and coming back to start out travels in 2025.
She quickly went from our comfy home to a bare boat … ready for winter storage.
A full walk through
We bought Deux Poissons in 2015 and have spent 8 years working (and playing) on her. Our website and other social media is updated regularly as we work on her, but we often get asked for an overview or complete view of her. Well we finally got to the point where we could do that …. so here is a complete walk through of the boat - enjoy. Leave a comment or any questions and we will respond.
Moving day
After many long and challenging years of planning and tireless work on the boat, the day had finally arrived. I don’t remember us deciding on 27 July 2023 but here we are, this was it. So after a challenging few weeks of halving our belongings and then halving them again, we managed to squeeze our lives into a four door car (which fortunately had a deep boot). I will admit that I watched more videos than necessary on how to fold clothes into tiny-tiny squares and it paid off.
It was bitter sweet packing up everything after living in our home for so long; leaving friends and family and more than once I asked myself if we were making a mistake.
While I am not one for celebrating “a sign that this was meant to be” - my phone (Facebook) felt perhaps this was one day to give me that sign …. so a photo popped up on my phone from 27th July 2019. It was the day emptied the whole boat into a van and we started the major restoration. So here we were exactly 4 years later taking everything back, just not in a van though……
So we bid farewell to the familiar comfort of our home and beautiful garden and began the next chapter of our lives.
More "stuff" to store... and where to store it. Working on our holding tank
Something we need to consider and fit is a holding (black) tank. We cannot pump out the toilet into the canals and rivers and we cannot be sure how often we will be able to access marinas with suction facilities for holding tanks. So we need to design a large tank, and also find space to fit it.
We did it …. one job completed !!
The plan ….
Since we bought Deux Poissons we have constantly been working through and adding to the long “To Do List”. Patrick had a vision of what he wanted for the boat and years of research to back it up. The electrics came pretty high up on the list of jobs for a number of reasons - Fire being one of them! This week we were able to say for the first time “THAT jobs done”. And it was a job !!
The wiring was mostly old household wire, from the 60s and definitely not suitable for a boat. It was a (dangerous) mess. Over the years the whole electrical system had to been added and added to and any wires that were not longer needed, or no longer functional were just left where they were (and not always wrapped in insulation tape or with any way of protection). Just a nest of melted and cracked cables and exposed wires!
We managed to persuade a patient and very experienced electrician, with a wonderful sense of humour, to come and have a look at the electrics, offer some advice and hopefully agree to the job. Which he did, and we will forever be grateful to him ! His advice was to rip it out, replace everything and he would do it in between his day job and on weekends (my hero)!
We presented him with a plan - which he approved, and he got to it. Patrick was on hand to assist.
Many months and a pandemic later, we now have a new distribution board for both our AC 230v and DC 12v circuits and a complete new working electrical system.
The 230v system receives input from shore, generator and inverter and connects to the domestic battery bank (separate from the engine start battery bank). This system powers all our sockets, water heater, battery charger, ice machine and appliances; dishwasher, induction hob and airfryer (oven). All the wiring is new, correct graded, flexible cable. All sockets are now on the correct circuits and feed back to breakers on the distribution board, with correct RCD switch.
The 12v system receives input from two battery banks. This system powers LED lights, navigation equipment, VHF radio, the pumps; water, fuel and bilges. It also powers the day fridge and fridge-freezer.
The battery set up comprises; two banks; for starting and domestic use. A third bank is dedicated to powering the (day) fridge and fridge-freezer and that is powered by solar. The fridge and fridge-freezer do not rely entirely on solar as we have a separate plug socket that sources power from the domestic battery bank, in the case of no sun/solar power. So we can choose to run fridges from either source.
Both fridges have sensing transformers plugged into 12v and 230v at some time. By default they run off 12v but when they sense 230v current, they automatically switch 230v and stop using the batteries.
Planning to make water....
Like all good trips, we plan to relax and enjoy the “occasional” sun-downer and good local food after a long day of sightseeing. We have also designed and fitted the boat with some necessities (ice machine, shower and dishwasher) to make this all as pleasurable as possible. Of course this all involves water and while we have water tank capacity of 346 litres, this is quickly depleted. So Patrick is working on fitting a DIY water maker.
Generator time
We have focused on the generator these past few weekends. We bought Deux Poissons with a Petter generator already fitted. It never worked properly and after a while it just gave up. We tried out best to “resusitate” her, but it seemed to be a compression problem from a possible crack in the head or damaged piston rings. Anyway Patrick found another generator which, with some small adjustments, fitted into the limited space available in the engine bay. I couldn’t wait to hear it start, but first there was quite a bit of work to be done (of course!)
