Monday, April 29, 2019


Barge Date:  29-04-2019

Mulhouse


We slipped into the Mulhouse marina late but the friendly captain and wife were there to great us and help with the lines.  We are on a wall which presents some concern for getting off the boat.  Then we walk along a ledge to get to safety.

We were able to walk the town a bit on Sunday but did much more today.  For me, just seeing the streets, watching people and seeing how the town works is interesting.  Took in a museum and had afternoon coffee and a pastry.

Today was sunny but cool.  On the boat all is well.  Still liking the new hot water heater and the ability to take showers with a  constant temperature.

Here are some pictures. Remember, click on the pictures to make them larger.



Always interested in how these stones are laid.

That is a stork up there.

The great one.


Barge Date:  28-04-2019

On the Rhine


So we did it.  Traveled from Strasbourg up river to Mulhouse and the Rhone au Rhin canal. Our pilot
needed to deliver his 38 meter barge up river too so late in the day we found him, his wife and his barge and we lashed Lionel to his port side. Took 5 minutes  Then it was out on the Rhine River.

Must say it was mostly uninteresting.   We saw nothing of the starboard side of the Rhine and there was just not much to see in general.  Skies were grey for the trip. We had a delayed start so the pilot made up for it by running long hours.  A total of about 19 engine hours with the first day ending at midnight. He tied up to pylons on the left bank but if he expected us to sleep he did not know how bumpy it would be on the travel side of his boat.  Commercial traffic never stopped.  Barges and lots of hotel boats.  I never did sleep and at 5am he pulled back into the travel lane.

Two hotel barges

Like sardines




On the second day we were under power for 13 hours. The further south we traveled the less river traffic we had.  We rarely needed to wait for a lock to open. This day there was rain off and on and a constant strong wind from the south that certainly impeded our speed, this in addition to the force of the down-river current that was against us.  Rarely a peek at any German towns on the right bank but sometimes large loading stations for the barges.  The Rhine does not go much further than our jump off point; Basel is the end of the line for the Rhine.

The savings in terms of time and fuel for this trip on the Rhine made this a good way to get this section of travel done. Besides, it was grey and cold so we could stay inside most of the trip.


Most of the Rhine locks were about 50 feet rise.


The area around Mulhouse saw the American 7th army in '44.



She looks as cold as the steel man.




Our last large lock was on the Rhone au Rhin.  From this point to our destination in Auxonne all locks will be 39 meter. For the first 25 locks or so we will run with a canal employee who will move ahead to each lock we go through.  This makes for a little faster travel but prevents us from setting our own speed and deciding when or if we want to stop.  The first locks have us going up hill and then a very long stretch down hill to the Saone.

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Barge Date:  28-04-2019

Here is a non-barge story for you


I know a woman here in Europe that works for a large company with some global reach. A very professional place. At the end of a recent vacation, she was surprised to receive a call on the Sunday night prior to her returning to work. The call was from a man that handled some legal tasks for her department, but not directly her boss; she reports to another division in the company.


He said "you have a problem to take care of on your return". Great! The story goes like this. In her absence there was a meeting with a large vendor and various company staff people including a person from my friend's department (reporting to her) and someone from the legal department, among others. During the meeting, her department colleague took exception to what the lawyer had said and proceeded to attack and ridicule this professional legal person. At this point, let me add that the lawyer is a woman and that my friend's colleague is a man. (Perhaps this is not material, but I doubt it.) There was apparently shock and embarrassment at the man's outburst from many people in the meeting.

Post meeting, the lawyer let it be known that she would not stand for this very public and undeserved humiliation, and she took steps to find a way to deal with it. Enter my friend - this was to become "her problem".

On returning to work on Monday, she proceeded to gather facts about the meeting and the outburst by her department colleague (the man reporting to her). Thus armed, she offered the following to him - today, go to the lawyer, admit your failings and beg for forgiveness, or at least apologize to her - or be fired by the end of the day. The man did nothing of the sort, and so my friend fired him.

To add to the drama, the boss of my friend said "you have just made this pile of shit your pile", i.e. you just made life for yourself worse by firing the man as you’ll have nobody to do his job while looking for a new person... and this will take time because of the required expertise needed. And with a tone that said you will get no support from "me".

Had my friend been sucked into something she had not anticipated? Had she hurt her standing? Was anyone standing with her?

But there was a happy ending for my friend as she received an email from the top management of the woman lawyer; a two word email. "Well done".

 And 1 month later a new employee was found ... a top expert who is excelling in the job!

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Barge Date:  25-04-2019

Ready to officially start the new year


We have just concluded a shake out cruise to see if Lionel is ready for the challenge of this year. Made a run south from Strasbourg, stayed overnight at a closed marina, and came back.  All went well.

My original thought had us leaving a week ago, but Easter put a slow down on this idea.  In order to get south and on to the Rhone au Rhin canal we must venture out on the Rhine River which in this area is canalized.  The rules for the Rhine, even this portion in France, requires the boat and helmsman to have advanced licenses, something that I do not have. Oddly, the rule is this:  if the boat is over 15 meters you need the extras;  if under 15 meters, anyone can venture forth and cause havoc.  So in order to get to the headway of the Rhone au Rhin, we need a pilot to be with us.  We have arranged this, and Marianne had a good talk with him.  He could not do it this past weekend as it is a 4-day holiday in France.  The earliest he could do it was this coming Friday, May 26.

One of two things will happen.  He will either come on board with us for the 2-day trip, or we will lash Lionel to his ship.  Either/or, it takes 2 days.  Should be an experience. Stand by for pictures from the Rhine.

Even though it seems we are leaving late, the amount of work on board has kept me busy.  Trying to finish up all the little tasks so I can clean up for our pilot.  The last job is to see if the window screens I made this past winter will work.  I knew that I would need to make a final fit adjustment and trying to do that now.  Lack of wood tools is a problem.  But if I can do one well and then find that it fits all 12 windows, then I will bring them all back home, make a final template and get everything done prior to the return to France.

Marianne has been hitting all the bookstores in town looking for books of interest, particularly by or about writer Romain Gary, but also children's books.  Perhaps I can announce here that we, at  our advanced age, will soon be grandparents.  Later in June a granddaughter will arrive.  So books for kids, young kids, are piling up. 

I have spent a lot of time in Strasbourg,  so there is not much I have not seen or done.  We have yet to have an outrageous ice cream treat.  We tried to open a French bank account without success.  Our boat is not "home" enough for them.  Time to leave and get on the Rhine.

Tuesday, April 16, 2019


Barge Date:  16-04-2019

Let's look at the improvements to the barge

I think anyone that has ever owned a boat always keeps a list of things they would like to do to improve life on board, to remove the very old and replace with something more current, to fix what is not working up to standards.

Coming through last year's boating season, we ended with a list of things to do, things we would like to see done before the start of this year's season. This included:

  • new covers for the cushions in the wheel house
  • new hot water heater in the kitchen that also serves the shower
  • new water pump that would be quiet and deliver constant flow for the shower, for example
  • bilge pump forward of the engine room bulkhead
The cushions showed age that could not be removed with cleaning, but also they looked inappropriate for such a classy barge as ours. The old water heater must be 40 years or more.  Last year it functioned at the beginning of the season but then gave out. The water pump was a classic pump and pressure tank, but the pump was 12 or 24 volts, made lots of noise, and I could never get the tank to give reasonable performance. Worse, the pressure flow varied so much that when you wanted hot water for a shower, you were constantly having to finagle with the hot and cold - and it  could be too much of either of these. Finally, there was no bilge pump in the major part of the boat, the living section. Once last year, I pulled up the access hatch and was alarmed to see a good  collection of water, entry point unknown.

If I lived in France year round, I think I could have done all of the above except the cushions. Time is too short during the cruising season to want to do this type of work while you travel, so you are left with having the work done by local people, in our case this past year, with marina workers.

You know what it would cost you to do the work.  Getting the parts, then getting the correct parts, back and forth to different stores because you don't have the little odds and ends needed to do the work correctly, needing a second set of hands that you can never depend on; your costs start to multiply.  And do you have the experience to do it correctly for a marine setting?  With the heater, you are dealing with something that can explode. One only has to look at the solar work done before last year's season to know that in order to do the quality of work you want, it has to be done by people that do it all the time.

So pictured here are these 4 jobs that have been completed on Lionel...d'Antan. We are already enjoying the improvements and their conveniences.

But there is more to come.  I can do some things and I did a number of boat projects at home over the winter.  I will show them as I get them up and working over the next month or so.


Water heater at the kitchen sink. Trim work to do.

Not exciting until you need it.

There is more of a leather look that the picture does not show.

Final location in engine room to be determined.





Thursday, April 11, 2019


Barge Date:  09-04-2019

Is this barge the best barge in the land?


We are back on board Lionel...d'Antan.  Uneventful travels from home to Brussels first for a visit
with the family. We are always hosted as royalty by the family.  Marianne was able to visit her favorite book store in town, buying for herself and our first grandchild due later this year.

Then on to Strasbourg.  Used a taxi to get to the boat as a wheel is off my suitcase. Of course this is where you open the boat after it has been closed up for months.  Did I do a good job closing last year? How much water is there in the boat?  Has the work been done by the crew here at the harbor and does it look top drawer?

Right from the beginning, I began to worry.  The harbor workers had been on the boat, and I was told by email just before departure that the 12-24 volt electric was not working. The 220 volt was fine. This has to be classified as a grey area because some of the wiring may be 50 years old.

OK.  First, get some heat on the boat.  The go-to for this is the diesel stove. It had a flame for several minutes, but then out. Tried all kind of voodoo to get it to fire, but no luck.  We would sleep in the cold (actually quite nice under the covers). We walked to the local market store - closed. This is starting to add up.  More work on the stove the next day - cleaned and changed the filters for the diesel stove.  No luck.

Trip to an oral surgeon to remove stitches from a very recent tooth extraction.

OK.  I will just start the central heat. I have not had this on for more than a year but had my written instructions handy. Would not start. Could this be because the 12-24 volt system is down? Wrong wiring from last year's solar install? Spent the morning on the floor of the wheelhouse looking at an old fuse box. I  had tested the engine batteries the day before, and I thought it was nil.  I ran power from shore, and the generator immediately starts up. Then I realize my multi-meter mistake and took a second reading - above 12 volts. Verified by starting the engine. So how could I have 220 volt house power, have engine batteries start the engine, but not have low voltage power?

I can see Marianne thinking that perhaps an early arrival for her is a mistake.

I am thinking about  opening a below water tap and sending her down when the man that had done the work on the boat, Vincent, walks up and says "I know what the problem is".

There is a box with the solar/electric set-up that is a battery protector. If it senses something amiss it breaks the connection.  It can be tested by jumping the 2 heavy poles on it. Plus, and I should have known this, there are lights that must be on. Warranty item for me; hope to have part by end of the week (but I have little faith).  Now everything is working. But for the battery protector, it did not stop
the house or engine batteries from doing normal work.  Just shut down the 12-24 volt. This does not make complete sense. Does it shut down these lower voltages because something might fly them but can handle the higher voltages?

And Vincent also showed me a trick with the stove, and we had fuel flowing immediately.

This is still the best barge in the land.