Week 206: Clair de Lune

Welcome aboard Clair de Lune (“Clair” for short). We’ve been teasing this news for a while. Although we enjoy sharing our progress, we’ve learned through experience that the deal is not done until it’s done, and of course trying to negotiate while shouting to the world “we love your boat” is a challenge too. We’ve tried to balance the excitement with reality and business.

This weeks post starts back in Week 180: New directions. Having decided a barge was the direction to go, we found Clair quite quickly but we weren’t yet ready to move. We contacted the broker, Jean-Luc (JL) and learned some more. Of particular note, Clair was intended as a hotel barge when she was refitted in 1995, but had never been chartered. There was another barge we were more interested in, but that one sold before we could inspect.

Roll forward to Week 200: Costa Brava and we knew more. Matilda wasn’t (still isn’t) selling as quickly as we’d like and the right sort of barge is rare.

What makes “the right sort?” It’s a good question. We had a few things in mind:

1. We preferred historic. New is too expensive so we thought 100+ years is more interesting than 35 years old. What we know about boats (a bit like houses) is that the systems are all replaced anyway. It’s the hull that ages and with a steel boat, it’s not a major issue.
2. We wanted four guests. Which means two guest cabins.
3. For flexibility we need to stay under 30 metres long and 5 metres wide. Air draft matters.
4. Layout is critical. Each cabin must have a private bathroom.

A lot of barges are either too big. Or too family home layout (with a large shared central bathroom), too run down or (if perfect on paper) far too expensive.

After visiting one barge in Belgium we quickly realized just how much work the wrong boat would be. We fully expect to do upgrades, after all, we’ve been told several times now that this is a “bathroom business”. Charter guests book off the photos. But when the bathrooms are in the wrong place, and the exterior paint is too far gone, that’s much more expensive to fix.

By the time we got to Clair, we had a good idea about what was needed. We’d spoken to some industry experts and had a couple of barge visits under our belt along with our own boating experience now.

We immediately loved her lines and her history. She is well laid out for guests. Lots of natural light and has been lightly used since her conversion. Where she’s not perfect is on the owner’s side. Our cabin is smaller than we’d like (the one we’ll use during charter season) but otherwise, Clair has always struck us as a grand old lady, in need of a lot of TLC.

The decision to purchase was a tough one. Matilda hadn’t sold. She will sell, but in the short term, we have needed to move money around to make this happen. Ultimately, like all things, it is a risk. But we’ve never been shy of risk.

On the other side of the equation is the countdown to season 2025. If we want something ready to charter, we either need to spend a LOT more money, or refit. And refits take time. Also, other than Clair, there were very few suitable options on the market.

We discussed it, slept on it and ultimately decided we’d go for it.

Clair is an interesting proposition. She presents poorly. Her previous owners are in poor health, one moved to a home and the other undergoing medical treatment. They have been unable to care for her in the way that is needed for any boat. But it’s also clear that when they could, they had cared for her very well.

When we inspected, we could tell the engine room was clean, the engine in very good condition (although it couldn’t be started). The wiring was neat and tidy (except for some last minute hacks as the batteries went flat, but easily resolved). The internal plumbing was in excellent condition. The bilges were dry (a little moisture from leaking during rain but that was to be expected). She is still “in survey” (a requirement every seven years – a haul out and test of the hull thicknesses).

Sure, she was covered in mould. Paint starting to flake (although not as bad as other boats). Varnish peeling. But everything we could see was superficial. The window frames are easily fixed. We intend to repaint anyway. The mould will scrub off. Nothing worked. But that’s most likely the flat house batteries.

So we did something dumb. We went back to the owner and said, we want to knock €55,000 off the listed price, but, we’ll take her “as-is / where-is”. No survey, no sea (or is it canal) trial. No need for you to get everything up and running again, we’ll take all that risk for a substantial 23% discount. They said make it €50,000 off and you have a deal.

No lawyers, no survey fees, no haul out costs. We modified the contract and added a couple of clauses based on our experience buying Matilda and insisted on an escrow for the money. All of which was accepted without a problem. And so, the deal was done.

Then we spent the two weeks running around Gent to get the flat sorted, the company setup and move some money to complete the deal. With everything in place and the contract in hand we set off to France on Sunday morning.

We didn’t make it far. Just to the end of our street and we saw what we thought was a boy scout hitchhiking. We always enjoy hitchhikers and so we stopped. Turns out it was three of them, and they weren’t Scouts. They were a somewhat similar Belgian equivalent of a Catholic Youth Association. They were on a challenge to cross Belgium to Antwerp and back again near Ypres with only €5 total! All while lugging around some huge logs.

We weren’t sure we could fit them in the car with us, but they squished into the backseat and we had a grand old time learning about their experiences as we drove them towards the town they were aiming for. It turns out they really wanted to go to Ypres, and we thought “why not”. So we added roughly an hour to the trip to take them to the train station there. Totally worth it.

From Ypres, before we knew it, we were in France and we cruised our way south to Dijon. Where we purchased Dijon Mustard (of course). Dijon is a lovely small city with a famous market “Les Halles” which we sadly missed but will no doubt attend another time.

We had a light meal at a local bar and after a big day of driving, crashed into bed.

Monday was ”the day”. We ate breakfast in the hotel (not too bad although Karina had what she says is THE WORST boiled egg she’s ever eaten) and then drove to Clair in Luneau.

When we arrived it was chaotic. The previous owner was on the boat clearing out the last of her personal possessions along with several friends and family to help. It was obviously an emotional process and we did our best to stay out of the way.

We took an extensive collection of photos for the insurance company and felt apprehensive about what we were about to do.

When JL arrived, we decided a photo with him in front of Clair was in order as a memory and then it was inside for a handover.

The owner gave us a walkthrough but she only spoke French, and her knowledge of the boat was limited. When it came to the technical side of things, that was all on her partner, who is now in a nursing home and couldn’t be there. We were very aware of the strain on her too, she’s in the middle of chemo and so while we pushed a little on some things, it really was very much “as-is/where-is”.

It was clear that nothing could be started because of an issue with the batteries, exactly what, they couldn’t say. They were clearly discharged and they were not hooked up at all. Okay… “as-is / where-is” it is.

And like that. We are the new owners of Clair de Lune. 😊

Slightly shell-shocked, we waved goodbye to everyone, then sat down and did what we do best. We wrote a list.

We decided that the best thing to do (and the cheapest) was to stay on Clair for the night. But we had no power for the boat, no lights and no water or toilets. Fortunately they left us a long extension cord from a property alongside the canal, so we could run the fridge and charge the phones. But that was it. There were toilets about 200 meters away in the public picnic spot.

First order of business was a run into the nearby town of Digoin to buy supplies. Sheets, new pillows and some basic food. We could eat and sleep on Clair. Also lots and lots of bottled water. Our timing was impeccable - the weather was going to be 38C most of the week.

We dug into the paperwork and found a few interesting things about her history.

Clair de Lune was built in the Netherlands in 1907. She moved to Antwerp and for the first few years of her working life was a commercial barge A.S. 270.

In 1922 she was “recovered” which I’m assuming meant she was sunk during WWI and renamed the “Albert Simone”. She continued in Antwerp until 1985 where she was renamed “Klipper”. It’s not immediately clear what happened then, but by 1994 she changed hands, was renamed “Clair de Lune” and was in a shipyard in Oostend, Belgout undergoing a major fit out. She was lengthened slightly and fitted out as a commercial charter vessel, then never used as that.

She was sold by the owners that did the refit to a Brit who owned her for a couple of years, then again to the owners we purchased her from. Now, she’s owned by Tim & Karina, a couple of excited Aussies who intend to restore her and make good on the Hotel Barge promise.

At 27 meters long, she’s quite big. 4.8 meters wide. 0.9 meter draft and 3.4 meter air draft. She holds 10,000 liters of water and 1,000 liters of black water storage. Three cabins, all with ensuite.

The first night was good. Working out where a few things were, flicking some switches (nothing) and as it got dark we headed to bed, ready for a big day on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning, Karina started the mammoth task of clearing all the unwanted stuff from inside and giving Clair a thorough clean, while I tackled the power issue.

It seemed the first thing to do was try wire the batteries up again. Clair runs a 24V system, so two batteries in series and then join those in parallel. I drew that up and sent it off to Eric on Awildian for a sanity check. All clear (he moved one wire for me). If you do the math, that’s 2x2 - four batteries. But there were 5 in the engine room and actually, housings for eight. No matter. A problem for another time. For now, our 2x2 should be fine.

Except with the batteries wired. Nothing happened.

I tried to start the generator, and there was a faint whir, then that died to.

In addition to the “regular” batteries on Clair, there were two “spares”. Cheap batteries they had purchased when things weren’t working to kick thing over. I hooked one up to the generator and it started immediately! We were one step closer. But other than the generator, still nothing worked.

Still, progress was made. We took a lot of bags to the trash and decided to make a run in to the hardware store. While there were some tools on Clair, the best ones had left with the previous owners (or I just couldn’t find them) so more were needed. Even the right sized spanner for the battery terminals would make life easier. And of course, I desperately needed a multimeter.

We went shopping (a 40 minute return drive plus the shopping time). When we returned it was stinking hot. We were dripping sweat and all we could do was collapse in the shade. The days work was at an end. The generator worked but still no power.

A lovely couple came by to say hello. We chatted to them in French too. They invited us for coffee. “But we stink!” No matter, come borrow our shower. We agreed to visit them Wednesday.

That evening we decided to sit up on the deck and discovered the wasps had made their home in the chairs. Thus began a running battle over the next few days to exterminate them all. I was only stung once (thankfully).

Wednesday morning came and with the multimeter the problem was evident. All the batteries were dead. Most under 6V and one that read zero! They had to go. The generator battery was flat - best replace it too.

Our French was getting a workout! I had to ring around and I found a store 20 minutes away that had the batteries we needed in stock, so that was good news. All done in French.

We rushed off to the store and bought the batteries. Bosch T80’s, four of them. Big truck / bus batteries. Did I mention they were heavy? We pushed the seats flat, loaded them into the back of the Ford Ka and it immediately sank to the suspension stops. We drove slowly to get lunch, then back to the boat.

It was clear that Karina and I couldn’t handle the batteries together, we needed help. We stopped at the local auto-repair shop on the way back. I jumped out and asked the lady at the desk “I need a man” (in French) and she promptly burst out laughing at me. A man was, however, found and he happily came out to the boat, helped me unload the batteries from the car and then looked at the access to the engine room and went white.

I showed him the winch I’d found and he brightened up. He said he’d return that night with his son (very strong) and we’d sort it out.

Then it was off across the canal to our new French friends, Monique and Patrick. The very first order of business was a much needed shower each and then coffee and macaroons. Between the two of us we can hold about two thirds of a conversation. Karina’s grammar is much better than mine, my vocab is a little stronger and more current. We fill each other in “he asked if we have somewhere to anchor the barge” and we make it work.

One thing is clear. The locals love Clair de Lune, are happy to see her being taken care of, but a little sad she’s leaving too.

Back to Clair, we pulled up the wheelhouse floor and opened up the large access hatch to the engine room. A bigger job than expected. Under the wooden floor is a large steel plate and we were again stuck until the local muscle arrived.

True to his word, the mechanic returned with his son, he hooked up the winch and within an hour we had all the dead batteries out and the new ones down. Didn’t even need the access through the wheelhouse, although it was good to check how that works.

And that was most of the day. New batteries in place, but not hooked up. Roll on to Thursday.

Thursday morning, August 1st is now officially “Clair day.” The first order of business was to hook the batteries up. As soon as they were connected, things started to come alive. I flicked a few well labeled switches (Main cut off, House bank) and the 24V lighting system started to work.

Up into the wheelhouse, where there is another 24V panel there and I was soon able to get most of the lighting on. Karina came running up, lights had started to show on a gas warning panel.

Another neighbor arrived and wanted a chat. So Karina spoke with him (in French) and learned all about his life, his boat restaurant he had on the Loire and invited him to tour Clair.

Meanwhile, I flicked lights on and off laughing like a maniac. Progress!

Then it was on to the inverter. There is a second switch panel under the stairs, which controls all the outlets and where the 240V power is coming from (Shore, Generator or Inverter) and that all worked too! We now have power on Clair. Very exciting.

Once our visitor had left, we worked though all the systems and circuits one by one trying to understand what controlled what areas of the boat. It’s quite well labelled and generally the labels do what they say so that helps too. Sometimes there are two switches to do one thing, but as we further diagnosed everything, even that made a sort of sense.

Then it was the motor. With battery power, she started up first try. Clair is now mobile.

With the power and engine sorted, the next big challenge was the freshwater pump. I could not find the power switch for that one anywhere. In her cleaning, Karina had found the wiring diagrams from the 1995 remodel and it turns out there was a third panel down in the engine room.

Behind the door with the mains switch are three breakers, one of which controls the freshwater pump. The freshwater pump (it’s not really a pump, it’s a “hydrophore”) is different from Matilda. It pressurizes the entire system to about 3bar and provides enough pressure to run showers, flushing toilets etc and is very silent.

We ran around flushing toilets, running taps and being disgusted at the water color, which eventually ran clean.

Next we focussed on charging the batteries and how the inverter works. We were able to get a bulk charge going and watch the batteries fill and switch to float off the generator. While that was happening we worked out the dishwasher, then hit our first snag when it came to the washing machine.

It wasn’t getting water. To cut a long story short, we dug around for ages trying to find a separate valve for that water line, but it turned out to be an airlock. Once we had the air out of the system it worked too! That wouldn’t happen until Friday morning.

The black water system on Clair is impressive. At the bow of the boat is a very large macerator pump. When the water flushes (or drains from showers) it all runs forward and is churned up and stored in the 1,000 liter tank.

Oh! And the freshwater storage on Clair is huge. 10,000 liters. Enough for several water hungry guests for a week without restrictions. Friday night we celebrated with our second shower of the week, this time onboard Clair. We packed up all the extension leads and Clair was now even tidier.

Friday, we tested the shore power and let the batteries charge again from shore this time. Another working system checked off. We successfully did a load of washing and we also got the LPG running as well.

The big job on Friday for me was starting the wash down. There was mould and slime everywhere on the outside and it all needed to go to uncover the real state of the boat beneath.

It took a lot longer than I expected. Two full days in fact. But by the end we have a clean boat that looks in a lot better condition.

We celebrated the progress on Friday night with a meal at a local restaurant, and started to turn our thoughts to leaving. Once the clean was completed on Saturday there was not too much more we could do on Clair.

Our thoughts returned to Belgium. We have some meetings coming up, my laptop has stopped powering on and needs to be repaired (yes, I wrote this entire post on my phone) and we still need to move Matilda. Lots to do.

The week on Clair was incredibly satisfying, at times challenging, but ultimately worth it. Although no doubt we’ll learn more when we haul out, for now, the risk and the offer of “as-is/where-is” has paid off. Clair is a boat again, and a very attractive one at that. Now she’s secured with tarps, to prevent leaks and more damage, clean and powered up, ready to go.

Sunday we drove home to Gent via the Paris outskirts, and here we are, Monday morning, finally catching up with the blog and planning the week ahead.

As to when we move Clair, there are many steps to go, not least paperwork! We’ll see how long that takes. But we’re very happy with our progress.

Until next time,

Tim & Karina