Now we have completed a few successful and really enjoyable runs up and down the river, we decided to do the much anticipated and discussed trip to Oxford.
We had a lovely trip chatting, working the locks, dodging trees in the river and taking turns at the helm. The weather was beautiful and we loved being on the Thames River.
Friends joined us for a river run
After our day run yesterday, we really wanted to go away for a few days. We wanted to finish what we had originally started before the gearbox drama – a trip up to Oxford and then make our way back down the river Thames. We also needed to work on our long stay French Visa applications (which I believe is a paperwork nightmare). But today we have friends joining us for a whole day and we are really looking forward to catching up. While we love getting away from UK winters and going to sunny Cape Town, its a long time to be away from friends. Patrick is dying to chat “boat / bilges / holding tanks / engines, with a fellow sailing buddy. I am dying to catch up on all the gossip I have missed.
We left Reading Marina at a sensible 10:00am (ish) and worked our way up through Mapledurham lock and then Pangbourne lock. We stopped for lunch at the Swan Hotel and pub; we tied up alongside the bank and garden of the pub, so it was perfect and the food was delicious. Afterwards we made our way up to Goring but didn’t go through the lock as we had to still make our way back down to Reading as our friends were not staying overnight.
The lock keeper at Goring also had the facility to provide us with a river licence, for the month of May. We didn’t need it for longer as we are planning to be off the Thames and possibly on the Medway or even in France by June. So we are excited to be moving in that direction.
It was a lovely day and the boat went well, which is always a relief with her. I mostly forgot about that visa application.
A little run up the river
With the boat all unpacked and ready for action, we did a little day run today, through one lock and back to Reading. We looked forward to moving on the river after being tied up on the mooring for so long and appreciating nature, especially all the new baby geese and swans.
We were checking that the gearbox was all happy and in working order as we have friends joining us tomorrow for a day trip. It also gave us (me) the opportunity to activate the muscle memory necessary to work all the ropes in the locks. It was a good day and fortunately the muscles required to lift wine glasses are the same muscles used to throw ropes so it was also a successful day.
We are back...
Even after an 11 hour flight and all the airport waiting time before and after, we still felt energised to get the boat back to a liveable state. The boat cover and the winterising procedure carried out by the marina left the boat completely dry and “key-start ready”, as promised. However, moving back onto the boat always takes longer than we thought it would take, so after two solid days of unpacking and “refitting”, we were ready to finally relax.
The river flow had subsided and the sun even threatened to show its face for more than a few hours. After 6 months in sunny Cape Town, we could live with the cloud and occasional sunshine for now, but we were so happy to see no “red boards”.
We decided we would do a little day run next Friday, a test for the gearbox and engine and friends joining us the following day so we are really looking forward to being out on the river.
The gearbox returns, the oil leak persists and the rain continues
Much to our delight we were told that the gearbox would be back in the marina/yard today. Whoohhhooo.
Patrick and the engineers had a final chat about the oil leak, as that needed to be resolved before the gearbox went back in.
The engine had leaked oil ever since she had been rebuilt and returned back into the boat. Patrick thought it might have been the sump plug leaking, so before we set off on this leg of the trip (which feels like 200 years ago), Patrick raised the engine as much as he needed to in order to seal the sump plug. Unfortunately oil kept leaking into the bilges.
Now with the gearbox off, the engineers were able to raise the engine even more and check out that sump plug. They confirmed that the sump plug fitted by Patrick was not the problem. The oil was coming from the gasket around the sump. And all the bolts around the sump were loose! They tightened all the bolts they could reach by ¼ turn and Patrick and I had a heated chat about how this could have happened. But at least we had found the problem.
Well that relief was short lived as the oil continued to leak and the engineers asked what we wanted to do about it. One option was to take the engine out and have a proper investigation, with no guarantee they could resolve it. The engine was very old and not as common as other Perkins engines. There were also no part numbers available for replacement. We also knew, from the previous work, that parts like the sump and bell-housing had been impossible to find and replace, so they had been “fixed” or re-welded.
We agreed to live with the leak for now. We will come back to the problem later and when the boat comes out for winter, perhaps that would be the best time to start the investigation. In the meantime Patrick was “happy” to do weekly oil mop-ups and we would keep loads of spare oil on board. He lines the bilges with these amazing oil absorbent pads, a little like nappy pads for leaky engines. The pads absorb oil and grime but don’t absorb water and they are very effective. He immediately ordered boxes of these.
The gearbox arrived, as promised; with a hefty (and what feels like unnecessary) bill. Lessons have been learned – trust your gut. If it doesn’t feel right, it might not be right (I am looking at you mineral oil SAE 30). The engineers got the gearbox back in with no trouble, despite the rain. We were thrilled to start the engine and run Deux on the ropes for a while.
It had been pouring with rain over all these weeks and the river is running fast and high but we were keen to do a little travelling on the river while we can. We have flights booked for South Africa in a few weeks and the boat will be covered and lifted onto the hard here at the marina for winter and that will be the end of our 2024 boat travel experiences.
A working gearbox!
Gearbox update and police visits
We had news that the gearbox is all done...and there was nothing mechanically wrong. It was the wrong oil!!
We had the gearbox completely rebuilt in 2019 and it had less than 100 running hours. We now (unsuccessfully) tried to contact the engineer who did the rebuild, but Patrick recalled a conversation about the oil that was put into the gearbox at the time. He had questioned the oil type at the time of the rebuild, as it didn’t make sense but the engineer assured Patrick that it was correct. Well now we know it wasn’t. The clutch plates had stuck and that was what had caused the gearbox to seize. What an expensive exercise. But the gearbox was all finished and on its way back to down to the boat. We were so happy.
As we were about to celebrate and plan a few trips, Patrick asked me if I had moved the bicycles (??? - what?). Ever since we had settled into the marina and were often using the bikes, we took them off the boat and chained them up to a steel pole under security cameras, in the yard. We hadn't used them for a few days as it had been raining non stop. Well now they were gone. We had a quick chat with Phil (the marina owner) and he checked the CCTV cameras. There it was – all the footage / film of a questionable gentleman and his trusty side cutters. He had taken more than 10 minutes to cut through the steel cable and then off he went with our bikes.
Suddenly the police arrived (well one car and two officers). We were really impressed by such a quick response to us reporting a theft to the marina. That was short-lived. The bike thief had also attempted to break into a house right next to the boat yard and the home owner had called the police. But the officers also took a statement from us, gave us an incident number and we called our insurance company. They were happy to replace the bikes, so that was a relief.
So we looked forward to new foldable bikes, a “new” gearbox and two new HUGE bike chains.
Silver lining behind every cloud. And talking about clouds – the rain just didn’t seem to want to stop.
Time spent in Reading
Spencer and Shaun (engineers) confirmed it was the gearbox. They called in another engineer (Matt) who was experienced in working with gearboxes. He concluded – it would need to come out. It wasn’t something he could work on. It would need to be sent away. He knew a man……
So that’s what happened over the next few days. They managed to lift the back of the engine in-situ and get the gearbox out. Patrick asked Spencer if he could also check out a persistent oil leak that he had attempted to fix a number of times. Spencer agreed to investigate that leak, once he had recovered from manually lifting out the gearbox and getting it into his vehicle. I think, with hindsight, he probably wished he had used the forklift that had been part of the discussion earlier in the day.
Spencer drove up to Nottingham to drop the gearbox off (about 150 miles one way!!) as he didn’t want to risk it getting lost using a courier service.
And we made the best of a bad situation.
Patrick painted the roof, which has been on the to-do list for years. He fitted an extra two flexible solar panels onto the roof once it was dry. The 3 existing solar panels charge the batteries for our fridges and freezer in the galley. The new 2 solar panels will charge the house batteries. We had friends and family come and stay on board. We played board games - not all drinking games either. We are saving the hard liquor for the feedback call from the gearbox man and our engineers.
We tried out a number of different laundrettes. Patrick took a bus. We explored the area by bicycle and visited the local museums and Abbey ruins (circa 1121). We saw some beautiful sunsets (not that many sunrises). All in all, while we would rather be travelling, this spot on the river, where we have broken down, is not too bad.
Reading Marina
Woke to the reality that something is really wrong with our engine / gearbox. But more than that – what do we do now?
Phil (who owned the marina) came over the river to have a chat. He explained that there were marine engineers who worked at the marina and he had let them know that we had some “difficulties”. He explained that the plan was to tow us back over to the marina where we could stay. The engineers, Spencer and Shaun, were out on booked jobs but would be with us tomorrow to have a look and discuss next steps. Phil also offered us electricity and water! So we were off!
The tow didn’t go entirely to plan, why would it?
Deux is a heavy boat and without the running engine, there was no way to slow her down. Patrick usually puts her into reverse very quickly to stop her. Once she got going, being towed over the river, it was very hard for the tow boat to stop her once she reached the other side. So the corner of the wall did!! The steel hull didn’t even feel the “bump” but the wooden toe rail and bow-roller took the hit. Something else quickly added to the “to do” list.
We settled into our temporary new home, filled up with water and made the best of the situation, while we waited for the engineers to let us know what they thought, what the next steps would be and we hoped it would be quick and painless.
Sonning to Reading Marina
After an amazing thunder/lightening show throughout most of the night, we woke to rain (of course), although I really wanted to believe the weather app, which claimed that it would be a dry somewhat sunny day.
We left Sonning at 10:15, aiming to get as close as we could to Goring, as we heard it was so pretty and lovely moorings. We also had friends coming from north of Oxford who would join us as soon as we stopped somewhere. We just needed to let them know where we were moored up or headed to and they would drive to that spot. This was becoming a regular and easy thing to do – post your position and friends find you. So lovely.
Patrick had some “intel” (he read it in the River Thames guide book) about a fuel berth at Caversham, not too far up the river. So that would be our first stop.
Besides needing fuel, I was getting a little concerned about the condensation inside the boat. The outside temperature was dropping most evenings and the boat was getting really damp inside at night. I was wiping down windows and ceilings most mornings now.
This was not a new problem on the boat as winter approaches. Almost all boats have an issue with condensation, particularly with cooking, showering, breathing, (snoring in Patrick's case) etc. The problem of condensation and damp is best resolved by using a dehumidifier. (I am still working on the snoring problem). We hadn't brought our dehumidifier with us as it was just too large and difficult to store away when not in use, but it worked a treat when we used it. So I started an online search for stores that sold small but effective dehumidifiers and if any of these stores were within walking distance from any stops/moorings along our route.
I found one at a store in Tilehurst, Reading AND there was a marina right there. So the plan was: fuel at Caversham and dehumidifier at Reading and then onto Goring to meet friends. Sounds like a simple and easy day.
We found the fuel berth easy enough, as the sun came out. The clue was the large petrol pump on a wooden pontoon. Oh, and a big sign that said “Fuel”. Another boat pulled up just as we started to fill up – we have two fuel tanks, port and starboard, and we wanted to fill them both. I hoped there would be some fuel left afterwards - we were looking at taking on board 300 litres!
I went back on-line to make sure the dehumidifier was not only small and effective but also really really cheap.
The fuel pump was slow so we had a good chat with the owners of the other boat. “Boat people” are so lovely and even if you have completely different boats, you will have shared experiences. So, for a few minutes you get to know so much about each other, only to probably never see them again. Once we were done, Patrick added diesel-bug preventative into the tanks, we paid and we said our good byes.
Off to Reading to get the dehumidifier. We came across the marina easily enough, although it was more like a working yard compared to the marina we had stayed at earlier, in Windsor. There was a wall in front, on the water, where boats were tied up but it didn’t look like there was space for us and there was no obvious visitors mooring.
There were, however, spaces across the river on the bank on the right hand side so we agreed to stop there and decide what to do - it is so hard to make decisions while the boat is moving.
The marina (and the shops) were on the left of the river but as there weren’t any open spaces for us, our only option was to haul out the dingy (tender) pump it up and row across. Perhaps we should move on and look elsewhere for a dehumidifier.
A man shouted across the river from the marina side, asking if we were planning to say there, on the bank. Patrick shouted back that we only wanted to stop for a while, to go into the town for “provisions”. The man, Phil (who we later found out owned the marina yard as well as all the moorings on the wall and directly across the river), replied that we could come across the river with our boat and tie up/raft up along side a large barge/canal boat that was tied up against the marina wall. We could stay there for about half an hour if we wanted….. Yes please!!. So we untied from the bank and Patrick did a turn in the river so we could come alongside the barge (called Bobbin-Along).
Rafting up is something we had done many times and Patrick asked me to throw a rope as we come alongside and try get it (loop it) over the cleat on to the front of the badge, bring the rope back onto our boat and tie it off – the line shouldn’t be too tight - and then see if I could get a centre line over the cleat in the centre of the barge. These are always on the roof of a barge or narrowboat. He is usually in neutral at this point so we go really slowly. He would then motor against the tied on ropes and the back of the boat would come in alongside neatly. This is a system we often and somewhat successfully do when mooring up.
But it all went wrong.
As Patrick slowly brought Deux Poissons along side, I was on the bow of the boat, ready with the ropes, but our boat “overshot” the barge, so I couldn’t throw anything. At the time I wondered why he wasn’t slowly creeping forward in neutral. I waited for Patrick to correct this, as he normally does, by reversing. In a worst case scenario, he would just circle back round and I would try again. But our engine cut out, just stopped, but we were still coasting forward. Moving toward a motorboat tied up in front of Bobbin-Along. Patrick restarted the engine but it cut out immediately. He then came out onto the deck to grab the side of the barge to stop our boat from crashing into the other boat in front of us. Which he managed. (I have no idea how, really no idea). Our boat is heavy! Then he took the rope jumped onto the barge and tied off the front line. He grabbed the centre line and got that onto the barge. He then scrambled down the side of the badge and took the aft line. Finally we were all tied up and could breathe. What the hell had happened? I just kept quiet.
Patrick went back onto Deux and started her up, she started but immediately went forward. He put her into neutral and she kept going forward. Reverse and the engine cut out, stalled. I thought it was faulty fuel – diesel bug? Fuel problem? Why would the engine cut out? Patrick said no – is seemed like a gear box problem. She was stuck in forward, and as soon as he tried to reverse, the engine cut out. This did puzzle us as we had the gearbox reconditioned about 3 years ago and we haven’t used the boat much since that time. Patrick estimated less than 100 hours. It should not have broken.
Phil, the owner of the marina, came over to see what was happening. Patrick explained and showed him what was happening with the engine and he agreed that it was possibly gear box. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay where we were – tied up on Bobbin-Along - as the owner would be back soon (he was also out shopping) and the barge needed to move. Bobbin-Along had a permanent mooring across the river and the space he (we) were taking up was reserved for other boats that would be back either that day or tomorrow. God, what a mess!. ~
But Phil was so lovely. He offered to tow us across the river, back onto the bank that we had first stopped at and we could stay there. He had a small little “ferry” boat he uses to shuttle people around the river, so he could tow us over. He also has a son who was the marine engineer at the marina and so he would arrange for him to be down to the marina early tomorrow and to come over and check out our engine/gearbox and we could take it from there.
So we off-loaded our bikes from the boat and locked them in the yard and got back on to the boat. Phil and friend John towed us over to the bank and we secured our boat up there. They were both so lovely and kind. We later found out that John owned the boat in front of Bobbin-Along, that we nearly crashed into and he often loves to just come down and stay over on in, enjoying the river and nature. If Patrick hadn’t stopped our boat, it would have made for a very different ferry ride back to our boat – I would have been mortified. As a reminder; our boat has a steel hull and a very sharp bow. John’s boat is “plastic”.
We quickly called our friends to let them know what had happened and they agreed to come down to Reading to see us but they would be a few hours still. We grabbed some grocery bags and got John to ferry us back to the marina so we could take our bikes into the town to do some grocery shopping. As tempting as it was to pull into the first pub and stay there, we were sensible and headed to the supermarket. We piled up as much beer and wine as we could into our grocery bags, secured them tightly to the back of the bikes and slowly cycled back to the boat yard/marina. We locked up our bikes again, as it appeared this would be our mode of transport for a while and John helped us load our provisions into the ferry boat and took us back over the river.
So for now we had a place to stop and stay. How long, we didn’t know. Our pressing concerns were …. power and water. Patrick works Tues, Wed and Thursday, on a laptop so that needs to keep charged. We have solar panels which will keep the fridge-freezer going, so the beer and wine will stay chilled. We have a little portable camping gas hob, so we could boil a kettle or a pot/pan, so we are unlikely to starve, although our shop earlier hadn't focused much on food!
We hadn’t filled with water when we did the fuel stop, so we were getting low on water. And the biggest crises was the dishwasher was half full and would need to go on at some stage. Or I would need to hand wash :(.
But our friends had arrived and were standing on the bank waving at us, with a HUGE basket of goodies. John appeared out of nowhere and bundled them up into the ferry boat and brought them over to us. I was thrilled to find that the basket not only contained home made scones and all the bits that go with them but also bottles of prosecco.
It was lovely to have friends over and we re-lived the drama of earlier, by explaining what had happened and hashing out all possible causes and solutions. The related trauma was significantly dampened with each sip (gulp) of prosecco. They stayed for a few hours and then were bundled back into the ferry boat and waved goodbye as they set off back home.
We tidied up the boat, something I have to do a couple of times a day otherwise it becomes so cluttered and feels overwhelming. We had filled up on scones and prosecco, but agreed that a little dinner was needed. So we ran the generator for a while, charged up the laptops and phones and I got us some dinner done using the airfryer. We forfeited our showers for the dishwasher, but if we were going to be staying here for a while, we were going to need a way to get water onto the boat. Using plastic jerry cans would be our best bet.
It was an early evening, and despite all that had happened we were in a lovely spot for the night – what felt like right in the middle of nature, as long as you only looked out the starboard side windows!
As we settled down for the night I remembered that we hadn’t bought the dehumidifier. With the words “broken gear box / repair or replace / lift the engine out / very old gearbox / no idea what could be wrong / no idea of costs / recently reconditioned” all running around in my head, it didn’t feel the right time to discuss the purchase of a dehumidifier, even if it was in the store just round the corner of the marina.
So I thought I would sleep on it and bring it up at a later stage – choose your battles and all that.
Cookham to Sonning
After an evening of tasty snacks and even tastier wine, 10h30am felt way too early; but off we went – into the fog.
We passed more beautiful huge houses, impressive, with boat houses we could live in.
At Marlow lock we dropped our mast as we had a few low bridges ahead and the mast wouldn’t make it.
As we made our way to our next stop, Sonning, we shared the river and the locks with the same boats, travelling in the same direction. This almost always what happens; boats travel at the same(ish) speed, so you arrive at the locks together. If the locks are busy, you tie up outside the lock together and wait your turn or together work the lock. Then you enter and tie up inside together and wait for the lock to fill before you can continue with your trip. So there is a lot of chatting and “hello again”. You have time to learn about each other and share stories and advice. You just pick up where you left off at the next lock and for a while these are “your people”.
And then you go separate ways. You stop and stay somewhere and off they go, or vice versa. There is this strange joy when you see them a few days later, possibly tied up somewhere and you wave madly, like you have seen an old old friend. If you’re lucky, you meet again in a lock and can finally hear what happened to Aunt Susan on the hike in the woods or if Uncle Gary did win a prize in the vegetable growing competition. Today our friends were the owners of a sweet small day boat called Little Annie, who they purchased in Poole – our old sailing ground. The beautiful varnish made me quite envious and every time I looked at Patrick he was giving me that knowing/accusing stare – yes I needed to get on with my varnishing so Deux Poissons gleamed like Little Annie. (I think the clue as to the discrepancy in our varnished woodwork lay in the word “Little”).
We also shared the locks with Princess Marina, a very large old tourist boat. Today her guests were happily sipping cocktails and sparkling wine on the foredeck in the sunshine while some friendly ladies were cooking up a storm in the galley, which was in the aft section, with large windows. Princess Marina went into the lock first, every time, and we managed to squeeze in behind her. The first time I made a comment about the sliding windows in the aft section / galley being perfect serving hatches - we all just “laughed”. The next lock I greeted the ladies again with the normal somewhat “cheesy”… here we are again ladies. This time they held up chicken hamburgers and asked if we would like one? Mmmm. YES PLEASE! I was starting to regret the tasty wine from last night and hadn't had a chance to grab any food yet. I was starving.
I almost threw Patrick onto the bank to grab those burgers before the lock opened or someone intervened (like the captain or whoever was paying for the trip). The boat, however, was too far from the edge and Patrick couldn’t reach the prize, but he took one look at my face and quickly instructed the ladies with a plan. Using an oven tray they created a “bridge” and Patrick was able to secure the goods. Best tasting chicken burger. EVER. Thank you to the queens on the Princess Marina.
We passed through Henley-on-Thames which was really pretty. It was quiet with a few row boats practising but it was easy to see how crazy it would be here during the Royal Regatta in July. Established in March 1839, the regatta lasts 6 days and about 300 000 people attend each year.
We passed through Marsh Lock at 13:50 and got to Sonning about an hour later. We found a space on an Environmental Agency bank and grabbed it, which was lucky as there was a constant stream of boats for about an hour after, slowing down and looking for a mooring. We seemed to have got the last one. Princess Marina turned around before the lock, so we had said our goodbyes and thank you. Little Annie came through through with us and went on ahead. I am sure we will see her soon as they were headed for Abington which is where they lived and they were looking to take a few more slow days to get there. We are headed in the same direction.
My daughter, Amy and partner Tom drove up and joined us for a delicious dinner at the pub nearby, Bull Inn – was delicious, although the Princess chicken burger still rated 10/10 for me.
It wasn't too late to bed and as we settled down, the thunder and lightening started. It went on for ages and was amazing to watch and see. I did hope that this wasn’t the start of the rainy season just yet, as we were having such fun.
