Until our arrival this spring, we had spent less than an hour with Detour. As with any boat, new or old, we anticipated there there would be things we would need to fix and modifications we would need or elect to make. We did not anticipate how long we’d be sitting in the same spot over a month. If you are a boater, our saga may be of interest. If not, feel free to skip down to Flower Boxes.

Cleaning

Detour, prior to our purchase, was driven for an extended period of time with a broken exhaust pipe. Soot had deposited itself on every interior surface. We are thankful to those who were tasked with the initial cleanup. However, we encountered many areas that had been missed or insufficiently cleaned! Luckily for us, we found a product that was up to the task.

The images below, left to right are of:

1. a cabinet shelf that had been partially cleaned
2. ceiling light fixtures before and after we cleaned them
3. one of dozens of rags used to remove the soot
4. the only product we found that did the job

Electrical issues

• Can’t turn the engine off (fuse kept blowing – replaced it with a modestly higher amp fuse).
• Outlets on the port side were not working (their wires were fed through the circuit breaker for the air conditioner which was turned off).
• Replaced British outlets with French outlets (not really an issue – our preference)
• Air conditioner not cooling (solution – fans for the time being) – not typically an issue for us, but 100+ degree, 10 hour sunlight and an all steel boat makes for some pretty uncomfortable nights.
• Refrigerator not cold enough (stifling heat, rumpled gasket, insufficient air exchange in closed cabinet) – modest improvement – still working on replacing gasket – needs to be sent from England
• Shower water fixtures inoperable (what we expected would be a simple thing to replace, turned into many hours laboring to create a watertight connection between piping installed in England which is 15mm, while piping available in France is either 14mm or 16mm.)

Mystery

The four bicycles included in our purchase agreement for Detour were missing. The port manager and the Captainairie had no knowledge about them. Several weeks later we happened upon them. They were on a canal boat owned by the gentleman who moved Detour to Port de la Robine. Apparently after painting the top sides of Detour, he had to leave France suddenly. We expect he moved the bikes to his boat while he was painting and forgot to let anyone know.

Flower Boxes

Our joy in seeing canal boats decked out with flowers made it a priority to install them asap. They included lots of flowering plants, as well as basil, mint, chives, parsley, and cilantro. We had no insect issues and everything grew beautifully. Note to all, however, plant your mint in its own container – it is very aggressive.

We also started a succulent planter that we hope will make it through the winter months when we will not be in France.

Shopping

Detour had been a charter boat previously and came with sufficient dishes, silverware, towels, cooking pots, et.al. such that we could live on her with the resources already present. We did, however, want to furnish and decorate her in a style of our own. This required a great deal of shopping. As we were in a very small town, and relying on bicycles primarily for transportation, we shopped on line for much of what we needed. We could not have imagined what a challenge that would present when it came to getting our purchases to us.

We did not always know the location of the vendor and the dates they conveyed for delivery were unreliable. Nonetheless, someone needed to be there to sign for the package and when you were on the lookout all day for a delivery truck that never came – well you can finish the sentence. Some vendors had difficulty finding the boatyard and we would receive word that our item was undeliverable. This, at times, prompted them to immediately return the purchase. It did not mean we were immediately reimbursed. We are still waiting for reimbursement for a rug that was returned to Switzerland as it has been hung up in customs for months. Despite these challenges, we believe we have outfitted Detour very smartly.

Our daughter and her husband visited us towards the end of our stay in France and took this video of Detour. I hope you agree she looks comfortable and pretty.