Tuyau d'Arrosage

⇚   Sunday, November 9, 2014 / Stephanie / Projects   ⇛

The first thing that Brian and I did once we obtained the boat keys was to go through the entire boat to determine what remained aboard from the previous owner; what "free" stuff had we gained through this sale? We opened every cupboard, closet, and hatch and took inventory of remaining spare parts, life jackets, harnesses, flares, equipment manuals, canvas, sails, lines, cleaning products, etc. As we emptied and sorted, I cleaned all of the compartments. The boat was basically clean, just a bit of dust, and basically empty. Now it was time to get down to the good stuff. We dismantled everything! Now that we own this boat, we wanted to know the nitty-gritty details. As any boatowner will attest, a new-to-you boat doesn't mean new. It simply means that we don't yet know what our project list will entail; and let's face it, any boat is a continuous project! We had an outline of where to begin from the surveyor but anticipated little surprises to emerge. And so we took up the cushions, we uninstalled the interior paneling, we took up the floor, we inspected the bilges, we poked, we prodded, and we inserted flashlights where no flashlight had gone before...thus, Detour had transformed from show-mode to work-mode. After we'd sufficiently prodded for one afternoon, we'd convinced ourselves that this boat was in such disrepair it would never leave the yard and, momentarily, we yearned for Rode Trip. (Of course, this was delusional thinking; a typical cruiser's defense response when feeling overwhelmed to speculate the worst possible outcome and then crack a beer or pour a cocktail and proclaim, "Well it could be worse, at least she floats!") We'd start small, from the bottom up. Our first project aboard Detour was to clean the water tanks and bilges and to test the water systems and bilge pumps. Everything had been exposed when we'd taken up the flooring and now all we needed was a hose to get started. No problem! We walked to the chandlery at Port Napoleon to buy a hose. We found exactly one hose priced at €55. Yikes! Next we went to the one other nearby chandlery and found a hose for €45. Getting better, but at those prices we'd break the bank and this was only project #1. We'd recalled a household aisle in the grocery store, so we went there to look for a hose. We meandered around the store for several minutes, hovering by the household aisle and searching through light bulbs, batteries, extension cords, etc. A gentleman who had been pacing the main aisle stopped us, in French, and inquired what we were looking for. He pulled a badge from beneath his sweater collar and motioned with his finger in front of his lips, "Shhhh, Security." He re-hid his badge and then we proceeded to play a game of charades with the security guard and two other grocery store employees. We said, "eau," for 'water' and "fleur" for our improve version of 'flower' and motioned as though we were watering a garden. Brian even made the "SShhhhhh" sound as though there were water gushing from his imaginary hose. We formed our fingers to make a circular shape and said, "tube," for 'tube.' Finally, "Ah ha!" replied the security guard and he motioned we follow him back to the household aisle. No hose. Lastly we went to the secondhand chandlery, but no hoses there. Fortunately there happened to be a cruising couple browsing the secondhand chandlery. The couple was speaking English! We struck up a conversation with them, thankful for some cruising small-talk, and then asked if they knew of a hardware store anywhere in the vicinity. "You'll want to look for a bricolage," replied the husband, "but you won't find one here. The nearest may be in Marseilles." The search for a hose was then postponed for the next day. Fortunately, Brian and I have rented a car. Rather than drive to Marseilles, which seemed silly, we opted to drive to the nearest, larger town of Arles; approximately 40-minutes away. We'd visited Arles when we had gone to France in search of our new boat and we recalled a shopping district. Maybe we'd find a hose there. It was a scenic drive. As we approached the commercial center of Arles we spotted a billboard advertising 'Mr. Bricolage'. "Oooohhh!" I exclaimed, "That must be the store the cruising couple suggested, there is one just ahead!" Just around the rotary... This store was precisely a Home Depot transplanted in France. In the garden section we found an entire selection of hoses of various sizes and much more affordable prices. Success! But we had to build the hose. Interesting. The hoses did not include end fittings, and so once you select a hose you also must select the appropriate hose fittings. This was no big deal, there were only a few dozen options. Mission complete! We bought a hose and appropriate end fittings for €20. We also discovered the hardware store, to which we'd return with a proper list. First boat project, here we come!

8 Comments

  1. From Phyllis Pardee on Nov 10, 2014
    Pictures came through fine for me.....good luck with getting to know your new boat!!!
  2. From Stephanie Grandjean on Nov 10, 2014
    Sally - interesting troubleshooting, the pictures need to be fixed so I'm working on it. Thanks for commenting and trying to assist!
  3. From Stephanie Grandjean on Nov 10, 2014
    Marilyn - not sure what's happening with the pictures in this post but I'll get it fixed. Thanks for commenting to let me know!
  4. From Stephanie Grandjean on Nov 10, 2014
    Penny - not sure what happened to the pictures but I'll get it fixed! Thanks for commenting to let me know!
  5. From sally on Nov 10, 2014
    I guess I will have to keep Google Translate handy. https://www.google.com/search?q=googletranslate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb
  6. From sally on Nov 10, 2014
    Penny, if you want to see the pictures cut and paste the picture links into your address bar and they will come up. When I first saw this blog entry I thought the same thing. "What no pictures?" Go from http until jpg. Check the numbers, because some of them are the same. I found 5 pictures, one of a nice road, one the front of the hardware store, one of the hoses on the shelf, one of hose fittings, and one of what I am assuming is the top of the water tank. Good to see you around sailing detour.
  7. From bahama mama penny on Nov 10, 2014
    NO PICTURES!!!!!
  8. From Marilyn on Nov 10, 2014
    I'm wondering if it is on my end or not, but no pics are showing up. I only see the text address and picture file name. :(. I'm truly excited about following along on this new adventure as well!