Leaving Épernay we headed downstream on the Marne. At first, Champagne’s vineyard covered hillslopes follow the course of the river, most dramatically visible above the right bank. The Marne is autumn is beautiful, and all the more so when the … Continue reading
Saint Jean de Losne was proving to be our Hotel California: We could check out anytime we liked, but we could never leave, at least not for good.
On Wanderlust’s return journey from Rhine terminus of the Canal du Rhône au Rhin was quite different than the outbound cruise. The weather and river had changed. Gone were the cool rainy days and clear fresh flowing water of spring. … Continue reading
Wanderlust escapes.
As of the time of this writing it looks like we will lose the 2020 season to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the trouble-plagued 2015, Wanderlust has not had a full season of cruising, having lost much of 2016, 2017, and 2018 to the legal dispute and repairs. In 2019 additional repairs and a water shortage cut short the season. We had grand plans for cruising, and more paintwork for Wanderlust, in 2020. But those seem to be lost for the time being. With luck in 2021 we will finally be able to enjoy our first full cruising season in six years, as we imagined when we laid down the money for Wanderlust in 2013. But for now we’ll just relive our 2019 season…. Continue reading
Wanderlust comes out of the water in Saint Jean de Losne.
Five years after launch, in the summer of 2018, Wanderlust was due to have her bottom blacked. This is a standard maintenance item for most steel inland waterway craft. For Wanderlust, the re-blacking of the hull became more necessary after the paint survey conducted in the summer 2017 showed widespread failure of the underwater coatings. When Wanderlust was out of the water in 2017 swaths of bare steel were visible, particularly in the HAZ or “heat affected zones”, the places where the metal work had removed the shop primer applied during the steel’s manufacture. Continue reading
Wanderlust on the Saône: Pleasant unserviced moorings such as this one are the reason why live-aboard boats have the ability to function off of the grid.
From launch Wanderlust had issues with the integration of her generator’s electrical power output into the boat’s systems. The problem was debilitating enough that it made us reluctant to spend time off shore power, the main reason to have a generator in the first place. It’s these trials and tribulations with the generator that was the first indication that things would not go smoothly with out new barge. Continue reading
Wanderlust comes out of the water for work in 2018.
Note: I’ve been slow in following up with the posts on Wanderlust’s story. The 2018 season was lost in entirety to the remedial works that only became possible after the dispute with the builder was settled on February 6. As of 2019 Wanderlust is better than she ever was, though we are still dealing with several issues. Continue reading
Visitors fill their cups at the Celestins tap inside Vichy’s Hall des Sources.
Wanderlust was moved onto the hard in Saint Jean de Losne at the end of March 2018. We lived on board as much as we could as work was being done. It was helpful to be around to monitor progress but living on the hard had some downsides. Continue reading
Cutting a hole through the hull of a new barge to fix fuel leaks is a drastic measure.
Before we left Saint Jean de Losne for the winter of 2017 and when we returned at the beginning of March in 2018 we had the boatyard H2O cut six large access hatches through the floor in Wanderlust’s living area. These holes were cut so that we could determine where the diesel fuel in her bilge was coming from. It was a drastic approach to resolve a troublesome problem. Continue reading
In 2015 the realization had set in that Wanderlust had more than usual amounts of teething problems. It also became clear that the builder clearly understood that the boat he built had serious problems, many which dated from launch. Nevertheless … Continue reading
Wanderlust 