Richard Hewson

We arrived in Nevers with Harfie in the evening of 6th May. The next day was spent doing maintenance while we waited for my Mum (Nana Lyn) to arrive. I spent the day wiring the B&G cabling for the new Nav system while Emilie did some shopping.

Nana Lyn arrived in the evening if the 8th May for Mother’s Day (in Australia) and I met her at the train station. The children were very excited to see their nana who they haven’t seen for two years.

The next day we departed Nevers for Decize where we enjoyed walking around the old fortified city. We enjoyed an excellent meal at the Decize Marina restaurant.

Approaching Decize the Perkins engine temperature was nearing 90*C which is a bit too hot for my liking. In the evening after putting the kids to bed I took apart the sea water system of the Perkins engine. The Perkins 4236 is an excellent engine however the impeller which pumps sea water to cook the engine is impossible to service! After many quiet words to myself I managed to change the impeller and decided to leave the rest until morning.

The next morning I removed the pipe supplying sea water to the heat exchanger, blew the water through and then poured vinegar into the heat exchanger to de-calsify and remove any organic material. I left the vinigar for text hours to do it’s job while I rode my bike to the train station to meet my sister.
I met Amanda walking down the road, put her bag on my bike and we walked back to Sunday Islsnd. When we returned we started the engine and I was glad to see a full flow of cooking water.
The kids were very happy to have Amanda and nana Lyn onboard! Like all their christmases have come at once!

Today we cruised the canals from Decize to just short of Beaulon and this evening we tied up to the bank just south of Clos Du May for an evening of serenity away from towns.