Luciole Blog

Winter work

We are installing a new generator in the Luciole this year. The plan is to replace our backup, with a brand new one, thus making our current main generator a backup. We have also replaced our hot water cylinder and are hooking it up to the engine, to capture the heat, improve our efficiency and reduce our emissions.

This has various challenges, such as, getting the old one out and new one in, we also need a larger keel cooling box, which is fitted to the hull and allows the canal water to flow into, thus cooling the engine. This will be done in the shipyard, which we leave for tomorrow, located on Seine within the southern Paris suburbs.

In the shipyard we will also be replacing the propeller shaft, which connects the propeller to the engine, these can get slightly misshapen over the years, often from the propeller striking floating logs etc and creating small vibrations. A new top bearing for the rudder is also required.

Every 5 years we are required to come out of the water and have the hull inspected and it’s thickness scanned. It is a 5 day cruise from Auxerre to Paris, on the challenging lower Yonne and later the Seine. Will is piloting the boat on the long slog up, with his Mum for the deckhand... wish us luck!