With quarantine over, there was a long list of things to be done. First on the list, get the thrusters fixed. You may remember Chapters 46 and 48 – describing the failure of our thrusters. Now, it was time to get them working again. A Vetus (the manufacturer of our thrusters) mechanic had come onboard last year and tried – unsuccessfully – to figure out what was wrong. This time, Simon Piper, the owner of Piper Boats (based in England), came personally to sort out the problem. He, along with a Piper technician, spent three long days in the engine room trying to rig up a way to get the thrusters working while he waited for a replacement part to arrive from Vetus. And he succeeded!
We did not buy our barge from Piper. It was a private sale. There was no commission. Piper never made a penny from us. They owed us nothing. But Piper have treated us like royalty – as if we were the most important customer they ever had. When, in fact, we had never been a customer. House calls to Aleau in France. Immediate replies to phone calls and e-mails. The offer to loan us everything from a battery-charger to a water pump. Just go into their home in France and take it. I cannot imagine any other firm being as generous and helpful as Piper has been. But the most important word may be “knowledgeable.” Simon has diagnosed every problem we have had – problems that other “experts” were unable to solve. This may sound like an ad for Piper – and in a way, it is. Check out their website at piperboats.com (If you happen to see “Gillian B” in any shots, that was Aleau before her name change.)
Which was another 2020 milestone. With the help of Paul on Lady Sue, the long-awaited name plaques were installed at the bow. We no longer have a schizophrenic barge – we now have the same name at both the bow and the stern.
