Learning the ropes – Zwartsluis, Hasselt and Zwolle

Shangri La 2 at her berth in De Kranerweerd marina

Another hectic but satisfying week!

We haven’t travelled very far, but we have achieved a lot.

One of the most important projects achieved was to fit an automatic bilge bump – an essential, as far as I am concerned.

That took a day, with some assistance from Martijn from de Kranerweerd.

New bilge pump control panel (yes it needs 2 more screws!)

Other jobs done – fitting proper halyards and cleats for the flags, some brass hooks, a brass door hook for the forward cabin door, and of course a lot of general cleaning.

Shangri La 2 has been in a shed for nearly a year, and had become dusty and musty.

She is now starting to sparkle again!

Playing boats

I also spent quite bit of time with Martijn going through the electrical systems, to get the hang of how they all work –

the 12 Volt battery system, 220V mains which can be powered from shore power or the on board inverter, and the generator which provides power for the electric stove, as well as charging the batteries.

Still a lot to learn, but we have got things running reasonably well.

Karen driving to Hasselt

I have skippered many boats in my time, but still needed to get the feel of this one. So on Saturday Karen and I went out for a short trip.

We had hoped to moor at the public jetty in Zwartsluis, but there was no space, so we just went along the Zwarte Water for about half an hour, and back to our berth at De Kranerweerd marina.

All went very well.

Moored up at the public jetty in Hasselt

Shangri La 2 handles very well – plenty of thrust from the propeller if you need it, and the bow thruster is better than I anticipated.

She easily gets up to her cruising speed of about 6 to 7 knots with engine revs of about 1600 rpm.

Sunday we got a bit more adventurous and again went down the Zwarte Water, and along to the next town of Hasselt which is about 45 mins cruising.

Koffee and Appelgebakt

There we tied up at the public jetty and popped up to a cafe in the town centre for coffee and appelgebakt – a Dutch favourite.

Back up the Zwarte Warte, under the Meppelersluis Bridge and to our berth in the marina.

Approaching Meppelersluis Brug

Although Zwartsluis has some marine shops, we needed a few other marine or nautical items which we were told would be available in Zwolle.

On Tuesday then, we set out for for Zwolle, and spent a few days there.

All about that trip, and Zwolle, in the next post.