Camping on Shangri La 2

The last few days have been a roller coaster of emotions! We have owned Shangri La 2 for a full year, and yet have not actually done any cruising on her.

If you have followed the blog to any degree, you will know that terrible weather, ie frozen canals prevented us from launching her in March this year, and commitments at home in SA stopped us from getting going in June.

But finally, Shangri La 2 is back in the water, all the de-winterising done, and we are ready to get going.
So what has happened?

Lifting in with the 40 ton crane

On Monday we flew KLM from London Heathrow to Amsterdam. Took the train in to Amsterdam city centre and checked in to the IBIS hotel for the night. In the morning we took another train to Zwolle, a bus to Zwartsluis, and after a 10 minute walk, arrived at Jachthaven De Kranerweerd where Shangri La 2 was wintered.
It was already 3 pm so not a lot could be done, but we got her connected up to shore power and were able to sleep on board, even though she was still up on the hard.
Rather like camping – no mod cons at all. Still had to climb up and down ladders, and go to the ablution block for showers etc.

Disaster – solving the problem

The Dutch are really helpful – we wanted to go to the shops in Zwartsluis to get some basic provisions, and the marina boss quite happily lent us their van.

Tuesday – we had a few things fixed, mainly the preparation work for fitting bilge pumps to the boat and sorting out a few other details that had to be done before the boat went back in the water.
Another night aboard on the hard.

But on Wednesday morning it was all action – The Kranerweerd tractor arrived to pull Shangri La to the crane. The lifting straps were fitted, and Shangri La 2 lifted in to the water.

Safely at her berth, Isn’t she just beautiful?

While still supported on the crane, Martijn (the Kranerweerd engineer) and I did a check inside to make sure all was well.
Disaster! First there was some water coming from the generator cooling system, but a tightening of the filter cover took care of that. Then we found water seeping through the sealant at the speed log fitting! Nothing else to do but lift her out again.
The problematic fitting was swiftly removed, cleaned up and refitted. Back into the water, and this time all well.
The main engine was run up, and all proved okay. So under her own power, Shangri La 2 motored round to her marina mooring.

SA flag on the port yardarm!

There, the rest of the day was spent de-winterising her, which included flushing through the cooling systems of both main engine and generator, changing the water pump impellers, filling the Fresh Water tanks and getting the fresh water systems running. Finally we rigged up the bimini and aft deck awning, as well as hoisting all the appropriate flags – Red Ensign at the stern, Dutch courtesy flag on the starboard yardarm, and, because Karen and I  live in South Africa, the RSA flag on the port yardarm.

Over the next few days we will do a few short trips to get the hang of her and how she handles, before setting out on a longer trip. So watch this space.