After a long search we finally found our barge in the Netherlands. We have agreed to purchase this barge - Condor. There is a fair bit to do before she is ours but we have decided to rename her Moondance. Condor is a bird of prey, not the idea we want to convey about our boat. So we decided on a more whimsical name, taken from the Van Morrison song Moondance. "What a marvellous night for a moondance!" We still need to get a survey done, but are expecting that to be more of a formality as the current owners have maintained her really well. And we plan to eventually have her repainted to be blues and white. She is 21.69m long, 4.47m wide, 1m draft and 3m air draft. The current owners have taken her all the way down the Canal du Midi to Bordeaux so we should be able to take her to most places in France. The things we especially like about her are that she has a large back deck that is easily accessed from the wheelhouse. This has an outside steering position so that we can be outside when the weather is fine. She has a large wheelhouse with a decent kitchen and dining area - this has nice big windows so we should get great views as we go along. She also has a large back room downstairs, under the deck, which we plan to convert to our bedroom. (that's the room with the washing in the photos below). This will be big enough to include 2 desks and some decent built in cupboards. We expect that we will be very comfortable in her. We have agreed on the price with the owners, and once we settle, probably in June 2015, the current owners will remain living in her until we return in September, after having completed our ICC (our drivers licence). They will give us a handover - show us how everything works - before we head off on our first short trip. We will take her from where she is now in Oude Wetering, to where the person who will do the work on her for us is based. The aim is that she will be fully ready for our first full season of barging in 2017. Images provided by ESB (De Elberger Scheepsbemiddeling BV).
2 Comments
Robin Tully
9/5/2015 02:30:20 pm
Wow Deb & Howard. She is magnificent even as she is . You as fulfilling your dreams which is so inspirational . This will become one of my favourite blogs. Very excited for you both .
Reply
Ian
27/9/2015 01:37:46 am
Finally reading this on the web so I can see the full set of photos - very impressive and the outside helm is a cool feature. What are the main changes you are planning - and no doubt this will change during your test cruise!
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWe are sharing stories about and travels on our barge Moondance. Archives
August 2023
|