North to… Our New Bimini!

Saint Jean-de-Losne to Scey-sur-Saône (June 4-7)

After dropping off our guests we headed back north on the Saône from SJL towards the Locaboat base in Scey-sur-Saône. Last summer, while cruising, we noticed a few Locaboat rentals with biminis so we contacted Locaboat. €2,010 seemed a bit steep but we knew it would fit and we desperately needed one so we ordered it. Now it was time to pick it up (after replacing the bow thruster control panel on the flybridge – yes, it is never ending)!

Rather than stay in marinas we did “nature moorings” all three nights on the way to Scey. This involved finding a place along the river that was deep enough to get to, brush cleared away to allow getting off the boat (and no nettles!) and shade in the afternoon.

We made good time (the season is still early so the boat traffic is light). And we managed to pick spots that allowed us get a few short runs in (we have vowed that THIS year will be different – we will continue to run through the summer).

Arriving in the marina in Scey-sur-Saone we managed to push our rub rail out (isn’t a rub rail supposed to rub?). I could not slide it back in place by hand so had the idea of drilling a hole, attaching a line from the rail to the dock and backing the boat up and…. it worked!

Of course no one was here when we arrived but in the early afternoon a Locaboat technician showed up and gave us our bimini. And, after several hours (in the sun) figuring out how the thing goes together (the ENTIRE set of instructions: “We recommend using professional installers.”) we have a bimini!