Storage
Under front bed:
Lift mattress, then slatted panel and prop up with plywood stay, ensuring it is stable and won’t fall down on you.
- Plumbing and electrical spares
- screws and other fasteners
- multimeter, tapes.
- Spare engine filters.
- Spare Water pump.
Under back bed:
Remove mattresses to get access to the storage compartments.
Note they are a nice tight fit. Lift the rear plywood panels to access the storage
under.
- Painting gear, solvents, silastic, sponge rubber strips, antifreeze etc.
Under saloon floor:
To get at this space undo the 4 screws holding the aluminium strip at the top of the steps between saloon and galley. Then roll the lino up towards the table and then lift the hatch cover out.
- Tarpaulins
- household water pump,
- hot water cylinder and
- 4 x household batteries.
There is an inventory for each area.
Sliding Roof
Important Notes:
Sliding it back 15 cm or so will allow you to lower the two windscreen windows.
Before winding the roof backwards at all, it is extremely important that you follow the procedure below.
- Fold over the long wooden draft excluders under each side window.
- Ensure all the 4 rear Perspex windows tower bolts are open or damage could ensue.
- The four rear saloon windows need to be opened in order and closed again in the reverse order. 1,2,3 4 starting from the port (fridge) side.
- The rear saloon windows can be left open or partly open for welcome ventilation underway or at rest.
The roof will slide all the way back until it touches the Thule Pod or any equipment you have on the rear cabin top. At this stage it may block the reardoor, and exit can be made via the steps starboard side opposite the helm station.
We prefer not to do this as the shade it affords is very welcome in the south of France.
The handle to wind it back is in the white scabbard, the sprocket that it fits into is on the wall nearby. It is relatively easy to wind down but harder to wind up by comparison. We hardly ever wind it back more than about 30 cm.
It goes back easily, but can get away on you if you let it go so needs to be tied to stop it when in the right position. This is a two-person job. You need to control the handle and wind it slowly. You will need to wind it all the way back or gravity will take over and slam it back. Before opening it fully you will need to clear the rear cabin roof of gangplank, mops etc. When fully open you will need to exit the dining area through the front right stairs.
We do not recommend opening it fully.
- The windscreen folds down for extra ventilation;
- Release the constraining straps,
- undo the knurled knob in the upper middle of the screen;
- fold the right-hand half down first by tilting it forward and folding the outer part over as you do so.
- The left-hand side is awkward and heavier.
- Put an old folded towel or similar under the wiper motor body before you put it right down. It may be useful to have somebody outside on the front deck helping when folding down the screen.
Showers
Please ensure that residual water is pumped out using the pull-out wall switches
adjacent to the shower in the front cabin and to the left of the washbasin in the rear cabin.
Every few days and at the end of your trip mop out any water that has not been pumped out. The shower drainage pumps should do their job in 20-30 seconds – don’t keep running them for longer as it drains the batteries and serves no useful purpose.
The rear shower will still have about 20 mm of water in the tray because of where the outlet sits. This should not cause a problem as the next shower will replace it with ‘new’ residual water.
Please clean and dry the shower trays when you leave TUI.
It is easy to flood the floor in the rear shower/loo compartment. Please ensure the
shower curtain is fully draped around and inside the shower base, and contacts the
walls at each end. Hang shower curtain on hook to drain/drip into shower base, not on floor.
Toilets
These are sluiced out with canal water. The pumps that do this are manual, with the handles on wall brackets adjacent to each toilet. Insert the handle into the black rubber pump orifice and give it 2-3 pumps, then tread on the foot pedal under the toilet. When using the loo after going through a lock, watch that it doesn’t spurt up at you!
When at a port we prefer to use the toilets provided ashore if possible. Keep
the loos clean with toilet cleaner, and occasional sluice out with fresh water.
Washing Machine
The twin tub machine is an absolute must and it lives in the front cabin bathroom. It can be moved out however we find that the back-cabin shower is the bigger so we use that and keep the front one as a laundry room.
The toilet is still easily usable so there are two available at all times. The tub is filled from the shower head and is then pumped out into the shower base and then pumped overboard with the shower pump. Very easy.
Mopping decks:
If the decks get muddy give them a hose and a mop. In some ports the staff get cranky if they see you using drinking water from the hose to clean down, so in that case the best way is to use a bucket filled from inside the boat and use this to mop down. Using the canal water in some busy areas, really just
transfers the grime.
Bikes
There are two standard bikes aboard. Each has a chain and number lock, which we suggest you take with you on your excursions.
We found it useful to put the combination lock numbers into the notes page of our mobile phones and/or wallets.
The numbers will be on the notice board beside the back door.
There is also two bike helmets and a pump onboard. The pump is in the Thule Locker.
Store the bikes on the sliding roof-top or on the rear deck. You will see where there are extra thickness pads on the roof-top to take the pressure of a pedal without scratching the roof.
Before lifting the bikes up onto the roof put what will be the downside pedal into its highest position to ensure that the bikes are lying as flat as possible so as to avoid wiping them off the boat when going under bridges with low headroom. You may need to take them down before the very low bridge at Capestang.
Also watch out for low hanging branches on the plane trees, which can wipe them off.
The bike wheels jam in under the roof grab rails and we use the chains and locks to secure them.
Canal Boat Tui 