Deuxième Folie

At that point, we looking at the amount and diversity of the tools we had amassed after the works on La Folie, we decided that they should not be unemployed and would help us in fulfilling our dream: build a canal boat. The First Mate had met an owner of a small boat on the water expanse at Vilvorde who had met an ‘old’ man François Conscience. He had a friend who was building fiberglass boats both because he enjoyed it and it was his source of revenue. We met him, he had just completed a small sightseeing boat destined to navigate on a small touristic lake in the Ardennes, and the mould had not been discarded and was thus available to use if anyone could come with an order in the near future. The design was far from what we would have liked but we could easily convince the builder to alter the design to fit our view, since what we were asking for did not require changes to the mould. When the boat shell was finished and the mould removed, we were granted access to it to complete the work, i.e. add the mechanical parts that would make it a navigable entity. François was more than happy to help us and he installed the main propulsion system and related controls. Our experience cruising led us to believe we needed a bow prop and François agreed to do that job, thus demonstrating he too was a specialist in ‘fiber glazing’. We were able to afford the cost of the technical parts thanks to Sue’s privileges of tax-free purchases enjoyed by foreign members of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). When ready to join the water the boat shell was removed using a heavy-duty mobile crane. The ‘skeleton’ was lowered and the propeller went into the water and to our ‘horror’ (including François), water started pouring into the bilge. François and his son Roger who was helping him rushed to the nearest supermarket to buy bricks and fast drying cement with an additive. After their efforts, things went smoothly and ‘Deuxième Folie’ was launched with a bottle of champagne and was happily floating on the water ready to move. We moved it initially stopping on the way at the Brussels Royal Yacht Club (BRYC) of which we were members who could enjoy the facilities, one or two people looked the other way when they saw what was moored up. Thanks to Sue’s nationality, Deuxième Folie had been registered in Jersey and was legally allowed in all waters and we were already enjoying our navigation permits, which we achieved through SHAPE contacts after a very elementary examination. Thus, Deuxième Folie was born out of a mould for a Bateau Mouche, sadly that mould ended up in a rubbish dump meaning she could never be replicated. We had prior to this time met Bruno Urbain and his family who owned a restaurant (Belle Vue) in Ronquières and through one of many stops there for liquid we met Charlie who worked for Belgian Canal Services. Thanks to him, we managed to obtain a mooring on the Old Samme Branch of Ronquières to the Petite Bouffe, which gave us an easy place to work on the boat. It also required installation of electricity, the small house nearby gave us permission to put the box on their wall. That was the easy bit because we had to burrow under the towpath in order to safely install the main cable and make sure it was correctly earthed. This we did and it was duly inspected and passed. May this book inspire all those who have folly ideas, to follow them through even though the word ‘folie’ can also be understood as absurd, inane, madness, it is and it is not but the sense of achievement and satisfaction far outweighs any derogatory remarks.