We couldn’t go abroad so... WE BOUGHT A BANGER BOAT
Cruising our country’s wonderful waterways seemed the perfect family adventure...
AFEW weeks ago the notion of becoming the proud owner of a 1970s river cruiser wasn’t given a passing thought, but lockdown does funny things to a family. PreCovid we happily holidayed cheaply in my parent’s mobile home in France or booked an Airbnb in Italy, but, with those options off the table for the time, being we wondered how we’d spend our downtime in these strange days.
‘We’ll rent a boat on the Shannon,’ I declared. ‘How much?’ came my husband Eoghan’s predictable response when I began to research the price of a river cruiser for a week. ‘I bet you I could buy one for not much more,’ he continued. And buy one we did. A four-berth banger – or river cruiser to give its official title – for approximately four times the price of the rental of a bigger, more modern and, presumably, comfortable boat.
Life jackets were bought, and a blow-up dingy from Lidl too (in case we wanted to drop anchor and explore an island of course). I joined an inland waterway Facebook page. We had great plans.
As lockdown eased we set off along the Shannon-Erne waterway for a week of adventure.
It all started relatively smoothly and I enjoyed moments of ‘this is the life’. It was as if we knew what we were doing as we made our way out of Belturbet, Co. Cavan, north
‘Life jackets were bought and a blow-up dingy’
in the direction of the Moorings marina, near Enniskillen. The calm before the storm.
It was here that we had our first stressful experience. While attempting to park the boat in between boats that cost substantially more than our banger the gears slipped and Eoghan couldn’t get the boat out of neutral. My sixyear-old daughter Saorla was told to keep hold of one-year-old Oscar in the cabin while I grabbed a pole and tried desperately to keep our beat-up boat away from the shiny vessels inches away. I eventually managed to jump on to the marina keeping hold of one of the ropes and pulling us into our berth.
Eoghan spent the next little while fixing the gears. An electrical engineer by trade, he is good at rolling up his sleeves.
The next morning with the gears fixed (or so we thought) we headed off for a monastic site on Devenish Island. All went smoothly, we had the island to ourselves and we were living the dream. We spotted a picnic spot to pull into for a BBQ on the way back to our marina and life was good again. We pulled in with relative ease, tied off the boat and met two other families who had the same idea.
We cooked burgers and relaxed, while the kids played with the other children also enjoying a BBQ.
It wasn’t until we tried to pull out again that disaster struck once more. The wind had picked up and the current was strong, it was also getting a little darker as we had stayed chatting and eating a little longer than planned. Eoghan reversed the boat out of the mooring, but the current kept pulling us against the jetty. I tried pushing off with my trusty pole and the other lovely families ran down to help. They pushed the boat away from the jetty until we were finally in the open water. But, in all the panic, the gears again slipped, the engine cut out and we were adrift. I ran in to the kids who were sitting as they had been instructed on the bed in the cabin. Saorla was wide-eyed with confusion, and probably a little bit of fear. Oscar was crying because he wanted to come out on deck with me.
We’ll have to drop the anchor and call the Coast Guard, I thought. I looked back at the picnic spot and one of the families we had met was hopping into their boat to come help. But then the engine started, the gears engaged and we were off again giving a quick embarrassed wave to our new friends. To add to our tableau, our windscreen wipers had also failed by this point and the rain had started. Eoghan was looking ahead out an open window while I tried to wipe the drops away. Finally, we got home, tied up at the marina and a – large – glass of red was poured once the children were asleep.
We had a few more hiccups along the way and my Dad, who is good at DIY in general, continued to fend calls. My parents came up to us for a day and Eoghan and my Dad managed to fix all the things that kept going wrong; windscreen wipers included.
On Monday we made our way back to Belturbet where the Belturbet Boat Company are
‘The engine cut out and we were adrift’
makinganewcanopyfortheboat.Theonewehaveisleakingandmycosyholidaynightcapswereaccompaniedbythedrip,drip,drippingofrainlandingontheseatbesideme.
Thejourneyhomewentwelltoapoint.Oscarsleptformostofit,SaorlawatchedforswansandtheircygnetsandIreadmyKindle.ButourlovelypeacewasdisturbedbyEoghanpipingupwith:‘What’sthatsound?’
‘Grabthewheel,’headdedandwithin seconds he had his head intheengineagain.Thebelttochargethealternatorhadcomelooseandhealsonoticedcoolantwasleaking.Theenginewascutandwewereadriftagain.
Therewasnopanicthistimeaswehadbecomequiteaccustomedtotroublebythen.Thistimeourproblemswere easily enough solvedwiththetighteningofaboltandgettingthebeltbackintoplace.
But we were very glad to seeBelturbetaheadafewminuteslaterand even more glad we hadimprovedatberthingtheboat(oncethewindsarelightandweareawayfromothervessels,ofcourse).
It was a holiday to remember,great memories for the kids weremadeand,despiteourfewissues,we are already looking forward toournexttrip.
The boat, however, will needmore money invested and thepriceofowningoneislikelytofarexceed the initial cost of buying,and definitely the cost of rentingoneforaweek.