Finding the part……

The cause of our plumbing problem was identified, and the offending component removed from our system by Guy (pronounced ‘gee’ as in the Indian cooking ingredient – aka the mechanic guy here at Pont de Vaux) late on Friday afternoon. He blocked the feed to the front loo so that we could use the rest of the water / plumbing system.

Thank goodness we have 2 loos cos we therefore still had one loo available. This has caused a comment from some of our boating friends(?) regarding the need for us to go through the wheelhouse from the bedroom to get to the loo. Unkindly said to boot! Maybe they don’t require nocturnal perambulations like most of us! But I digress……

But Guy had never seen such a part before and therefore didn’t know where we could get  one from. He sent us scurrying to a heating / plumbing suppliers not too far away but they didn’t have such a thing. At 4.40 on a Friday Guy wasn’t going to spend anytime on it.

So Adrian set to searching the web over the weekend – first to understand what this thing was and secondly to try to locate one in France, if at all possible.

It is a solanoid valve – ‘electrovanne’ in French. But there are loads of these little bad boys on the web with different specifications &, of course, it has to be exactly right.

So we knew the part – now just have to find where we can buy one! Easy you would think, but hardly so.

Adrian found a website catalogue for a place in Lyon – rang them first thing Monday but was told we couldn’t order from them cos they only supply suppliers. But they had the little beauty in stock – lots of them! He told Adrian which supplier they could supply to (are you keeping up?) ……

So back to the web to find this supplier (Mabeo) which supposedly had place in Bourg en Bresse. Adrian rang and spoke to Denis who agreed they could get this part but had to check with his boss as to whether they could sell it to us as we are not contractors.

Later in the day he rang to say they could only order it if we went into the shop – a 45 mins drive away! Couldn’t order it on our bank card over the phone – had to go there in person.

So we jumped in the car & headed off – got there by about 4.30pm (shut at 5pm)

Grumpy salesman on shop floor knew nothing about this order, or indeed who Denis is! Denis was found and came down from the offices from on high.

Basically this part has to be ordered from the place in Lyon – you know that Adrian found?

A long invoice is required – always causes a problem when you can’t provide a french department number (like a post code). Denis is telling Patrick what to type in on the order – so 2 guys to write one invoice.

In the meantime I have spotted a dinky little pressie for Adrian, being the romantic woman that I am – a head fitted torch so that he can direct his own light when doing those tricky little jobs in the engine, repairing the loo etc.

Patrick nearly has a fit cos he’s all but finished composing the invoice – if he doesn’t add this item he would have to do a whole new one for the torch!! And there is a charge for each invoice!!!!!

So finally the invoice is done (cost 3.5 euros) including 29 euros for speedy delivery from Lyon to Bourg en Bresse. Fast service means 24 – 48hrs delivery time. But it can’t be ordered until tomorrow – orders only placed between 8 & 11 am!

I asked who we should call if we needed – Denis pointed determinedly at Patrick who pointed at the invoice as if I should know his name would be on it! As soon as we got outside the doors were locked – 5pm.

So we wait for the call to go and collect this important part. Denis suggested we play tourists & visit Bourg en Bresse in the meantime.But we ain’t got time for that, we have a boat to clean and prepare for cruising……

In fact the call came this morning (thurs) so 48 hrs delivery – we were well pleased – and we were there as they opened after lunch to collect our little saviour! Adrian spent the rest of the afternoon plumbing and then fitting everything back together again. Really chuffed with his handiwork – which I can now contemplate anytime of the day or night! Reduced nocturnal perambulations, thank goodness.

At over 100 euros for the part with delivery this is surely a ‘right royal flush’!

So, would you like to hear about the sheenaghans we had in paying our bill here at Pont de Vaux …….. no I thought not!!!!!

Author: mistyjf

I have been boating in Europe since 2009 when I shipped Misty Morning to France. Time & life move on! Adrian, my new partner, & I bought Piedaleau in 2015 to continue and expand our European boating adventures. View all posts by mistyjf