Today was warm and a good day for working outside, so I finished the wheelhouse roof cleaning, and then spent some time cleaning the side walls of the cabin (in preparation for painting later in the year). Given her success of getting her old bike fixed at Intersport yesterday, Rita took her eBike up to Intersport today to see if they could do anything about her front wheel which had mysteriosly developed a buckle. I thought we would need to buy a new wheel and was surprised when she came back saying that the bike mechanic there had said that he could fix it later today, and that the work would be covered under warranty. Apparently, he loosens all the spokes, then puts the wheel into a clamp which flattens the wheel and gets rid of the buckle, then tightens all the spokes to factory settings which keeps the wheel in its proper shape. Magic!

During the day, I was thinking more about solar panels for the boat, and was reading about flexible solar panels which could be attached to the wheelhouse roof without significantly affecting the air draft of the boat. I looked at some prices and they seemed affordable. But it all looked a bit too easy and cheap. So when Hans and Muriel contacted Rita about coming for apero drinks this evening at their boat (which was moored between Mantoche and Gray), we readily agreed, since that would give me the opportunity to talk with Hans and Clive (from Cochon Noir), both of whom had already fitted solar panels to their boats. So we rode to their boats this evening, and had a socialable evening, during which I was able to pick their brains. And as often happens with things that look easy and cheap, it was not quite the case, as the system I was looking at would not deliver enough solar electricity to be really useful for a boat of Kanumbra's size. For that, I would need larger rigid panels, which would require ventilation space underneath to prevent overheating. So mounting them on the wheelhouse roof was not feasible. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

We returned to Gray for dinner on our rear deck, because tonight was the night of the big 14th July fireworks display in Gray. We settled down for dinner, as the Gray townsfolk settled down on the banks of the river near our boat getting ready for the fireworks.

Fri 14 July - warm, cleaning, eBike wheel, solar, apero, July 14th fireworks

And when the fireworks started, we all realised that it had been worth the wait.

Luckily, the breeze was blowing from right to left, and taking all the smoke across to the other side of the river. Indeed, within 15 minutes of the end of the display, the sky across the river was clear, and one would never know that it was July 14th.