About this site

Piers and Lin du Pré bought their new Fleming 55 / 129, Play d'eau, in 2003.

She was berthed in Beaucette Marina, Guernsey in the Channel Islands at N49° 30’.197 W002° 30’.350 until she was sold in October 2021.

This site charts the thrilling adventures they had in her.

You can contact us here.

Where’s Play d’eau?

If the new owners have the AIS on, you can find where Play d'eau is right now.

Click here.

Zoom in and our position will be shown on a map.

Recent Posts

Upgrades for 2019

Play d'eau's new carpet

We started planning this year’s upgrades by having new carpets in December 2018, ready for Christmas.

After 16 years of sterling service the backing of our brown saloon and companionway carpets was sad and disintegrating. It was decided …

Continue reading Upgrades for 2019

Out with the old, in with the new

The end splice of our new rope

We’d suffered the most horrendous effects of a NNE storm whilst moored in St Peter Port’s Victoria marina in October 2018. It had taken 11 of our 18mm multiplait ropes to hold Play d’eau but seeing the immense strain… …

Continue reading Out with the old, in with the new

Clean water, please

Our new Dockside Filter

We’d become irritated with having to change Play d’eau’s costly onboard 2 micron water filter every few months. The removed blackened filters showed just how dirty local water supplies were, wherever we happened to fill the 1,150 litre water tanks. Whilst… …

Continue reading Clean water, please

Diesel

Rubis, Channel Islands

I have always been fastidious in ensuring Play d’eau’s diesel comes from a known source. But is all diesel the same?

An emphatic no. It’s changed and continues to change as further laws are …

Continue reading Diesel

Oh no! to Elation

Out with the old, in with the new

‘We have a leak – a big leak,’ I shouted to Lin. I’d reached into the cabinet under the galley sink for a bottle of Fairy liquid (yes, I really was about to do the washing up), but all I felt was wet. A lot of very wet, wetness.

Quickly looking inside with a torch …

Continue reading Oh no! to Elation

Gearbox and tacho – sorted

Gary checked the shims

Wanting to jump straight onto the gearbox technical issues quickly, I called TwinDisc’s UK distributors on Monday and explained the oil spill from the flywheel housing.

‘We’ll fly in first thing on Thursday and take the late evening flight back on Friday,’ said Paul Masey, Service Manager. What service. What a star. …

Continue reading Gearbox and tacho – sorted

Play d’eau’s holiday technical issues

The gearbox oil leak throws oil out of the flywheel housing

Play d’eau’s been brilliant and had very few engineering problems over the years. Maybe it’s a sign of her age (she’s 13 now), but we’ve had a few coming to the surface, recently.

So here’s a list of issues from our Tech Log which remain outstanding, together with ones we solved during the holiday …

Continue reading Play d’eau’s holiday technical issues

Golden Arrow – International Rescue

Brian George of Golden Arrow (International Rescue department)

The last thing we needed was for the seal to blow under 1,500psi and spray litres and litres of fluid into the engine room creating a highly flammable if not explosive oil mist.

The hydraulic leak from the port stabiliser ram had been sufficient for me to isolate it from use, leaving the starboard fin to do all the work …

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An electrifying display

12v DC battery panel

Whether it’s volts, amps or watts, Play d’eau knows everything that’s happening with her electrics.

That’s apart from knowing the battery status of the batteries for the two generators, but far more importantly the state of the emergency back-up battery for her essential 12vDC nav equipment. …

Continue reading An electrifying display

Two clever mods

The hinged flap the covers the cooker extractor tube

Play d’eau’s had two clever modifications recently, and both have fully achieved their objective.

Lin and I had spent ages trying to track down stale cooking smells. The galley was spotlessly clean, the curtains and woodwork were cleaned, so where were those horrid old cooking smells coming from? …

Continue reading Two clever mods