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

Two clever mods

The hinged flap the covers the cooker extractor tube
click to enlarge

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

Stale cooking smells

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

The clue came when we realised they were worse when the wind was blowing from the port side of Play d’eau. Knowing this, it didn’t take long to find the culprit. The smells came from air being blown into the boat through the cooker extractor grill, past the fan and along the tube that ends just above the cooker.

Over time, the tube had had time to gather greasy fat deposits that had become stale and nasty. With the tube cleaned (a nasty job at the best of times) the problem was how to stop the air being blown in.

Captain Nick

Open for business
click to enlarge

Nick often stops by for a morning coffee. In talking about our vexing question, Nick had a brilliant idea and brought it to fruition by fashioning a hinged flap.

The cooker extractor tube still requires reasonably frequent cleaning, but the stale cooking smells have completely vanished.

Keeping thieves out

We’d forgotten the boat keys and the drive back home was miles away. It was late and the Harbour Office was closed, the aft cockpit hatches were locked closed and all the doors were locked.

Looking at the saloon windows, I espied the small metal flap that’s used to stop a window from sliding open unintentionally. I gave the window a sharp slap by the flap and it flew backwards allowing the window to slide open!

The thumb screw window catch
click to enlarge

Brilliant – but wait a moment, if I could do that, so could a thief. And that would leave no signs of forced entry, a requirement for any subsequent insurance claim.

In kicking ideas around, Lin sowed a seed and our local Guernsey M&G Marine Engineers finalised the solution by constructing a thumb screw based on the footprint of the flap. The screw assemblies were laser cut and machine polished. Perfection.

Ideas that work

As the saying goes, ‘It’s good when a plan comes together.’

Piers and Lin
from the think tank of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

1 comment to Two clever mods

  • Alan Richmond

    Having arrived at my boat, only to find that the keys were at home, I now have q boat key on the same keyring as my car key. I can’t even get into my car without the boat key now.

    That’s an idea that works. Simples!

    Best wishes

    Alan

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