Eileen & Stuart Colkin
Hi!
We are from a smallish place in Western Australia called 'Safety Bay' which lies around 50kms from the capital of Western Australia, Perth.
Our interest in barging began quite a number of years ago, our interest in Europe has been with us a lifetime even though we have lived on the other side of the world for nearly 40 years. After talking about and checking out approximate costs of buying or building a barge for a number of years, we decided to holiday over in France where we first hired a barge from Locaboats on the Midi in 2008 and again in 2009, we decided after this what a great way it was to see Europe, just travelling through towns, villages and the countryside at 10kms a hour. Over the years of investigating prices etc. we had decided that the barge we thought we would like most,would be a 'Sagar' where in 2007 we had been to their yard where they were made, also we had looked at used ones that periodically came onto the market with the various brokerage companies, we had seen 'Columbus' was for sale during 08/09 but as we were not at retiring age found the price a tad to much, this changed during our April 2009 holiday on the Midi, we were heading to take our hired boat back, cruising up from Narbonne, we decided as we were staying in Le Somail for our last evening to head down to Capestang for lunch then cruise back to La Somail for the night. I remember thinking that it would be nice to see Columbus along this stretch of the canal as I knew or believed that she was berthed somewhere on the Midi, WELL! what a surprise when we went around a bend in the canal, there heading towards us was a big green barge, could it be? YES it was Columbus, I waved and shouted, Mike and Marina (The owners) must have wondered just what was going on. Anyhow to cut a long story short, we met up at Le Somail where Mike and Marina showed us through their barge which at the time was heading up to Homps to see a potential buyer. On returning to Perth we made enquiries to buy another Sagar barge that was in Belgium, this fell through, I wrote to Mike and Marina telling them our story, to our surprise they replied saying that they would accept the same offer, the $ was good, the rest is history, we are now the second owners of the barge Columbus!
Columbus was built by "Sagar Marine" of Brighouse, West Yorkshire, and completed December 03 for the original owners Mike & Marina Clark. She is 57ft (17.37mts) long with a beam of 12ft 6in (3.81mts) She was shipped over to France April 04 where she has been ever since.
Columbus does differ from some of the earlier Sagar barges by having an extended stern deck which allows for an outdoor eating/entertaining area. The engine fitted is a Perkins M92, 4 cylinder, 91 bhp. and for added manoeuvrability, a 24 volt Sidepower Bow thruster was fitted. The internal living area is heated by a Harworth Oil fired room heater, but it also has radiators fitted throughout which rum from the Alde Boiler, and for the Summer months two built in air conditioner units. Columbus also has a Mastervolt Dakar 24 volt Inverter/Charger and a Beta 6.5 Kva Gen. Set.
Looking from the lounge area towards the wheelhouse
The lounge area showing the Haworth oil fired heater.
The Lounge Area 2
The Master Cabin
The Master Bedroom 2
The Aft cabin
Looking into the wheelhouse.
