ABOUT JOHANNE

Johanne is a Dutch Barge, type Zeil Klipper.
Basic dimensions are 17.27m. long x 4.43m. wide & draws about 1.5m.
She weighs around 38 tonnes & was designed to carry about 60 tonnes of cargo, possibly grain & coal.
The mast is raised & lowered easily by a forward deck winch & a fixed A frame. We do this in about 10 minutes of light labour to raise & lots less to lower.
She has a full gaff clipper sailing rig which unfortunately is not in commission. The standing & running rigging all needs looking at & maintenance though the sails are in fine condition. The mast is bad & needs serious repair. Hopefully we will get her sailing again when we reach the Baltic which is slated for 2012 / 2013.
The motor is a fairly well used Ford 6 cylinder diesel of around 120 hp with a hydraulic Borg Warner gear box driving a three blade propeller. We cruise using about 1100 rpm which gives us about 4 knots depending on canal or river conditions. At this rate we use about 3 l. per hour running or less. The boat has capacity for 600 l. of water & the same for fuel.
The steering system is a reverse worm screw and referred to by the Dutch as the ‘English system’. When facing forward the wheel is behind you. Not sure about this one. Penny has recently been demoted from helmsperson to assistant helm after a couple of incidents, one when we seemed to go in the wrong direction at a crucial time.

Domestics. There is oil fired central heating, just like home, an air pressure water system, shower, hand basin & wc in the forward wet room. The fresh water lasts us about 2 ½ weeks though we try not to run out.
We have electric lighting etc. which we can plug in for shore power or use an inverter to boost 12v to 240v.
We have a wood stove & I have recently been collecting wood from bankside sources. That’s all.