The breakdown of the “Plötze“

On the first day “at sea”, we first passed through the Müritz-Havel waterway and after successfully passing the first lock, we reached Lake Mirow in the early afternoon. The shore and the mooring place at Mirow Castle Island looked so inviting that we immediately decided to stay here, especially since Mirow was one of the few larger places with shopping opportunities. The selection of tempting restaurants for dinner was another compelling argument for this place. The small, very cozy harbor with a small shop and bistro and a few pitches for campers really offers everything you need, the atmosphere is super friendly and even a bathing ladder was not missing, so that a refreshing swim in the lake was possible. However, after placing our dinner order, nature demanded a sudden change of plans and we were able to quickly take shelter inside just before the suddenly approaching thunderstorm. The statement of the boat rental company regarding unpredictable weather changes was immediately proven true.

After this cozy and trouble-free start, the next day was expected to take on unpleasant dimensions, which was solely due to the “Plötze”. Already when starting the engine, a warning signal didn't stop anymore and only stopped annoying when giving gas. The journey now led from Mirow through the Zotzen, Moessen and Vilzsee (we can't help the names) to the first lock at Diermitz. A long queue of waiting boats had already formed there. Boat holidays in the Mecklenburg Lake District are apparently experiencing an absolute boom and television reports on ARD and ZDF have further fueled the whole thing. And of course it is also holiday season, so we had almost two hours to pass this first lock. However, the waiting time is extremely cozy and you always get into conversation with other people. When we wanted to correct the forward movement with a little reverse thrust during the forward movement, Matthias suddenly held the throttle lever in his hand - the boat was uncontrollable! Fortunately, people from other boats immediately rushed to help us with the lines. Finally, when we arrived at the front, some kind of youth camp thought it would be a good idea to position the whole group of about 30 canoes in front of or practically under our bow where there was hardly any space anyway, which forced us into an unpleasant and risky maneuver in the confined space, which was definitely not necessary. What was going on in the minds of the shouting leaders is beyond our knowledge.

So we continued with the reattached throttle lever, but it was obvious that something was no longer right with the setting. When the engine suddenly stopped while leaving the next lock and we were again uncontrollable for a short time, we had already decided to look for a technician in the next port.

We soon reached the port of Priepert and had turned cleanly to moor when I wanted to brake the boat and therefore put the thrust lever in reverse. What happened then was as incredible as it was unpleasant: the stupid “Plötze” actually started accelerating forward and at a distance of less than 2m, there was no time left to react. So we hit the pier, not very fast but with great force.

The impact was quite powerful and the shock was pretty intense for all of us.

Fortunately, no one was injured, the damage to the pier and the boat is manageable, but of course something like this does not necessarily contribute to a relaxed holiday mood. However, the inevitable aftermath was very humane. The rental company promised to send a technician at 7:30 am the next morning and the questioning with the water police was very friendly. The testimony of a very friendly neighbor of the boat, which suggests a technical cause, certainly helped as well.

The next morning, the technician actually showed up on time and, together with a colleague, fixed it within the next 3 hours. Including a test drive and professional pumping out of the much appreciated sewage tank.

Indeed, it was a mechanical defect of the gearbox and apparently it can happen that a “Plötze” suddenly drives forward instead of backward. Great! Looking back, we were just glad that this didn't happen during the scene with the canoeists... Also, based on the statements of the technicians, we are confident that the issue of the damage is resolved for us.

So now we have a freshly repaired “Plötze” and yesterday we drove to our turning point, the very beautiful town of Fürstenberg on the Havel, without any further incidents, where we are again enjoying the pleasant aspects of boating life.