Solvay 115

Solvay 115, registration NY3116F, was built in 1932 at Choisy-le-Roi with a 30 hp Deutz engine. All information on this page is taken from Vagus-Vagrant.fr unless otherwise specified.

An interesting note by Sylviane Parent:

The Solvay 115 is the only Solvay to have been captained by a single family. It is also the only one, along with the 118, to have had only two captains (the other Solvays had at least three, often more!). My grandfather, Jean Baptiste Pora, picked up this new boat from the shipyard in 1932, and in 1955, upon his retirement, my uncle, Jean Pora, his son, took over until 1979. It was sold the following year.

Solvay 115 was put up for sale in 1979 by Solvay, following Jean Pora's transfer to the factory. Mr. and Mrs. André A. (a baker/restaurateur) bought it in 1980, initially as their main residence, under the name Cayar-IV (the letters corresponding to the first letters of the owner's family's given names and the Roman numeral corresponding to his fourth boat) and re-registered as STC1317F. The idea of ​​turning it into a bar/restaurant quickly took root in André's mind, and he realized his dream in 1990 at the Dannemarie/Wolfersdorf marina (68). Unfortunately, André passed away on December 5, 2023, and his children and grandchildren are not interested in inheriting it! Because the boat is weighed down by concrete poured into the bilge, making it difficult to move, it will likely be torn up on site.

Here's Solvay 115 at Dombasle:

Iced in with Solvay 84 in the 1963 winter in Hastière in Belgium:

Postcard of Saint-Symphorien showing Solvay 115 leaving the Rhône-Rhine canal and entering the Saône:

Here she is arriving above the same lock:

Four Solvays at Heer-Agimont (Belgian Meuse), but the first one on the left is not identified; the next three are 115, 118 and 76 the furthest away:

Leaving Givrauval lock on the Marne-Rhine canal:

With Solvay 72 in a lock on the Belgian Meuse:

In a flood at Givet on the Meuse:

Two undated photos with no locations:

With Solvay 84 in Ollen during winter 1963 (she is on the right on icy shot):

At Leconte's in Reims around 1974:

 

Here are some shots of Cayar-IV from 19 March 2012 operating as a restaurant in Dannemarie on the Rhône-Rhine canal:

Another photo from another time:

Here she is again but this time with us when we were moored opposite her 22 June 2025: