Greetings from Ravensdale! – at long last we have wifi on the boat

Dex helping me write my blog

Some of our main bugbears since we moved onto the boat six weeks ago have been the lack of wifi on board, problems with the TV reception and a very hard and uncomfortable bed - all of which have been resolved in the last few days.

So for the first time, I am able to write my blog on Ravensdale with Dex by my side. He’s being a big help, as you can see J

The marina has put in a new wifi system and it seems to be working, even at low water when we disappear down behind the wall to the marina basin.



Phil has also put in a new co-ax cable for the TV and we can now get all the channels on Freeview regardless of the water level, even though at low tide the TV aerial points straight into the wall. We have no idea how we're getting such good TV reception at low water, but we're very happy that we are J

Dex was unimpressed by both these improvements.

However, he seemed a lot more interested when our new mattress from customsizebeds.co.uk arrived on Friday - http://customsizebeds.co.uk/made-to-measure-mattresses/replacement-boat-mattresses/

The hard, old mattress

It is made of CoolBlue Memory Foam, which is supposed to overcome the overheating problems normally associated with memory foam.

The foam was cut to size using a template we supplied of our island bed, which is the width of a standard double bed at the top but tapers away on both sides to a narrower curve at the bottom end. The foam was then encased in a custom-made zip-off quilted cover.




The thick, new mattress that is oh so comfy

It came rolled up in a box, which enabled us to get it on the boat and down into the master cabin.

When it was released, we were amazed to discover it was a perfect fit and it quickly swelled up to the eight inch thickness we had ordered.

The old mattress was very thin (no more than about four inches) and very hard so the new one is pure luxury.

Dex would love to try it out, but he is not going to get the chance. The bedroom is the one part of the boat from which he is banned.

Meanwhile, we have been experiencing intermittent problems with our Eberspacher heating system. Most of the time it worked fine and kept the boat lovely and warm, but it suddenly started cutting out and refusing to go.

Phil inspected the heater, which is behind one of the two 300hp engines in the engine room, and we made a few inquiries about the likely cause of this problem. Those who know more about these things than we do thought it could be caused by one of the concertina heat outlet pipes having been squashed at some stage.



Phil repairing the heating system

There was insufficient room to get around the engine to reach the heater so Phil lifted the carpet and floor in the main cabin and went in from above. He disconnected the relevant pipe, pushed his arm into it to open it up and reconnected it.

It has been working fine ever since, so fingers crossed that was the problem and the heating won’t cut out on us again - especially over Christmas.

So all in all, there have been some massive improvements on the boat this week.

However, with all these things going on, together with regular dog walks, etc., we have not yet had time to put up the rest of the Christmas decorations so that’s my plan for tomorrow...