Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink

The watery view through Ravensdale's windscreen this morning

Fortunately we both saw the funny side of the latest challenge to our liveaboard lifestyle on Ravensdale.

Ironically we are totally surrounded by water – we’re sitting in a marina full of it with more pouring out of the sky – but have spent the last few days with no water supply on the boat.

We were getting ready for bed on Monday night when the water flow from the tap in the galley dwindled to almost nothing before coming to a total stop.

At first we thought our water supply may have run out, but we’d only filled the 500 litre tank the previous day.

It usually lasts at least four days before we have to refill it with a hosepipe from the tap on the pontoon and we knew we hadn’t used an excessive quantity of the wet stuff.

We then realised that we couldn’t hear the water pump running.

As it was already late and we were tired, we decided to go to bed and begin the diagnostic process in the morning.

Phil checks out the old water pump in Ravensdale's engine room

On Tuesday morning, I went up to our storage facility at the marina to get our water carrier so we would have water on the boat while Phil went down into the engine room to find out what had gone wrong.

He discovered that by messing around with the electrical wiring into the pump he could make it work again, but it wouldn’t carry on running. And, if he did this while the taps were all switched off, it started pumping water out into the bilges.

It soon became apparent that a new water pump was needed.

Filling a jerry can with water on our very wet aft deck

Initially, we were both very disappointed that we were facing yet another unexpected and expensive purchase.

Phil unwraps the new water pump

Someone once told us that BOAT was an acronym for Bring Out Another Thousand and we are beginning to believe they were right.

This time we were only looking at another £200, but the things that need replacing on this boat just seem to go on and on.

However, when we looked out of the window and saw it was raining, we both burst out laughing at the idea that we were without water on the boat.

And, looking on the bright side, replacing the water pump means that is one more thing that is new and therefore should (hopefully) last us a good while before it goes wrong again - especially as we discovered the existing pump was not suitable for the purpose. It was a washdown pump rather than one suitable for a domestic water system.

The old pump (right) and the new pump sitting on the bench in the galley

Phil has just finished fitting it while I have been writing this so normal service has now been resumed and we have hot and cold running water again.

Another interesting experience over the last few days was trying to cut Phil’s hair while Ravensdale was rocking madly.

When I set up the stool and got out the clippers and scissors to give him a trim, the boat was almost motionless.

However, soon after I started running the clippers over his head it started rocking and the swaying motion quickly became quite pronounced.

I suppose I should’ve stopped and finished the job off later, but I decided I’d started so I’d finish and carried on regardless.

It wasn’t so difficult when I was using the clippers. The real problem was trimming around his ears with a sharp pair of scissors and he seemed rather relieved when I completed the task without having drawn any blood.

Meanwhile, we have spent a good bit of time watching and photographing the wildlife and marine life in and around the marina.

The giant jellyfish has not returned – or at least if it has we haven’t seen it – but there have been plenty of other jellyfish around.

A compass jellyfish

Another compass jellyfish showing the distinctive markings on the top

An unidentified jellyfish

We have seen quite a few compass jellyfish, varying in size from a couple of inches to about 6ins in diameter and literally hundreds of moon jellyfish of various sizes.

We also saw one totally different looking jellyfish. Sadly it was too deep to get a good photo of it and I have so far been unable to identify it. 

But the best photo opportunity this week was a visit to the marina by a family of swans, including three cygnets.

Three cygnets hitch a ride on mum's back

The cygnets take a rest from paddling around under their own steam

One little cygnet snuggles down among mum's feathers

Mum and her babies came into the marina shortly before the gate that keeps water in the marina when the tide goes out was shut.

Mum calls for her partner from the marina side of the gate

She quickly realised she had been separated from her mate and swam up and down on the inside of the gate with her little ones on her back calling out to her mate.

She could see him through the holes in the gate but could not reach him and was getting very upset, but soon afterwards he joined her and the pair presumably waited until the gate was opened again on the next rising tide before making good their escape.

Dad joins the rest of the family for a swim around the marina

We've also had some beautiful sunsets over the past few days so the camera has been putting in a bit of overtime.

Maryport Marina sunset

Another view of the sunset over Maryport Marina

PS. For the purists among you, I am aware that I have adopted the common misquote from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge for the title on this blog post.

It should read: “Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink; 

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.”

Thankfully Ravensdale is GRP (glass-reinforced plastic) so we don’t have to worry about boards shrinking. At least that's one thing that can't go wrong on our boat J

A busman’s holiday from our liveaboard lifestyle

Ravensdale at sunset in Maryport Marina

You know you’ve become totally obsessed with boating when every break and holiday has a boat-related theme.

When we went to visit family in Wales and the south of England earlier this year we ended up visiting marinas and chandleries and the only souvenirs we brought home from our trip were an outboard motor, a life raft and three tins of antifouling paint.

The Northern Boat Show at Salthouse Dock in Liverpool

One of the interesting old sailing ships on display

And our latest break from Ravensdale, the 13.3m Neptunus 133 cruiser that has been our home for almost eight months, was a trip to the Northern Boat Show in Liverpool on Friday.

We travelled down to Merseyside on Thursday evening and stayed in a Travelodge about 16 miles from the city.

After a very filling breakfast at a nearby Little Chef, we set off for Liverpool waterfront.

We had already booked car parking and put the postcode for the car park in the Sat Nav, but it’s a long time since either of us has been in a big city and we had problems finding our way through the traffic.

Once we were safely parked up, we thought things would get easier, but we couldn’t find our way out of the multi-storey car park.

 We felt like proper country bumpkins when we had to ask several people how to get out of the building.

The old sailing boats contrast with the modern architecture around the docks

As planned the car park was very close to the show at Salthouse Dock, so we only had to cross the road to get to the stands that had been set up along the waterfront.

There was a good range of exhibitors including yacht brokers, boat builders, chandleries and marinas, including Maryport Marina, along with watersport and training course providers, holiday and caravan companies, National Coastwatch and River Canal Rescue.

The Maryport Marina stand

The show was being held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We chose to attend on Friday assuming it was likely to be the quietest day and it seems we were correct in this assumption.

We took along a long list of things we needed or wanted for Ravensdale, along with the relevant measurements, in the hope some of these items might be available at the show.

We were out of luck with most of the things we had wanted.

However, we ordered a new dinghy to use as a tender that is due to arrive in a few days time.

We also bought a pair of binoculars that include a compass and a bottle of Boat Buddy boat cleaner so we can keep Ravensdale looking spick and span.

I loved all the old sailing ships that were on show, but was a little disappointed that most of the boats that we were able to view from the pontoons were narrowboats.

A quiet start to the Northern Boat Show

A different view of the boat show with the Wheel of Liverpool in the distance

It was very interesting to see how the interiors were laid out in the different widths of narrowboats and the wide beam vessels on show.

However, it would have been nice to have been able to look around more cruisers – not because we’re looking to change our boat, but because it would have given us an opportunity to look for ideas for projects we could undertake on Ravensdale.

Some of the narrowboats on show at the event

Another group of boats on display at the show

Loved the paintwork on this boat but don't think we will be attempting anything like this on ours

It was lovely to meet up with friends from Maryport Marina, who live in Liverpool, at the boat show and we enjoyed a good chat over lunch.

And, at the end of the day, we managed to find our way back to our car - only because I had written down the details of the level and aisle J - and to get out of the city, despite a road closure, which confused the Sat Nav lady almost as much as it confused us.

Looking around other boats provided an interesting break from our own, but it was nice to get back onboard Ravensdale – our home, sweet home - when we returned to Maryport.

The sunset that greeted us on our return home to Maryport

What a whopper! A giant jellyfish pays a visit to Maryport Marina

A huge jellyfish swims past a boat in the marina

The weather has been amazing for the past week and, on one of the hottest days, a massive jellyfish found its way into the marina.

I was on my way from Ravensdale up to the marina facilities when I spotted the monster, which was the size of a dustbin lid, lurking between the pontoon and another boat.

I was amazed by its size and dashed back to our boat to get Phil as I knew he would want to see it.

By the time we got back it had gone, but I spotted it again a little later and we spent much of Tuesday watching it swim around the marina while taking lots of photos.

The jellyfish is clearly visible just below the surface of the water

It really was an incredible sight. It was pale pink, with a black lacy looking rim, and measured about 18ins in diameter and around 2ft 6ins in length.

We have since looked it up online to discover it was a Rhizostoma pulmo, commonly known as the barrel jellyfish, the dustbin-lid jellyfish or the frilly-mouthed jellyfish.

It is found in the Atlantic, the Adriatic and Mediterranean Sea. It is also common in the Irish Sea.

It usually measures around 16ins in diameter, but can reach up to 35ins, making it the largest jellyfish in British waters.

Apparently it is a favourite food of the Leatherback Sea Turtle, but as we don’t have too many of them around here it should be safe enough J

Enjoying the sunshine on Ravensdale's fore deck

It has been almost too hot to do anything much other than soaking up the sun and watching the wildlife, including the heron that spends a lot of time around the marina, but work on the boat has continued.

A heron posing for photos on a nearby boat

Phil replaced the damaged black caulking in the aft deck before cleaning, brightening and sealing it.

Cleaning the aft deck

Only trouble was that we didn’t think to shut the windows in the aft cabin, the heads and shower before he started work on the deck above it.

Needless to say that once again the water poured in soaking everything along both sides of our bedroom, the towel hanging on the towel rail in the bathroom and the loo roll was totally sodden.

And this time was even worse than the last time this happened when Phil was just hosing down the boat with clean water.

This time the water was filthy where the specialist cleaning product had lifted all the dirt and algae from the teak deck.

An extra load of washing had to be done and all the surfaces had to be washed down, but we now have a lovely clean room – until the next time J

As it is the only way in and out of the boat, we had to stay inside for an hour after the sealant was applied to allow it to dry, although we had worked out that we could probably have climbed out of a window if necessary.

Applying the deck sealant

Meanwhile, I have been cleaning the upholstery.

When we moved onto Ravensdale we decided to keep our carpet and upholstery cleaner despite it being rather large to store on a boat and we are very glad we did as it's been worth its weight in gold.

Cleaning the upholstery in the main saloon

However, I was becoming very frustrated that I couldn’t seem to get the grey upholstery on the seating in the saloon to look clean. Try as I might it still looked a murky brown colour.

I'd almost finished cleaning the cushions and putting them out on the fore deck to dry when I discovered why I couldn’t get them to look clean on the boat.

The window alongside the seating was open and as the sun came around to the starboard side I could see what was happening.

The upholstery lit up by the light from the open window looked grey whereas the area that was being struck by light coming through the window was a dirty-looking brownish grey.

And it was at that point that we realised we had tinted windows. I felt a total prat, but at least I knew that I could stop trying to clean the cushions as I was never going to wash away the shading caused by the tinted glass.

The upholstery looking discoloured due to tinted glass

Polishing and waxing the boat and chrome cleaning has continued. It seems Ravensdale is a bit like the Forth Bridge – a never-ending task.

And we took the canvas covers off the flybridge, the windscreen and the windows in the fore cabin and scrubbed them to remove the green algae that had accumulated on them over the winter.

Scrubbing the flybridge cover in the sunshine

MPM engineering firm next to the marina has also completed the work to our black water (toilet) holding tank.

They installed the skin fitting while Ravensdale was out of the water and completed the internal work yesterday so we will now be able to discharge the holding tank while at sea.

We have also cleaned up our bikes and Phil gave them a bit of a service to make sure they will be ready when we want to take them out for a spin, which will hopefully be one day very soon.

Phil carrying out bike checks

One other discovery this week was that we’ve been cooking everything in far too hot an oven.

The oven that has been burning everything until now

We've been using the gas marks given in recipes and wondering why everything was getting burnt, particularly at the back of the oven.

At long last, we actually got the instruction booklet out and discovered that the settings are totally different.

We only have six settings instead of eight, for example gas mark 4 on this oven is 200C whereas it would normally be 180C and gas mark 6 is 240C compared to 200C.

Also there’s a tray in the bottom of the oven with holes on three sides.

We thought they should be along the back and sides to allow the heat from the flames to pass through them, but the instructions said they should be at the front to disperse the heat more evenly.

So hopefully our meals and my attempts at baking will be a bit better from now on. I'll let you know...

A flight of cormorants and a fluther of jellyfish - wildlife in and around the marina

Cormorants nesting on a navigation mark in the Solway Firth

Ravensdale is looking ship-shape after her prolonged beauty treatment and at long last we've had time to enjoy watching the local wildlife.

It’s so good to be back on the water after 11 weeks on dry land.

We’ve been proper liveaboards again for almost a week now – although we still lived on board all the time Ravensdale was out on the hard-standing, but it really wasn’t the same.

I love being rocked to sleep at night, but hardly notice the rocking by day, except for when it’s blowing a hoolie of course J

Since we moored back alongside the pontoons, Phil has been busy washing and polishing the bits we couldn’t reach while out of the water, such as the transom, which was covered by the scaffolding steps, and the highest parts of the hull that were hard to get to from the ladders we were using.

Cleaning the transom

And it looks as though all our hard work has paid off.

Ravensdale is certainly looking much cleaner, tidier and shinier than she did before we started work on her at the end of February.

So much so that another boat owner here said she looked “almost like new”, which is quite a compliment given that she’s now over 30 years old.

We have also fitted the davits that I cleaned up while out of the water.

These are crane-like devices on the stern of a boat that are used for supporting, lowering and raising a smaller craft.

Securing them in place on their brackets on the transom was an interesting task, especially as we did it on a fairly windy day.

They are large and heavy, which made positioning them for the bolts to be slotted through the brackets extremely difficult.

Phil tied a mooring rope onto the first one and turned it around one of the supports for the bimini - the canvas cover that can be used to shade the aft deck. I was holding onto the other end, but it was impossible to stop the davit swinging while Phil was balanced on the bathing platform trying to get it to sit right on the brackets.

Fixing the davits

He decided it was better to tie the other end to the radar arch, leaving a bit of play in the rope to enable him to position it correctly.

I then handed him the stainless steel nuts, bolts and washers pointing out that he really couldn’t drop them or they would end up in the water and we had no spares. Thankfully he managed not to lose any and they are now securely in place.

Only question now is – do they stay or do they go?

If we keep them, they need new winches as, despite cleaning up the old ones that were all rusted up, they don’t work properly so will need replacing.

The shiny davits that are currently useless

But there is no point doing that unless we're sure that we intend to use them.

Before that decision can be made, we need to get a tender as we've sold the one that was on the boat when we bought it as it was not suitable for use in the sea.

The dinghy we were considering buying from another boat owner here turned out to have a slow puncture that we could not locate. It was also bulkier and heavier than we had wanted so we decided not to purchase it. So now the hunt is on for a new (or nearly new) one.

We have also checked the depth sounder by dropping a weight on a rope over the side of the boat. We then measured the rope and were delighted to find that the length coincided with the figures shown on the depth sounder.

We had a lovely treat yesterday when one of the other boat owners here offered us a trip out on his yacht.

I was at Lidl doing a bit of shopping when Phil called to say that if I could get back asap we could go out with him for a couple of hours. It’s a good 10 minute walk back, but I did it as fast as I could as I certainly didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity.

Maryport from the sea

For the first time in weeks, there was virtually no wind so there was no point in putting the sails up.

We motored out, then drifted around for a while before heading for a navigation mark which has become a popular nesting place for cormorants.

Phil takes the tiller for our trip out in the Solway Firth

Phil took the tiller for much of the time we were out. I got to take a turn when we were heading towards the navigation mark but handed it back to Phil before we got there so I could photograph the nesting birds.

The navigation mark covered in cormorant nests

He slowly steered the yacht around the mark twice so I could get a good view of them.

Just wish I had taken my long lens with me as I would have got a better view of the babies in their nests.

We both really enjoyed the experience.

I also got a chance to put my VHF radio training to good use when I was asked to radio the marina before we left and when we were about to come back in.

Hopefully next time we go out of the marina gate it will be in Ravensdale.

Meanwhile, back at the marina we’ve had some interesting marine visitors.

One day the place seemed to be teaming with jellyfish.

One of the jellyfish that arrived in the marina this week

Two jellyfish just below the surface near our boat

A mauve jellyfish beside the harbour wall

They were of varying sizes and either white or mauve in colour.

The following day they were gone.

Presumably the brackish water in the marina did not suit them and they left on the next tide.

Maryport Marina

Ravensdale is back where she belongs - in the water

Ravensdale moored alongside the pontoon at Maryport Marina

At long last, Ravensdale is back in the water.

Her relaunch at lunchtime today didn’t go as smoothly as we’d hoped, but we’re back in the marina now and it’s great to be afloat.

The blocks in place ready for the relaunch

The wooden blocks Phil and Mic made at the weekend were screwed to straps and tied in place under the exhaust manifolds that lift and get damaged whenever she is lifted in or out of the water.

Sadly the blocks failed when the straps of the boat hoist tightened beneath them and one of the blocks broke as it took its share of Ravensdale’s 16 ton weight.

A fender is used to replace the broken block

So we had to revert to plan B and two of our fenders were inserted under the exhaust manifolds in an effort to protect them from getting broken again.

Ravensdale is lifted in the boat hoist

The big boat on MPM’s yard at the top of the slipway – the Isle of Man fisheries boat, Barrule – was moved to make room for the hoist to transport Ravensdale from the hard standing onto the slipway.

Isle of Man Fisheries vessel Barrule before she was moved to make way for our relaunch

Watching Ravensdale heading towards the water was nerve-wracking. I couldn’t help thinking about the various holes Phil had cut in the hull to fit the trim tabs , the transducer for the depth sounder and the paddlewheel for the log and wondering if there would be any leaks.

Phil and a friend watch Ravensdale head towards the slipway

Ravensdale's relauch

Once she was in the water, Phil went to check that there was no water coming in at any of the locations where he had cut holes through the hull and thankfully there wasn’t.

So he drove Ravensdale to her mooring and it already feels as though we’ve never been away.

Ravensdale back where she belongs

We’re not going to get rocked to sleep tonight as there's next to no wind, but it looks as though the wind is going to get up tomorrow so we'll soon discover whether we have lost our sea legs.