Wednesday 8 February 2017

At long last we have heat!!!


Gary from Caldew Autolec in Carlisle installs our new heater.


After more than a month without a proper heating system on Ravensdale, our new heater was installed today and it’s working J

Gary from Caldew Autolec in Carlisle turned up with our Webasto 5 before 9am this morning and once again our main saloon was turned into a building site.

The heater fits into a small space between one of the engines and the hull


We lifted the carpet and the section of flooring covering one of the engines and the area where the old heater used to be before it broke down, never to go again.

We had high hopes that installation would go smoothly, as we had sent the company photos of the space where the old heater had been to show the position, access, mountings, fittings and exhaust.

However, we did not know if they had provided all the information required to make all the parts needed to make the new heater work in this location.

But Gary did a great job and by the time he left the new heating system was working well and it is really, really quiet in comparison with the old one.

The new controls are fitted in the instrument panel at the helm


We are making the most of it tonight and have turned it up warmer than we would usually have our heating as a special treat after weeks of wrapping up in thermal underwear and blankets to keep warm.

And, for once, we were pleased to see a forecast of low temperatures overnight and for the next few days as we will really feel the benefit of our lovely new heater.

Dex waits patiently while I take photos on the beach

Poor old Dex had to spend a few hours in the car while the work was being carried out as we didn’t want him to fall down the hole into the engine room, but I took him for a good walk on Maryport Beach before putting him in the car and wrapped him up in a warm blanket in the boot, even though it wasn’t very cold today. He was not impressed!

However, when we took him back to the boat after the work was finished, he was delighted to discover warm air coming out of the heat outlets and stood at the foot of the steps down from the saloon into the galley for sometime soaking up the heat from the outlet at the foot of the stairs.

He is now curled up fast asleep on the seating in the dining area in a temperature of 24.5C – a vast improvement on the 7C we recorded in the same area earlier this week.
All in all, it has been a very good day and we popped out this afternoon to buy some bait for the planned fishing trip tomorrow morning.

A groyne on Maryport Beach