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Phil tears out his hair during our very own onboard storage wars |
We have definitely got too much stuff for our liveaboard
lifestyle.
I’m sure Ravensdale is now sitting lower in the water than
when we moved on board at the beginning of November.
One of her big attractions was that she had a lot of storage
space for a boat, but that just means we have more room for our junk and we
have packed stuff into every wardrobe, cupboard and locker.
From day one, I started keeping lists of what was where.
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Piles of stuff fill the boat during our big sort out |
However, since then, extra stuff has been added and things
have been moved from one location to another.
So much so that we’d reached a point where, every time we
wPilanted to do something, we had to spend a good half hour searching for the
tools or whatever was needed for the job and sometimes a good deal longer than
that.
We set aside a day to tackle the problem and started early
in the morning by pulling everything out of its hiding place. Tables, chairs
and the floor were piled high with all our worldly possessions.
Then we set about the daunting task of sorting everything,
getting rid of anything we really didn’t need and trying to establish some sort
of order in the storage of the items that were staying.
And this time I recorded every item that went away and have
typed up a “What’s Where” list that should make our lives a lot easier from
here on – as long as things are always put backs in the right place...
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One of our new fire extinguishers |
We have also replaced our fire extinguishers on the boat as
the existing ones were well past their use-by date and the directions for use
were in Dutch. This meant we didn’t know what type of extinguishers we had and
couldn’t read any of the instructions.
We’re guessing they were probably as old as the boat, which
was built in Holland in 1984, so we decided there time was up.
And we have put plastic tubing over a couple of our new
mooring ropes at the point where they pass through the cleats to prevent them
from wearing too quickly.
I would have liked to have been able to get blue tubing to
match the ropes, but a local firm gave us an off-cut of green tubing, which has
worked a treat.
Meanwhile, I think Phil must have fancied a larger bedroom
as he has attempted to water it on two separate occasions J
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Phil tops up Ravensdale's water tank |
Our cold water tank is under our bed and we have to be very
careful when filling it not to let it overflow as the water pours in faster
than it can overflow into the marina so it tends to spill over onto the floor
under our bed.
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Dex keeps a watchful eye on some passers by |
We need to top it up every four to five days and thought we
now knew roughly how long it took to fill, but we got chatting to someone who
dropped in for a coffee and totally forgot the water was running in.
This resulted in the floor and the carpet being soaked so
the carpet had to be lifted and towels were packed in around the base of the
bed to soak up the excess water.
One of our dehumidifiers then had to work overtime for a
couple of days to completely dry out the floor.
And, as if that wasn’t enough water in our bedroom, the next
time we filled up the water tank Phil decided to hose down the hull without
noticing that I had just opened all the windows in our bedroom to give it a
good airing.
Needless to say the water poured in the windows and down the
walls. It made puddles on the wooden surfaces and soaked the items sitting on
them, including my handbag, which I had unfortunately left wide open.
So, once again, the dehumidifier was working flat out to dry
out the bedroom and the soggy contents of my bag – so much for saving money on
the electricity now we have a proper diesel heating system again L
The next thing on our “to do” list is to start studying for our
VHF radio course next month.
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Dex tries out one of our new cushions after a walk around the harbour. Another new fire extinguisher is just visible in the background |
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Maryport Harbour during one of our dog walks |
