Tuesday 21 March 2017

Spring lift out delayed until the wind drops


Photo of Maryport Marina

Maryport Marina with the pump out facility and diesel pump in the foreground.

Ravensdale’s spring beauty treatment has been delayed by a few days.

We had booked a lift out for tomorrow so we can antifoul her hull and give her a good clean up ready for our first trip out.

But we have decided to put it off until Friday due to a combination of windy weather and the chance of a better spot on the hard standing if we wait until another boat goes back in on Friday.

In fact, we have had high winds for the past week, ever since we discovered we needed a trip over to the pump out at the far end of the marina.

Soon after we returned from our trip down south to visit the family, we realised that our “black water” (toilet) holding tank was almost full.
We decided to empty it asap, rather than wait until we would be passing the pump out on the way to the slipway for the lift out as a full holding tank means the heads are out of commission and we have to use the marina facilities.

Photo of the marina's toilet and shower block

The marina's toilet and shower block

However, asap turned out to be not very soon at all.

And we have now decided that, as we've survived like this for a week, we might just as well carry on until Friday, especially as the wind isn’t forecast to drop much before then and manoeuvring the boat in the marina in high winds is not something we would do from choice.

So fingers crossed that the weather forecast is correct and all goes to plan for Friday.

We're expecting to be out of the water for about a fortnight while we carry out the antifouling and general clean up ourselves. We considered booking holiday accommodation nearby for this period, but decided we didn’t want to waste our money on paying for somewhere to stay when we could still stay on the boat.

It is going to be strange staying on board while the boat is on chocks on the hardstanding and will mean placing a large bucket under the “grey water” (sink) outlet to enable us to wash-up, clean our teeth, etc. and we will definitely be using the marina facilities for showers.

Hopefully staying onboard will encourage us to get the work done faster, partly because we're on site so will not need to travel to and from the marina to holiday accommodation and partly because I’m sure we'll be more comfortable when Ravensdale is back in the water.

Photo of scrubbing some of the more stubborn marks

Phil scrubbing some of the more stubborn marks

Meanwhile, we've started cleaning the topside to speed things up when we're out of the water.

While searching online for cleaning products, Phil found Chine Shine, which was recommended by Practical Boat Owner magazine as one of their “best buys” so we ordered 5 litres to see if it was any good.

And it works like magic.

Photo of rinsing off the cleaning product

Rinsing off the Chine Shine

It has to be painted on and left for 15 minutes before washing it off and it transforms the surface to which it has been applied from a dirty-looking off-white, yellow colour to bright white, with a little bit of elbow grease to get rid of the more stubborn marks.

Photo of grass seed is growing in all the wrong places

The grass seed is growing in all the wrong places

Meanwhile, the marina’s new caravan site is nearing completion, but the grass seed that was supposed to grow in the cross-shaped holes in the concrete to create an area of grass that is tough enough to be driven over seems to be growing everywhere but in the holes.

When the contractors brushed the seed into the soil-filled holes it blew all over the place, with large quantities of the seed floating down onto the boats (ours included) and the pontoons below.

We washed it off our boat and the marina staff pressure washed the pontoons, but it was also blown into the gravel surrounding the “grass-crete” area and that is where it seems to be growing best.

Photo of the inshore rescue boat moored in the marina

The inshore rescue boat moored in the marina

And the Maryport Inshore Rescue boat is currently moored in the marina after the tractor used for launching it from the slipway by its nearby boathouse got stuck in the mud in the outer harbour.

A cold wind sweeps across Maryport Beach

Other than the high winds, the weather has been fairly bright over the last few days, but has become very chilly.

Roll on the spring...