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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.
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The marina's toilet and shower block |
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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A cold wind sweeps across Maryport Beach |
Roll on the spring...
