A mysterious noise and a nasty surprise

Preparing for the new trim tab system to arrive

A mysterious noise coming from the galley area of Ravensdale has been puzzling us for the past couple of weeks.

We have both spent time trying to identify its source.

And we had worked out that we only heard it when it was windy outside.

But we could not find anything that could be causing it.

The mystery was solved when Phil spotted that the new log he had fitted was registering a speed despite the fact the boat is currently on stilts on dry land and therefore very definitely not moving.

The new log registers 3 knots while the boat is standing still

The highest speed he saw it register was 4 knots (nautical miles per hour). The highest it reached once I had my phone at the ready to take a photo was 3 knots.

The penny then dropped. The noise we were hearing was the new paddle wheel he had fitted on the underside of the hull in the galley area being blown around by the wind.

The new paddle wheel underneath the hull

Meanwhile, a friend recently said my blog seemed to prove that boating was “equivalent to standing in a cold shower ripping up tenners” and the past week seems to have proved him right.

Well, not so much the bit about standing in a cold shower as the boat is warm and dry and the marina showers are lovely and hot, but definitely the bit about ripping up tenners - or maybe notes of a higher denomination would be more appropriate :-)

This week we had a nasty surprise regarding the trim tabs that have been holding up our return to the water for the past few weeks.

The dead trim tab motor

We had hoped they were getting fixed but it now turns out that the motor is not repairable as the parts are no longer available so we have had to scrap it and buy a whole new system.

Two guys from Forth Engineering at Maryport turned up at the door of our boat with the bad news on Thursday.

And, despite the fact they were unable to help on this occasion, we would have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone. They have spent hours desperately trying to track down the parts for us, without success, and made a total of four visits to our boat while trying to come up with a solution, but would not take a penny for their efforts.

We ordered the new trim tab system, including four new rams, the motor, two console switches (one for the saloon console and one for the fly bridge) and all the relevant cables, late on Thursday and it arrived this afternoon.

So our re-launch date is now in Phil’s hands - no pressure there then J

While waiting for the new kit to arrive, he stripped out the old system.

Phil removes the old trim tab rams

Phil removed the old rams that were supposed to make the trim tabs move up and down and made good the holes they had left in the hull by filling them with fibreglass, fibreglassing over the areas where they had been then putting a new coat of gelcoat over the top.

Applying gelcoat on top of the fibreglass covering the holes where the old rams had been

He is planning to start work on the refit tomorrow and is anticipating the biggest problem being the wiring. The cables need to go from the motor, which will be fitted on the transom under our bed in the stern cabin, through to the switches on the console at the forward end of the saloon and up on the fly bridge when there is no obvious or easy route for them to follow.

Our newly whipped fender ropes

Close-up of my whipping

I have been busy finishing off cleaning and polishing all the stainless steel on the boat with chrome cleaner and whipping the new ropes we have bought for our fenders.

Sadly my lesson in whipping from our friend did not help as he showed me how to whip braid ropes and we bought three strand rope for the job.

So I followed a really simple video for sailmaker’s whipping that I found on YouTube.

There were seven ropes to do, which meant I had 14 ends to whip.

My plan was to do half of them at one sitting and the other half another time as I thought pulling the whipping twine tight would make my fingers sore. And I was right, it did, but once I was half way through the task I just wanted to get it finished.

The next new skill I am planning to learn is splicing and Reg, who is the marina foreman, has offered to give us a lesson on Wednesday so I’m looking forward to that.

In the meantime, I've been out and about with my camera again, trying to get some different photos of Maryport. 

The blue bridge across the River Ellon to Mote Hill, Maryport

A wide view of Maryport from Mote Hill

River Ellon from Mote Hill