Engine problems threaten to turn our liveaboard dream into a nightmare

Ravensdale's troublesome heat exchanger is lifted out onto the saloon floor

The past week probably rates as the most worrying since we moved on board our 43ft seagoing cruiser almost 15 months ago.

For a short while, it looked as though one of Ravensdale’s engines had a very serious problem. So much so that a local man with extensive experience of keeping fishing boats running told us he had no idea what the problem could be.

After working on her starboard engine for the best part of two days, he sat in our saloon on Tuesday afternoon looking down at the engine, shaking his head and basically giving us the impression that it was done.

Phil watches Norman disconnect the intercooler

As if that wasn’t bad enough, our Webasto diesel heating system packed up on Tuesday evening.

I couldn’t help thinking that I’d somehow tempted fate when I wrote last week’s blog about our super-efficient heating system on Ravensdale.

We had to resort to heating the boat with the gas oven and a dehumidifier until Phil could have a proper look at it the following morning.  

We then discovered that the lights dimmed every time we used anything else on the 24V system.

We had no heating Tuesday evening, overnight and Wednesday morning.

Phil started investigating the cause of the problem the following morning to discover that the battery charger wasn’t working.

He couldn’t identify the cause of the problem so we called in a marine electrician, who’d previously carried out work on Ravensdale.

He turned up a couple of hours later to discover that the switch by the mains input that takes 240V to the charger for the 24V system was off.

Phil was kicking himself for not checking the switch, but we never touch it and had no reason to even think it might have been turned off.

We can only think that it happened accidentally during the work being carried out in the engine room.

Thankfully, the electrician could see the funny side of the situation, but we’ve definitely learnt a lesson – always check something is switched on before calling in the experts J

Ravensdale’s overheating problem

The last time we took Ravensdale out to sea, she had a problem with her starboard engine overheating at speed.

She has two 300hp Volvo Penta engines.

The port engine was running just fine whatever speed she was doing.

But the temperature of her starboard engine showed a marked increase if we took her over about 12 knots and on one occasion, before we noticed this problem, the warning light on the temperature gauge came on and the alarm started going off.

Reducing the engine speed very quickly brought the temperature back down again.

Ravensdale out on the Solway Firth

Some people suggested this was easily remedied by keeping to 12 knots and below, but we weren’t happy to do this as we felt the overheating must be indicative of an underlying problem.

After asking around at our marina at Maryport in Cumbria, UK, Norman, who’s been keeping his family’s fishing boats running for years, agreed to come and see if he could get to the root of it.

Christmas and New Year, followed by bad weather and his other workload meant he hadn’t got around to us yet.

Phil had said he wanted the problem rectified before taking Ravensdale out again and, up until last weekend, it hadn’t mattered that we were still waiting for the work to be done.

However, on Saturday, the weather was fine and bright and there was very little wind. The tide times also meant the marina gate was open for almost five daylight hours.

It was an opportunity we would almost certainly have taken advantage of under normal circumstances, but we decided against for two reasons – I still wasn’t really feeling 100% after the flu bug and we really wanted Ravensdale’s overheating problem sorted before taking her out again.

So, when I saw Norman go down to his boat on Sunday, I went along to see when he might be able to fit us in and he said he’d be with us at 8am the following morning.

This meant a bit of an early start for us as we needed to dismantle the seating on the starboard side of the saloon and lift the floor to provide access to the engine before he arrived.

However, we considered it well worth getting up early if it solved Ravensdale’s overheating problem.

Trying to trace the cause of the problem

Norman started by examining the pipes and the jubilee clips on the system and discovered a perished hose and old jubilee clips that needed replacing.

He also found that there was no gasket on the water pump and asked me to cut one out of an old cereal packet as we didn't have any gasket paper on board.

Norman fitting the cereal packet gasket

He then set about removing the intercooler, which proved more difficult than he had expected due to the way it was designed and because it had apparently not been removed since the boat was built in 1984.

Norman eventually managed to prise it free and took it away to clean it with a compressor.

Phil and Norman inspect the intercooler

Meanwhile, he sent us to a nearby motor parts store to buy gasket paper and RTV silicone instant gasket.

He said he would return at around 8am on Tuesday morning, which meant another early start, but we didn’t mind at all as we just wanted to get the job done.

Norman replaced the intercooler and checked the thermostats, both of which seemed to be working.

Norman checking the thermostats

Phil passed him the tools he needed and held a torch to shed light on the area on which he was working.

My job was to cut some new gaskets for the intercooler from the filter paper we’d bought the previous day.

Me punching holes in the gaskets I had cut

Norman connected everything back up, then realised that there was no seawater in the cooling system because the filter was partially above sea level and the water in the system had drained down.

He got Phil to start the engine in the hope that the pump would suck the water in, but this did not happen so he had to top up the filter to provide sufficient water to get it circulating again.

The engine sounded fine. However, when they checked the water outlet, they discovered that there was only a trickle of water coming through and steam started coming out at about 1,000 revs.

 It was at this point that things were not looking good for Ravensdale.

After much soul-searching during a coffee break, Norman decided that the only thing he could try now was to take off the heat exchanger and take that away and clean it too.

He hadn’t thought this would be necessary as he was convinced that any blockage would be in the intercooler, but he decided it was worth trying as a last resort.

The heat exchanger was much bigger than the intercooler and even more difficult to remove. When he eventually managed to remove it, he discovered that it was full of sludge.

Phil helps Norman with the troublesome heat exchanger

Phil gave Norman a lift home with the heat exchanger so he could clean it up and he returned the following morning to say he hadn’t been able to clean it with a pressure washer or a compressor so he had it soaking in caustic soda.

He said he’d let us know when it was ready to go back on.

And yesterday (Thursday) morning we got a call to say we could collect it from his home.

We brought Norman back with the heat exchanger and, after making new gaskets for it, he connected it up.

Then came the moment of truth...

Water coming out of the outlet for Ravensdale's starboard engine

Phil started up the engine and we were all delighted to see that the water was flowing through it properly again. He ran it up to 1,000 revs without any sign of steam.

The final test will be taking Ravensdale out to sea when a suitable weather window coincides with the marina gate being open at a reasonable time of day, but it certainly looks as though the problem has been sorted.

Severe weather warnings

The Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" warning for snow and ice for much of the UK for Sunday.

The area covered by the warning came within eight miles of Maryport and, although the snow we had here was too wet to settle, it was falling fairly heavily for a while on Sunday morning.

The snowy view from Ravensdale's aft deck

Snow falling at Maryport Marina in Cumbria

And we didn’t get much sleep overnight Tuesday into Wednesday as Storm Georgina lashed the west coast with 45mph southerly winds, gusting up to 59mph.

This caused some fairly dramatic rocking and the water splashing against the hull seemed to be particularly noisy.

The high winds continued throughout much of the day on Wednesday.

The dreaded lurgy

I am almost fully recovered from the flu bug that made me so unwell for the best part of a fortnight.

It’s now almost three weeks since the symptoms started and all that’s left is a persistent cough.

I’m hoping it will disappear fairly soon, although I know of people who’ve been back at work for three weeks after suffering this bug who’ve still not managed to shake off the cough.

We thought Phil was getting it a few times as he had headaches and felt generally under the weather, but he’s still managing to fight it off.

Cooking with gas

Ravensdale's gas stove and hob

I recently realised I hadn’t worked out how much we spend on gas for our cooker, which is also used to boil water for cups of tea.

Well, we now know...

We started using a 13kg propane cylinder on November 15 and it ran out on Tuesday of this week, which means it lasted one day short of 9 weeks.

A 13kg cylinder costs £28, which means we’re spending just over £3 per week on gas.

Wind, rain and snow outside - warm and cosy on board

Ravensdale's welcoming glow on a cold, dark night

Why do folk who live on the land think liveaboards must freeze in the winter?

The first thing many people seem to assume if we tell them we live on our boat is that we must get really cold when the temperatures start to drop outside.

Why?

I just don’t get it!

If someone tells you they live in a house, you don’t automatically launch into a series of questions about what type of heating they have.

But, if you live on a boat, it seems to be the first thing people want to know.

The questions sometimes vary, but the sentiment is the same.

“Don’t you get cold in the winter?”

“How do you keep warm?”

“Do you have heating?”

Yes, of course we have heating.

We wouldn’t have moved on board our Neptunus 133 Ravensdale at Maryport in Cumbria, UK, if we didn’t have the ability to keep ourselves warm.

The next question is likely to be about the type of heating, which is fair enough.

Actually, it’s all fair enough really. Our lifestyle is outside most people’s experience and they’re just interested to learn more.

And, to be honest, we're happy to explain how we manage to keep warm on board to anyone who genuinely wants to know more about it.

Ravensdale's super efficient Webasto heater

Ravensdale has a very efficient and very effective Webasto hot air diesel heating system.

Phil with the old heater

That said, this time last year, we were in a very different situation.

The Eberspacher heating system that was onboard when we bought our 43ft seagoing cruiser packed up on January 5 - http://fromahousetoaboat.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/our-heater-is-dead-and-marina-has.html

And it took a month for the company we took it to for repairs to discover it was beyond repair and to get us a replacement. It had to be ordered from Germany and the first one sent went missing in transit.

We were very lucky that it was a particularly mild period for January/February, but it was still pretty chilly.

We got by with a couple of small electric heaters, which pushed our weekly electricity costs up from around £20 per week to £50 per week, but it made life just about bearable until the new heater was fitted - http://fromahousetoaboat.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/at-long-last-we-have-heat.html

Ravensdale’s heating system

The new system we had fitted was the Webasto Airtop Evo 55 diesel 24V, which is designed for use in trucks, vans and mobile homes.

The new Webasto heater being fitted in February 2017

One of the heating outlets in the saloon

It’s capable of providing heat at five outlets, but we currently only have four – two in the saloon, one in the dinette/galley area and one in the aft cabin (AKA our bedroom).

Space heater in the bathroom

We also have a 55W space heater in the en suite heads in our bedroom, which seems to do a good job at keeping the chill off as it is only a very small room.

We’re considering piping the hot air through to the fore cabin and installing a fifth outlet there as there’s currently no proper heating at that end of the boat.

But it’s not really a problem as the cabin is only used for storage at the moment and we have a dehumidifier running in there as and when needed.

There’s also no heat in the heads in the fore cabin so we’re planning to install a space heater in there very soon.

Another improvement we plan to make as soon as possible is to fit a thermostat and timer to the Webasto system as we currently have to control it using knobs to turn the heat up or down.

The controls for our Webasto heating system

We tend to keep it on a low economy setting overnight, turning it up a bit just before we get up.

We then keep it on economy for most of the day, unless it’s very cold, and we switch it up to the lower of the two main heat settings during the evening, adjusting the temperature on that setting as required. We haven’t needed to use the highest settings yet.

The temperature on board ranges between about 13C and 16C (55.4F - 60.8F) during the night, around 20C (68F) during the day and about 24C (75.2F) during the evening.

Other means of keeping warm

1.    Dehumidifiers – We have two, one in the fore cabin and one in the aft cabin. These give out some heat, but mainly ensure that the boat remains dry. The one in the aft cabin is on for about an hour before going to bed and an hour after we get up in the morning. The one in the fore cabin is on all night with the doors to the rest of the boat left open to keep the whole boat dry. We also bring one of them up into the saloon at any time that condensation starts to form.

2.    Electric blanket – Absolutely invaluable during the winter months and pretty good to have during much of the spring and autumn too.

Warm brushed cotton bedding with a dehumidifier in the corner

3.    Brushed cotton bedding – A recent addition, but one we would thoroughly recommend. The warmer feel of the fabric makes for a much cosier night’s sleep.

4.    Thermal underwear – A sleeveless vest is a big help during cooler periods and, when it gets really cold, we don our thermal base layer underwear that was initially bought for mountain walking.

Me in a warm, woolly hat

5.    Always wrap up and wear a warm hat when going out – It’s much easier to stay warm than to have to warm up again after getting cold.

6.    And finally, my personal tip for keeping warm – Always make your husband get up and turn the heating up a good half an hour before you get out of bed. Trust me! It works! J

The dreaded lurgy

The flu-type bug I developed almost a fortnight ago is still making its presence known and I’ve been particularly grateful for our excellent onboard heating system while feeling unwell.

Phil never caught the full-blown flu, but has been feeling less than 100% much of the time so we’re convinced his body has been fighting off the bug too.

Hopefully we will both be back on top form very soon.

Wet and windy weather

Phil checking the wind speed with a hand-held anemometer

The past week has been a mixture of wind, rain and even a little bit of snow.

We had a thin covering of snow on our aft deck and the pontoons for a short while at around 6.30pm on Tuesday evening after blizzard conditions, which must have lasted all of about 10 minutes.

Snow on Ravensdale's aft deck

Snow being blown around by high winds as it starts to settle on the pontoons

But most of the time the weather has either been very windy or raining or both – just typical UK winter weather really J

We had very stormy conditions overnight Sunday into Monday, with 33mph southerly winds, gusting to 46mph, recorded at nearby St Bees Head at midnight.

This continued throughout the day on Monday, overnight Monday into Tuesday and during the day on Tuesday.

Storm clouds gathering over Maryport Marina

The highest wind speed recorded in this area on Monday/Tuesday night was a westerly 36mph wind, gusting to 48mph at 4am on Tuesday.

Ravensdale’s TV aerial blew off again and Phil had to get dressed and go out in the wind and rain at around 2am to lash it down.

He fixed it again the following morning and we now know that we need to make some alterations to stop this happening every time we get high winds. Amazingly, the programmes that were scheduled to record that night were still recorded with very little disturbance to the reception.

Phil fixing the TV aerial after it came loose in the latest storms

Overnight Tuesday into Wednesday was another stormy night as Storm Fionn battered the UK leaving large swathes of the country covered by deep snow.

Maryport was on the edge of the various severe weather warnings for snow, ice and strong winds that the Met Office issued for Storm Fionn and it seems they were right as we certainly seem to have missed the worst of it this time.

Boat jobs

One of Ravensdale's crushed fenders

We haven’t really got back into doing any of the long list of jobs that want/need doing on Ravensdale since our Christmas and New Year shutdown.

Bad weather and feeling unwell have meant we’ve just been relaxing on board, waiting for the flu bug to run its course and for the weather to improve.

However, Phil changed the valves on a couple of fenders that suffered while being repeatedly squashed between Ravensdale’s hull and the pontoon during Storm Eleanor on January 2 and 3.

There was a bit of a delay as we’d run out of valves so we had to order more and wait for them to arrive.

But the fenders were blown up and back in place ready to take the strain before the worst of the high winds this week.

Meanwhile, the swans that can often be seen around the marina have been visiting our boat looking for food because the person who usually feeds them is away at the moment. We didn't have any proper swan food to offer them, but they seemed to quite like slices of potato.

The swans swimming towards Ravensdale in search of food

Phil feeding potato to one of the swans

Facebook comes to Ravensdale's rescue over lift-out dilemma

Ravensdale in the boat hoist the last time she came out of the water

The response to our first request for help on Facebook far exceeded our expectations.

And advice from around the world led to a solution right on our doorstep - OK, on our pontoon, but it’s the same thing J

I posted a request for guidance on how to overcome the problem we face every time our 43ft cruiser Ravensdale is lifted into or out of the water on two Facebook groups for liveaboards.

The design of the Neptunus 133, with fibreglass exhaust outlets running along the outside of the hull, means they get damaged by the slings on the boat hoist.

Ravensdale's starboard side showing one of the problem exhaust outlets

We had her lifted out for a survey before we bought her in October 2016 and put back in the water at the start of November of the same year when we moved on board.

On these occasions, both outlets lifted, damaging the screws and breaking the sealant along the top edge on the port side, which we repaired.

The next time she was lifted was last spring, when we had her out on the hard-standing for antifouling, to replace the anodes and for other work that could only be carried out while she was out of the water.

This time, the exhaust outlet on the starboard side snapped in half and the port side lifted again.

While she was out of the water, Phil repaired the broken side and we replaced the screws that had become damaged on both sides.

Lifting her back in was a big worry as we really didn’t want it to happen again.

The marina’s boat lift should be up to the task as Ravensdale is only 16 tonnes and the lift is designed to take up to 25 tonnes.

The problem lift point with one of the wooden blocks we tried last time

Phil and one of the marina staff built some wooden blocks that we hoped would do the job, but they snapped as soon as the slings took the strain so we ended up having to place fenders under the exhaust outlets again.

The marina's fender solution

And, once again, the fenders lifted when the slings pulled up underneath them and lifted the exhaust outlets.

Thankfully, they didn’t break the outlets this time, but again the screws were bent and the exhaust began escaping around the screw holes.

One of the drawings sent by a Facebook group member

Last week, I explained our problem and posted photos of the things we’d tried, without success, on Facebook and asked if anyone had any better ideas before her next lift out – possibly in the spring.

And we were totally overwhelmed by the response.

Within hours of posting my request, I received literally dozens of suggestions from people all over the world and all but a handful were extremely helpful (the others I just ignored J)

The many good ideas ranged from making larger wooden blocks and using hardwood for a similar design of block to moving to a marina with a wider boat lift.

Another drawing from the same person

I made it clear that we liked our current marina at Maryport, Cumbria, UK, so needed to find a solution that would work for us here.

Other members of these groups posted photos and videos of the equipment they used or had seen used with boats of a similar design.

And a few kind people posted or sent me drawings of their suggested solutions. One also provided all the details on the grade of steel, etc, that was needed.

Our plan was to take this information to a local fabrication yard to see if they could build something to do the job.

We'd recently become aware that another berth holder here, Stuart Norton, whose boat is moored on the same pontoon as us, was some sort of engineering designer.

He had just designed a piece of kit for another boat owner here, so I asked if he could suggest someone to do the welding work.

Stuart Norton's initial design

Stuart immediately volunteered to take a look at it for us.

I emailed him the information and drawings I’d been sent on Facebook and he came up with what looked like a workable solution constructed from 6mm steel, with each one weighing 20kg.

The steel bridges include holes to take lines so they don't get dropped in the water, and Stuart is suggesting 10mm neoprene, or similar material, on the pads to protect the hull.

He brought a special tool along to measure the angles involved to ensure a snug fit.

As Ravensdale is in the water at the moment, this involved crawling around on the pontoon and trying to make sure it was fitting correctly under the water.

Phil watching Stuart measure the angle

To help with this project, I offered to send Stuart photographs of the relevant parts of Ravensdale when she was out of the water.

He also took a series of photographs with a tape measure in shot so the software he uses can make the necessary calculations.

Having taken the measurements, he has gone away to tweak his design and to get us a quote for the work, which he would also commission and oversee for us.

We’re well aware that it’s not going to be cheap – after all nothing is ever cheap where boats are concerned J

However, if it solves the problem, it will be money well spent.

Once we have his final design, we will check whether the marina foreman thinks the steel bridges will work and is happy to use them before getting them made up.

Meanwhile, we had a lovely surprise last week when we were given a brace of pheasants.

Phil with the brace of pheasants

I have to confess that there is no way I could have dealt with them as I’m a bit squeamish about raw meat at the best of times, but Phil was happy to take them on.

As there wasn’t really room to deal with them in the galley, he split open a black bin liner and laid it across the coffee table in the saloon.

I had visions of the boat filling up with feathers while he was plucking them, but he managed to keep most of the flying feathers under control and only a few downy bits of plumage found their way into the rest of the boat.

Thankfully, he took the birds out onto the aft deck to gut them and he hoovered up the feathers in the saloon as soon as he’d finished.

The pheasants provided two meals – the first night we had one roasted with bacon on it, served with cider, celery and onion sauce and roast vegetables.

And the second one was casseroled with root vegetables in the remaining cider and served with mashed potato and cabbage.

Both meals were delicious.

The pheasant plucker at work

Oven ready pheasant

Not such a pleasant surprise was catching the flu that has left me feeling rotten for the whole of the past week. In fact, I don’t feel any better yet so really hoping it will clear soon.

And we’ve had a couple of very cold nights when the water in the marina froze over and Phil spread salt on our pontoon so we could get up to facilities safely.

Phil salting the pontoon that leads to Ravensdale

I have to say going up to use the marina toilets and showers when feeling so unwell has not been the best experience, but I know it won’t be long before I’m feeling better again.

Russell hoobs - the new name on our freezer

And finally, I thought you might be amused by the logo on our freezer.

It reads “Russell hoobs”

I couldn’t help thinking it sounded like a bad knock-off version of a Russell Hobbs freezer, but I knew we’d bought a genuine Russell Hobbs so I took a closer look.

It turned out that the straps we put around the freezer to stop it sliding when we take Ravensdale out to sea had knocked off part of the letters.

The microwave and freezer strapped down for going out to sea

So it really was “knock off” but not in the way I first thought J

I have no idea why I did this, but I decided to Google “Russell hoobs” and was amazed to get pages of results.

It’s obviously a common misspelling of the brand as the search engine directed me to results for Russell hoobs, but clicking on any of the links took me to Russell Hobbs products. Who’d have guessed? J