Our boat bequest dilemma and the return of the missing brush

An early morning shot of Ravensdale at Maryport Marina, Cumbria, UK

We’ve spent a lot of time thinking this week – about where we want to be for the next few years and what happens to our boat when we die.

Phil and I are trying to sort out our wills and are struggling to work out how to deal with our 43ft seagoing cruiser Ravensdale.

We’ve also been missing the Scottish mountains, having lived in the Highlands for 16 years before selling our house and moving onto our boat 17 months ago.

We’ve been based at Maryport Marina in Cumbria, UK, ever since, but we’re now looking at marinas in Scotland with a view to heading up that way.

We’re also considering a move to Wales, where we’d be closer to our families.

Meanwhile, we’ve been totally amazed by the reappearance of a deck brush that Phil lost overboard while cleaning Ravensdale in the marina last week.

Our will dilemma

The death of a fellow liveaboard has left us trying to decide what happens to our boat when we die.

For some time, Phil and I have been thinking that our wills needed revising as they were written 18 years ago.

There have been many changes in our lives since then, the biggest of which was probably selling our house and buying the boat that is now our home. If one of us went first, the boat would go to the other one. Our concern is what happens if we both go together. 

Our Neptunus 133 at Maryport Marina

We can’t help thinking that leaving someone a boat, or even a part share in a boat, is very different to leaving them a house.

For a start, selling a house is usually considerably easier than selling a boat.

Also, a boat costs a small fortune in mooring fees, insurance and maintenance that would have to be financed until she was sold, which could take months or even years.

I’ve heard it said that you only leave a boat to your worst enemy. Thankfully, we don’t have any of those (as far as we’re aware 😊) and we certainly wouldn’t want Ravensdale to become a millstone around the necks of any of our family.

I posted a question on a couple of Facebook liveaboard groups in the hope that someone had found a good solution to this problem and got a wide variety of answers.

As always, I was amazed at how helpful other folk are when we ask for help and advice and amused, but not in the least bit surprised, by the number of people who offered to solve our problem by taking Ravensdale off our hands when we go 😊

Some even offered to take ownership of her now, but I pointed out that we’re hoping to spend many more happy years living aboard before she needs to be rehomed. 

Phil and I enjoying some winter sunshine on Ravensdale's foredeck while at anchor

And a few people recommended a Viking funeral, which could be appropriate given my husband's Norwegian roots 😊

The sensible suggestions included asking our families whether they would want her, which we’d intended to do anyway, but we were trying to get a clearer picture of how it could work before asking them.

Others put forward the idea of leaving her to charity, which is a definite possibility if none of the family wants to take her on.

Another option was to set up some sort of trust fund to pay her expenses until she could be sold and the money raised could then be divided as stipulated in our wills.

We’ve now spoken to our relatives about this and are planning to take legal advice on the best way to ensure things go smoothly when we're gone.

Having written this, I’m feeling a little bit guilty talking about Ravensdale in this way. I sort of feel I should be covering her ears, so she doesn’t hear our discussions about her future 😊

The Swan Man

It was the death of Phil Lee, who became known locally as the Swan Man because he fed the pair of swans that were regular visitors to our marina, that set us thinking about our own wills.

The Swan Man with the swans at Maryport Marina

I attended his funeral last month and we offered to scatter his ashes at sea if that was what the family wanted.

We got to know his sister, who’s his only surviving relative, while she and her husband were here removing his belongings from his boat.

They’re not boating people and are having to deal with things like mooring fees, insurance and selling the boat, which is now on the market.

And they’ve left an urn containing his ashes with us to take out to sea next time we go.

Meanwhile, the swans have still not returned since he died and I volunteered to feed them, but I’m sure they’ll be back once the nesting season is over.

A cygnet hitching a ride on Mum's back

And, when they return, I’m hoping they’ll bring their cygnets with them as they did last year.

Marina thoughts – do we stay, or do we go?

Every time I see photos of the Scottish mountains, I have a hankering to return.

Phil and I at the summit of 3,274ft Ben More Assynt in April 2007

This week, I asked Phil if he felt the same way and he said he did.

We first moved to Scotland in 2000 because we loved the mountains and the stunning landscapes. And we spent a lot our free time while living there out in the hills.

During that time, we lived in Sutherland, Easter Ross and latterly near Fort William in Lochaber, where I never got tired of seeing Ben Nevis on my way to work every day.

This conversation set us thinking about whether we should consider moving our boat up to Scotland, so we’ve been researching suitable marinas that would give us easy access to the hills, including the possibility of Tarbert in Argyll, where we have friends with boats.

Tarbert Marina on the west coast of Scotland

We’re also looking at marinas in Wales – north Wales would mean we’d still be close to mountains, but west or south Wales would mean we’d be closer to my children and grandchildren and Phil’s brother.

Or we might just stay put as we like it here too.

Decisions! decisions!

But at least living on a boat, we can move our home anywhere we want without having to go through the palaver of selling one house and buying another 😊

Creatures of habit

Is it only me or do other people who regularly use the toilet and shower facilities at their marina tend to use the same one and consider it “their toilet” or "their shower"?

I know it’s unreasonable to even think this way.

The toilet and shower block at Maryport Marina

However, if I walk into the toilet and shower block and somebody is in the shower I use, even if I’m not planning to have a shower at that time, I can’t help thinking: “There’s somebody in my shower!”

And it’s happening more often since the marina caravan site reopened at Easter.

Actually, I know it isn’t only me as I was speaking to a liveaboard from another marina recently who told me she’s exactly the same, which was a huge relief as I thought I was the only one 😊

Return of the missing brush

After two tides had come in and gone out again, the deck brush that fell overboard while Phil was cleaning Ravensdale Friday lunchtime, turned up at the far end of the marina on Saturday morning.

Phil washing Ravensdale with the brush that went missing

That would have been amazing enough, but even more so was its location and the way in which it had come to rest.

It was upright, leaning against the wall at the bottom of a flight of stone steps down into the water next to an old trawler, called the Sara Maria, which is more than 100 yards from our boat and right next to the marina gate.

View from Ravensdale's aft deck showing the Sara Maria at the far end of the marina

We can only think that the wooden handle was lighter than the head causing it to float in an upright position and it came to rest on a ledge at the bottom of the steps, where the head was tangled up in the seaweed.

Phil retrieving the brush from the other end of the marina

As the handle had been out of the water for some time, it had almost dried out. Phil rinsed out the head in the marina water and it’s as good as new – well, not quite as it wasn’t that good when he lost it, but it’s no worse than it was.

And, as it was his favourite soft deck brush, which holds water, we were very happy to get it back.

We just couldn’t believe how and where it was when we found it.

How lucky was that? 😊

Pelican of London

I’ve been wanting to take a trip to Whitehaven Marina, which is about 15 miles from Maryport, ever since a tall ship, called Pelican of London, arrived there Easter weekend.

However, since then, most of the time the weather wasn’t good for photographs and, when it was, we were busy doing other things.

The light still wasn’t great on Monday, but we decided to go anyway as we also needed some cleaning materials from the chandlery at the marina as we don't have one here.

Pelican of London at Whitehaven Marina in Cumbria

The 34.6m long, 21.2m high square rigger is a sail training ship based in Weymouth, Dorset, in the UK.

Built in 1948 as Pelican, she served as an Arctic trawler and then a coastal trading vessel named Kadett until 1995.

She is now used as a sail training ship. She has seven crew members and can take up to 32 trainees - Pelican of London

Other photographic opportunities

I haven’t been out for as many walks with my camera, as usual, this week but, when I did, I more than made up for it with the number of photos I took – more deleting required 😊

There was a lovely golden light during the evening on Sunday and some great reflections on the water in Maryport harbour around the time of the high tide.

A calm evening at Maryport harbour

Rippled reflections of some of the fishing boats in Maryport harbour

More colourful fishing boats in Maryport harbour

A fishing boat leaving Maryport harbour

I also used the trip to Whitehaven as an opportunity to take photos of the marina, as well as Pelican of London. The light wasn’t great, but there was no way I could resist taking a few (OK, more than a few 😊) snaps while there.

Whitehaven Marina in the sunshine

Another view of Whitehaven Marina

The sea lock at Whitehaven Marina

A wider view of Whitehaven Marina

Marina wildlife

Although we haven’t seen the swans in the marina for about a month, a pair of mallards turn up from time to time looking for food and I feed them if they come near our boat.

Meanwhile, I’ve spent ages sitting on Ravensdale’s foredeck with my camera trying to get photos of the pigeons coming and going from the drainage hole in the harbour wall near our boat.

One of the pigeons sitting in the drainage hole

They've been nesting in there even though water pours through it from the road above whenever it rains and, up until now, it seemed to be working out fine for them.

Sadly, last night, after very heavy rain, the nest was washed down into the entrance of the hole. We have no idea whether there are eggs or babies in it, but there was nothing we could do to help.

Sadder still, it seems that they're planning to rebuild in the same place as we've seen them carrying nesting material into the hole this morning (Friday).

The pigeons' nest washed out of the drainage pipe

We’re also still keeping an eye out for the pair of otters that we saw playing in the water in the marina recently, especially in the evening, but we haven’t seen them again since.

Unseasonal weather

The weather here in Maryport hasn’t been very spring-like this week.

Even when the sun has come out, there has still been a cool wind, and there hasn’t been a particularly good sunset all week or, if there has, I’ve missed it, which is probably nearer the truth given my track record 😊

I took a couple of photos of a so, so sunset on Friday, but that was as good as it got.

Sunset over Maryport Marina and caravan site

View from Ravensdale's aft deck at sunset on Friday evening

Saturday promised to be the best day of the week, which was good as we had friends coming to visit from Scotland. It started calm, dry and reasonably sunny, but started raining late morning.

Sunday morning was sunny first thing, then the mist rolled in from the sea. It lifted late morning and the sun came out again. The daytime temperature peaked at 8.6C (47F), with a light southerly wind during the day, however, it moved around to northerly by 8pm.

It was fairly cool overnight Sunday/Monday with a low of 2.8C (37F).

On Monday, we had sun, then mist, then sun again, with very little wind, and the highest temperature recorded locally during the day was 10.4C (51F).

Monday morning mist at Maryport Marina

Monday night into Tuesday was one of the warmest nights yet, with temperatures ranging from 7C to 10C (44-50F).

Tuesday started calm, but the wind picked up during the day. We had north and east-northeasterly winds averaging up to 31mph and gusting up to 41mph. It rained most of the day with temperatures from about 6C to 8C (43-46F).

The temperature didn’t drop much overnight with a low of 5.1C (41F) recorded locally.

Wednesday was overcast and not particularly pleasant despite being the warmest day of the week, with the temperature hitting 12.3C (54F) at 5pm. It felt a lot colder in the north and northeasterly winds with a top average speed of 22mph, gusting 34mph.

Overnight Wednesday into yesterday (Thursday) was another mild night. Northeasterly winds up to 18mph were recorded during the night, which is not particularly high, but the boat was still rocking well due to the wind direction. The water was also making a lot of noise slapping again Ravensdale’s hull – lapping is good, slapping is not so good 😊

Phil wrapped up against the wind while filling Ravensdale's freshwater tank yesterday

Yesterday was another mainly overcast and windy day, although the sun did attempt to come out a few times. with temperatures up to 10.9C (51F) but still feeling cool in the north and northeasterly wind. Last night was mild again and today (Friday) we woke up to rain, which stopped mid-morning.