A much-needed engine repair and our first cruise in the dark

Phil removing the exhaust elbow from Ravensdale's starboard engine

This week we had our first experience of travelling on Ravensdale at night…and it was VERY dark 😊

The tide times here at Maryport in Cumbria, UK, meant we either had to go out on our Neptunus 133 motor cruiser very early in the morning or in the evening and return well after sunset. We opted for the latter.

Phil at the helm of Ravensdale on our way to back to Maryport

It was interesting and we learnt a few things that we can hopefully sort out, so it was well worth having a trial run at night-time cruising close to home before attempting it elsewhere.

We also discovered things we can’t do anything about but at least next time we’ll know what to expect.

We were delighted to get the exhaust elbow on Ravensdale’s starboard engine repaired this week – before we took her out for the evening and more importantly before it let us down.

And we’ve been busy on board over the past week, including fitting window blinds, replacing a broken light fitting and trying to repair damage done by our beautiful puppy, Ruby, who’s just decided she likes chewing doormats and carpet ☹ 


Exhaust elbow

Ruby peering down into Ravensdale's engine room while Phil was working down there

We had the exhaust elbow on Ravensdale’s starboard engine welded after it came away from the flange attaching it to the turbocharger as Phil started the engine in December of last year filling the engine room with thick black smoke.

It had rusted through and the local engineer who fixed it for us had to rebuild the flange and part of the pipe in stainless steel as it was made of different metals so he couldn’t weld them back together.

At that time, we said we wanted the other one done as it was the same age and showing signs of wear and we’ve been waiting for him to find time to fit the job into his busy schedule.

We’d said there was no rush as it seemed sound, but we both agreed that we weren’t going any further afield than our local trips out into the Solway Firth until it was done.

So, we were delighted when I got a message from the engineer last Friday to say he’d made the parts using the old one from the other engine as a pattern.

Phil removing the exhaust elbow from the starboard engine

Phil removed the exhaust elbow straight away and we took it over to his garage so he could weld it for us.

Phil had also noticed that the pipe was leaking from the bend and water was dripping onto the engine mounting causing it to rust so he asked the engineer to weld that part too.

The exhaust elbow before it was repaired

And, just before lunch on Saturday, I got a message to say it was done so we went straight over to collect it.

The new stainless steel flange welded to the exhaust elbow

It seems it was a good job we got it done when we did as there was a small split through the pipe at the point where it was attached to the flange.

The engineer told us we were very lucky it hadn’t gone the same way as the one on the port engine.

The exhaust elbow on the starboard engine is a different shape and is supported by a bracket that is not present on the port engine.

The engineer said it would probably have blown if it hadn’t been held in place by the bracket, so we were very glad we’d decided to get it done before that happened.

He gave us the old flanges from both engines and the starboard one looks worse than the one off the port engine - I know I like rust in my photos, but we definitely don’t want it on Ravensdale’s engines 😊

The top flange from the port engine rusted through. The lower one was cut off the starboard exhaust elbow

Phil refitted the exhaust elbow on Sunday and discovered that it was at a slightly different angle, so he jacked the bracket up with a couple of washers and it all fitted together perfectly.

Phil refitting the repaired exhaust elbow to Ravensdale's starboard engine

He ran the engine to check he was happy that it was working properly.

Our trip out on Monday evening was a good test for the repair and everything was fine.

Phil was also pleased to see that the leak in the bend had stopped so job done 😊

While working in the engine room, he also checked the water pumps on both Ravensdale’s 300hp Volvo Penta engines, both of which were sound, along with all his routine engine checks.


Evening mini-cruise

Looking back at Maryport Marina as we left on Ravensdale on Monday evening

We couldn’t take advantage of the calm weather on Sunday because Phil was refitting the exhaust elbow on Ravensdale’s starboard engine.

But the forecast was promising low wind speeds for the times when the marina gate would be open on Monday.

We didn’t fancy getting up at 5am to be ready to leave soon after 6am so decided not to bother as the gate wasn’t due to open again until just before 7pm which would mean we would be out after dark.

However, around lunchtime on Monday, we changed our minds and decided the evening tide would be a good chance to take Ravensdale out on the water in the dark for the first time and to test the newly repaired exhaust elbow at the same time.

We ate our dinner a bit early, so we’d be ready to go as soon as the gate opened, but it didn’t open until almost half an hour later than expected and we left the marina at about 7.25pm.

The weather was perfect – dry, calm and relatively mild with a lovely light – so it was a very enjoyable trip out and a good opportunity for me to take photos as we left.

Ravensdale leaving Maryport Marina

Ravensdale heading to Allonby Bay

Nature had another treat in store for us when she put on a beautiful sunset over Scotland as the sun went down at 8.45pm.

Ravensdale anchored on the Solway Firth at sunset

We put Ruby in her cage before we left and she seemed happy to stay there a bit longer after we dropped anchor in Allonby Bay.

Me looking orange in the reflected glow of the setting sun 😊

For a while, I thought she was going to stay asleep thinking it was night time but, as soon as I went indoors to get a cup of tea, she wanted to come back out with me, so I took her out on deck.

Ruby on Ravensdale's aft deck on the Solway Firth

The fishing was marginally better than recent trips in that, along with the inevitable dogfish, Phil also caught a codling. It was just under the 35cm that would’ve meant we could have kept it, so he put it back in the water.

Phil casting soon after we anchored in Allonby Bay

Phil fishing after dark

Phil with the codling he caught

There were two other local fishing boats out that evening, one of which had a group of anglers on board and they caught some good-sized huss.

The other fishing boats in Allonby Bay on Monday evening

Fishermen on a local charter boat also had huss up to about 15lb recently so at least we know there are some decent fish out there. It’s just a matter of catching them 😊

Phil put on his headlight to bring up the anchor and rested a high-powered flashlight on the superstructure pointing at the bow so I could see his hand signals instructing me on which way he wanted me to turn the boat so the anchor would come in straight. We’re now planning to fit a light to illuminate the foredeck.

The trip back was interesting. It was the first time we’d been underway during the hours of darkness and it was a very dark night.

Phil steering Ravensdale back to Maryport

One thing we discovered was that all the electronic instruments on Ravensdale’s dashboard reflect really badly on the windscreen making it difficult to see out.

Phil switched off gadgets we didn’t need, such as the fishfinder and turned the brightness down on others but still found the reflections a bit of a distraction so he’s planning to make a hood to fit over the dashboard to stop this happening.

But the worst thing was a car parked on the pier close to the entrance to Maryport Basin which was facing in the direction from which we were approaching with its headlights on.

The bright lights made it really difficult to see the entrance between the north and south piers but thankfully Phil still managed to make it out and we got back into the basin without any problems.

A poor quality shot of Maryport from the basin (mobile phone photo)

We were back in the marina just before 10.30pm after three hours out on the water during which time we travelled 6.8 nautical miles.

By the time, we’d sorted out our mooring ropes, plugged into the shore power, put the covers on the windscreen and flybridge, Phil had been down to the engine room to close the seacocks, etc. and I’d got things a bit sorted inside, it was gone 11pm.

We were both still wide awake after our outing, so we stayed up later than usual and watched TV for a while before going to bed.


New light in dinette

The broken light fitting in the saloon

The dinette light replaced the broken one in the saloon

Several months ago, Phil accidentally broke one of the two matching light fittings in the saloon.

We tried to find a matching light, but without success so we decided to move the identical fitting from the dinette up into the saloon while trying to find a suitable replacement for the dinette as it didn’t matter if it didn’t match.

I really thought this was going to be a much easier task than it turned out to be as we couldn’t find a 24V fitting of a suitable size – they were all much smaller than the one we had taken down.

Our friend, Steve, who has a boat in the marina, noticed that we still had a bare light fitting months later and we explained the problem we were having finding a replacement.

He said his son was taking a similar light fitting out of the house he had just bought and brought it with him when he came to visit this week.

Phil managed to rewire the donated 240V lamp using the 24V fittings from our old one and it looks fine.

The replacement light in the dinette

All we need to do now is to repaint the headlining as the new light is a bit smaller than the old one so there’s another nice little job for someone 😊


New blinds

Ravensdale and the road to the lighthouse that passes our boat

We were so fed up with people stopping and staring in through Ravensdale’s windows from the road that runs alongside the marina on the way to the pier, lighthouse and beach that we ordered some venetian blinds.

This was something we’d identified as a problem last summer when there are more people about than during the winter months.

The warm, sunny weather over the Easter weekend meant there were a lot of folk out walking along the road and it started to get on our nerves again.

That said, we totally understand that people like boats and find them interesting – so do we but hopefully we wouldn’t stare into them once we realised there were people inside.

Phil fitting the new blinds to the windows on the starboard side of the saloon

The new blinds arrived on Wednesday morning and Phil fitted them the same day.

This involved moving the curtain track out to make room for the blinds to fit behind it.

Phil said this proved more difficult than fitting the blinds as he was working in a small space and trying to make sure he was leaving room for the curtains to gather up when open.

The new blinds in Ravensdale's saloon

They look great from inside and we don’t need to totally close them to obscure the view from the road.

We found that by tipping the blinds so they slope down towards the water we could still let the light in.

Another view of our new blinds

We hoped it would be sufficient to stop folk from seeing into Ravensdale from the road, which is usually a good bit higher than the boat, except when we get a very high tide.

Our new blinds from the road alongside the marina

And, when we walked around onto the road to see what difference they’d made, we were delighted to discover that we couldn’t see anything inside the boat 😊


New air fryer

Our new air fryer and slow cooker cooking our dinner on Saturday evening

We got rid of our deep fat fryer when we moved on board Ravensdale as we considered it just too dangerous to use on a boat.

Since then, we've been buying oven chips and Phil has been missing real chips.

Sometimes, we'd pop over to the fish and chip shop to satisfy his craving, but, for a while now, he’s been suggesting that we buy an air fryer. The ones we’d seen so far were all rather bigger than we needed, which also meant they would be more difficult to store.

So, we (and particularly Phil) were delighted to see a 3.2-litre air fryer for sale at a very good price in the “middle of Lidl” last Thursday.

We didn’t buy it straight away as Phil wanted to check out the reviews on this particular model online and, after reading them, he decided it was worth buying.

We went back and got it the following day and had our first real chips made on the boat as part of a fish and chips supper on Friday evening.

They were really good, but Phil thought he could make them even better, so we had chips again on Saturday evening.

And he was right, Saturday night’s chips served with piri piri chicken drumsticks cooked in the slow cooker were even better.

I had intended to take a photo of my dinner even though I wouldn’t normally do this as I’m not into seeing photos of people’s food online but thought this warranted me taking one just this once.

However, it looked and smelled so good that I’d almost finished it before I remembered about the photograph 😊

I can see I’m going to have to hide the air fryer during the week or he’s going to want chips every night, at least until the novelty wears off 😊


Boy’s toys 😊 

Phil trying to work out how to use the Yeoman chart plotter

Phil had fun playing with our friend Steve’s Yeoman chart plotter when we visited his boat for coffee on Wednesday morning.

We hadn’t seen one before and were impressed by the way it worked but it seems they’re no longer in production.

Apparently, they were used before electronic chart plotters became so popular to enable sailors to transfer GPS coordinates and RADAR echo locations onto a paper navigation chart and to read coordinates from the chart.

I’m not sure whether we would want one or not, but we’re told they can be picked up quite cheaply on eBay.

However, before we can even think about getting one of these, we would need to find somewhere we can install a decent chart table as all our tables have raised edges that make using paper charts virtually impossible.


Ruby of Ravensdale

Ruby on her half birthday on Sunday

I just can’t believe that Ruby was six months old on Sunday.

Ruby on Ravensdale's foredeck

In some ways, it seems like we only picked her up and brought her home for the first time yesterday and, in other ways, it feels like she’s always been on the boat with us.

And, even though she’s a little monkey at times, we still love her to bits.

Ruby sunbathing on the aft deck

After pulling up some of the caulking in the teak aft deck last week, we’d hoped she wouldn't do any further damage.

However, she decided to have a bit of fun while we were out shopping on Sunday and we weren’t gone for very long.

We came home to discover the doormat had exploded and she was laying in the middle of the debris – purely by coincidence of course 😊

The exploded doormat that we found on returning from a shopping trip

And, as if that wasn’t enough, a couple of days later before we’d got around to replacing the doormat, she had a go at the carpet underneath while we were both on the boat.

Phil was busy in the forward cabin and I was in the aft cabin when I heard a strange pulling noise and stuck my head out to find Ruby unravelling the edge of the carpet.

She got a good telling off and will hopefully know that she shouldn’t do it again, although I doubt that will stop her.

The saloon carpet after Ruby had started unravelling it

My attempt at darning the carpet to hold it together for now

We didn’t want to change the carpet at this stage, so I decided to have a go at darning it, which wasn’t very easy.

It wasn’t particularly successful either but at least it means there are no loose ends for her to get hold of if she decides to have another go at it.

I then went to the local wool shop with a few scraps of the wool she’d pulled out to try to get some matching wool to overstitch the edges.

I’m told it was the first time anyone had asked for help in finding wool to darn a carpet after it had been eaten by a puppy – now, there’s a surprise! 😊

I’ve yet to attempt this task and I have to say I’m not really looking forward to it but will have a go at it one day soon.

We have also bought a new doormat, so my darning is thankfully hidden under that.

The new doormat at the bottom of the steps from the aft deck

The trouble is that she’s now showing a lot of interest in the new mat – I think she may have got a taste for them 😊

After recent events, we’re putting Ruby in her cage again and closing the door when we go out but still leaving the door open at night as she seems to stay in her bed while we’re asleep.

Ruby playing with her toy pheasant

Meanwhile, we’re still trying to get her to walk on a lead without stopping and refusing to move or pulling like a tank.

She’s so strange in that sometimes she’s really good and trots along beside us, other times, she’s really bad and stops or pulls the whole time.

And then there are the times that we describe as “good for Ruby” which means she wasn’t too bad but still not as good as we’d like 😊

We had said we weren’t going to let her off the lead on the beach again until we’d sorted walking on a lead, but we gave in and let her have a good run at low tide on Tuesday afternoon.

Phil throwing a ball for Ruby to fetch

Ruby bringing the ball back

And she had great fun playing with two other dogs that she met on the shore.

Ruby playing chase with Fern

Another shot of Ruby playing with Fern

Ruby with Fern and Harry

We didn’t walk very far because we didn’t need to as she got so much exercise playing fetch and then running around with the other dogs.

She’s got much better at going in water now but still refused to get her ball when Phil threw it into a small pool.

Ruby trying to work out how to get her ball without getting wet

She ran around the edges trying to reach it, then barked at it until the wind blew it close enough for her to reach so she’ll probably think her barking worked 😊

Ruby running around the pool trying to get to her ball

Ruby barking at the ball when she couldn't reach it

And she's getting much better at sitting and waiting while I stop to take photos now, which is great.

Ruby waiting patiently while I photograph boats in the harbour

Wildlife

One of the swans on the River Ellen

The pair of adult swans haven’t been to the marina lately.

We suspected this was because they were nesting up the River Ellen and I saw one of them close to what looked like a nest on the river on my way back from our local Lidl store this week.

Meanwhile, three mallards – two males and a female - have been regular visitors to the marina, but they don’t seem to be interested in the floating duck and swan food that we feed the swans.

Mallards at the marina - the male watches as the female takes a bath

There have been a few pied wagtails flying around and sitting on the pontoons over the past week.

A pied wagtail on an electricity bollard near Ravensdale

The swan, the cygnet and the heron on the marina slipway

And I was surprised to see an adult swan, a cygnet and a heron sitting together at the bottom of the marina slipway yesterday (Thursday evening). Another cygnet was standing at the top of the slipway.

The cygnet at the top of the marina slipway

Sadly, one of the cygnets was found lying injured on the marina slipway this morning (Friday). We don't know whether it was one of the pair of cygnets or the one that is always on its own.

It was taken away by a local animal sanctuary in the hope it can be nursed back to health ☹

The injured cygnet on the marina slipway just before it was taken to the animal sanctuary

Photography

Our trip out on Ravensdale on Monday evening provided another opportunity to take photos of the shore from the Solway Firth but only for a short while as it quickly became too dark for photos.

Maryport from the basin

Maryport pier with the sun low in the sky

The entrance to Maryport Basin from the Solway Firth

Maryport in the evening sunlight

But, before that happened, I took loads, and I mean loads, of photos of the sun going down over Scotland.

The sun setting over Scotland seen from the Solway Firth

The sun dropping down in the sky

A closer view of the sun low over the Scottish hills

Monday night's colourful sunset from the Solway Firth

On Saturday morning, I put on a waterproof jacket and took my camera for a walk up to town.

We were expecting heavy rain, so I was hoping for some dramatic clouds.

Fishing boats sitting in the mud in Maryport Harbour at low tide

More fishing boats in Maryport Harbour

Christ Church at Maryport

The River Ellen from Mote Hill in Maryport

Looking the other way along the River Ellen from Mote Hill

The stormy skies weren’t as good as I’d hoped but still made a nice change from clear blue skies (I can’t believe I just wrote that in the north of England 😊)

I took my camera for a walk around the harbour on Tuesday and again yesterday (Thursday).

Colourful fishing boats in Maryport Harbour

Seagulls and fishing boats in Maryport Harbour

A charter fishing boat having its hull repainted

A fishing boat reflected in the still water in Maryport Harbour

More boats in Maryport Harbour

A fishing boat coming into the harbour to moor up

Two of the fishing boats in the harbour

Another fishing boat returning to the harbour

Reflections in Maryport Harbour

And, I had a few opportunities to take photos of the reflections of boats in the marina during this week.

Maryport Marina reflections

Maryport Marina reflections

Maryport Marina reflections

Maryport Marina reflections

Maryport Marina reflections

Maryport Marina reflections

Maryport Marina reflections

I haven’t taken many new abstract images lately but loved the peeling paint on an old gate I found while walking around the town here in Maryport on Saturday morning.

Peeling paintwork on an old gate

Another view of the same gate

Weather watch

The weather has been much cooler over the past week than it was the previous week with a mixture of sunshine and showers, some of which were heavy.

It wasn’t too windy most of the time and there were a couple of fairly calm days so we really can’t complain.

Last Friday was grey but dry and bright first thing. It started raining around lunchtime then rained on and off throughout the afternoon, clearing up in the evening. The temperature only reached 9C (48F) and the top average wind speed was 29mph.

Heavy clouds over Maryport Harbour on Saturday morning

Saturday started dry and bright. It then clouded over and started raining late morning.

We had sunny intervals and heavy showers during the afternoon and evening, with a top temperature of 9C (48F) and average wind speeds of up to 32mph, gusting 44mph.

Calm conditions at Maryport Marina on Sunday morning

Sunday was grey and cloudy but stayed dry and fairly bright. The top temperature was 11C (52F) and the top average wind speed was 13mph.

Ravensdale reflected in the still water at Maryport Marina on Monday

We had a misty start to a bright, calm and sunny day on Monday with the temperature peaking at 14C (57F) and a top average wind speed of just 7mph.

Calm and cloudy at Maryport Marina on Tuesday morning

There was more cloud on Tuesday, but it was still dry, bright and fairly calm, feeling warm when the sun broke through the clouds. Again, the temperature reached 14C (57F), with a top average wind speed of 11mph.

Heavy rain overnight Tuesday into Wednesday continued until around midday then cleared up to give a dry and bright afternoon. The top temperature was 11C (52F) and the top average wind speed was 10mph.

A sunny interval between the showers at Maryport Marina yesterday (Thursday) afternoon

Yesterday (Thursday), it was overcast first thing then brightened up before it started raining early afternoon. This was followed by sunshine and showers. The top temperature was 11C (52F) and the top average wind speed was 14mph.

Blue sky and white clouds at Maryport Marina this afternoon

And, today (Friday) we had rain first thing but it dried up to give us a dry, bright and breezy day with a top temperature of 10C (50F) and a top average wind speed of 14mph.