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

Winter sun, falling temperatures and flying visitors leaving unwanted gifts

Cormorants enjoying the winter sunshine at Maryport Marina

Winter is beginning to make its presence known here now.

We’ve had a couple of days of lovely winter sunshine over the past week, but it has also been getting a lot colder, especially at night.

We haven’t had any frost yet, but I'm sure it won't be long before it arrives.

Looking back at one of my first blog posts, written soon after we moved onboard this time last year, I can see that it was so cold that the water in the marina froze over on November 21.

And, for a few days before that, the marina staff were putting salt on the pontoons to make them less slippery.

A cold sunny day at Maryport Marina

The lowest temperature we’ve seen on the thermometer inside our 43ft Neptunus 133 cruiser Ravensdale so far this winter is 8C (46.4F) in the saloon first thing on Monday morning, but it was probably lower during the night.

It looks as though we’re going to have to start leaving our Webasto 5 diesel heater on overnight soon.

Thankfully the new heater we had fitted after the existing Eberspacher heater broke down in January of this year is a lot quieter than the old one, which means it doesn’t disturb our sleep as much as the Eberspacher, but we still prefer not to put it on until we really have to.

We’ve also swapped the tyres on our car for winter tyres this week ready for the colder months. They’re probably not really necessary in Cumbria, but we already had them from when we were living in Scotland so we will carry on using them until they wear out.

I really can’t believe how quickly the year has flown by. It’ll be Christmas again before we know it.

In fact, the shops seem to think it’s Christmas already. Some of them put their decorations up as soon as Halloween was over. I love Christmas, but I still think it’s way too soon. Surely they could at least wait until December before expecting us to get into the festive spirit? 

New starter batteries to ensure Ravensdale's two 300hp engines start first time

Phil fitting the new batteries in the engine room

That said, Ravensdale has been allowed to have her Christmas present early this year.

Phil fitted two new 180 ampere hour starter batteries in her battery bank last weekend so hopefully she will start first time every time now.

And, after many years of retirement, Phil is now going out to work again – but only on a temporary basis. For as long as I can remember, I've been the one going to work while Phil stayed at home and now the roles are reversed, but I'm definitely not complaining J

This week, he’s been providing relief cover for the operational staff while they were undergoing training from Monday to Wednesday.

And he got a call yesterday (Thursday) lunchtime asking if he could do a few hours yesterday evening to cover for a member of staff who had called in sick.

Phil has been carrying out short periods of relief work, mainly opening and closing the marina gate and raising and lowering the footbridge across the harbour, for a few weeks now, but this was the first time he’d worked full days.

The funniest part was that, on his first day, three of the jobs he was given were fixing problems that I’d reported.

These were a toilet that had stopped flushing, a blocked shower drain and the replacement of a full-length mirror in the ladies toilet and shower block that was removed when the new door fob system was fitted.

Just goes to show that, even if he tries to go out to work to get away from me, he can’t get away from me finding jobs for him to do J

I’m pleased to report that, after his efforts, the broken loo is now working again, the shower drain is running better and the mirror has been reinstated.

Another job that he spent a good bit of time on was scrubbing birds’ mess off one of the pontoons that seems to attract a lot of flying visitors.

But, before he started, he kindly gave me a phone call to let me know that the cormorants I’d been wanting to photograph were sitting on the pontoon.

I've been trying to get a photo of the adult and juvenile cormorants together and this was the first time we'd seen them in the same place at the same time.

I was able to get a few reasonable shots before I got too close and they flew away onto another pontoon, leaving Phil to get on with the job of scrubbing the messy one.

Cormorants perched on one of the finger pontoons at the marina

The adult cormorant takes flight

The down side of the many birds that visit the marina is guano on the pontoons

Two cormorants sitting on a pontoon near the marina gate

I’ve also been trying to get some shots of the cormorants diving, but not had any luck as yet. The nearest I've got so far is a few shots of them swimming and a swan that was determined to get in on the photo shoot J

The juvenile cormorant urges the adult bird to join it in the water

A young cormorant surfaces after diving for food

One of the two swans that are very regular visitors to the marina

Pigeons bathing in a puddle on a dinghy cover

The change in the seasons has also changed the view from our home – the marina is looking pretty empty now because a lot of the boats have been lifted out onto the hard standing for work or winter storage.

Spaces in the marina where boats have been lifted out for the winter

And there have been a few things going on in the marina this week.

One of the larger boats left for pastures new on Tuesday evening.

Dive vessel, MV Susan H, has been sold and is heading to Antwerp, en route to Chile, where she's going to be used for oceanographic survey work.

MV Susan H taking on fuel ready for the trip - taken from Ravensdale's aft deck

The survey team's GPS equipment

A small team from Swansea in Wales has been up here surveying the seabed in the marina, the harbour and the basin between Maryport’s two piers to see how bed levels have changed since the area was last dredged in 2015.

They set up a tripod with an aerial near the marina building to enable them to take accurate GPS readings and drove a small dinghy around the areas they were surveying to record the levels.

The results will give the marina an accurate picture of how much silt has built up since the last time it was dredged and give an indication of when it's likely to need doing again.

I'm told the marina is usually dredged at roughly five-yearly intervals.

The bed level survey being carried out in the marina

Survey work underway in the harbour

And an old metal walkway that used to sit on top of the marina gate was cut up and taken away this week.

The bridge, which used to shorten the walk from Maryport to the beach, was removed a couple of years ago when it was discovered that it was too heavy for the gate and was putting it under strain. It had been sitting on the hard standing ever since.

The old bridge being cut up - taken from Ravensdale's fore deck

And, as usual, I’ve been out and about with my camera capturing the ever-changing views of Maryport, which I'm affectionately calling my adopted hometown J

One of the local fishing boats bringing home its catch

The sun going down over Grasslot shore at Maryport

Fishing as the sun sets

A local fishing boat returning home to Maryport

Winter sun on the grasses above the beach at Maryport

Rainbow over Maryport Marina

At long last we have heat!!!

Gary from Caldew Autolec in Carlisle installs our new heater.

After more than a month without a proper heating system on Ravensdale, our new heater was installed today and it’s working J

Gary from Caldew Autolec in Carlisle turned up with our Webasto 5 before 9am this morning and once again our main saloon was turned into a building site.

The heater fits into a small space between one of the engines and the hull

We lifted the carpet and the section of flooring covering one of the engines and the area where the old heater used to be before it broke down, never to go again.

We had high hopes that installation would go smoothly, as we had sent the company photos of the space where the old heater had been to show the position, access, mountings, fittings and exhaust.

However, we did not know if they had provided all the information required to make all the parts needed to make the new heater work in this location.

But Gary did a great job and by the time he left the new heating system was working well and it is really, really quiet in comparison with the old one.

The new controls are fitted in the instrument panel at the helm

We are making the most of it tonight and have turned it up warmer than we would usually have our heating as a special treat after weeks of wrapping up in thermal underwear and blankets to keep warm.

And, for once, we were pleased to see a forecast of low temperatures overnight and for the next few days as we will really feel the benefit of our lovely new heater.

Dex waits patiently while I take photos on the beach

Poor old Dex had to spend a few hours in the car while the work was being carried out as we didn’t want him to fall down the hole into the engine room, but I took him for a good walk on Maryport Beach before putting him in the car and wrapped him up in a warm blanket in the boot, even though it wasn’t very cold today. He was not impressed!

However, when we took him back to the boat after the work was finished, he was delighted to discover warm air coming out of the heat outlets and stood at the foot of the steps down from the saloon into the galley for sometime soaking up the heat from the outlet at the foot of the stairs.

He is now curled up fast asleep on the seating in the dining area in a temperature of 24.5C – a vast improvement on the 7C we recorded in the same area earlier this week.

All in all, it has been a very good day and we popped out this afternoon to buy some bait for the planned fishing trip tomorrow morning.

A groyne on Maryport Beach

Three months into our new liveaboard life and we’re still smiling

The sun sets over Maryport Marina.

We now have our Yachtmaster Offshore certificates and are booked for the VHF radio course early next month.

Our Yachtmaster Offshore certificates

The Yachtmaster theory course was pretty full on, but at least doing it that way has enabled us to finish it before we are ready to go to sea, in the spring/summer, which was all part of the plan when we decided to move onto a boat at the start of the winter.

Definitely not part of the plan was being without heating for a month during the coldest part of the year.

Our heater, which kept us so warm during our first two months on board, packed up on January 5.

Initially, we hoped the existing Eberspacher 7 heater could be fixed, but we were told it was beyond repair as the parts were no longer available so we ordered a new Webasto 5 heater on January 11.

We were told the heater had to be ordered from Germany and would take about a week to arrive in the UK. However, a series of delays, including the courier losing the first one that was sent, mean we are still without heat more than a month later.

But we received a call today to say it is now in Carlisle and is due to be fitted tomorrow so hopefully this time tomorrow evening, we will be sitting in a nice warm boat.

Phil checks our electricity consumption

We’ve been very fortunate that the weather has been relatively mild for the time of year, but we have still spent a lot of extra money on electricity and gas in attempt to stop the temperature on board from dropping too low.

Most of the time we have succeeded in this, but we did get up one morning to find the temperature in the main saloon was just 7C.

Now our coursework is over we still have various projects to carry out on the boat, but we are also hoping to find time for more leisure pursuits, such as walking, cycling, fishing and exploring the Lake District.

So far the nearest we have come to fishing is watching other people fish off the pier at Maryport during a Sunday morning walk on the beach.

For once, I took my proper camera with me, rather than taking snaps on my phone, which is what I usually end up doing.

Fishing on the pier at Maryport

The weather wasn’t great for scenic photography, but it made for some moody skies that looked pretty impressive over Iggesund Paperboard’s Workington Mill and the wind turbines that surround it.

Workington Mill from Maryport Pier

We’ve managed to get a few jobs done on the boat in between our studies.

Phil replaces the anchor light

Phil spent hours balanced on a rail on the fly bridge while trying to change the anchor light on a pole on the radar arch.

It was freezing cold and I was feeling really guilty as I had suggested doing that particular task that day, unaware it would take so long because he couldn’t see into the light fitting and had to use a mirror to fit it and to do all the electrical connections.

I stayed on the aft deck to give him moral support, passing him tools and even got him a cushion to reduce the pressure on his chest while leaning against the radar arch, but there was little more I could do.

The funniest part was when a friend later pointed out that we could have dropped the radar arch to carry out the work so Phil’s balancing act was totally unnecessary, which thankfully he found really funny.

We also replaced two more ropes with new ones so we now have a full set of new navy mooring ropes.

And Phil ended up fishing for litter in the marina after bits of plastic and other rubbish started blowing into the water from the building site above us, where a new touring caravan park is under construction.  

Phil's fishing trip

Not quite the type of fishing he had been hoping for, but I’m sure we’ll make up for that very soon.

We had been planning to go tomorrow morning, but that will not be happening now as the heater is supposed to be arriving first thing.

Maybe we will get to go fishing on Thursday or Friday...