A flight of cormorants and a fluther of jellyfish - wildlife in and around the marina

Cormorants nesting on a navigation mark in the Solway Firth

Ravensdale is looking ship-shape after her prolonged beauty treatment and at long last we've had time to enjoy watching the local wildlife.

It’s so good to be back on the water after 11 weeks on dry land.

We’ve been proper liveaboards again for almost a week now – although we still lived on board all the time Ravensdale was out on the hard-standing, but it really wasn’t the same.

I love being rocked to sleep at night, but hardly notice the rocking by day, except for when it’s blowing a hoolie of course J

Since we moored back alongside the pontoons, Phil has been busy washing and polishing the bits we couldn’t reach while out of the water, such as the transom, which was covered by the scaffolding steps, and the highest parts of the hull that were hard to get to from the ladders we were using.

Cleaning the transom

And it looks as though all our hard work has paid off.

Ravensdale is certainly looking much cleaner, tidier and shinier than she did before we started work on her at the end of February.

So much so that another boat owner here said she looked “almost like new”, which is quite a compliment given that she’s now over 30 years old.

We have also fitted the davits that I cleaned up while out of the water.

These are crane-like devices on the stern of a boat that are used for supporting, lowering and raising a smaller craft.

Securing them in place on their brackets on the transom was an interesting task, especially as we did it on a fairly windy day.

They are large and heavy, which made positioning them for the bolts to be slotted through the brackets extremely difficult.

Phil tied a mooring rope onto the first one and turned it around one of the supports for the bimini - the canvas cover that can be used to shade the aft deck. I was holding onto the other end, but it was impossible to stop the davit swinging while Phil was balanced on the bathing platform trying to get it to sit right on the brackets.

Fixing the davits

He decided it was better to tie the other end to the radar arch, leaving a bit of play in the rope to enable him to position it correctly.

I then handed him the stainless steel nuts, bolts and washers pointing out that he really couldn’t drop them or they would end up in the water and we had no spares. Thankfully he managed not to lose any and they are now securely in place.

Only question now is – do they stay or do they go?

If we keep them, they need new winches as, despite cleaning up the old ones that were all rusted up, they don’t work properly so will need replacing.

The shiny davits that are currently useless

But there is no point doing that unless we're sure that we intend to use them.

Before that decision can be made, we need to get a tender as we've sold the one that was on the boat when we bought it as it was not suitable for use in the sea.

The dinghy we were considering buying from another boat owner here turned out to have a slow puncture that we could not locate. It was also bulkier and heavier than we had wanted so we decided not to purchase it. So now the hunt is on for a new (or nearly new) one.

We have also checked the depth sounder by dropping a weight on a rope over the side of the boat. We then measured the rope and were delighted to find that the length coincided with the figures shown on the depth sounder.

We had a lovely treat yesterday when one of the other boat owners here offered us a trip out on his yacht.

I was at Lidl doing a bit of shopping when Phil called to say that if I could get back asap we could go out with him for a couple of hours. It’s a good 10 minute walk back, but I did it as fast as I could as I certainly didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity.

Maryport from the sea

For the first time in weeks, there was virtually no wind so there was no point in putting the sails up.

We motored out, then drifted around for a while before heading for a navigation mark which has become a popular nesting place for cormorants.

Phil takes the tiller for our trip out in the Solway Firth

Phil took the tiller for much of the time we were out. I got to take a turn when we were heading towards the navigation mark but handed it back to Phil before we got there so I could photograph the nesting birds.

The navigation mark covered in cormorant nests

He slowly steered the yacht around the mark twice so I could get a good view of them.

Just wish I had taken my long lens with me as I would have got a better view of the babies in their nests.

We both really enjoyed the experience.

I also got a chance to put my VHF radio training to good use when I was asked to radio the marina before we left and when we were about to come back in.

Hopefully next time we go out of the marina gate it will be in Ravensdale.

Meanwhile, back at the marina we’ve had some interesting marine visitors.

One day the place seemed to be teaming with jellyfish.

One of the jellyfish that arrived in the marina this week

Two jellyfish just below the surface near our boat

A mauve jellyfish beside the harbour wall

They were of varying sizes and either white or mauve in colour.

The following day they were gone.

Presumably the brackish water in the marina did not suit them and they left on the next tide.

Maryport Marina

Ravensdale is back where she belongs - in the water

Ravensdale moored alongside the pontoon at Maryport Marina

At long last, Ravensdale is back in the water.

Her relaunch at lunchtime today didn’t go as smoothly as we’d hoped, but we’re back in the marina now and it’s great to be afloat.

The blocks in place ready for the relaunch

The wooden blocks Phil and Mic made at the weekend were screwed to straps and tied in place under the exhaust manifolds that lift and get damaged whenever she is lifted in or out of the water.

Sadly the blocks failed when the straps of the boat hoist tightened beneath them and one of the blocks broke as it took its share of Ravensdale’s 16 ton weight.

A fender is used to replace the broken block

So we had to revert to plan B and two of our fenders were inserted under the exhaust manifolds in an effort to protect them from getting broken again.

Ravensdale is lifted in the boat hoist

The big boat on MPM’s yard at the top of the slipway – the Isle of Man fisheries boat, Barrule – was moved to make room for the hoist to transport Ravensdale from the hard standing onto the slipway.

Isle of Man Fisheries vessel Barrule before she was moved to make way for our relaunch

Watching Ravensdale heading towards the water was nerve-wracking. I couldn’t help thinking about the various holes Phil had cut in the hull to fit the trim tabs , the transducer for the depth sounder and the paddlewheel for the log and wondering if there would be any leaks.

Phil and a friend watch Ravensdale head towards the slipway

Ravensdale's relauch

Once she was in the water, Phil went to check that there was no water coming in at any of the locations where he had cut holes through the hull and thankfully there wasn’t.

So he drove Ravensdale to her mooring and it already feels as though we’ve never been away.

Ravensdale back where she belongs

We’re not going to get rocked to sleep tonight as there's next to no wind, but it looks as though the wind is going to get up tomorrow so we'll soon discover whether we have lost our sea legs.

Delays continue to hamper our attempts to get Ravensdale back in the water

The sun has been shining on Maryport Marina but we are still not in it

I’m beginning to think we'll never get back in the water as everything seems to be conspiring against Ravensdale’s relaunch.

We completed the planned work – and the tasks we’d discovered needed doing after she came out of the water – by close of play on Friday May 26.

At that stage, we thought the main thing stopping us going back in the water was the scaffolding steps to the aft deck as the marina could not use the boat hoist to lift Ravensdale until they had gone.

A step ladder and the boat's own ladder provide access to the aft deck

Unfortunately we reached this point at the start of the Bank Holiday weekend so had to wait until last Tuesday before we could contact the scaffolding firm.

After calling several times on Tuesday and leaving messages without success, we started visiting their unit on a local industrial estate and eventually managed to catch them before they left for their first job on Wednesday morning.

It turned out we’d been calling the boss, who was away on holiday. Thankfully the lads managed to contact him and struck the scaffolding the same afternoon while we were visiting friends on their boat.

We were delighted to see it had gone and I really thought we would be able to get back in the water within a day or so – but it was not to be.

MPM was working on a large catamaran that was blocking the slipway.

Then another large boat - the Isle of Man fisheries boat Barrule - came in. She was due to come out onto the hard standing by the engineering firm’s workshop at the marina, but they had a problem with their boat hoist and the boat was stuck on the hoist on the slipway for a couple of days.

The Isle of Man fisheries boat Barrule stuck on the slipway

She has since been moved, but we were still waiting for MPM to find a way to stop the slings on the boat hoist damaging the exhaust manifolds that run along the sides of the boat.

One of the exhaust manifolds that are causing so much trouble

As we were giving up hope of anyone coming up with a solution for us, Phil set about trying to build something to do the job himself this weekend.

And Mic, who is one of the marina staff, helped him make two blocks of wood that are to be attached to a strap.

They will hopefully take the weight under a ledge on the hull to prevent the sling from lifting and damaging the fibreglass exhaust manifolds, one of which broke the last time the boat was lifted and has had to be repaired.

Bird's eye view of Phil and Mic working on one of the blocks

Phil holding the port side block in place

Phil hauls shopping up onto the boat

Meanwhile, the loss of the scaffolding means we now have to clamber up and down ladders to the aft deck, which is about 14 ft off the ground.

This is a bit of a pain at the best of times, but even more so when bringing home shopping, which has to be hauled up on a rope or if one needs to pop out to use the marina facilities in the middle of the night.

There is one other factor that could delay Ravensdale’s relaunch – the weather.

She will not be going back in until the wind drops as it makes the boat very difficult to control in the enclosed spaces around the other boats and pontoons in the marina.

So for now we continue to live behind bars in our home on stilts high above the marina.

Our view of the Barrule through the fence around the hard standing

We have been enjoying the lovely sunshine we have had lately and are both sure that we have already seen more sunny days here than we ever did in Scotland. However, I can’t help thinking that there must have been sunny days really (even in Fort William J) I just didn’t notice because I was at work.

Feeling hot, hot, hot :-)

The temperature soars on the boat when the sun comes out due to the amount of glass in the main saloon. This time, the highest temperature I saw on the thermometer was 42.5C, but it was in direct sunlight at the time.

While killing time during the long wait to get back in the water, we got out the dinghy that was on board when we bought the boat and had hoped would serve as a tender to discover that it wasn’t really suitable for our purposes.

It will only take a 1.5hp engine and is more suited for lakes than the sea so we started looking for a replacement and have been offered a second-hand 2.3m Suzumar dinghy that looks like it will do the job.

It needed a good clean and is now blown up on the aft deck to see if it stays up before we decide whether to keep it.

Giving the "new" dinghy a good scrub

The "new" dinghy on Ravensdale's aft deck

If nothing else, perhaps we could take that in the marina and pootle around in it while we wait for our real boat to be back where she belongs...

Ravensdale's relaunch is imminent

New rams are fitted to Ravensdale's trim tabs

At long last Ravensdale is ready to go back in the water – nine weeks after she was lifted out for two to three weeks.

Phil finished fitting the new trim tabs system on Friday evening so we have completed all the work that needed to be done while the boat was on the hard standing.

All we are waiting for now is for the marina to be able to re-launch her, which we are hoping will be on Thursday unless they are able to slot us in sooner.

The scaffolding steps have proved a godsend

But we also need to get the scaffolding steps removed before the boat can be lifted in the boat hoist.

We initially planned to antifoul the underwater area of Ravensdale’s hull and to give her a clean and polish.

We had also asked MPM engineering firm at the marina to fit an outlet for the holding tank that is connected to the toilet in our en suite bathroom so we will be able to empty it at sea.

The antifouling, cleaning and polishing took a little longer than anticipated and a few more weeks passed before MPM fitted the new skin fitting.

Meanwhile, we found plenty of other work to do both inside and on the outside of the boat.

And the final delay was when we discovered that the existing trim tab system was beyond repair as the parts were no longer available.

As the wires in the old system were not in conventional UK colours, Phil’s first job was to identify the cables, such as the earth and power leads.

Phil working on the electrics for our new trim tab system

Having discovered that it was virtually impossible to get the new electrical harness – the bundle of wires for the power and controls – through from the transom to the fuse box at the forward end of the saloon, he decided to connect into the old harness, which was still in good condition.

He was then faced with the daunting task of installing the new system.

Fitting the new rams to Ravensdale's trim tabs

He fitted the rams, a little higher than the old ones to ensure he could get to them on the inside of the hull to connect them to the hydraulic pipes.

Much of the work had to be done behind the drawers in the bedside units

The new trim tabs motor can be seen below the fresh water pipe under our bed

He then mounted the motor on a board under our bed and cut the hydraulic tubing to length and connected it up.

Tightening the connectors on the new hydraulic pipes

The moment of truth came when, after connecting up the hydraulic pipes and filling them with hydraulic fluid, Phil went down to watch the trim tabs while I operated the rocker switches on the console.

And the bad news was that – just as before – the starboard trim tab worked and the other didn’t, but thankfully this time it was easily rectified.

Phil discovered that the starboard trim tab, had taken all the fluid and he had to top it up three times before the port trim tab started working as well.

It was a huge relief to discover that we now had a fully operational trim tab system.

This is used to set the trim of the boat by helping to lift the bow up or drop it down, making the boat travel through the water more smoothly and helping to reduce fuel consumption.

He has since primed the new gelcoat around the rams and reapplied the antifouling paint.

Fitting the new window trim

Meanwhile, I finished off fitting the new window trims to create unbroken black lines around the windows as the old trims had shrunk and there were lots of gaps where the screws holding the windows in place were on show.

The windows look much neater with their new window trim

I also had an interesting lesson in splicing with Reg, the marina foreman. He showed me how to splice braid on braid ropes to create loops or eyes as knots reduce the strength of the rope more than a spliced join.

I haven’t had a go at it myself yet as we don’t have any ropes that need splicing at the moment and we don’t own any fids – the needles needed for this process - but Reg has said I can borrow his to give it a try so planning to do that very soon.

In preparation for our re-launch, I took our fenders over to the marina office and Reg blew them up for us.

Sadly three of them immediately went down again so it was looking as though we would have to buy three new ones, but we discovered we could buy new valves for them instead.

The new valves have now been fitted, but we need to get them blown up again before we know whether they are going to stay up now.

Life at the marina has been a lot less quiet than usual over the past week.

We had beautiful sunshine on Thursday and Friday of last week, which attracted more people to come down to their boats – either to work on them or to take them out for a spin.

In fact, it was so hot that the thermometer on our boat was reading 47C at one stage – admittedly it was sitting in the sun at the time. But it was still reading 32.5C after I moved it to a more shaded spot and opened every window and hatch.

The fair arrives at the marina

A travelling fair set up on a grassed area next to the marina, alongside the new caravan site, and on Thursday and Friday evenings and Saturday afternoon and evening we could hear the music and the screams of excitement from those on the rides.

The colourful fairground rides before the crowds arrived

Another view of the fair

And Saturday was Maryport’s annual Trawler Race and the marina’s Spring Muster.

Many of the trawlers were decked out with flags on Friday ready for the race.

Some of the trawlers decorated ready for the race

More trawlers displaying their colourful flags

Flags also decorated the boats in the marina that were planning to head out into the Solway Firth to watch the spectacle from the water.

We assumed we would be watching from the shore. However, shortly before the start or the race, we were offered an opportunity to go out on someone else’s yacht.

Chris, who used to works at the marina, invited us to join him on Montana and we jumped at the opportunity.

It was good to actually head out of the marina gate into the outer harbour for the first time, even if it wasn’t on our own boat. And we got to use our new lifejackets at long last.

Leaving Maryport Marina heading for the Solway Firth

The weather was perfect for our first trip out since we arrived in Maryport almost seven months ago. It was dry and bright with a light wind.

Chris was great at explaining the basics of sailing and he allowed Phil to take the tiller for much of the time.

Phil takes the tiller under the watchful eye of our skipper

Enjoying the sunshine on board the Montana

I took loads of photos, but sadly we were too far away from the trawlers to get any decent images with the lenses I had with me. That said, it was impressive seeing all the trawlers line up and start heading towards us at speed as they raced around a buoy in the firth.

Some of the trawlers rounding the buoy

Montana returning to Maryport

We stayed out for about two hours before heading back to the marina for the get-together and buffet, which had to be held in the customer lounge because it started to rain soon after we got back on dry land.

A panoramic view of Maryport Harbour

Sunset over Maryport Marina