First year liveaboard lessons and Ravensdale's early Christmas present

Ravensdale soaking up the winter sun in Maryport Marina

The first anniversary of selling our house and moving onto a boat set us thinking about the lessons we’ve learned so far.

The whole experience has been a huge learning curve and I’m sure that will continue to be the case.

One of the main things we discovered soon after moving onto our 43ft seagoing cruiser Ravensdale is that we’ve got way too much stuff (especially me – but don’t tell Phil I said that J)

The other big one is the cost of maintaining a boat of this size.

I know there are plenty of people out there who have been doing this for much longer than us, who will have far more knowledge than we've managed to glean in our first year.

However, I hope our experiences may help others in a similar situation to us and those trying to decide whether they would enjoy life aboard.

10 lessons we’ve learned over the first year


1.    You need far less stuff than you think you do

Sorting some of our stuff during our storage wars in the early days

Everything has been tidily put away

We got rid of most of our belongings in the fortnight between me finishing work and the sale of our house in Fort William, but we still have way too much stuff to fit on Ravensdale.

We initially rented a 75sqft shore-based storage unit, which we downsized to 50sqft and then 25sqft, the aim being to get rid of it altogether, but we haven’t managed to achieve that yet. We also have 1m3 of storage space at the marina and store our bikes in the marina bike rack.

We plan to continue reducing the amount of stuff we own until we can fit it all on the boat, except possibly the bikes. We haven’t yet decided how to deal with them.

I’m well aware that a major factor in our storage wars is my collection of clothes, coats, shoes and boots – most of which I will never wear on a boat but I can’t seem to let them go just in case...  

2.    Maintaining a boat will always cost far more than you expect

Getting Ravensdale's two 300hp Volvo Penta engines serviced cost £1,200

Before we made the decision to make this life-changing move, we calculated the costs of all known expenses to make sure we could afford to do it. We included a figure for maintenance in our calculations, but we don’t mind admitting that we underestimated this figure – by a lot!

We now know you need to put aside as much as possible to pay for repairs, replacements and improvements and, most important of all, learn to do as much of it as possible yourself.

We've both done the RYA Diesel Engine Course and are hoping to be able to service Ravensdale's two 300hp Volvo Penta engines ourselves next time as paying for a professional service cost us £1,200.

3.    Bigger is better where holding tanks are concerned

Maryport Marina toilet and shower block

Install the largest black water holding tank you can afford that will fit on your boat.

We discovered that our 97 litre tank fills up way too quickly if we try to use it like we would use a toilet in a house. As it happens, we wouldn't have had room for a larger one, but would certainly consider this if we ever changed our boat.

Thankfully we have good marina facilities here at Maryport in Cumbria, UK, and the walk to the loos and back is good exercise at more than 300 steps per round trip :-)

We also had a pump fitted so we can discharge the holding tank at sea.

4.    Buy the most comfortable mattress you can afford

Our very comfy bed with its 8in memory foam mattress

When we first moved onboard, we were sleeping on the original mattress, which was very thin and very hard. It was only fractionally more comfortable than sleeping on the floor so we bought a new one asap.

Our new 8in custom-made CoolBlue Memory Foam mattress has been a God-send and, coupled with the rocking motion of the boat, makes for a very good night’s sleep – far better than I ever managed on dry land. 

It may be OK to make do with a thinner mattress if you're only spending short periods or occasional nights aboard, but you really need a comfy bed when it’s your home.

5.    Dehumidifiers are worth their weight in gold – and them some J

One of our two dehumidifiers

Boats are well known for suffering from damp problems. Living on board, which means they're kept warm most of the time, helps a lot, but they still need some extra help.

Soon after moving onto Ravensdale, we bought two dehumidifiers, each of which is supposed to be suitable for a five-bedroom house. We keep one in the aft cabin, where we sleep, and the other in the fore cabin, moving one of them into the main saloon area if we see condensation building up – for example during and after cooking.

During the summer, we used them very little as we had the windows open whenever possible. Since the weather has got colder and damper, we’re using them for short periods night and morning on most days. 

When it gets really cold and damp, we leave one dehumidifier on a very low setting in the fore cabin overnight with all the doors open and this seems to keep the boat dry.

6.    Pay a regular sum of money into a diesel fund

A diesel fund is a must - particularly for cruiser owners

We set up a bank account specifically for this purpose and a standing order to transfer money into it from our current account soon after we moved onboard. 

The idea being to ensure there would always money available for fuel for both heating and propulsion as and when it was needed - and it has served us well.

Right from the start, we decided that it was fine not to travel if it was our choice to stay put, but we didn’t want to get to a point where we wanted to go somewhere and couldn’t afford the fuel to make the trip.

7.    Learn as much as you can about your boat

Phil and Bay Sea School instructor John Parlane during our diesel engine course

You also need to learn as much as possible about navigating if you’re planning to go anywhere on your boat.

We both took the RYA Day Skipper and Yachtmaster Offshore theory courses and the RYA Diesel Engine Course.

We also both gained our VHF radio Short Range Certificate.

8.    Use the marina showers whenever possible

The ladies shower and toilet facilities at Maryport Marina

We have a perfectly good shower on Ravensdale. It's en suite to our bedroom, separate from the heads and larger than many boat showers with a good flow of water.

However, using it in cold and/or damp weather tends to make it more difficult to keep the boat dry.

We've found the best solution for us to be using the onboard shower in the summer when it's easier to dry properly and the marina facilities are busier. Since the weather has started to change for the winter, we've gone back to using the now quieter marina showers.

Fortunately our marina has really good showering facilities. The shower and toilet block is lovely and warm and we can use as much hot water as we want – compared to onboard showers when we try to restrict the amount of hot water we use as much as possible.

9.    You don’t need to own a washing machine

Wash day at Maryport Marina laundry

Before we moved onboard, I rather stupidly thought I would miss having our own washing machine, but I don’t – not at all. 

That said, I'm well aware that the situation would be very different for anyone who is not marina-based or whose marina doesn’t have a good launderette.

Here, I take a load of washing up to the marina’s laundry room once a week, where I wash and dry the week’s washing for just £5.40. This includes an extra high spin before putting it into the tumble dryer. Our clothes, towels, bedding, etc. all come out lovely and dry ready to be folded up and put away.

10. We don’t miss our dishwasher

Washing up in Ravensdale's galley

I really can’t believe I even thought I'd miss our dishwasher, but we’d had one for many years and had got use to using it.

Anyway, we don’t miss it at all, to the extent that I would almost say I can’t see the point of having one, unless you have a large family or do a lot of entertaining, neither of which was true in our case. 

Living on a boat, which invariably means the galley is much smaller than most kitchens ashore, makes it a no-brainer to wash up as you go along during food preparation and immediately after meals.

And one for luck...

11.  Consider dropping a few pounds (or stones in my case) J

Me enjoying a cup of tea at sea

This is the hardest one for me to admit, but I know that losing a bit of weight – OK, a good bit of weight – would make life much easier on the boat.

This is particularly true in the heads and moving around the island bed in the aft cabin.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m perfectly happy living in a relatively confined space. However, if there was a bit less of me, I would have more room to move around.

I keep promising myself the diet starts tomorrow and I really must get on and lose the extra weight – or at least make a start on it – one day soon (perhaps after Christmas J).

The past week

Here's to many more happy years on Ravensdale

We drank a toast to Ravensdale on Saturday evening to mark our first anniversary as liveaboards and celebrated in true British fashion with a delicious fish and chip supper J

And we've bought her an early Christmas present – two new 180 ampere hour starter batteries – after discovering that the existing ones were finished.

Ravensdale's new starter batteries

We’re still enjoying our new berth and have been getting a bit of winter sun here.

It’s also interesting to see some of the bigger boats passing Ravensdale on their way to the marina slipway and the MPM boatyard next to the marina.

Close encounters - Solway Challenger heading for the marina slipway

The RV Susan H passes Ravensdale on her way back from the slipway

Other than that, this week seems to have disappeared into thin air.

We seem to have spent a good bit of our time socialising, on and off the boat, or out walking, taking photos and, in Phil’s case, fishing.

I’ve hardly found any time to get on with the novel I'm trying to write, but hoping to catch up on that a bit next week.

On Saturday morning, we decided to look into the possibility of booking an organised fishing trip as we have no real idea where to fish from our boat in the Solway Firth.

While trying to find out who best to speak to about this, we had a chance encounter with a marine electrician, who was about to do some work on another berth holder’s boat.

He agreed to come and take a look at the electrics on Ravensdale and spent the best part of three hours on Saturday afternoon replacing all the connections on the battery terminals.

The new connections on Ravensdale's battery bank

He also discovered that the alternators on both engines were connected to one battery and split them so that there is now one connected to each battery.

And he’s going to return to carry out some further work for us in the near future.

We also managed to sort the fishing trip by joining a local fishing club and we hope to go out on the club’s boat very soon.

Meanwhile, Phil has been trying his hand at fishing off Maryport pier while I wandered around taking photos and chatting with anyone who would talk to me J

Phil fishing on the pier at Maryport

Sadly, Phil didn’t manage to catch our supper – just a couple of very small fish that were thrown back.

However, one of the other fishermen we met on an earlier walk on the pier was delighted to catch his first cod of the season.

I asked if I could take a photo and he happily posed with his catch.

While I was taking a couple of shots, the fish managed to wriggle free and made a bid for freedom, which I was really pleased to have accidentally captured on camera, complete with the shadow of the flying fish.

The one that got away

Almost every time we go out, I return with a whole heap of photos. I really must go through them and delete all but the best asap.

Phil, on the other hand, only takes occasional photos, which invariably turn out to be so much better than mine, or so he says J

Ravensdale at night by Phil Restan

Swans in the marina by Phil Restan

He calls me a “machine gun photographer”, which I guess is fair comment, and to prove it below are some or the many images I’ve taken this week.

A juvenile cormorant in the marina

Maryport Marina on a sunny November day

The ramp down onto the pontoons at Maryport Marina

Another view of Maryport Marina

A berth holder and friend at sea

Maryport Lighthouse at sunset

Evening light on Maryport Harbour

Fishermen on Maryport pier

Iggesund Paper Mill at Workington

Grasslot Shore at Maryport

Our first liveaboard anniversary and moving for some winter sun

Ravensdale at sea in the Solway Firth

Tomorrow (Saturday) we will have been full-time liveaboards for a year and, it’s true, time really does fly when you’re having fun.

It certainly hasn’t been plain sailing and there have been some pretty choppy times along the way, but we’re still both very happy we decided to take the plunge – not literally of course J

I called my very first blog post, soon after we moved on board, “Mad or What?” and said I wasn’t sure if it was the most exciting of craziest thing we’d ever done – the answer is that it's both.

I resigned from my job as a journalist on a regional daily paper and we sold our house in the Scottish Highlands in October of last year.

We took ownership of our 43ft seagoing cruiser Ravensdale – then called Candlelight - on October 20 and moved onboard on November 4.

It was something we’d both wanted to do for some time. In fact, we sold our house and moved out to Spain in 2004 and almost ended up living on a boat on the Med, but the timing wasn’t right for us and we moved back to the UK.

We’ve never been very good at staying in one place for very long and had moved house many times, frequently joking that our next house should have an engine.

And now it has – two 300hp Volvo Penta engines that will take us anywhere we want to go, diesel fund permitting J

Our first anniversary seemed like a good time to take stock of the biggest move of our lives so I’ve been taking a look back over some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the past 12 months.

November 2016

Ravensdale goes back in the water ready for us to move onboard

Ravensdale had been on the hard standing since we had a survey carried out prior to purchase.

We had a holding tank fitted before she went back in the water at the start of this month and we moved onboard on November 4.

The move was both exciting and a little bit scary and living in a home that was rarely totally still and sometimes rocked quite violently felt a little weird at first.

We soon settled in, but encountered a few problems, including the wifi, which was practically nonexistent, and we had to take our laptops to the marina’s customer lounge to get online.

We also discovered that the new holding tank we’d had fitted before we moved in didn’t take long to fill up if the heads were used as you would use a toilet in a house. The solution was to use the marina facilities most of the time and only use the heads for night times and emergencies.

The other big issue was the lack of storage. We’d got rid of a lot of our belongings when we sold our house, but still found we had way too much stuff to store on a boat. We got rid of even more gear, but have yet to really feel we have solved this problem.

The temperature started to drop and the pontoons were icy some mornings, but the marina staff kindly gritted a route from the boat to the marina facilities, and our diesel heater kept the boat lovely and warm.

December 2016

Ravensdale decked out with Christmas lights

We bought ourselves an early Christmas present of a thick custom-made mattress and a new electric blanket. These, together with a dehumidifier and Dry-Mat, which prevents condensation forming under the mattress, ensured that we always got into a nice warm, dry bed.

The marina also put in a new wifi system, which meant we were able to get wifi, although it was less good at low tide when the boat dropped down behind the harbour wall.

Ravensdale got an early Christmas present when, after months of waiting, an engineer turned up just three days before Christmas to service her two 300hp engines.

We considered going away for the festive season, but decided to spend our first Christmas onboard. We put up a small Christmas tree and a few other decorations inside and strung 800 colourful fairy lights around the guard rails and across the aft deck. We also managed to cook a full turkey dinner in our tiny gas oven.

January 2017

Phil removing the old Eberspacher 7 heater after it broke down

We also decided to spend our first New Year on board. It was a very quiet, but enjoyable way to start the year as we pondered on what 2017 would hold for us. And it wasn’t long before we found out – our super efficient Eberspacher 7 diesel heating system packed up on January 5.

Midwinter must be the worst time for a heating system to break down, especially as we still had no heat at the end of the month after attempts to get our existing heater repaired proved unsuccessful and the first replacement heater we ordered from Germany was lost in transit.

We got by with small electric heaters and our two dehumidifiers, but ended up spending around £50 a week on electricity, which was more than twice the usual figure. We also turned on the gas oven and left the door open to raise the temperature at times.

The coldest temperature we recorded inside the boat was 7C, but we survived.

Meanwhile, the cable on the marina gate snapped and much of the water drained out of the marina. Thankfully we remained afloat – just – but the smell from the stinking mud was awful until it was fixed and normal service was resumed the following day.

We also changed all the lights on the boat for LED bulbs and started studying for our RYA Day Skipper and Yachtmaster Offshore theory qualifications this month.

February 2017

Phil tearing his hair out while we attempt to find homes for all our stuff

Our RYA Yachtmaster Offshore certificates

More than a month after our heating system packed up, the new Webasto 5 heater arrived and was installed restoring some sort of normality to our home. It was so good to be warm again.

I was convinced the heating system packing up for a month in the middle of winter was a test of our commitment to our new liveaboard lifestyle and I reckon we passed with flying colours J

We also successfully completed our RYA Day Skipper and Yachtmaster Offshore courses and were presented with the certificates to prove it.

And our storage wars continued as we pulled everything out of the lockers to sort it – again – and tried to get rid of even more stuff.

When we moved onboard, we rented a 75sqft shore-based storage unit. After much effort, we downsized to a 50sqft unit and then a 25sqft unit. The plan was to get rid of this altogether asap (this has still not been achieved).

March 2017

One of the marina staff pressure washing Ravensdale's hull

We took our first break from our liveaboard lifestyle with a two-week shore-based holiday visiting family in Wales and the south of England. The first night sleeping in a bed that wasn’t being rocked by the waves felt really strange.

We returned to Ravensdale to discover the electricity had gone off just after we left and the freezer was full of stinking rotten meat. We never managed to get rid of the smell in the freezer and ended up having to buy a new one.

Soon after we returned from our holiday, we both successfully completed a day-long VHF Radio Course and passed the VHF Short Range Certificate exam.

And, at the end of the month, we had Ravensdale lifted out of the water onto the hard standing so we could antifoul her hull, check her anodes and give her a good clean up.

We continued to live onboard our boat, which felt rather like living in a weirdly-shaped caravan on stilts, with a spectacular view over the marina.

I set to work on preparing the underwater section of the hull for the antifoul paint and Phil on sanding the gelcoat above the waterline. Our lives became one long round of scrubbing, scraping and sanding.

Our intention was to be out of the water for two to three weeks, but things didn’t quite go to plan...

April 2017

Me sanding the old antifoul paint on Ravensdale's hull

The new logo and Phil painting stripes 

Ravensdale’s beauty treatment continued, with even more, sanding, scraping and polishing, and the removal of her vinyl tape stripes, which were painted back on.

The antifoul paint was applied below the waterline and the prop shafts, propellers and rudders were striped back to the bare metal so the propellers and rudders could be antifouled.

Phil carried out some gelcoat repairs and I chiselled off the raised caulking between the timbers on the aft deck giving us a nice level surface.

We also ordered and applied a new Neptunus trident logo on the bow because the old one was looking very much the worse for wear.

May 2017

Ravensdale on stilts on the hard standing with an impressive set of scaffolding steps

We celebrated our six-month anniversary with Ravensdale still on stilts on the hard standing.

Phil polished the hull until it was shining and I sanded and varnished the coffee table and stools in the saloon.

We also fitted a new depth/sounder log, which involved cutting four holes through the hull – a pretty scary moment J

Meanwhile, Phil was trying to get Ravensdale’s trim tabs working having discovered that they didn’t move at all. We eventually discovered the motor wasn’t working and had to install a new system and new hydraulic rams.

A boating friend taught me to whip ropes and I whipped a new set of ropes for our fenders.

We also made our first trip out of the marina gate into the Solway Firth, but sadly not on Ravensdale. A friend took us out on his yacht to watch Maryport’s annual Trawler Race.

And we took a day off to attend the first day of Windermere Boat Show at Ferry Nab Jetties at Bowness on Windermere.

June 2017

Relaunching Ravensdale after 11 weeks ashore

After various delays, Ravensdale went back in the water on Friday June 9 – about 11 weeks after she was lifted out for two to three weeks J

It was so good to see her back where she belonged and to get rocked to sleep at nights again.

The work continued once we were back in the water, including replacing the domestic water pump after the old one packed up leaving us without an onboard water supply for a couple of days.

Giant jellyfish in Maryport Marina

Ravensdale still wasn’t ready to take out to sea, but another friend offered us a trip out into the Solway Firth on his yacht and we jumped at the opportunity.

A huge jellyfish turned up in the marina – a Rhizostoma pulmo, commonly known as the barrel jellyfish, the dustbin-lid jellyfish or the frilly-mouthed jellyfish.

It was pale pink, with a black lacy looking rim, and measured about 18ins in diameter and around 2ft 6ins in length.

We had some beautiful sunny weather in June and enjoyed soaking up the sun on top of our house J

We also had another trip out to sea on someone else’s yacht and attended the Northern Boat Show in Liverpool.

July 2017  

Phil adjusting Ravensdale's drive belts during the diesel engine course

Our RYA Diesel Engine Course certificates

Me checking the oil during the course

We decided Ravensdale was now seaworthy but decided to wait until after we’d taken the RYA Diesel Engine Course to make sure her engines were in order.

And we were so glad we did because, when the instructor came to our boat to do the course with us, we discovered several problems that could have caused trouble at sea.

These included slack water pump drive belts on the starboard engine, one of which needed replacing, and the fuel return hose on the same engine was perished and could have burst at any time.

The new dinghy we’d ordered at the Northern Boat Show arrived giving us a serviceable tender. The one that was on the boat when we bought it turned out to be suitable for use on inland waterways only – not coastal waters.

We also bought a prawn pot to see what was lurking in the waters beneath our home and started catching small shrimps and crabs, along with the occasional eel, flat fish, young Pollock and even a couple of dogfish.

July brought more sunshine and more sunbathing – who says it always rains in Maryport? All I can say is they have obviously never lived in Fort William J

That said, we were back in Scotland for a week staying in a lovely holiday cottage on the shores of Loch Awe in Argyll and, although we’d planned a break from boats, ended up visiting friends on their boats in Tarbert and hiring a small boat to fish the loch.

The night we got back from our holiday the waste water pump for the basin in the aft heads and shower broke down so we were unable to use them for several days. We immediately ordered a new one, which Phil fitted.

August 2017 

Ravensdale heading out into the Solway Firth for the first time

We carried out the work identified during the diesel engine course and, almost nine months after moving on board, Ravensdale was finally seaworthy, but she came up with yet another excuse not to leave the marina.

While we were waiting for suitable weather to coincide with the tides for our first trip out to sea, the new Nasa Clipper duet combined speed/distance log and echo sounder we fitted while out of the water stopped working.

Phil tried to fix it, but without success so the unit had to be sent back to the manufacturer.

Phil at the helm on our first outing

Meanwhile, we experienced our first Maryport Blues Festival.

We were going to wait until the depth sounder/log was fixed before taking Ravensdale out to sea for the first time, but decided we could do without it if we only went out for a short time around high tide when we could be sure of having plenty of depth beneath us.

And, on August 10 – more than nine months after we bought her – we took her out for her maiden voyage in our ownership and it felt amazing.

Her second outing was on August 22, which was a lovely, calm, sunny day. I still couldn’t quite believe we were floating around on the waves in our house J

Phil later fitted a new in-hull transducer, which gave us a functioning depth sounder again.

September 2017

Phil test driving our new dinghy

Me enjoying a cup of tea at sea

Ravensdale’s third and longest outing to date was an almost three-hour cruise in the Solway Firth on September 2.

Phil tried fishing off the boat for the first time, but had no luck on this occasion.

We also took our new three-man Excel Volante 235 dinghy with a 2.5hp Suzuki outboard motor for a test drive in the marina as we realised we hadn’t used either since we bought them.

I underwent day surgery to have my gallbladder removed this month after discovering the stomach pain I had been suffering was caused by gallstones.

I was a bit concerned about recuperating on a rocking boat, but it was no problem at all. I wasn’t allowed to do any heavy lifting for a fortnight, by which time I was totally back to normal.

We decided not to take Ravensdale out to sea during this period as throwing ropes could have put too much strain on my stomach.

October 2017 

Storm clouds gathering over Maryport Marina before ex-hurricane Ophelia

Calm after the storm

We celebrated the first anniversary of me leaving work, selling our house and buying Ravensdale this month.

Weather forecasters also warned that Maryport was due to be hit by two big storms - ex-hurricane Ophelia and Storm Brian.

The first was pretty dramatic and a former trawler, now used as a liveaboard, which is moored on the harbour wall outside the marina gate, broke her stern line at night. She was tossed around by massive waves while emergency services battled to bring her under control.

However, Storm Brian was no worse than any other period of high winds.

We took Ravensdale out to play in the Solway Firth twice – on October 8 and October 27 – and a friend who was out in their boat at the same time kindly took some lovely photos of her at sea.

Ravensdale out in the Solway Firth on October 8

Enjoying the afternoon sun in the Solway Firth on October 27

November 2017 

The wall plaques say it all

And tomorrow (Saturday) is the big anniversary – a whole year of living on board!

The past week

After Ravensdale’s last trip out to sea we filled her up with diesel – the tank was still almost half full, but she still took 700 litres!

We also moved house – or rather moved our house to a different berth in Maryport Marina.

Ravensdale in our new mooring at Maryport Marina

We were previously moored up alongside the harbour wall on the same side of the marina as the marina office and facilities, which was fine at high tide. However, at low tide, the view from our port side was a seaweed-covered stone wall, which blocked out the light, wifi and mobile signal and adversely affected our TV reception.

This wasn’t so bad in the summer, but as the days get shorter and the sun gets lower in the sky, it means boats along that pontoon are in shadow for much of the day.

We could see it starting to happen and asked if there was any possibility of moving to the other side of the marina.

We are now on a hammerhead, where we have sun for more of the day (when it’s out, of course), more light, a much better view and better reception for wifi, mobile phones and TV.

I’m claiming that we’ve gone on holiday for a bit of winter sun J

Ravensdale's new location on the other side of the marina

On a less happy note, we discovered we need to buy two new batteries after the engines failed to start again when we filled up with diesel following our last trip out to sea.

Phil used the generator to start the engines and, after carrying out some tests, he confirmed the batteries were finished so our next big purchase will be two new ones.

I think Ravensdale will have to consider them an early Christmas present J