First attempt at DIY marine engineering, missed opportunities and stunning sunsets

Phil removing the intercooler on Ravensdale's port engine

Windy weather this week delayed maintenance work on Ravensdale’s port engine.

Phil removed the intercooler and had intended to tackle the heat exchanger the following day, but high winds meant the boat was rocking quite violently at times, so he decided to wait for the weather to calm down a bit.

However, we hadn’t expected the wind to drop so much that we might have considered taking the boat out to sea.

Maryport lighthouse reflected in the flat, calm water on Tuesday

Removing the port engine heat exchanger

An overheating problem meant our starboard engine needed urgent attention earlier this year.

At that time, Phil felt he needed help to solve the problem and a local man, called Norman, who’s kept his family’s fishing boats running for years, came to our rescue.

Norman removed the intercooler and heat exchanger, took them away and cleaned them up before refitting them and the overheating problem was cured.

However, this revealed that the port engine, which had previously appeared to be fine, was also getting hotter than it should have done.

When Norman dealt with the starboard engine, he kindly showed Phil how to do it himself so, this time, he felt able to take it on.

The weather forecast didn’t look up to much for a few days, so we decided it was a good time to get the job done as we were unlikely to want to take Ravensdale out to sea.

Ravensdale's port engine

Ravensdale's dirty intercooler before cleaning

So, this time, Phil removed the intercooler and heat exchanger himself, with a little help from his friend (or rather me handing him the tools he needed 😊)

Phil undoing pipes ready to remove the heat exchanger

I also looked out the photos I’d taken of Norman doing the job as a reminder.

Phil removing bolts from the heat exchanger

Both parts have now been dropped off at Norman’s for him to clean them up in his workshop.

Phil has been doing the routine checks and maintenance on Ravensdale’s two 300hp Volvo Penta engines since we both took the RYA Diesel Engine Course, but this was by far the biggest job he’d taken on so far.

The really interesting bit will be when the heat exchanger and intercooler are ready for collection and he has the job of refitting them.

The weather was very cold at the weekend, with snow showers and high winds, so we definitely wouldn’t have wanted to leave the marina.

However, on Tuesday, the sun came out and the wind dropped to single figures – the very weather that usually has us untying our mooring ropes and heading for open water.

We might have considered taking the boat out for a spin if both engines had been in working order.

There was no way we could go, but we weren’t too disappointed. A few boats went out fishing that day, but it seems they didn’t catch anything worthwhile.

To be honest, even though it’s always fun taking Ravensdale out to play, we’d rather get the engines sorted and save our diesel for when the fishing improves or we want to travel somewhere.

Storage wars

Storage has been one of the biggest challenges we’ve faced since moving on board Ravensdale in November 2016.

And this week, I’ve been trying to improve on the way we store our food.

I’ve been recycling plastic orange juice bottles as storage containers for dry food, such as flour, sugar and rice.

Our new storage bottles

The brand we usually buy is sold in a wider necked bottle than most of the plastic bottles used for other products. This makes them much easier to use, both for filling and for pouring the dry foodstuff when we want to use it.

As we empty another bottle of orange juice, I wash it out and make sure it’s totally dry before filling and labelling it.

So far, I have three bottles that I’ve filled with wholegrain basmati rice, plain flour and self raising flour and I’m looking forward to adding to my collection as they fit really well in the little cupboards in Ravensdale’s galley.

Where have the swans gone?

The pair of swans that usually pay regular visits to Maryport Marina in Cumbria, UK, have not returned since I agreed to feed them.

I took on the task after the death of Phil Lee, the berth holder who'd been feeding them for years and had become known as “The Swan Man”.

I'd promised to feed them while he was unwell and staying with a friend in the town and I did so for a while, but I haven’t seen them since he died.

The swans hanging around by Ravensdale looking for food before they disappeared

I attended his funeral on Monday and was pleased to see two of my photos of him feeding the swans in the marina on his coffin.

I can’t really believe the swans know The Swan Man has gone.

My husband thinks they haven't been back to the marina because they’re away up the River Ellen finding a nesting site and I’m sure he’s right as I’ve seen them on the river on a couple of occasions recently.

Meanwhile, I've been photographing some other birds - the pigeons that are building a nest in the drainage hole in the harbour wall near Ravensdale and some redshanks that I found huddled together on Maryport's middle pier. 

The marina pigeons getting their feathers ruffled by the wind

Redshanks watching the tide come into Maryport basin

Passers-by

The marina slipway has been closed for a few days this week while work was carried out on the Whitehaven-registered commercial vessel Callan.

Callan arriving at Maryport Marina on Monday

The large orange catamaran dwarfed Ravensdale as it passed us on its way to the slipway on Monday, then again on its way out of the marina yesterday (Thursday).

We were most impressed by the way it handled. The skipper was obviously using bow and stern thrusters as the boat moved forwards and sideways as if manoeuvring its way around a chess board.

Callan leaving the marina yesterday (Thursday)

I wish I’d been on the boat when seven canoeists passed Ravensdale on Tuesday as I missed the opportunity to get a photograph of them in the marina.

However, I got a few shots of the same colourful canoes in the Solway Firth while out for a walk with my camera a short while afterwards.

Colourful canoes in the Solway Firth

A closer view of the canoeists

Photographic opportunities

Dramatic skies and stunning sunsets have provided some great photo opportunities here in Maryport this week - sadly I managed to miss some of the best sunsets.

Rays of light breaking through the clouds over the Solway Firth

A wider view of the dramatic sky over the firth

Sunset from the shore at Maryport

Another shot of the sunset from the shore at Maryport

The unexpected arrival of a Coastguard helicopter for a training exercise also encouraged me to get out with my camera to capture the action.

We were still in bed on Sunday morning when we heard a helicopter very close by. Usually, the sound goes away again, but this time it continued making it obvious that something was happening on our doorstep.

I quickly got up, dressed and looked out to discover that the Prestwick-based search and rescue helicopter G-MCGR had landed on a grassy area by the marina.

I dived over there with my camera and start taking photos. I couldn’t resist asking what was going on and was told it had come to provide the local lifeboat and Coastguard rescue teams with “helicopter familiarisation training”.

Lifeboat and Coastguard rescue teams with the Coastguard helicopter

The Coastguard search and rescue helicopter taking off

The helicopter flying over Maryport Marina

It then took off and flew across the marina to the Solway Firth where it dropped its winch line for training with Maryport Inshore Rescue boat.

The Coastguard helicopter training with Maryport Inshore Rescue boat

The Coastguard helicopter lowering the winch line

Maryport Inshore Rescue boat with Robin Rigg offshore wind farm in the distance

Maryport Inshore Rescue boat on the Solway Firth

Cold and windy start to spring

Tuesday may have been the official first day of spring in the UK, but nobody seems to have told the weather.

The freezing conditions we experienced in recent weeks have gone, but it’s been pretty nippy for most of the past week.

Sunset over Maryport Marina last Friday evening

It was very cold overnight Friday/Saturday. We awoke to find snow falling on Saturday morning and a temperature of 0.1C (32F). The temperature only went up to 1.3C (34F) during the day, which was also very windy with speeds of up to 29mph and gusts up to 48mph recorded at nearby St Bee’s Head.

Snow falling at Maryport Marina on Saturday morning

This was followed by another cold windy night with temperatures down to -2C (28F) and average wind speeds of up to 25mph, gusting to 40mph.

Sunday was cold with occasional attempts at snow and the day ended with a beautiful sunset.

Another shot of Sunday night's sunset

It remained cold and windy overnight with temperatures down to -0.1C. We awoke to bright sunshine and relative calm first thing on Monday, but the wind got up again late morning.

Tuesday was the best day of the week. It was calm and sunny. There was very little wind, but it was still quite cool.

The mercury actually rose a little on Wednesday. It started dull and overcast, then, as so often happens when the weather starts to warm up, the rain arrived. The temperature went up to 6.2C (43F), but it felt a lot colder in the wind.

Yesterday (Thursday) started bright and sunny, but the sky soon clouded over. Temperatures of up to 6.5C (44F) were recorded locally, but average wind speeds of up to 23mph, gusting to 32mph, meant it felt a lot cooler. It started raining heavily soon after it got dark and was very windy throughout the night.

The devastation of a UK marina encourages us to take urgent action

Ravensdale on the Solway Firth

This week I’ve been preparing for the worst by uploading all our important documents to the cloud.

Watching videos of boats that sank when Storm Emma destroyed a UK marina made me decide it was time to ensure our paperwork would survive if something like that ever happened to us.

More than 80 boats sank or were damaged and pontoons were torn from their anchorages when hurricane-force winds battered Holyhead Marina in North Wales earlier this month.

Some of these vessels had been people’s homes.

This video showing drone footage of the devastation was published last Sunday - Holyhead Storm Emma

It was horrible to watch and very scary to think that it could happen to us. My heart goes out to everyone involved.

Safeguarding our important documents

Soon after we moved on board our 43ft seagoing cruiser Ravensdale at Maryport Marina in Cumbria I made sure all our important documents were in one place and easy to grab in an emergency.

But I had been meaning to make sure we had a back-up plan and the destruction of Holyhead Marina galvanised me into action, so I spent Wednesday afternoon scanning all our important documents. 

Me sorting the scanned documents into the relevant folders

I then sorted them into folders named “boat” (boat insurance, boat registration, ships’ radio licence and our short wave radio certificates), “car” (car registration document and car insurance) and “personal” (including our birth certificates, marriage certificate, driving licences, passports and life insurance policies) and uploaded them all to the cloud.

God forbid we will ever need them.

However, if anything happens to Ravensdale and we’re unable to save the hard copies of our important paperwork, then at least we will still have access to all the relevant information to enable us to start getting our lives sorted out again.


BOAT – Bring Out Another Thousand

Not long after we bought Ravensdale and moved on board in November 2016 someone told us that BOAT stood for Bring Out Another Thousand.

They were not wrong and this week has once again proved the accuracy of this acronym.

We had been having problems with our generator for some time. It never started the first time and needed repeated attempts with rest periods in between before it would fire up. This was annoying, but at least it did always go.

However, more recently, it has cut out while running and refused to restart so we decided the time had come to replace it with a new, hopefully more reliable one.

This week we ordered a Honda EU22i 2.2KW petrol inverter generator and it arrived a couple of days later. It runs like a dream and is really quiet.

Phil checking out the new generator on Ravendale's aft deck

A much smaller purchase was a bargain tool sharpening station from our local Lidl supermarket that Phil has already found useful for sharpening his drill bits.

Phil sharpening a drill bit

While doing so, he also sharpened all our kitchen knives and scissors so it’s definitely going to earn its keep.

Keeping Ravensdale clean

In our previous shore-based life, Phil always kept our cars lovely and clean.

Now, he lavishes his love and attention on Ravensdale.

As soon as she starts to look a little grubby, he’s out there with the boat wash scrubbing her decks and hosing her down.

Phil washing off the boat wash on Ravensdale's foredeck

Meanwhile, our car has to fend for herself, but we’ve found our new method of keeping her clean is working quite well.

We park her facing in different directions depending on whether her front or back end is most in need of a wash and, so far, the rain is doing a great job 😊

Farewell to “The Swan Man”

Last Saturday, we learnt that one of the other liveaboards here, who used to feed the swans that are regular visitors to the marina, sadly passed away the previous day.

Phil Lee, also known as “The Swan Man”, was very knowledgeable about Mute Swans and fed the pair that frequently turned up at the marina up to five times a day.

I am planning to attend his funeral on Monday and spent some time this week looking out photographs of him feeding the swans for use at the service.

Phil Lee with the swans at Maryport Marina

I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts that he was away from the marina for a while and that he’d asked me to feed the swans with the floating duck and swan food he kept on his boat if I saw them looking hungry.

I’ve fed them on a number of occasions and more recently discovered that other people had also been feeding them.

Me feeding the swans at Maryport Marina

After his death, the marina moved his boat and I’ve taken over his supply of food intending to carry on where he left off.

The only problem being that I’ve only seen the swans once since then.

They appeared first thing in the morning and I selfishly decided to have my own breakfast before feeding them and, by the time I’d finished, they’d gone.

To say I felt guilty would be an understatement and I promised myself that in future I would feed them as soon as I saw them. Sadly, I’m still waiting for them to return…

Photography feedback

I’ve been out indulging myself in one of my favourite hobbies – photography - again this week.

I’m still finding plenty of photo opportunities in my adopted hometown and enjoy posting them on a local Facebook group.

Maryport in the sunshine

Maryport lighthouse with the Scottish hills on the other side of the Solway Firth

The entrance to Maryport Harbour from Maryport basin

Shipping Brow at Maryport

And I was delighted when I got a message from a local artist whose work I admire asking if he could use my photos of Maryport as reference material.

I told him I'd be honoured for him to use any of my photos and am considering going to his next pen and watercolour wash class to learn how to turn my images into works of art - well, paintings. I think “works of art” would be a long way down the road 😊

I also liked a comment a local man left on one of my photos of the Iggesund Paperboard mill at nearby Workington, which can be seen in many of my photos of the coastline.

He said he'd told his granddaughter that it was a cloud factory and the wind turbines were fans to blow the clouds into the right place 😊

A lone fisherman on the shore at Maryport and the "cloud factory"

A redshank in Maryport basin

Meanwhile, I’m becoming very aware that I could do with a longer lens for my camera as my attempts at getting photos of some of the wildlife here have not been so good, like this photo of a redshank in Maryport basin.

I only really took the photo so I could identify it when I got back to the boat, but I was rather disappointed by the quality of the image.

Warmer weather, but not for long…

Last Friday was a beautiful sunny day when Ravensdale’s large windows really came into their own.

We were able to turn the heating off first thing in the morning and the boat stayed lovely and warm all day. The indoor thermometer went up to 34C (93F) in the sun and dropped to 23C (73F) when we moved it to a shadier spot. We didn’t need to put the heating back on until the evening.

Maryport Marina in the sunshine

It was warmer outside on Saturday with temperatures up to almost 11C (52F) but, as so often happens when the weather warms up, it rained for most of the day.

Sunday was sunny and calm and, on Monday we had a mixture of sunshine and clouds with temperatures up to 8.2C (47F).

Tuesday was another lovely sunny day with temperatures up to 6.9C (44F), but there was still a cool wind. The sunset looked promising, but it was not as good as I’d hoped.

Looking across Maryport basin to the old lighthouse

Overnight temperatures only dropped to 3.4C (38F) and we had lovely start to the day on Wednesday complete with a beautiful sunrise. I so wish I’d planned ahead and got up early to capture it, but had to make do with a quick snap taken from Ravensdale’s window.

Wednesday morning's sunrise at Maryport Marina

A closer view of the beautiful sunrise

Wednesday was a much windier day than we had experienced lately with southeasterly winds averaging up to 36mph and gusting to 51mph, but it was relatively warm with temperatures up to 10.3C (50.5F).

Ice cream van on South Quay, Maryport

I saw an ice cream van in Maryport for the first time this year on Wednesday, so I guess that means spring really is on its way 😊

Overnight Wednesday into yesterday (Thursday) there was a good blow with wind speeds up to 36mph, gusting 53mph, and it was fairly warm with a lowest temperature of 6.3C (43F) recorded at 7am.

It was wet and windy first thing yesterday. The rain dried up by lunchtime, but it remained fairly windy with average wind speeds up to 26mph and gusts up to 41mph. The highest daytime temperature was 8.9C (48F) at 3pm and the sunset was considerably better than on Tuesday evening, but still not as colourful as I'd hoped it would be.

Sunset over the shore at Maryport

Maryport lighthouse at sunset with the town in the distance

We had a relatively warm night last night with temperatures only dipping to 6.7C (44F) and this morning it is 8.2C (47F), but it’s not going to last.

The forecast is for much colder weather starting overnight tonight (Friday/Saturday) when the Beast from the East is due to return bringing snow and ice to large areas of the UK.

Here, we’re expecting temperatures down to -2C (28F) in the early hours of tomorrow (Saturday) and only reaching about 2C (36F) during the day. The forecast is for easterly winds of up to 29mph with gusts up to 40mph.

Very similar weather is expected on Sunday, remaining cold for the start of next week so it looks as though we'll have to wait a bit longer for spring to arrive…

Taking our house fishing, the big thaw and a very high tide

Phil laying on Ravensdale's foredeck waiting for a bite

What a difference a few days can make to the weather!

Last week we had sub-zero temperatures, snow and high winds at Maryport in Cumbria, UK, and this week we’ve had sunshine and temperatures up to 7C (45F).

Me on Ravensdale at sea

And the best bit of all is that it’s been calm enough to take our home fishing 😊

We took Ravensdale out to sea for the third time this year on Monday and, although it wasn’t the sunniest day of the week, the wind speed was only 7-9mph so within our single figures rule.

We make no bones about it – for now we’re definitely fair-weather sailors (or rather cruisers) and only leave the marina when the wind speed is less than 10mph.

Taking Ravensdale fishing

The snow just about disappeared here over the weekend, although much of the UK still had a good depth of the white stuff and parts of the UK were again hit by snowstorms yesterday (Thursday).

I always keep a close eye on the weather forecast and was therefore aware that Monday was expected to be dry with very little wind.

The entrance to Maryport Marina

The marina gate, which is only open for about two to two and half hours either side of high tide, was also due to open at a good time for a trip out on Monday.

We were considering going for a little cruise, partly for fun, but also to give Ravensdale’s twin 300hp Volvo Penta engines a run and to help keep her hull clean.

We were still trying to make up our minds when a couple of guys with small fishing boats in the marina visited our boat on Sunday to let us know they were going out the following day and to ask if we wanted to join them.

We also needed to fill up with diesel as we’d used a good bit on heating over the cold snap, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and go fishing then visit the fuel pontoon on the way back to our berth.

We had some bait left in the freezer from the previous fishing trip but needed more, so we walked over to The Aquarium by Maryport Harbour to buy some black lugworm in their fishing bait shop then stopped off for coffee and cake at the Aquarium cafe.

The marina gate wasn’t due to open until about 11.15am on Monday so there was no need to rush around.

Our ornaments packed up ready to go to sea

Phil did the engine checks, opened the seacocks and untied the spring lines (ropes used to limit fore-and-aft movement while moored), leaving just the bow and stern mooring ropes tied to the pontoon cleats until we were ready to cast off.

Meanwhile, I went through my usual packing up ritual inside the boat – anything loose that could be thrown around if the boat starts to roll gets packed away in collapsible packing crates and the microwave and freezer are strapped down.

We had a choice of which fishing boat to follow as one was staying quite close to Maryport to fish for cod and the other was going a bit further afield in search of skate. Phil chose to go for cod and we dropped anchor near the relevant boat.

Ravensdale leaving Maryport for our fishing trip

Although we didn’t have bright sunshine, it was fairly pleasant outside and it didn’t rain while we were at sea, so we stretched out on the foredeck while waiting for the fish to bite.

It was surprisingly rocky, given that there was so little wind, but a lovely way to spend a winter Monday all the same. It definitely beats going to work 😊

My view while waiting for the fish to bite

Phil with the cod that had to be thrown back

After a couple of hours, we’d only caught one fish – a 12-inch cod that was too small to keep and had to be thrown back.

We considered moving to another location, but had been in touch with the other fishing boats out that day and it seemed no one was catching anything worth having so we decided to head home and save our diesel for another day.

On our return to the marina, we went straight to the fuel pontoon to top up Ravensdale’s 1,200 litre tank. It took almost 700 litres!

Phil then drove Ravensdale down to the far end of the marina for a practice run, turning her on her own length at either end before returning to our berth.

Although we didn’t catch any fish worth keeping, one of the other fishermen caught a slightly larger cod that he gutted and brought home, but didn’t want so he gave it to us and it contributed to a delicious fish pie.

Phil with his new fish measuring stick

Phil has since made a measuring stick marked with the lengths at which various fish species can be kept. These are laid down by the UK government via DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). For cod, the minimum size is 35cm (13.7 inches).

The aftermath of the Beast from the East

The arrival of Siberian weather, dubbed the Beast from the East, overnight on Tuesday February 27 into Wednesday February 28 brought snowstorms and temperatures down to -6C.

There was still a good bit of snow lying in the Maryport area of Cumbria last Friday, but very little left along the coast. However, we encountered some very slippery conditions when we decided to take a walk to our local Lidl store for a few odds and ends of groceries.

The last of the snow on the ramp at Maryport Marina

We didn’t really need to go, but it was a chance to get some exercise as well as more wine and chocolate for the weekend as we’d accidentally eaten our weekend goodies during the week 😊

We don’t normally buy them until Friday because we know we can’t be trusted, but shopped early in case we got snowed in. We now know that was a mistake 😊.

And we discovered it was a good job we’d already stocked up on the basics as there was no bread or milk and very little fruit or veg left in the store because the delivery lorries had been unable to reach Maryport.

The snow on the path to Lidl had been compacted by people walking on it. It had then frozen over so staying upright was difficult at times. Luckily, we managed to get there and back without either of us taking a tumble.

Meanwhile, the marina snowman was slowly melting away and collapsing over to one side. By Sunday, he looked rather deformed and decidedly creepy 😊

The demise of the marina snowman

Very high tide

We had one of the highest tides of the year in Maryport last weekend.

There was a difference of almost 9m (29ft 6ins) between the high and the low tides on Saturday - 9.2m at 12.15pm and 0.3m at 7.11pm.

Maryport Marina at high tide on Friday

Our pontoon almost level with the car park at the very high tide

I always find it amazing how different the marina, the harbour and the area around the basin and River Ellen look when the water comes up almost to the top of the harbour walls and I can never resist the chance to go out and take photos.

On previous occasions, I’ve captured images of waves crashing up against the sea walls and spilling over onto the promenade, but the northerly wind on Saturday meant the waves were coming from a different direction to those caused by the usual west to south-westerly winds.

Maryport lighthouse at high tide

Unfortunately, it was dark by the time the very low tide arrived or I would’ve been out taking photos for comparison purposes.

Feathered friends

There are often quite a lot of pigeons in the area around the marina and one pair has been nesting in one of the drainage pipes that comes down through the harbour wall near our boat.

We came back from taking photos of the high tide on Saturday to find them totally bewildered by the disappearance of the hole they use as an entrance.

They were sitting on the edge of the wall above the hole, flying up and down the wall frantically trying to find the way in, but they had to wait for the water level in the marina to drop before they could go home.

One of the pigeons searching for the hole

The pigeons waiting for the water level to drop

As soon as it was below the level of the hole, they were back inside.

Pigeon hole - one of the pigeons happily back in its home 

We still can’t work out how they manage to stay in there as, whenever it rains, the water runs off the road and down through the pipe into the marina.

The swans that have been visiting the marina since long before we moved on board our 43ft seagoing cruiser 16 months ago have been back looking for food again this week.

Another berth holder, who is away from the marina at the moment, used to feed them whenever they appeared, sometimes up to five times a day, and they seemed to be really missing him.

He told us to use the food he stored on his boat to feed them whenever we saw them, so I’ve been doing as he asked.

Me feeding the swans in Maryport Marina

But I’ve now discovered that other people here are also feeding them, including a member of staff and at least one other berth holder, so perhaps they aren't as hungry as I thought they were 😊

Mic, one of the marina staff, feeding the swans

Variable weather

We’ve had a real mixed bag of weather over the past week from the freezing conditions last weekend to warmer day-time temperatures in recent days.

It was cold and windy overnight Friday/Saturday - nowhere near as cold as the previous nights, but still quite windy.

On Saturday morning, there were light snow flurries and still a very chilly wind.

Overnight Saturday/Sunday the lowest temperature recorded locally was -0.9C (34F) at 8pm and the wind had dropped so there was less rocking, creaking of ropes and sploshing of water going on which made for a much quieter night for us.

Tuesday, Wednesday and yesterday were mainly dry and bright by day with temperatures up to around 6C (43F).

Wednesday was quite windy with a beautiful sunset in the evening.

Maryport Harbour

Maryport lighthouse

Maryport Harbour

Another view of Maryport Harbour

Maryport Marina at sunset

Yesterday was mainly dry and bright and much calmer, with a wind speed of just 1mph first thing increasing to 15mph later in the day.

And today (Friday) is another calm sunny day with temperatures expected to go up to about 7C (45F). Perhaps spring really is just around the corner at long last...

Maryport lighthouse in the sunshine yesterday