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Ravensdale decorated with 1,900 flashing Christmas lights |
Ravensdale is all dressed up ready for our third Christmas in our floating home at Maryport, Cumbria, UK.
However, before we could really settle down to looking forward to the festive season, we planned to move our 43ft Neptunus 133 motor cruiser to a different berth while our marina was drained down for maintenance work today (Friday).
Sadly, this wasn’t possible due to last-minute engine problems.
Earlier this week, before we were aware of the engine problems, Phil carried out a couple of small unrelated maintenance jobs on Ravensdale.
And we’ve bought a new salt bin and a big bag of rock salt which was used to treat the frosty pontoons for the first time this morning (Friday).
Our Christmas decorations are up 😊
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Ravensdale's Christmas lights reflected in the still water at Maryport Marina in Cumbria, UK |
Decorating Ravensdale with Christmas lights is one of the delights of the festive season.
When we lived in a house, I wouldn’t have even considered covering the outside of our home with bright, flashing lights. That was something other people did and, if I’m honest, I considered it a bit tacky.
However, as soon as we moved onto the boat, my attitude changed – totally 😊
Now, the brighter and more OTT our Christmas decorations are the better I like them.
It’s such a cheerful sight on a dark, miserable night and even prettier when the water’s still and the lights are reflected giving us twice as many decorations for our money.
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Another view of Ravensdale's Christmas lights |
Last year, we had a lot of trouble with the outdoor lights going out and decided it was probably due to the horrible, wet weather we had over the festive season.
Obviously, we’d bought lights that were suitable for outdoor use, but it seemed the conditions were more than they could handle, and we had to replace several strings as they went out.
We’ve bought even more lights this year – two new strings of 700 LED bulbs along with 500 from last year giving us a total of 1,900 multi-coloured, flashing lights - and we’re really hoping they’ll last us through the Christmas period.
On Tuesday, we set about attaching the new lights around the guardrail, the radar arch, up the bimini frame and over the aft deck using an awful lot of cable ties.
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Lights across Ravensdale's bimini frame and across her aft deck |
We also strung lights along the top of the hull, around the flybridge and from the flybridge down to Ravensdale’s bow.
As soon as we’d finished, I went up onto the road around the marina to get some photos of our boat reflected in the still water and was really pleased with the result.
And I'm hoping to finish putting up the Christmas decorations inside our boat over the weekend.
Marina drain down
A couple of weeks ago, we received an email from our marina saying they would be allowing the water to drain down today (Friday).
It explained that this was necessary to allow silt and debris to be cleared from the bottom of the slipway.
The marina gate which holds water in the marina when the basin outside the marina dries out at low tide, would normally have been closed at 05:57 this morning.
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Maryport Marina gate closed to hold water in the marina when the basin dries out |
Instead, the gate was left open to allow the marina to drain down as the tide went out.
The gate is usually closed when there’s 2.4m of water above the sill so leaving it open reduced the depth of water in the marina by that amount.
The depth in our current berth is just 1.7m below our keel when the gate’s closed so we knew we would definitely end up sitting in the soft mud at the bottom of the marina.
We were a bit concerned about how this would affect our boat as her propellers and rudders are lower than the keel, so we asked if there was anywhere deeper in the marina and, if so, whether we could move to that spot until the water level came up again.
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Photo taken while antifouling shows the relative positions of Ravensdale's props, rudders and keel |
The marina foreman and another member of staff took depth readings around the marina on Wednesday morning and told us we could get an extra 0.3m by moving to a mooring close to the ramp from the marina facilities down onto the pontoons.
This wouldn’t be enough to keep us afloat, but it would mean less of our boat would be sitting in the mud, so we decided to move there while the work was carried out.
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Ravensdale in her current mooring |
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The cruiser near the ramp is now on the hard standing so we were planning to move to that spot |
We got ready to do it yesterday (Thursday) afternoon and Phil started the engines in preparation for the move.
However, the port engine was really noisy, and Phil noticed that there was no water coming out of the exhaust pipe on that side.
He turned the engines off and went down to check them but, as he lifted the steps that provide access to the engine room, smoke came billowing out around them and he couldn’t even see into the engine room.
He discovered that the exhaust elbow had come off the flange where it joins the turbocharger, which meant we couldn’t move to the deeper berth.
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The exhaust elbow on Ravensdale's port engine before it became detached from the turbocharger |
Instead, we had to stay where we were and hope that everything would be OK when the water level dropped.
We could've done without the problem with the exhaust elbow but, if it had to happen, we were very glad it happened while we were in our home marina rather than while we were away from home or anchored out.
The slipway clearance work was carried out around low water, which was at 09:35 this morning.
However, we set an alarm for considerably earlier than usual to make sure we would be up and about as the water level started to drop in case we needed to adjust our ropes when the boat sank into the mud.The slipway clearance work was carried out around low water, which was at 09:35 this morning.
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Ravensdale's depth sounder just before she settled on the mud |
The strangest thing was all the bubbles rising up to the surface of the water from the mud below.
We could hear them coming up under the boat then working their way out from under her hull.
We'd expected the mud to stink as happened when the gate cable broke and the water level dropped right down in January of last year, but the smell was nowhere near as bad this time - possibly because it was a very cold morning.
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The sill became visible when the marina gate was left open at low tide |
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Pontoon piles towering above Ravensdale and the seaweed on the wall shows the normal water level |
The pontoons along the harbour wall ended up as an undulating walkway because some sections were sitting on high patches of mud.
At low tide, a digger scraped the mud away from the bottom of the marina slipway and spread it out around the surrounding area.
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A digger clearing mud from the bottom of the marina slipway |
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Another view of the digger clearing mud from the slipway |
The marina warning notice recommended that all boat owners should check their intake strainers before starting their engines after the drain down and we will definitely be doing this before starting Ravensdale’s engines.
But before we can even think about starting her port engine again, we need to get the exhaust elbow fixed.
Phil's planning to remove it asap and take it to someone who we’re hoping will be able to weld it for us.
Boat jobs
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Phil cleaning the gypsy on Ravensdale's windlass |
Cleaning and greasing the gypsy – the chain handling wheel - on Ravensdale’s windlass is one of the jobs that Phil has done on the boat this week.
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Ravensdale's chain locker in the forecabin |
He removed the wheel, rubbed it down with very fine emery paper then cleaned it off with cycle disc brake cleaner and regreased it with a thin coating of grease.
It now runs a lot more smoothly than it did.
This task ended up taking longer than it should’ve done when he accidentally dropped one of the nuts and bolts into the chain locker, but at least it made a change from him dropping things in the water 😊
He went down into the forecabin and removed the chain locker cover hoping it would be easily visible but very much doubting that would be the case.
Sadly, it was nowhere to be seen and he had to pull all 55m of chain out onto a towel on one of the V-berths to find the bolt before piling all the chain back in again.
Another job that needed attention was Ravensdale’s starboard windscreen wiper.
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Phil repairing Ravensdale's starboard windscreen wiper |
The nut holding the wiper blade to the arm sheared off just as we were about to take Ravensdale out on the water last week.
We were still able to go as the most important wiper is the one in front of the helm on the port side, which was working just fine.
And, it turned out that we didn’t need that one on our latest trip out either as there was no rain and we didn’t get any spray thrown up over the windscreen.
New salt bin
New salt bin
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Our new salt bin |
We were offered the tin again this year, but it’s very small and was looking rather rusty.
So, we decided to buy a proper salt bin and a bag of rock salt, so we’d have plenty to use when the weather gets really cold.
Phil has only had to salt the pontoon twice so far this year before we bought our new bin and filled it up.
And this morning (Friday) he used the salt from our new bin as the pontoons were very slippery when we got up early in preparation for the marina drain down.
Photography
Last Friday, storm conditions coincided with a high tide here in Maryport, Cumbria, UK.
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Large waves battering Maryport pier during storm conditions last Friday |
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Spray being blown across Maryport pier by high winds |
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Giant waves crashing onto Maryport Promenade |
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A black and white conversion of big waves rolling onto the shore at Maryport |
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A towering wave whipped up by high winds alongside Maryport Promenade |
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Me taking storm photos on Maryport Promenade |
I had no idea that, while I was braving the spray to take photos on the promenade, someone else was taking a photograph of me.
The first I knew about it was when I saw it on Facebook later the same day.
I’ve also taken my camera out for walks along the shore and around the harbour here in Maryport.
On Sunday, while photographing the harbour, I also got a few shots of Maryport Inshore Rescue crew launching their boat for a training exercise.
And I couldn't resist a few shots of Maryport's Christmas lights even though I forgot to take my camera when I walked up to town on Saturday so had to take them with my phone.
And I couldn't resist a few shots of Maryport's Christmas lights even though I forgot to take my camera when I walked up to town on Saturday so had to take them with my phone.
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Fishing boats in Maryport Harbour at high tide |
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Christmas lights in Senhouse Street, Maryport |
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Christmas lights on The Lifeboat Inn at Maryport |
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Fishing boats in Maryport Harbour at high tide |
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More boats in Maryport Harbour |
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A Maryport trawler setting off on a fishing trip |
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Maryport Inshore Rescue crew launching their rescue boat |
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The inshore rescue boat in Maryport Basin |
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The shore at Maryport |
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Looking in the opposite direction along Maryport shore towards Iggesund paperboard factory |
Yesterday (Thursday) morning I looked out of the window soon after waking to discover a beautiful sunrise but it was too late to go out and photograph it so I grabbed a quick shot out of the window.
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Sunrise over Maryport Marina yesterday (Thursday) morning |
Swan family
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The cygnets demanding food at the pontoon by Ravensdale |
As usual, they’ve been paying regular visits to Ravensdale expecting to be fed.
I also saw them being fed from the back of a fishing boat in the harbour on Sunday.
I then saw them hanging around Venture West charter boat. I guess they were hoping the owner, Glyn, would be on board as he’s previously said he feeds them when they knock on his boat.
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The swan family being fed in Maryport Harbour on Sunday |
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Floating swan and duck food |
The swans are eating a lot of food at the moment, so it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss when I got an email from the supplier of the food we give them advertising a 12% discount for one day only.
The floating swan and duck food we buy costs £22.59 for a 12.55kg bag.
I put a bag in the online basket and used the voucher code to get 12% off.
Normally, I don’t pay for delivery because the order is over £20 but the 12% reduction took the order value down to £19.88 which meant I would have to pay £3.95 postage and packing. This took the total cost up to £23.83 - £1.24 more than it would normally cost us.
Needless to say, I didn’t go ahead with the order 😊
Weather watch
The weather over the past week started very windy, but it quietened down on Monday and remained relatively calm for the rest of the week.
Last Friday was a particularly windy day but at least it didn’t rain.
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Stormy weather along Maryport promenade on Friday |
The top daytime temperature was 7.6C (46F) and the average wind speed reached 36mph, gusting 49mph.
Overnight Friday/Saturday was very windy, with the average wind speed peaking at 47mph with gusts of up to 60mph.
Saturday started cloudy and very windy but dry and fairly bright. It started raining soon after midday. The average wind speed dropped to 22mph, gusting 30mph, by sunset. The highest temperature during the day was 8.4C (47F).
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Sunshine at Maryport Marina on Saturday morning |
Overnight Saturday into Sunday was another fairly windy night, with a top average wind speed of 32mph, gusting 45mph.
It was dry, bright and sunny all day on Sunday with a few clouds. The temperature reached 7.1C (45F) and the top average wind speed was 22mph, gusting 29mph.
Monday started dry, bright and calm with dampness in the air.
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Sun breaking through the clouds at Maryport Marina on Monday |
It was cloudy all day with very little wind. The top temperature was 7.6C (46F) and the average wind speed peaked at 9mph, but it was considerably lower for most of the day.
Tuesday was cloudy but dry and fairly calm. The top temperature was 8C (46F) and the highest average wind speed recorded at our nearest weather station at St Bees Head was 21mph, but it certainly didn’t seem that windy here.
Wednesday was dry and bright with a mixture of sunshine and cloud and it got pretty cold during the evening.
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Sunshine and cloud at Maryport Marina on Wednesday |
The daytime temperature reached 7C (45F) and the top average wind speed recorded locally was 28mph, gusting 38mph, but it seemed less here.
Yesterday (Thursday) was dry, bright, windier than recent days and pretty chilly.
The temperature only reached 3.7C (39F) and the top average wind speed at St Bees Head was 33mph, gusting 48mph, but it was nowhere near that high here.
Last night was very cold with temperatures falling to 0.7C (33F) and we awoke to frosty pontoons.
Last night was very cold with temperatures falling to 0.7C (33F) and we awoke to frosty pontoons.
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Calm conditions at Maryport Marina at sunrise this morning (Friday) |
And the weather today (Friday) was sunny and very cold with a top temperature of just 2.5C (36.5F). Average wind speeds reached 29mph, gusting 36mph, at St Bees Head, but it was a good bit less than that here.
