I have been over Wintering at Aberystwyth marina for the last six months and before that using it to shelter from strong northerlies when anchored at New Quay.
Location
The marina is the only suitable all weather shelter for deep keel boats between Milford Haven and Pwllheli. Nearby anchorages for deep keels are Fishguard (exposed to the East) and New Quay (exposed to the North). The harbour and entrance can be tricky with silted up sides; my 1.8m yacht can only get in 1.5 – 2 hours either side of the high tide. The entrance should not be attempted when big waves are coming in from the North. Care should be taken around the rocks either side of the entrance.
Aberystwyth Harbour (c) David Jenkins, reproduced with permission.
Marina
Part of The Marine Group, it has a fuel Dock, on pontoon water and electricity, a marina office and a toilet/shower block with laundry facilities. There are liftout and yard services. The showers are clean, spacious and powerful. A couple of times I found the hot water ran out but that was rare.
Local shops, the railway station, beach promenade, pier, Tescos, Matalan, pets at home, Iceland, takeaways etc. Are all a short walk away.
The marina is badly silted so most deeper boats such as mine touch bottom at low tides, I understand there are plans to do some water blast dredging in the near future to improve this.
Staff here are excellent. There is a pleasant and friendly atmosphere to the place. Some of the staff are ‘retired’ but still help out.
There has been a recent change in management and there are some big plans announced by the Council for the Marina, I hope the marina keeps its character through these changes. My preference would be for the Council to get the basics right first by properly dredging the channel and dumping the spoil out at sea. Currently they use diggers and dumper trucks to move it from one point in the harbour to another. Mother nature just moves it back in the next storm.
Lady Cindy has spent the last two weeks out of the water to have her bottom cleaned; we all need one of those.
No issues were found with the hull, so we rubbed her down and applied new anti foul. The blue section got polish and a touch-up wherever the gel coat was damaged. All the through-hulls were checked and serviced.
The next time she is lifted, I want to rub down, fair, and repaint the blue as well as re align the white boot line because its a little high at the bow and low at the stern.
Ffion and I have had a great time when not working; we have been taking the dogs to training (Dotty watched), had days out with friends, and generally enjoyed life.
What’s next?
We have a very busy week ahead with plans ashore as well as preparing to leave Aberystwyth Marina next week. We hope to sail down to New Quay to anchor for a short while before heading south to Southampton.
Note that the title is managing, not preventing! Dampness is an inevitable fact of living above a large body of water out in the open so water can come in from any direction. Add to that the moisture in the air from evaporation of bilge water and from your breath, there are many sources of water and not all can be prevented.
This article lists many of the water sources but focuses on the most difficult to manage, air borne moisture.
Stopping water from above
Rain water and sea spray can enter from deck fittings, window and hatch seals, the anchor hauser pipe, the mast, shroud chain plates, cockpit drains, etc. Almost all of these are preventable with a bit of sealant and maintenance.
Stopping water from below
Sources include the prop shaft, through hulls, transducers, osmosis, and cracks or holes in the hull. All can be sealed/repaired, but these usually require the boat to be out of the water.
Managing air borne moisture
Unless you stop breathing, completely seal your bilges, and only sail off the sahara coast, this one can not be prevented; it has to be controlled and directed.
Warm damp air rises; it is less dense than dry air. When this air hits a cold surface, the moisture condenses on that surface, forming drops of water. We have some control over which surfaces are coldest and can often direct that water down to the bilge. An efficient automatic bilge pump can remove nearly all of that water.
Managing which surfaces are cold, and therefore where the water forms needs a combination of ventilation and insulation to prevent moisture condensing where you dont want it and have cold surfaces in places where you can direct the water drops into the bilge; its important to think about how the air will flow in the space to ensure the damp air passes over the cold surface. If you can get this right, you can create a dehumidifier using the hull or cabin top as a condenser.
On Lady Cindy, I have four spaces: the forward V berth, the heads, the saloon, and the engine compartment. Of these, I am only concerned about managing airborne moisture in the V berth and the saloon.
The V berth was the priority as I had made it my sleeping cabin, and it had no insulation apart from a couple of side panels; the roof was plain fibreglass so got cold, especially at night. My breath overnight resulted in a dripping cabin roof and wet hull surface in the morning, soaking my bedding.
After lowering the bed by six inches to gain headroom and widen the bed, the old side panels no longer fitted. New ones were made from ply, and the fronts covered with foam backed headlining and backs with foil covered bubble wrap. The hull behind the panel was covered with the same foil covered bubblewrap. The insulation is designed and marketed to insulate garage doors. There is now an air gap between the hull and the panel where any water vapour can condense and run down to the bilge, very little does as although not sealed, little air can flow into the space.
The bubble wrap insulation has also been placed against the hull at the back of all lockers in the V berth, heads and saloon to prevent moisture condensing there, each space still has a cold uninsulated locker where most of the moisture can condense and drain to the bilge. This has been partially successful. I am having to double the insulation on some lockers to improve things.
The roof was more complex; I covered it with the same foam backed headlining, but I had to ensure damp air did not gather here but instead flowed forward to the chain and sail locker at the bow to condense on its cold surfaces or through to the saloon and managed there. Which direction the air goes depends on wind direction outside as this determines the direction of air flow through the cabin. There are four external air vents on the boat: Anchor hawse pipe, V berth roof, heads roof, saloon roof, and cockpit door. There is a gap above a panel separating the V berth from the bow anchor locker for air to flow between those areas. I also installed a small 12v fan so air can be moved even if there is no wind outside.
What about windows?
As I am not prepared to replace all of these with double glazed units, I have to accept water drops will form here and drip down. I wipe them daily and ensure there is nothing below them that could suffer water damage. Keeping the boat warm and ventilated is the only solution, but I do have a small 12v dehumidifier which helps a little.
Is my boat now dry?
No, that would be impossible, but my bedding is dry, stuff in my lockers no longer feel damp, and black mould is no longer an issue in my living areas. I would call that a success.
Last year I installed Lithium batteries from Sterling Power onto Lady Cindy. This is how I did it and a summary of how the system is working out in real usage.
The problem with lead
Lead acid batteries traditionally used in boats suffer from a major problem over time… sulphation. This reduces their life span and their capacity. They can also degrade if they are discharged below 50% capacity, they drop voltage as they discharge which means you should only use about half the power stored in them, and they take a long time to charge from 80% to full capacity.
Advantages of Lithium
Lithium batteries can be discharged to near zero and maintain a steady voltage throughout the discharge cycle. Most come with built-in battery management systems that optimise the charging and monitor cell performance. Often, they provide remote monitoring via Bluetooth. Lithium is far lighter than lead, so although they are similarly sized, they are easier to manipulate and can be installed on their side, which gives more install location options.
Lithium is expensive
There are issues with lithium, too; they are very expensive and can not be used in the same bank as lead batteries as they have different charge and discharge characteristics. The established view is that you cannot mix lithium and lead and must throw away perfectly good lead leisure batteries to install Lithium… BUT THIS IS WRONG. I have done it with minimal rewiring, but a special charger is needed.
How to mix lead and lithium batteries
The secret is to have separate battery banks, and the lithium is added as a new bank isolated from the existing lead bank by a battery to battery charger. I chose UK based Sterling Power for both my batteries and my charger after speaking to their technical team to confirm their product could do what I needed. That was to charge the lithium side when the lead side was over 12v (charging or charged) and isolated the lithium when the lead side was less than 12v (discharged below 50%).
All house loads such as lights, fridge, instruments, etc. were moved from the lead leisure battery to the lithium bank. Charging sources (wind, solar, alternator, mains) remain on the lead side, so they are unchanged. The separate lead starter battery and its charging sources are also unchanged.
How the charger works
When there is an active charging source on the lead side, not only are the lead batteries charged, the Sterling charger takes some of this power, regulates the voltage and controls the current to charge the lithium bank.
When the charging sources disappear, the lead battery provides power to charge the lithium until the lead side drops below 12v (50% discharged). When this happens, the Sterling charger isolates the lithium bank, which continues to provide power to the house loads.
Has it worked?
Yes, and better than I hoped. I used to have 2 x 120ah lead leisure batteries that I could use half of (120ah usable power). Adding 2 x 110ah Lithium batteries could have given a total of 340ah of power. In practice, I decided to reduce weight at the aft end (where the lead leisure batteries are located) by removing one of these batteries. So, currently, I have 280ah usable power, and that power is always at a stable voltage. The only negative is that there is a cooling fan on the charger that is noticeable but not loud when it kicks in, so think more carefully than I did as to where to locate this.
I am very happy with the power I have now. I live aboard Lady Cindy and have never run out of power. I charge when I am in a marina, when there is daylight or wind, or when I run the engine. I have a 240v inverter aboard to run various electronic device chargers, and an xbox and have run that for 4 hours before getting to 25% charge and turned it off, so I had power for lights in the evening. The next day was sunny, and I was back to nearly 100 % charge on everything at the end of the day.
How I installed on Lady Cindy
Lady Cindy’s starter battery was installed under the starboard side saloon berth/seat. The two leisure batteries midship under the floor in the galley area. When I rewired the boat, chargers, loads, inverter, and isolation switches were all moved to a locker under the port side map table. This was my start position for the installation.
The lithium batteries and their charger were installed under the port side saloon seat/berth. And charger wired through to the leisure batteries. As all loads were on a single terminal under the map table, it was a simple job to switch the terminal input from the lead leisure battery bank to the new lithium bank. You may have a more untidy setup with lots of loads directly onto your leisure batteries. In this case, put a new terminal near these batteries, move all loads to the new terminal, and then a heavy gauge wire from there to the new lithium battery bank.
Negative terminals of all loads should go to the negative post of the lithium bank. The negative side of all banks and all charging sources should be connected together by a heavy gauge wire.
Future upgrades
Although the original design idea was to be able to install Lithium alongside lead and the battery to battery charger allows that, there is another plus from that charger in that it protects the lithium from any excessive voltages that a charge source such as an alternator may generate. This is a useful function even when the lead battery reaches the end of its life and is removed. Any new batteries in the future will be lithium and added to the existing lithium bank.
It’s been a while since I’ve written on this but I guess it’s better late than never.
As you all already know, John spent Christmas and New years with my family and I which was absolutely lovely. I can’t speak for anyone else but I definitely ate and drank too much. Haha 🤣
Dotty and Jack 🐾
There was lots of singing, dancing and laughing over Christmas and New year. Oh and how can I forget the carrot c*ck fish bowl and playing with nerf guns drunk. Haha 🤣
Some of you may be thinking “what is a carrot c*ck fish bowl?” well I’ll tell you now.
My sister in law and I decided to have a fish bowl.. Okay maybe 2 or 3. Haha 🤣 and we came up with the idea of carving a fish out of a carrot to put in the fish bowl but John had other ideas and he carved a penis instead so that’s where the name came from. Haha 🤣
New Year’s Eve fish bowl 🥂🥳
Christmas Day jam 🎸🎤🎶John and I on Christmas day 🙂
January really just disappeared, I really can’t believe that it’s mid February already. At the end of January it was my dad and my sister in law’s birthday so even more food and alcohol was consumed. Haha 🤣
For dad’s birthday we had booked tickets to see a rock band so some of my family, John and I went and it was amazing. It made my family and I realize how much we miss gigging.
The UK Rock Show in Aberystwyth 🎸🎤🎶
It’s all been a bit crazy recently John needing to prepare his boat ready for when he sails off, with my parents and I along with my brother, sister in law and their 2 kids moving house. Even with this John and I have still managed to see eachother nearly every week with me either going to see him or him coming to see me.
I’m hoping to go to Aberystwyth on Saturday to help John with some jobs on the boat so I really hope these storms pass quickly and that everyone stays safe.
I am planning a surprise for sometime in the future but only time will tell if it actually happens.
Keep checking back regularly to see if the surprise goes to plan 🤐🙊
Wow, it’s over two months since my last blog entry 😳 I am sure nobody noticed 🤣
Up until New year’s eve, I was working 5 nights a week in Tescos from 5pm till midnight and on my days off I usual either went to Ffions or she came up to stay on the boat with me. We spent Christmas and New year together too. I have done some smaller maintenance jobs on the boat but not much. From now until mid March I will work two nights a week at Tescos and spend more time working on the boat. I have booked a lift out for February to renew the hull anti fouling and check some through hull stopcocks.
The New Year is here though and a new start. I have dismantled then re installed the new V berth to paint the new wood and and put up some insulation against the hull. Condensation is always been an issue in here and the superwrap insulation seems to be working so far. I have done the starboard side, I now need to do port side.
Underneath modified v berth
My current plan is to leave Aberystwyth marina at the end of March, sail back to Southampton, spend a couple of weeks there with family and wait for a good weather window to cross the channel and head South toward the Mediterranean in May or June.
For regular readers with curious minds (nosey), Ffion will not be coming with me when I sail South. We have had a great time together over the last 7 months but our futures lie on different paths. We have both always known and accepted this. I think and hope we will both be happier, richer and better people having spent so much time together. I would like to thank her publicly for the fun, the singing, the company, the long chats, the tapas, the hugs, the sailing, the driving, the theme parks, the fancy dress, the shopping trips and giving me the courage to try new things 🥰. I would also like to thank her parents, her brothers, sister in law, nieces and nephews for making me welcome and trusting me with Ffion.
I have got a job at Tescos supermarket next to Aberystwyth Marina for the Winter to top up my funds. I had always intended to work while travelling but had not intended to in the first year. I saw an advert for seasonal staff, applied and got it. I started this week filling shelves.
Its interesting to see the differences between a big supermarket and my old convenience store. They get daily deliveries and most stuff goes straight out onto the shelves rather than keeping a supply in a stockroom.
I have spent a lot of time with Ffion over the last few weeks, she passed her driving test, we went bowling, dressed up for halloween plus loads of other stuff.
I will be blogging less often over the next few months as not a lot will be happening. I will be working on the boat when not working at Tescos and making sure I leave time for socialising.
I have started the changes I want to Lady Cindy’s interior this week with the V berth. I have lowered the bed by several inches which gives extra head room.
There is still a lot to do in there with a new cupboard, painting and work on the side and roof panels but the bed is structurally complete and much stronger than the old one. Behind the panels i found one deck safety rail stantion and one chain plate were leaking at the deck, this will be a major reason for damp in this cabin. These are easy fixes with sealant when the weather dries up.
I am back at Ffions parents for a few days to help her dad and help prepare for her test next week.
An overnight stay at Ffions parents house has turned into a week of driving, truck racing, car repairs and landscaping.
We drive to Cardiff and back via Swansea to see some friends and the car behaved flawlessly. The next day when driving to get some dog food there was a horrible scraping noise from the right rear. The shock absorber lower mounting bracket had rusted and broke. Luckily as a horse owner, Ffion had lots of baler twine in the car so we made a temporary fix to get back. The car is in a garage and we are in the process of sourcing a replacement bracket.
Baler twine fix to the car
We went to Pembrey to see the truck racing and had a BBQ for lunch.
This week, as well as helping Ffions dad move scaffolding and using a mini digger to move tons of soil, we hope to get a scrap car to strip for parts for Ffions car.
No, of course not 😊 A three day trip to Alton Towers that turned into four days, plus Ffions birthday week (why just have one day when can have a week?). Smiles and laughter have been the theme.
Ffions mum looked after Dotty while we were away. She howled, escaped across a busy road looking for me, climbed on the kitchen sides to look for me out of the window and pood in their front room. Does anyone have a collar of shame i can borrow for a month 🥺
Meanwhile Ffion and I were doing this…
We had so much fun we booked an extra day.
This week its Ffions birthday so had chinese with her parents and her niece, went to Folly Farm and moved a sheep at her field..
Today I got the wood needed to start structural changes to the interior of Lady Cindy and later will drive down to Ffions parents to stay overnight. We plan an early start for a day out.
