August 31, 2025
My time in Scotland has been very brief but other activities will force me to leave the boat here on Monday. I did take some time to scope out many different areas, all in the Firth of Clyde, and I have decided to leave the boat here for the winter so that I can come back and explore more in the spring, particularly the area between Oban and Inverness and possibly the outer Hebrides. I have a particular desire to go to Iona since the early part of the century when a little software company named Iona Software was on my investing radar.
For this winter, the boat will be laid up in Largs which has services available and there is a lot of work to be done on the boat over the winter, including replacing some fuel lines, shaft packing, some plumbing for air conditioning as well as fuel. I will get the bottom redone (anti-fouling) and perhaps some other items too. New electronics are on the list but it is such an expensive venture and currently my systems work, but they are increasingly more difficult to maintain due to their age.
I have never winterized this boat so I am a bit nervous and will rely on service people to help me prepare the boat for winter.
About Scotland. I will stop writing and put in some photos, because it is a really pretty place. In an effort to see more of the country, I will drive from Largs Scotland to London over a few days starting tomorrow and see a bit more of the country. It is worth noting that there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of castles here, most are just remnants, but they are everywhere and some are strikingly beautiful.
I tend not to take a lot of pictures and even fewer videos, but here are two videos from Otter Ferry.
That is probably all the posting until Spring . . . its been a crazy boating year. Next year will hopefully be a bit more sane.
(Colombia to Aruba to Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico to Antigua to the UK (unplanned), Ireland and Scotland.)
What a year! Well done getting to Bonnie Scotland – a lovely cruising ground. We used to keep our N43 Suilven up there – Kip at first then Craobh. We had ice around the boat in Kip ( top layer being fresh river water that froze ) but ice free in Craobh, and the main seawater in both locations stayed above freezing. Though still quite heavy snow fall …
The main precautions were appropriate antifreeze in the water maker, drain the internal fresh water by opening all taps and drain out the engine room bib, drain the water heater, run a dehumidifier and run heater tubes in the engine room. Electrical supplies were very reliable, according to our remote monitoring system. We did have severe winter winds ( claimed to be 100mph elsewhere in the region ) so everything well lashed down.
Get a good Almanac to discover the huge number of anchorages – be prepared to anchor in 35m and we always used a trip anchor buoy as some of them are quite fouling. While the Loch area around the Clyde are excellent cruising grounds if you have only a few days, I think the best bits are Oban upwards with around Skye, Inner and Outer Hebrides and the Northwest coast up to Cape Wrath outstanding. Orkney is then an interesting cruising ground but it and Shetland depend on the season’s weather. After Orkney, the Caledonian Canal is a quick way from East Scotland back to the west coast- and see if your fish finder can spot Nessie in Loch ness’s 227m depths! Have a great time.