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Lovely start today(Tuesday). Crossing Christchurch harbour. Hope to fish the needles channel for Bass The plan was to use the obliging tides at Christchurch to put in before nine and retrieve any time after 4.30 and fish the infamous “Bridge” by the needles lighthouse . We would go by way of Hurst castle use the Ebb to drift us along likely looking rocky marks on the island side of the channel this drift , in the light winds it would take us gently down to the Bridge where it can get evil. 🌊🌊🌊🌊 We aimed to arrive 2 hrs before slack water to fish the Bridge proper and possibly up to two hours on the flood. I was optimistic. There was a long rolling swell out of the Harbour but no chop. E 3 planed and cruised all day at 18 to 20 knots so we could get there easily in a half hour. We had time up front to go plaice fishing at Southbourne. An hour of this produced one small plaice. Nets were everywhere. Then we set about executing the plan. And it all went to perfection except for one thing . The Bass didn’t seem to want to play. Slack water was half hr later than the Christchurch harbour table . We waited til 3.00 .We noticed other skippers waiting for the flood whereas We’d fished the Ebb alone.🤔 Anyway We didn’t want to stay there in the fading light And decided that the last hour of daylight would be better spent nearer home so we went back to Southbourne and whilst james was sneaking forward for a sly fag (don’t tell my daughter) his Rod started to go overboard. He just rescued it and after a hard tussle afforded us a photo…… We were running up the channel at 5.00 and out by six. No Bass were hurt in the making of this report.(Apart from one which was pulled out under our noses at Mudeford Quay)🤨

Thanks for all the advise, a lot to mull over! I think I will contact Shetland to find out what the boat should weigh, and then get the boat weighed. My Alaska 500 has a cream coloured hull, think that means it was made by Shetland prior to selling the design to Seahog in 1988 when hull colour was changed to white? Sounds like I'll just have to cut some inspection hatches to have a look if weights don't match. Thanks again for all your help. Cheers Ruairi

After a few trips after the elusive BFT, I feel the need to try something different. The forecast for Friday looks good, so I will go out somewhere to put the anchor down for a change, possibly around the 50/50 area. If anyone fancies joining me please get in touch via here or on my mobile. Regards Charlie

Charlie ,can you warn Jim he will be in great danger on your boat. OF actually catching fish! 😂 good luck boys , sure there will be some good pics , ( and may be a vid ) sorry I could not get down this week the forecast looks spectacular, enjoy it 👍. Colin.

If you suspect water between the hull and floor you could fit small inspection hatches in your dec. One either side probably a quarter way from the stern of the boat. doing this will prove 2 things, whether there is water or/and foam under the floor. If its just water beneath the floor you can fit drain plugs on the outside of the stern to periodically drain it out. If there is foam in there its a much larger job as some foams absorb and retain water. Finding any leak into the hull will be a nightmare if not impossible to find without loads of time. Another thought is if you have pedestal seats to remove these and gain access to the hull from under these then repair the holes and refit the seats. Good luck

My Orkney leaks from the anchor well into the hull. Its supposed to drain to the back, where the auto bilge pump spits it out. I took my boat out of the water a couple of years ago because I was constantly getting a small amount of dirty water in the rear of my hull and I lifted the floor. The drain holes between the sections of the boat had filled with sludge and the middle section was completely full of water. Id guess in the region of half a bath full of dirty water. I removed and replaced lots of structure from beneath the deck, and replaced the deck but fitted inspection hatches in various places. I fitted an additional bilge pump in the middle too, so if it ever happens again I can pump it out easily. The difference in handling was amazing!