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With small tides and very little water movement we were planning a trip way off shore, that did not happen as you will read below. A 5.00am alarm for me and on the boat prepping by 6.0am. Lots of bait thawing and dreams of something large bending the rods. All was going well till Chris had a troubled look on his face and his ears tuned in to the engine note and watching the rev counter, temp and oil gauges. He had noticed 400 revs missing at the top end, maybe something around the prop, a dirty bottom or something unexplained. Then I suggested could it be as simple as the throttle cable adjustment. Up came the engine hatch and a quick check, no not the throttle cable, but what's that noise and the temp has gone up. A quick look over the side and no water pumping around the engine, switch off quickly and let the engine cool down. Right lets deploy the Anchor, we do not want to end up in the channel. Get the rods out, no point wasting the opportunity, who knows the fishing gods may give us a gift to raise the spirits. It was very strange, we had broke down but no panicking just methodical thinking and complete confidence in Chris, with his engine knowledge, his meticulous planning carrying spare parts often needed and all the tools he needed. Well, lets get the kettle on. The fish were biting and a steady stream of bream and a Tub caught whilst we put a plan together. Time to do some investigations, undo some awkward hoses and lets check the water pump, we were fairly sure it was not spinning, with me on the Helm and Chris balancing on one leg in the engine well, right Mal hold the stop button and turn the engine over was the instruction, okay, the impeller is not turning, is it stuck, not turning. That's weird these are all new parts, plan B call home and dig out the spare from the garage ( thanks Leanne) and ask Martin at home to be on standby for a break down call out. Why is it not turning, lets get it out and inspect it. With the Impeller in hand Chris then took the centre out of the impeller, and Bingo. In the meantime as if we did not have enough on our minds, I suggested we could lift the anchor and drift over to the SRM and drop Anchor there, we can better that. If you sit in the engine well Mal with the hose running down the engine intake we can slowly make our way over there. Job done, rods over, kettle on and let the Engine cool down again. With the part in hand and the centre pulled out, what's that burning rubber smell, a quick look at the centre spline noted the grip was just not there and the splines had worn down. No problem I have 4 spares in the locker up front, change that over and put the pump back together and see what happens. Whilst all this is going on we have managed a small undulate and some more bream. Right Mal do the same in the wheel house, that's better, its spinning. Lets put it all back together, turn the water back on and see what happens. Water thundering out the exhaust is what happened, right stand Martin down and thank him. Right what's the plan where shall we go, the Banks were close so lets go there, not much tide so a bit quiet with the boat wandering on the Anchor line till the tide started. We had as many bream as we wanted, in fact they were chewing up all the baits. We also had a few Conger, Smooth Hounds running riot and some Tope, so the fish count was doing well. Not happy with that, lets deploy the Shark rod. First bite a short strip of line and a small mouthed bite off (Tope). New bait down and a fifty yard run, much more furious and some triangular tooth shapes and a much larger mouth (Shark). We have a shark in the area, all the bream went missing for a while. Very exciting and another bite off before it was time to go home. A few more small Rays and Smooth hounds added to the total for the day. Still time for a Guinness and a good clean down before our bodies and minds started to shut down, neither of us would have needed much rocking after that day out.

Flapping and panic generally help no one. Many many many years (decades?) of going to sea experience obviously came in to play, and Chris wouldn't have been phased and called upon that knowledge. Also, the best way to think is to keep distractions at bay (hence, he told you to fish Mal! All part of his plan [emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787] ). Top job on you both, making ready a secondary plan and being self sufficient! And to have a few fish and species on top, a great day! R

Thanks for the report Mal spot on. A big thank you for Martin for being on call if required, benefit of being in the club. 👏👏 An ok day in the end, personally never seen the insert spin in an impeller before, I’m suspecting it maybe a copy and not a genuine Jabsco as it didn’t have Jabsco numbers on it, where as all the others I have do have.

Well, I was at the show yesterday with my son (who had a 2.5 million pound bonus burning a hole in his pocket). Remember, hes never had a boat, hes never wanted a boat and until 3 weeks ago had never been out on a pleasure boat! He has 3 very adventurous kids who want to fish, paddle board, ski and swim. He wanted a boat and didnt care what it was. My idea was to show him various smallish boats boats with small cabins and plenty of deck space for the kids activities. He and his wife/kids could then get their ideas and scour the adverts and find the right deal. As we entered the show, the kids checked out some RIBS and they were all excited, He wasnt so excited. He looked at antares 9 with twin 250HP engines for about 3-400k ... he was excited but the kids weren't so impressed. The choice of smaller boats between 30-80 grand was very very limited, with orkney, warrior and a couple of others being about it. There were plenty of plastic tubs for 25-35k or ultra modern at 250k upwards, but i didnt see anything that i had hoped to show him. His missus was listening to the kids, she showed them a Robalo 180, 18ft walk around with loads of space, 115hp motor and loads of rod holders for 55K!!!! The kids loved it (i must be honest I quite liked it too, although massively over my budget) He conceded, did a deal and bought it. I actually think it was a much more sensible boat than what he was intending, especially with the cost of fuel at the moment. (Although id have been scouring the for sale adverts for a used one rather than brand new myself, but then, I didnt get a 2.5M bonus this year (nor any year). The show was "OK", but i just wondered where the cost of living crisis is when you see such opulence. A long long way out of my price range.

Well done boys handled textbook style, glad you still had a reasonable days fishing

he's actually really excited. He's booked his level 2 and VHF course for him, his wife and his 15 year old. He's bought a ringo, wet suits, paddle boards and life vests all round. Id guess he'll use it a couple of times this year then probably it'll be put on the stack at Portland until the sun comes out again next year. To be honest, he wanted something along the lines of Martins, but his missus and kids didn't. And for once he actually listened to them. But the choice at the boat show was very limited.