Duncan F (bathclaret)

Hi Alan, Just coming up to 7yrs now since I bought my 175 and I've nothing but praise for it. Very safe and sturdy boats and perfectly ok to launch/retrieve unaided if needs be, I've done so many times. If you do go for a trailer I personally think a twin axle is worth the extra as weight on 2 wheels gets very marginal and I did get tyre problems. Just so you know a recall is in the pipeline for all 175s with the built in fuel tank, to modify a potential corrosion issue with the aluminium tank. The export versions with external tanks are not affected. Warrior are offering the upgrade FOC. Although not much bigger, the 175 is a far more capable and roomy boat for family trips and offshore work (with the self-draining deck) than a 165. Best of luck locating a good one.... Duncan

Thanks guys. No fishing, so went back up to Lancs, where our 2 young 'uns were the mascots at Saturday's game. Proud Dad and our first 3pts of the season made for a perfect Birthday weekend [emoji322]

I've studied this closely Trevor as we too are served by pathetic ADSL speeds. My conclusion is that satellite BB is VERY expensive. It looks attractive - promises of fast speeds and equipment costs built into contracts a bit like mobile phones - but the data allowances are very low. You're almost bound to exceed them and some companies have some pretty strange rules about what happens when you do. The big issue, which seems to have affected all the different satellite providers, is they become a victim of their own success. Initially all is well and very quick, but as the capacity starts to load up, speeds drop through the floor. There aren't any guarantees of throughput rates, so you're left with an expensive contract and no way of exiting. Finally it's definitely worth noting that quoted speeds aren't everything. Some services are affected by the very slow latency of satellite networking ( every piece of data has to be beamed up to space and back down again, which takes a long time) - think astronaut conversations. So Skype might be a problem, Vodafone Suresignal for example won't work at all. Overall I decided satellite wasn't the right choice. Assuming you can't get fibre, it's better to just put up with rubbish BT service for a bit longer.... Duncan

Glad to hear Paul & Phil looked after you Terry. Not sure if you're on the Warrior Boats Facebook page, but if so it would be good to see this posted on there too - been a bit of non-deserved negative on there for the company in recent months.... Duncan

I bought some Fiish minnows last year Rob after lots of coverage about them. Tried them many times and the action looks good, but to date I've had only one fish on them. That's well behind Redgill Evos and disappointing as they're not cheap... Duncan

Happy birthday Martin!

"when their compass stopped working in thick fog" ... Happens all the time. How can the compass be expected to point the right way if it can't see where it's going? Lucky outcome, but still candidates for a Darwin award Duncan

Just think, somewhere near Brixham there's a guy down the builder's merchants buying a load of sand as ballast for his new (smaller) JV :-) Congratulations on the new boat Adam Duncan

Spot on Pete. Our only unsoftened feed is to the heating system and garden tap. We drink softened water and taste nothing at all. Actually it's not salt but sodium ions that may be slightly elevated, so only significant to low sodium diets and young babies. Any trace sodium getting in is only a couple of ppm, much less significant than all the other impurities in the incoming supply...

Not Kinetico Pete, wherever you can get them cheapest. I usually use purechoice.co.uk as they're close to me in Glastonbury, but they have a Bournemouth depot too. They deliver right across the area. Price depends on how many bags you buy...

Pete, worth mentioning pellet salt in 25kg bags is a far cheaper option than blocks, To increase the hopper capacity for pellets you can either buy a ridiculously over-priced fitment from Kinetico, or just cut down a 1-gall plastic container (Halfords washer fluid bottle fits perfectly!) Duncan

Definitely recommend a proper salt-based softener Jim, the others are just placebos. We've had a Kinetico 2020c in each of our last 2 houses. 100% reliable, cheap to run (maybe £50/yr in salt at the most) and the good thing about them is they work solely on water pressure, so no power needed. I've a bit of an issue whenever people suggest mixing mains electric and water... They're also twin cylinder, so need no down-time when the column needs flushing. Basically fit it, top it up with salt pellets each week and that's it. No more scale, no more rocks... Duncan

Perfect, sincere thanks to all.That's cleared things up nicely. So that's water in at the bottom, or the top; with the outlet at the bottom, or at the top, either above or below the inlet or at the same height Well at least we all agree on a lid and a gauze! Weight-wise a 45 litre / 45kg tank should be ok I think, big enough for 10-12 macks, which is all I need on a Warrior. An early season Bass trip looks on the cards very soon! Thanks again Duncan

Guys I'd really appreciate some advice on the best way of putting my livebait tank together. I can see all the answers were in a thread a few years back, but that was on the old forum and the explanatory photos weren't migrated. I'm sure I've now collected all the bits I need - finally got a 45 litre (mango chutney) blue barrel from our local Indian yesterday :-) and I have the 1 1/2" flexi pipe for the drain, 850gph bilge pump, non-return valves, skin fittings etc. I'm now at the dangerous stage - have a hole cutter ready in the drill and only ONE blue barrel !! So the questions I have are... 1. Drain fixing near the top, but with a pipe running down the inside to draw from the bottom of the tank Yes/No? 2. Coarse mesh gauze on the drain to stop escapes? 3. Inlet height slightly below the drain height or above it, with a spray bar arrangement for oxygenation? 4. Clockwise inlet spray? Does it make any difference? (Assuming I probably won't be sailing in the Southern hemisphere!). 5. If the bilge pump seems too strong, is it possible to "turn it down" by fitting a rheostat on the power cable? Any advice / a picture or two gratefully received Duncan

Interesting to see the different species with different reactions. The Trigger timid, nosing, having a good long look before nibbling any..... the eel straight in there wallop! Amazed the pout just largely ignored it.

Belated Happy Birthday Jim, sorry I was out at sea yesterday, so I dedicated one of my pouting to you :-) Duncan

That's it. Gonna buy me a kayak and go get a Mako !! ;-)

All the wreck reports I've heard have been bad. Fish showing on sonar, but not feeding, which most thought was down to turbidity. I haven't been out deep myself yet this year Adam.

My thoughts and experience are here Mike.... Icom all the way! http://www.pbsbac.co.uk/ipb/topic/15022-impressed-with-icom/?hl=icom Duncan

Pete the backet used by Warrior is made by Trem Marine, who I think are Italian. Not sure of the UK importer... Duncan

Porthcawl made the same demand of me (working Aux engine + VHF DSC radio) when I switched from 12 to 20 miles range, which they amended without charge. It seems a perfectly reasonable requirement, if it's technically possible to comply obviously. I just received my renewal which, to the penny, is exactly what I paid last year and cheap as chips. This from a company with an excellent claims record too. All things considered I'll be staying put. Duncan

Was just thinking the same Brian, forecast looks spot on...

Pity that Jim, somebody could have had a good day and learned a lot.

Terrible luck Nigel, hope things quickly get sorted out for you

Another possibility might be a Tuna?