Steve S

Sorry to hear you are not getting out on her often enough Nigel and feel you need to sell her. I sure you will get plenty of takers it's a fine boat.

I would not go for a MF 805, I had one for a few years. Good bits Cabin area is fine Sun deck on the roof can be great also good for diving off The main or Volvo engines are very solid and give little trouble. Not so good bits Quite noisy underway as engine is under cabin A wet boat lots of water over the front which can affect visability (I tend to take my boat out in most weathers so may not affect you) Rear deck space is quite small but ok for 2 to fish The fuel tank was not big enough for me I always seemed to be thinking about filling up. I got about 1.8l to 1nm out of it. Getting to the anchor locker in poor weather was somewhat risky. Need to take care in a steep following sea as the stern can try to catch up the bow... Need to be on and off the throttle to manage it. A bow thruster helps greatly with close quarters handling. Can't comment on a Rodman.

On a narrow point I think the flattie fishing has got worse in recent years (some guys have been going much longer than me) whether this is cyclic or fishing pressure I'm not sure. Turbot have been showing up all over the place near us recently and some good ones, maybe something has changed, has fishing pressure reduced in Poole bay, I hope it has but I'd be surprised if it actually has. I think Terry put it very well, it's the whole Alderney experience. With the fishing not so good there on the banks currently I'm not inclined to go more than once in the year particularly as we have found the best of the fishing for flatties is normally early season but if we hear the fishing has picked up I'm up for going over again.

Thanks for invite Alun, twas a good fishing day on the water with plenty of action , though it felt like Winter at times! Didn't anyone else actually fish the Bream comp of Saturday?

I bought a new smaller inflatable dinghy for Alderney toing and froing that I can carry on board rather than on the bathing platform. An Excel Volante 180, it was delivered today by none other than Tom Bettle! who now lives near me. Anyway Tom asked me to pass on his regards to everyone at the club; we had a quite a chat, he was saying he is really missing the fishing, from what I understand this new business venture is taking all his time currently. Tom is now running www.tbmaritime.com

Tigerfish - All change, after some quick replanning we are going Sunday 6th to Tuesday the 8th now with Alun and Terry on board! The forecast for this weekend and a couple of days after is too good to pass up and the following weekend does not look very good (but could change) so we are going for it.

Nice three Alun. Bit of turn round from last year when your 5lb bream got done by a spurdog!

TBH I've never had any trouble getting good fuel prices from Mainbrace whether someone has called in advance or not.

Well I'm sure the boat will handle it just fine, probably wouldn't get a lot of fishing done which is the whole point of going....

Silver Spray has gone over so I was told (very surprised given the forecast), Last Laugh cancelled. So we may get info from their facebook page

I have a big bag of 'tubes' in the freezer, done it for years, it works. For quick use afterwards soak in hot water.

So are we having a bass comp this year?

Well not my current windlass, not the first I had, I've been using this warp for more than 6 years now it's fine, seems like it will do for many years yet.

I've used the rope on 3 different windlass, on 2 it was no problem at all, on one, an old Lewmar it often jammed (known for jamming rope). Currently I use it on a Lewmar CPX 1000w and it has never jammed.

I used http://www.ropeloft.co.uk to purchase 200m of Multiplait 12mm more than 6 years ok to use with my windlass, the ropes still in use.

Here's the end of the story. There was no blade fuse, mine was connected to a circuit breaker, the heater itself had a fan fault. The estimated cost to repair was very close to the price for a complete new Webasto heater with all the bits! A no brainer really, I bought a new one and fitted that instead. It did need a bit of adaptation as the wiring loom needed changing and there was some other more minor differences. All fitted and working now and left on during this cold weather, seems to be working well. As bonus it is noticeably quieter than the old one. So unfortunately even doing the work myself it proved to be not a cheap repair, but the old one was 11 years old and now I am using a brand new one .

Some big pollock are coming off the mid channel wrecks, I'd have been be out there but my boat is on the hard. .

I used the draw scraper as recommended by Martin, did the job in short order, thanks for all the suggestions. The idea of using one to do the whole hull, hmm, not a job I'd fancy doing, life is too short for that. Think I'd get it bead blasted.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, very helpful. The boat is on the hard now, I'll be having a go tomorrow if I can bear the cold. As for Rob's input I couldn't possibly comment.

I need to remove a small amount of antifoul to fit a couple of large transducers (they are a foot long) Any suggestions on what to use/ method? Cheers

1. Tigerfish - Steve + Terry + Graham - (planning on Thurs 10th May to Sun 13th May. Depending on weather could shorten to a 3 days if needed or bring forward a little) 2. Reel Magic - Dave + 3. Joint Venture - Adam + Ian + Alun + Rob (i have taken the liberty to add the usual A-Team) 4. Madness - Martin - Dean - Tony 5. Sweet Chariot - Oli + Nick + 6. Kingfisher - Chris (looking at 5th - 8th May due to commitments) 7. Alfresco - Charlie. I will check if the boys want to come if not will be looking for crew. looks like most of the usual boats are keen to go again.

1. Tigerfish - Steve + Terry + Graham 2. Reel Magic - Dave + 3. Joint Venture - Adam + Ian + Alun + Rob (i ahev taken the liberty to add the usua;l A-Team) 4. Madness - Martin - Dean - Tony 5. Sweet Chariot - Oli + Nick +

Neil I would advise going with at least 1 other person to Alderney on your boat, it will halve the cost to start with and you don't want to be on your own in unknown waters even if other members are nearby on boats, things can happen (eg rope round a prop) and you really need someone else on board. I love it but area round Alderney is not what I would call friendly waters, it can cut up rough, and there are rocks all around the Islands. If I were you I would fill up at Yarmouth before setting off to cut down on the distance, run your boat at the most economic speed that makes good headway and head straight for Braye to fill up. I would take extra fuel in 20l tanks but not plan to use it, fuel is cheaper there (no VAT).

BBC news - Dutch electric pulse fishing Some info about it, many obvious questions unanswered.