Graham Nash

For the life of me I just cant remember Dave

Hi ... I bought a big blue water butt barrel from "congerking" on here a couple of months ago. I am sure he gas plenty left too. Mine is not being used as I have plenty of built in tubs. It cost me a tenner. Either give him a shout or mine is available for what I paid for it.

I think I would agree Rob ... although Conger did cross my mind. But I've never had a conger at that mark so I dont even know it they are there?

So after nearly having our socks blown off yesterday inside the harbour we decided to fish this afternoons window and let the ebb push us out of Poole and the flood help us back in. I had a friends dad down from Birmingham so I wanted something special for him. So it was off to our favoured mark from last year and he was over the moon to be pulling in full strings of mackerel. Once I chucked my big rod in and almost immediately had a doggie the others decided that there were enough mackerel and they baited up their other rods. The skipper started well with a good sized tope that was unable to fit in the net so it was released at the side of the boat (around 15lb I would say). A few doggies kept me at the top of the leader board then one of my crew jioined in the fun with a smaller tope followed by doggies. His dad with his new rod and reel set that he bought for

Yes Nick but I was not rewarded with a nice bass!!

no wash, no dry and no insulating tape Jim .... there was too much blood. I didnt actually realise I had come out the other side tilll I washed it at home later but plenty of new words tho

A friend was down from The Midlands in anticipation of a trip out today but alas the weather had different ideas. We stayed inside the harbour staying away from the white tipped waves by hiding behind Brownsea Island. Unfortunately the fish were elsewhere and we had a completely blank day. All was not lost tho' as each trip irons out another little problem and the trim tabs I fitted yesterday (while drilling right through my finger, in one side and out the other) seemed to stop the pulling to one side and kept the front end down ..... maybe keeping the front end down just a little too much .... so I think an adjustment is in order when I get her back out. Anyway, we're hoping to get a few hours tomorrow afternoon/evening and take advantage of what looks like the last weather window for a while.

I think i've heard every excuse now!! Good trip.

Hmmmm .. unless that wind dies down a bit I doubt I will see you round Swanage today Nige!

probably see you round Swanage tomorrow Nige. We are having a short afternoon session to catch the ebb.

sounds like fun ... its been a while since ive had a trip like that

Wow! Tagged and released too.

superb! Sounds lovely.

Good luck guys. Dont get too sunburnt.:-)

Ouch ! Have you got a mop & bucket for my Tears ? I don't think he actually meant YOU Jim, but now you mention it

i normally do have a hand held too but it was in the kitchen drawer as Ive not used it in so long Go on someone ..... shoot me!

when I sold mine I told the buyer that I would check EVERY note with a light pen ...... he actually took me to the bank and withdrew the money in front of me.

Pail. I thought about tabs but assumed they would only help when moving? Charlie, we did call a couple of times and called for a radio check but got no replies. Maybe I need to check my radio.

yes Lofty ... the batteries are in the cabin.

Hmmmm. Never thought of that. When my mate and I were both sat up front by the cabin the water didnt't come in so you could be right. I have already put the batteries up front to remove weight from the rear, maybe I should keep the spare anchor and other heavy stuff up that end too.

so reasonably water resistant .... but not water proof. Thats good enough for my deck i'm sure.

I didnt realise that Adam .... So are you saying that my deck (marine ply with 3 layers of fibreglass) is not waterproof?? The guy at the fibreglass place told me that it would be

Duncan I accept that metaphorical wrap across the knuckles for not checking the bilges before setting off .... It was stupid I know but I had seen the hull full of rain water during its time in my yard and no water leaked so I assumed the hull was intact. I also "knew" my bilge pumps would sort any problems .... obviously assuming they didnt stop working for any reason, which is why I returned when I did. Incidentally, no water enters the hull when we are motoring, probably because the wake takes the waterline well beneath the holes?? As for your concern about "weight" ...... I honestly cannot see that I have added much weight to the boat. I removed masses of heavy wet wood and replaced it with similar dry stuff. I have not used the two massive internal fuel tanks and I would suggest that the floor and ribs weigh no more than half of one of those fuel tanks when full. I do however have a temporary 70 litre fuel tank on the deck at the moment (which was not full on the first journey). My engine, which I believe to be 165kgs is probably half the weight of a decent diesel inboard and leg. And finally, I would think that my boat should easily cope with 4 crew. Most of my mates are around 100kgs so that would be around 400kgs excluding gear, My modifications would have weighed less than a quarter of that as an absolute maximum, not taking into account the weight of the stuff I removed. This is not a dig at you Duncan, it is/was my (maybe naive) thoughts during the build and welcome any other views. It does seem from the fact that water ingresses through the draining holes that maybe she does sit a little low in the water, but I cant see that is anything to do with what I have done.

Had it been saturday then I could have beaten you Dave, but Sunday was a day for the dogs :-( so none to report here i'm afraid

Hind sight is a wonderful thing .... The primer problem does not show unless I am at full throttle and the breather IS open ..... (I've done that once and it's the first thing I checked yesterday) It would seem according to other posts that the DF doesnt need a primer so I will try it without and see how it goes. The fuel consumption I put down to my "playing" and testing accelleration, top speed, slow speed manouvering etc as well as the ton or so of water we were carrying along with us because today we covered probably twice the distance on a similar amount of fuel. Top speed still around 24 knotts, cruises cofortably at 17. The dowels have plugged the holes and is as much as we can do without removing the engine to get to both sides of the transom. It remained dry under there today dispite a reasonable swell. The only thing I have a problem with at the moment is water entering the deck via the draining holes during that swell. The 4 bilge pumps were fitted by me as I knew there was an awful lot hull to fill up. 2 of them are automatic.