duncan

firstly I would be more concerned about the additional diameter than the additional pitch..........check carefully you have the necessary clearance beneath the cavitation plate. the issue between stainless and alloy have been gone over many times and I am yet to see agreement re the smaller pitched SS= larger alloy. This was certainly not my experience. Hole shot was the same, mid range was smoother and top end delivered about 2 knots more at the same max revs. This was based on Merc 90 2S, never tried alloy on the 175 Merc...... There are also a significant number of additional differences between the 2 that will be reflected in some element of performance. If you have a trailer boat then you should always aim to buy/try where you pay over the full price on the baisis of a full refund if it doesn't suit and is returned in as new condition within a week. finally without knowing the exact performance profile of the existing prop it's impossible to predict if this would be 'better' - ie if the existing one was already at the bottom end of the WOT revs recomended then it is extremely unlikely that this one would be more suitable (I would still try it because the different profile and other possible changes do not rule out an improvement. personally I wouldn't run alloy in the Poole Christchurch area - where you might otherwise damage or destroy an alloy prop you will merely polish a ss one! bottom line - try it after measuring and also having accurate figures for your existing set up.

Paul Just for the record the huss was called in at 8lb 5oz and subsequently reported on the forum at 8lb 5oz as well. Those Undulates were stunning fish - possibly brothers?

great report Trev, and sorry about the one that got away.......... the fish are either hugely tide/mark dependent or they are getting overfed with ground bait and fussy/taking a nap! you didn't mention the return trip (trailer) so I assume you got back ok on the 'new' bearing!

definitely the way to anchor such ground with a small boat - keep the bent bits quite long to both improve the holding and make it easier to bend out. don't bother to paint it orange - it will be very quickly!

Dear Jack, For a fish such as this a little effort on the photo front is surely worth it! Andy should save the picture to his phone's memory card then remove that and upload to a pc via a card reader... then email it to me to be 'processed' fit for such a beast! I mention the above assumeing it can't be otherwise transferred to a pc via a cable or bluetooth.............. Am I the only one that is concerned about all this groundbaiting with rice - not exactly a natural food for the bream is it. In my session on Sat I chopped up the trimmings from the squid together with the heads and let them drift off downtide every now and then but still managed 30-40 bream to two rods in about 4 hours when the tide was running. If they are that stuffed with rice might they take a break from feeding?

that is a big bream - well done

that is not 'a tip' it is tax evasion Adam - very different things! For clarity (given the obvious confusion) - anything bought from within the EU is VAT paid, anything outside is not. Some things, from some places, have specific import duties which generally vary between 1 and 6%. VAT is payable on P&P as well as the unit cost Some shipping routes/mechanisms will have additional handling charges for dealing with duty payable goods. Just because the above aren't collected from you doesn't mean they aren't due - you are liable and, in addition to the duty, evasion penalties are very very harsh. And then of course there's the matter of CE marking on goods sourced outside the EU ....................

Well Phaeton had a few miles logged and some new territory covered. managed to do no better than AWOL adventures on the shambles and, to cut to the chase, gave up on them. Followed Nipper a mile and a half, then another, then another.........gave up on that too Ran out to some deeper water and managed to have a few tussles Dave - Conger 22lb Me - Huss 8lb 5oz and Spurdog 13lb 11oz Pictures when I get home later in the week - am on a borrowed machine here!

Charlie - I am of course paid and displayed; don't like the new shape though! My point was that when I stay at Dolphin they never ask if I am a Poole paid boat!

I'm with ahoy on this if you think you are in danger and cannot solve the situation alone - white flare white flare white flare then get to the niceties of vhf calls - but even then only after liferaft, checked jackets, grab bag with vhf all with a final view to 5 seconds on the red button...............you do have a red button don't you

yea right..............my calls a brill

I think it's good news you have it this far - it's definitely not the time to have it in the corner of the yard, or worse still on your mooring, waiting for them to find time to find the problem! Hope it's resolved for you

I got charged the top set...........but only 'cos I didn't know about the second! Sam - does this mean a boat from Poole gets a discount on your normal charges then? If so I reckon I am owed a fair bit......

the MAIB report into th eloss of the Ouzo contains a huge amount of information about this issue, especially relevant to the nature of our activities. link to report posted in News section

MAIB report 12/4/2007

ty guys..............

hmmm so whats sundays basis?

great report - sorry we missed you. went through Blood Alley between Brownsea and Furzy at 1230 on the way out and 1700 on the way back............ suspect you have read the 'how to jury rig a broken steering cable on an outboard boat' already now

sam - weekend is Sat/Sun for me ; sorry Jack - can you pm me your number - had it in the phone I lost last Christmas and have lost my members list thingy as well........ Mike - if the ranges are closed as I think they are 'cos it the 2nd of the 2 Easter weeks still then I will head West West unless it's a brisk SW in which case v early and late on the patches / ledge start to look appealing with maybe some offshore banks during the day - Kam style! all weather whether and SWMBO etc - let alone Dave!

just wondered............might just get a pass!

using a 60' trace at slack water again Kam?

n1 Dean - called you up a few times but you must have been just out of range or *issed off with the fishing! Having said that once was just off Kimmeredge and the Shambles wern't far from there............

indeed Brian, nor someone dashing around at 25knots in 1/2mile vis!

love these battery threads ! glad you got sorted out in the end - it may just have needed a good solid charge as Alun implied but at 5 years it's worth the investment. extreme generality - leisure batteries have more but thinner lead plates and are designed to be discharged further, without harm, than 'normal batteries'. Because of this they do not take kindly to being asked to deliver huge hits of power (starting a big cold diesel!) and, whilst they will do so you can damage them by buckling the plates. Hence they won't usually have a CCA rating! starting a 15hp OB isn't going to hurt an 85Ah leisre unit though, as suggested. generally a normal battery starts to suffer if discharged beyond about 80% (12.6v?), and certainly if left in that state! Leisure will go a bit lower (50%), a bit more often. many electronics have a built in volt meter (all Lowrance Units I have certainly do) and it's worth playing with the menu's to give a voltage overlay. My starting procedures when getting to the boat include fitting the chartplotter, switching to each battery in turn without any other load and seeing how close to 12.8v (nice and healthy) each is. When I finally start the engine I am then looking again to see what voltage to each which is now the charging voltage so I get an alternator check as well. This time I tend to see 14.1v when the batteries full and up to 14.5v when it's taking charge. It's important to highlight that I treat these as relative indicators rather than absolutes - like so many things on a boat I am looking for something out of the ordinary and (having been caught too many tmes) will now investigate any differences rather than justifing them to myself and heading off into the blue!

nice fish Mark - well done Charlie - if it makes Sam feel any better I was out on Phaeton 4 times and didn't wet a line!