duncan

Thanks for your thoughts, I'm lucky in Lymington in that we have most dealers and servicers locally. I'm guessing that in terms of litres per hour they are all much the same.... as long as they are DFI they will be I have been very impressed with the Suzuki DF series around that size when I have been on boats. The ETEC's are peerless in the 50-90 range but at 115 they all seem to produce excellent engines - but they aren't all the same underlying capacity or even cylinders (unless I am out of date - which isn't to be ruled out!) having said that I have only had Merc units myself and, touch wood, never missed a beat on any of them. It's the sort of purchase where manufacturers do clear models from time to time and you may find a good value option crops up.

Congratulations

Having run back from Weymouth this morning, even with wind and tide together I wouldn't have wanted to anchor West of Swanage and when the tide changed it was only going to get a lot worse. Bluntly, the larger boats would have had a very unfair advantage tomorrow - before the other issues get considered. Looks a balanced decision to me.

Neal - what were you using for rigs and baits? Bits of worm on small hooks? great to see such a wide range of fish - and drifting around is so much more fun that anchoring up!

I don't think you have much choice Rob! "Eel and shad You must return any eel (Anguilla anguilla*) or Allis or Twaite shad you catch from any water in England and Wales. This includes estuaries and inshore waters, to a distance of six nautical miles." From the Environment Agency Byelaws EA

"How many porgies???"

surely it's all going to be a matter of the wind/tide relationship? ideally you would drift with a light NE or SW (either with or against the tide) but may need to anchor with NW or SE to stay connected to your chum line at all! anyway - I'm sure you will work it all out on the day, and look forward to seeing the pictures...

having just got back from Yarmouth I assume that today's airshow was either delayed or canceled - worst visibility I have been in for 'just rain'! Could just make out the shadows of a couple of navy vessels (?) off Bournemouth , amongst the thunder and lightening! have to head back now the weather is improving - typical.

A huge amount of science and research to prove what man has know for thousands of years - as long as issue of who owns it is clear, they will look after it and find ways to maximise income/minimise waste. But it won't last (again)

I towed by boat down in 2000, and have been there (Poole) ever since - previously based in Medway Bridge Marina for a few years fishing as yourself. Your choice of where to launch and stay will be based on budget - it's that simple. On a tight budget it will be launching at 0600h - but even then keeping the boat/trailer overnight isn't easy.

are seahorses eligible?

just about anything can destroy an alloy prop very easily! personally I got fed up after the 2nd one (meaty one on a 90) got trashed by a nylon bailing strap - and switched to SS . whilst changing the prop on an OB with the boat in the water is one of those 'just about manageable when everything goes right and the sea state is flat calm!' tasks, I don't like those odds. otoh experience tells me that you can just bend the mangled blades until they snap off and run back pretty efficiently on almost the hub alone ie even 1" of blade root will give good drive. the argument against SS as 'hitting something may damage the gearbox' just doesn't stack up for me - running back any distance with an off balance damaged alloy one is even more likely to cause damage to my mind - and SS ones will take a lot of abuse, especially shallow running in sand and shale which just polishes them (yes I know the water pump suffers ...but that's a different issue)

the good old St PP dilemma - inside with the sill with restrictions and the noise of the road but power, walk to the ablutions and bars..........or outside with the noise of the ferries. good you had a pleasant trip Tom

this ones very specific Terry - your computer has sent a Microsoft Error Report and we are Microsoft and will sort out it's problems for you online; please go to this website and we will be able to fix it for you..........as Rob has said.

they have been calling me for 3 months now - we have great conversations! I have really tried the m'python style with good effect, and more recently elements of eddie izzard .......... the former - your computer has been send M'soft error reports....... no it hasn't yes it has hasn't.............etc latter - your computer has been sending M'soft error reports...... has it? yes oh good not good it isn't? no have you ever been to Australia? ? simply hours and hours of fun (for those that have the time)

certainly a good story and a good find had one under identical circumstances off St Ives many years ago - haven't seen one up this way ever.

mike the planing hull can almost match the displacement one in displacement mode - but then again I don't' tend to run on the open sea at 5 knots Charlie's post is pretty much spot on - you really need regular company to make sense of a larger boat (that's not just economical sense). The other thing is that you need to use it regularly to both cut down on the maintenance costs (surprisingly to some!) and to also make sense of the fixed costs such as storage/mooring. Since I lost my crew I have hardly used Phaeton - so much so I am seriously thinking of mothballing at my sister's place, or moving it to Greece for use a few times a year as a runabout or some such silly plan.....

whilst I would endorse Dave's recommendation for fine tuning your package it would appear that you are miles out at the moment - so far that I would be calling Raider Boats and asking them for an approximate prop match to your package based on their experience. you will need to be able to advise the existing prop and give an indication of the load you carry ie '3 guys and gear for fishing'. If this was your loading then that could account for the figures btw - boats of this size and power are extremely sensitive to such weight because performance is a pretty tight function of power to weight ratio and they start pretty light until you put people and fuel in them! I believe the ETECs have their own prop profiles as well - which is just one more headache of course.

whilst I was in the US at the time I ended up hearing about this fish via an oblique route anyway..........didn't interrupt my enjoyment of crab and sauvignion B one bit.... you should have grabbed a battery out of Phaeton - but then again you would have changed everything (butterflies and rainforests) meaning you never met this monster! great fish, really great fish.

they must have read my 'solution'.... land everything, count it against the next years once you have caught this years once you have landed 75% of the following years quota for anything you stop fishing simples the drivers to target both size and species would suddenly become extremely real rather than a convenience, as currently. however, in practice discards stay in the food chain and aren't inherently the issue. This is just another political ploy to delay any resolution of the real issue - over fishing itself and destructive inshore/nursery techniques.

nope - it's what always happens when I leave the country enjoy

really useful - thanks

the light dawns on the earlier post now - I had been looking on the 'diary' but it's not entered there. unfortunately I don't land back at Heathrow until the Monday morning, so won't be able to make this - so you will probably have great weather! Sun - Tuesday should work well for berthing etc as well.

I'm confused (nothing new) - what Cherbourg trip? I was aware of Adam aiming at the 23rd........? Then again the WSF are in town (Weymouth) the week of Nige's post, which is I believe why he's there etc Not even sure why I have all these in the diary as I don't 'do anything' - but you never know the weather might just deliver a big big window sometime

Just as a follow up to this - I have just been advised that MBM have, or will be, withdrawing this. It would seem that first impressions were right and this was all derived from a view put together for a third party group rather than reflecting a change in regulations. France, and to a degree Netherlands, Belgium and Spain, all have quite strict regulations for their own flagged pleasure craft - certainly relative to the UK where regulation has been pretty much non-existent and eduction see as the solution (not raising that for debate here!). However, SOLAS V does apply, and passage planning is a legal requirement (for this trip and others) - within that planning are the capabilities of the craft and crew together with the conditions anticipated...as they should be.