Bob F

Yes Paul, you've reminded me of another problem I had on a level wind. On the worm drive check that there a no flattend off or broken v's on the worm drive guide lanes. BF

Based on my experience of a 4hp on a 16ft boat, I would suspect that realistically 10hp would be the minimum if you wanted an effective power unit. I rarely use my aux nowaways, perferring instead to go out with at least one other buddy boat. BF

Yeh, sorry about that. You caught me at a weak moment. Bit out of character for me...

Rich, I didn't do an animation of the SIG knot, but you can see it here: http://www.japantackle.com/sig_knot.htm cheers BF

Is the level wind running smoothly fully across the spool and back? I had a level wind that would stick every 10 turns or so, due to a broken cog wheel. It can be difficult to spot. BF

"Blank" and "Rich" does not compute. I'm sure you'll pull up a specimen as usua, Rich. BF

Got the Abu 6600LD back from Pure Fishing today. They replaced the main Frame Module, a ball bearing and the end ball bearing housing!!! So, I was dreading to see the invoice for the cost. But the invoice total was

I use 5kg on a 16ft boat. BF

Rich, sorry for the wait for my reply. You're a star!! Yes, I would love to borrow your lead. The AGM would be perfect to pick it up. Many thanks BF

Keith from Indespension Poole told me the technique. So for reference... First, disconnect the long threaded bar that runs from the axle brake cables to the handbrake, at the handbrake end. There will be a stud with a split pin to remove. With the threaded bar disconnected, you can now pull the handbrake to the fully on position which releases all the tension in the energy store. If the handbrake doesn't pull up sufficiently to release the energy stored, loosen off the bolt that secures the handbrake and it will give you some more slack to pull up the handbrake past its stop position. The energy store then literally drops off. BF

Martin, I'll have a chat with Keith. He didn't suggest it, I was just think out loud on the forum. BF

Kam, you take the trailer off when you go into the water. No need for disc brakes out at sea. Sorry, couldn't resist it. BF

Thanks for the tips, chaps. Appreciated. BF

I'd go for fuel/air. Have you checked that the air vent on the fuel tank is properly open and not gunged up with muck? It could be getting starved of air and causing a vacuum. When you turn the engine off the vacuum has time to release and allow air back into the tank. When you start she's initially ok, but as the vacuum builds again the engine is struggling to get fuel. Worth a look. Bob F

I had a similar problem on my 2 stroke Aux. Started one day, wouldn't the next. Turned out to be old fuel that had clogged the fuel filter. The oil mix had gone all cloggy. Had to flush out the fuel system and clean up the spark plugs. Are you sure you're getting no sparks at all? It can be difficult to see at times. BF

Ouch!! BF

Yep, what a day!!! Splash-Out's buddy boat "Amanda" took us to a different mark than the others. We went to a deeper mid-channel mark called the Gore(??) Bouy, in 40ft of water. It's a deep channel with a bank to the north side of the bouy. Rob, the skipper of Amanda, told us to anchor up in the channel and tackle up for cod with big squid and rag baits to get plenty of scent in the merky water. It wasn't long before the first bite came, a strap conger of 6lb to me. The tide wasn't strong, so we went down to 4oz leads and bounced them off the back of the boat. Dave M was soon rewarded with a nice bite and started winding in. The fight wasn't much to write home about, so we were calling a small ray or purhaps an LSD. We got a real surprise when a decent Bass appeared on the surface. Dave got pretty excited because it looked to be a PB for him. It was soon in the net and then weighted in at just under 6lb on the boat. Yep, a new PB for Dave. ps - for future buddies of Dave, pleased be warned that Dave gets equally excited about bass, as I do about Cod. Dave got the Bass on a sliver of Mackerel using not much more than a 2oz lead. I'm not even sure it was on the bottom. A couple more strap conger appeared but no rays, yet. Rob advised us to up anchor and move closer to the bank for the rays, so we dutifully reachored. What a good move! Dave was soon into a good fish and had got it halfway up when my downtider started nodding and I was into a fish too. I mangaged to get mine up before Dave's but the lines got into a bit of a tangle. My fish was in the boat (my first ever Thornie of 7lb 4oz), but Dave's fish was still in mid water. We sorted out the tangle and luckily Dave's fish stayed on. He had to out-do me with a 11lb 4oz Thornie!!! Whilst we were sorting out our catches I noticed that my uptider was bent double and about to either snap or disappear over the side of the boat. I prized the rod out and lifted into the fish. All hell then broke loose!!! My poor little Giller Thriller rod and fixed-spool reel didn't know what had hit them. We were into something very big, and for quite a while I was at the mercy of the very powerful runs. There were short bursts of real strength that made me think it was a conger, but I told Dave it couldn't be because it was much too big. Conger only go to around 20lb in the Bristol Channel, and I only had a 40lb leader on, so a big conger would have bitten through it. So, we were at a loss as to what it was, but after Dave's Bass, my bet was on even bigger Bass. The fight went on for 10-15 mins with a terrific tustle of "gain a few yards and loose even more", but eventually the fish tired and started to come up. With the merky water you can't see the fish until it actually breaks the surface. It was close to the surface when it made one last bid for the bottom and made an awesome swirl on the surface. We still couldn't see what it was, but after that kind of swirl my adrenalin was really pumping. This thing was massive!! One last heave and the fish broke the surface and a huge thick grey head appeared from the murk. It was a huge conger!!! "Bl@@dy h*ll", shouted Dave, "that's a bl@@dy competition winner. We'd better not loose this one!" Famous last words!! To be honest, I wasn't even thinking about the competition, I was thicking about how we'd get the beast into the boat. It dwarfed the 38lber I got from the Ledge at Christchuch. In our excitment we totally c@cked up. The only thing we had to hand was a landing net and Dave made an attempt to get the head in, but the net immediately got caught on the line the the hook came free from the corner of the mouth. For a tantalizing few seconds the eel just lay there doing nothing. Dave tried to untangle the net but the fish agonizingly started to slowly drift away on the tide. We made other frantic attempt to grab it, but she was gone. How big was it??? We will never know of course, but with the shear tickness of the head, a length of about 7ft, and comparing it to the 38lb I had caught and the pictures of James' 60lber, I would say 50-60lb, easily. Had we managed to get the beast on board my intentions were to let it go, but after seeing all the prize money being handed out, I would have had a real dilema. The fish would of been worth over

...and during the Burnham trip I managed to haul up a 50lb+ conger on a Giller Thriller. Admittidly, the rod was a bit under powered for that size of conger, but it coped with all the powerful runs. BF

Cheers Paul. What do you use to thin the gelcoat? BF

...now, now, be nice lads. A new shop will be interested in promoting themselves and so would be open to offering a discount to club members in exchange for a link on our web site. ...and dispite there sometimes high prices, I have found them to be extremely helpful in giving advice on the procedures for servicing and replacement of parts. If only other shops offered the same sort of service. Having a shop in Poole can only be a good thing. Bob (Indespension) F

Does anyone have a Garmin GPS to PC lead that I could borrow for a day or two? I'd like to see if I can connect my GPS 125 to my laptop and try out a new bit of software. Connector on the GPS is the 7 pin round type. cheers BF

Indespension have opened a new shop in Poole. It is not fully open until April, but they have some stock in now and someone will be in the shop most afternoons until it is fully open. They will also have a stand at the Canford Magna boat jumble. Manager's name is Keith. 156A Stanley Green Road Poole Dorset BH15 3AH Tel 01202 672410 Poole@indespension.co.uk www.indespension.co.uk cheers BF

Good point Dave. Didn't realize CB had a different impedence.

Adam, First check that all the earths are tight, clean and making good contact. This will be the earth on the set (the negative), and the earth on your antenna. Next, try turning off all your other equipment and see if the buzzing is still present. If it disappears, turn on each piece of equipment in turn until the buzzing comes back. This will then be the culpret and we can the assess your next step. Also, does it buzz only when the engine is running? BF

An SWR meter is still a handy bit of kit to have to help isolate problems (i.e. is it the VHF set or the antenna that's causing the problem). BF