Bob F

Dave Betsy Anna is a medium sized freighter that sank in the 1920's. She's in 24m of water and stands about 4m tall. Still fairly intact although the bow has collapsed backwards. Pretty much fished out but can hold fish from time to time and should be a possible conger mark, although you don't hear much being taken from her. Tides are pretty strong out there, though. BF

Here's some pointers on Antenna selection that I've picked up from various sources, especially the Marine Electronic Services Catalogue. An inportant factor in the performance of your VHF radio will be the quality and positioning of the antenna. Many problems with VHF radio are related to poor antenna siting, faulty cabling, poor quality cable joints and low voltage supply. As the range of VHF signals are governed by lne of sight, the antenna should be placed as high as possible, but be clear of any metallic objects that could influence the resonance of the antenna. The most popular antennae for marine use are 1m long. On small boats they are usually positioned on top of the cuddy or cabin, either directly attached to the roof or mounted on a gantry for extra height. Longer whip aerials are recommended only for larger boats. These radiate the same total power as the smaller antennae, but concentrate it into a narrower beam, which is advantageous on a tall mast at extreme range where concentrating the available power into a narrow horizontal beam becomes more important. However, if the antenna is not vertical when transmitting, the beam will be angled either too high or too low (e.g. when pitching or heeling in waves the narrow beam can be pointing up to the sky or pointing down into the sea). Therefore, vessels with a large heel angle (like our small boats) would be better chosing the shorter 1m antenna, where the wider beam angle will be more universally effective, even though the signal will be weaker. The antenna coaxial cable and any connectors used must be rated at 50 ohms. Under no circumstances should standard domestic TV cable and connectors be used. Incorrectly rated cable and connectors could result in power not reaching the antenna, but worse still, the power could be reflected back into the radio, damaging it in the process. BF

Yep, that's exactly what I meant but more elequently put, Martin. cheers BF

Nice one Rich. I'm sure he'd get plenty of service from the club if we could establish a reputable service shop with discount. BF

Nice to hear a plan come together, Mike. BF

There might be a bit of a queue Dan.

The fog was a bit of a nightmare, to be honest. The Swash Channel is not the greatest place to be in a small boat when the fog comes in. And to make things worse, when I was finding the Besty Anna I deleted all my track marks, so finding my way back to Baiter with the GPS just pointing directly at Baiter was a real problem (Brownsea Island tends to get in the way! ). Normally, I'd just follow my old tracks back. Fortunately, Mark had kept his tracks on his GPS so I just followed him home. Lesson learned... 1 - next time I go out from Poole and Christchurch I will create and store two new tracks with wayponits from the Swash Channel to Baiter, and Mudeford Entrance to Wick/Mudeford slip. And try to remember to do this from any new venue. 2 - buy a bl@@dy plotter!!! 3 - Check my fog horn air cannister regularly. I haven't needed to use it and when I came to try it in the fog I only had a couple of blasts left. A year ago it was a new cannister, but over time I guess the air has leaked out. BF

Ben, Have you considered Christchurch Harbour and The Ledge? There some terrific Mullet and Bass fishing in the harbour, and all sorts can be caught over The Ledge. Weather permitting, the Ledge is a great place to fish. Bob F

I've been finishing off a few dinks and bumps in the gelcoat and in some places after sanding down with wet'n'dry there are some dark patches appearing in the white gelcoat. Is this where I have been over enthusiastic with the sanding and have got down to the fibreglass and started to polish it?? How do I get rid of these patches??? Spray over with white paint?? Drill into it and fill in with more gelcoat? Or just put another layer of gelcoat over the top? cheers BF

The Navman 7200 has a "Track your buddy" feature which is a nice touch. So when Peter Senior disappears to his secret Ray mark, I'd be able to see where it is. Only trouble is, Pete would have to have one too. BF

Blimmee!! Wish I'd sent my 6600LD there now. Charlie, talk to Willie on 02380 777232. This is who Roger Bazand uses. BF

Yep, it was great to be out. Sea temp was 7 degrees. Not sure if that is rising from the previous weeks. BF

Funniest thing that's been on 'ere. I can just see Dan's face when he saw the post. A classic!!! Nice one Claire.

Enticer and Splash-Out went out from Poole today. Weather was so nice we headed straight out to the spoil grounds. Little Robert had a Dogfish (2lb 1oz) and his first ever Starry Smoothound, just a pup (2lb 4oz) but he was dead chuffed. He also had a small pout. All I caught was a LSD and a small whiting. Had a suspected Smoothound drop the bait halfway up. Nothing exciting happened onboard Enticer apart from a couple of nice takes which didn't turn into anything. At slack water I decided to shoot off and see if I could find Betsy Anna, armed with my corrected figures from the Dive Dorset book. Well, I found her but not close to the figures I had. There's no missing her when you find her. Had 3 or 4 drifts but nothing was taking. Zoomed back to pick up Enticer on the Spoils and found the sounder showing a scatter of noise or possibly a big shoal of fish. We dropped down some baited hooks and feathers but nothing took, so wasn't sure what it was. On the way back to the Swash we met Nik Nak who said he'd caught 5 small Herring on small Hokeyes, so that must have been what we had seen on the sounder. Nik Nak had caught a Plaice in the Swash earlier on. Our plan was to drift the Swash for the first two hours of the ebb, but we only got 20mins of fishing before the fog came in and we had to call it a day. Great fun though, and dead chuffed to have found the Betsy Anna at last. cheers BF

What's going on here!? Postings about Kimmeridge and SS steps. Is someone trying to bring back bad memories??? BF

Hmmm...I think there's more to this...sounds a strange story. To buy a boat as a "do it uper" speaks volumes. I think I'd look around for another boat. Is the price too good to be true?

Enticer and Splash-Out will be venturing out from Poole tomorrow. Will not be doing anything adventurous because we will have little Rob and little Johnny onboard. We intend to just drift the Swash channel to see if there are any Plaice about. May go out further if the weather is ok and we hear anyone catching anything. Give us a call if you're out there. cheers BF

I thought Frank's boat was Megalene. I hope everything was ok with Sheila Marie. BF

Wedger, unfortunately, we don't have any Day Angler 19 or 20's in the club. Don't know why, cus I think they are cracking boats. Has anyone owned one previously? As for the damage on the underside of the boat, I'll let others who are more experienced answer, but the drips in the damaged areas might not necessarily mean that water is seeping out. It may be just condensation collecting in the holes. But the mild steel keel band sounds like a real cover up, which suggests the owner may have other things to hide, so those weeping repairs may be a real problem. Was it really mild steel?? My gut feel from what you have described would be to walk away from this one. BF

Cor...what a treat. Just my luck to have just bought a real.

Paul, according to the club list, there isn't a boat called Sheila Marie. However, this does ring a bell, but can't remember whose boat she is. I hope all was ok.

Strangely enough it was true. Saw it on the news tonight. Have fun Duncan. BF

Matt's beautiful Evolution 33 called Bliss II has been added to the Members Boat Section. Welcome to PBSBAC, Matt. cheers Bob F

Has anyone had any experience of removing the handbrake and "energy store" on a rollercoaster trailer? In particular, I'm concerned about the proper way of disconnecting or removing the energy store (as Indespension call it). This is the high compression spring that's housed in the tube that sits by the handbrake. It seems to be under compression to some degree when the handbrake is engaged or disengaged. I may be able to lever the connecting arm off, but then I don't think I will be able to put the connecting arm back on again because the spring is so strong. I'm sure there must be a special way of doing it. Ultimatley, I need to de-rust the hitch braking mechanism. This is the part of the hitch which compresses under braking and activates the trailer brakes. cheers Bob F.

Ouch...sorry to hear that Martin. It's sad when you can't rely on people to do a proper job. Having said that, my bearing went after only checking it 6 mths ago, and the other bearing was completely ok. I wonder if he replaced the whole of the bearing. Lookfar, yes I've heard about dipping the brakes in water just after towing, and had the same thought as you. Yes, the spring on the brake blocks is the auto reverse feature. BF