Sinbad

Hi Peter, I dont think you'd find many sub 20' boats with anything more than cat C, but I'm always corrected on these forum pages.... Mines a Cat C, and no I wouldnt go to the channel islands, but regularly go 20 miles+ out with no problems, but then I always am reasonably sure the forecast isnt going to be 2m waves and F5-6. Given the weather is fair, and the clubs excellent buddy boat system, then its a fair possibility even in an 18ft boat - but it only has to get snotty on the way back against the tide, and its a 5-6hour trip... no thanks... However, the 23-35' boats which go, at least have some more waterline length in hand to prevent much of the pitching and slamming that the shorter hulls suffer from when it gets rough, so the crossing is a little easier. Plus, thats 4' minimum more space to store a ton of fuel and extra gear, plus a few feet more beam which makes it more liveable when you are there. cant think of anyother reasons why not...but there may be a few... I looked at the 580 before buying my boat - there wasnt enough fishing deck space for me, but the Marlin is different - and havent seen many of these at all. I always thought the MF's had excellent build quality, but again narrowly didnt go ahead with the 625 only for price/ deck space reasons. Have fun Paul

1) Adam - JV - Ben & Craig crewing 2) TW - Otter - Crew TBC 3) Tomo- Just Purfick- Full 4) Wight Magic [but need crew] 5] Charlie -Alfresco + Crew TBC [rude not to at least try] No serious threat to the bass stocks. 6] Imagine - Paul F borrowing AlunJ's bass marks, but not his luck

Graham, an obvious one....Stack and store = no antifoul and depending on how much you place on your time, alot less hassle and hours investing in removing the weed and slime. Paul

1) Star Turn - Rob F & Charlie A 2) Awol with Dean, Tony and Martin 3) Wight Magic with Dave jim Bill Dave 4) Abode11 Jackie And Craig 5) Neo Paul D and Steve 6) Boblin with Colin and Bobi and Pete Snr 7) JV - Adam and TBC 8) Court Jester - Neal plus 3 9) IMAGINE - Paul F AlunJ+ BFM

Mike, You dont say what the leg and engine is, apart from the 8hp Yam, which I assume is auxilliary ? Hope you get a good sale quickly. Paul

The Typhoon did fly on Friday!!! but it was about 6pm - half an hour after most people had left. \It just did a few practice circuits at low speed. Must Admit, the Red Arrows display was the worst I've ever seen from them, a pity that they flew at the end of the display and in the poorest conditions with the cloud base a few hundred feet, and they seemed to spend most of their time in an assymetrical format (only 8 planes) and out to sea. Didnt even go for their head to head pass... I wouldnt have wanted to be on a small boat out there, it looked dreadful. However the sand was much more comfortable and we saw a brilliant F16 display, and enjoyed the wingwalkers, black cats and Cap232 aerobatics. Looking forward to some more displays over the next few days Paul

I'm looking at Sunday via the sea route, as the weather looks slightly better.... Went out in the rubber dinghy to the mooring today, or rather tried to row out after giving up with starting the O/board, and couldnt make any headway against the strongish breeze and short chop. The harder I pulled on the oars the plastic rowlocks just bent. gave up and rowed back in...Oh Poo. At least I saw Star Turn coming back to their Marina berth - Enjoy the luxury of the facilities Charlie... tempted to sleep aboard?? Paul

Richard, If you have a bearing saver fitted then its just a case of tapping/hitting from side to side until it works out - they are inserted about 1/4" into the hub recess. If you are at the very large castellated nut stage, then the only thing I would do is try to assess the amount of slack or mark the position on the nut where the split pin goes through, as a guide to how tight to fit it when tightening it up. I wouldnt worry too much about not getting it back together - its fairly agricultural and straighforward. My brakes and bearings just fell apart, so I used pictures of the hub and brakes from the internet and a bit of trial and error to make sure they went back correctly - but I suppose if you can clean them up and photograph them before disassembly it might help. In my case it took me a month to get the bearings ordered so I didnt put the things back together straight away, so it was a bit of a memory test. Go on and have a go, its worth the effort!! Paul

1) Star Turn - Rob F & Charlie A 2) Awol with Dean, Tony and Martin 3) Wight Magic with Dave jim Bill Dave 4) Abode11 Jackie And Craig 5) Neo Paul D and Steve 6) Boblin with Colin and Bobi 7) JV - Adam and TBC 8) Court Jester - Neal plus 3 9) IMAGINE - Paul F +Crew - Sasha the dog (only Joking about the skipper)

I preferred Tonys summer heater, which he was using to cook sausages and burgers a few weekends ago. Simple to fit, and doubles as a cooker !!! Paul

Mike, Unusually, there will probabably be loads of PBSBAC boats rafted up in studland bay, from 11:30 onwards, so a call on Ch6 might help you find the info you need. You cant go too far wrong trolling the entrance or the training bank. Try feathering at brownsea castle for a few baits if you dont get your sandeels. paul

Ask for a refund? Presumably a login and password doesnt work, so it will be an Admin thingy.. Hope you get on soon, we've been missing your reports!! Good luck Paul

mark, When you get the hang of it, you'll be reaching for the 'off' or low volume switch, as some potters use Ch6 as a cheap alternative to the mobile phone... not to mention Ron Bundy if you are ever near the IOW..... he's a legend in everyone elses day off. Paul

One memorable day early on after aquiring Imagine, fishing with AlunJ, we went round StAlbans to get out of the swell at Dancing Ledge, but coming back my 20' boat just fitted between the sets of collossal waves with each going over the top and hitting the deck - they must have been 2m easily. Only by going inshore almost able to touch the cliff face is it deep and the going easier, but its a long long slog to Durlston and no respite... also the tide rips across the ledges creating those spectacular overfalls I doubt if it is less than 4-5 knts at times. Other than that, a perfect day Your pictures look fantastic - I have never seen it that flat!!!! Take care.... Paul

Good training for the Weymouth meet guys...though today it looks like being too windy!! I still think some boats could tow you (with paddlers on board) to save about 8m of exercise!!! Paul

Andy, Im sure Bob or Adam will post - they have one on JV Paul

Andy......Amazing!!! I thought it was because he was always on his J24... lucky s...d!! Paul

I use Lee Elford, not had any concerns, sometimes he is quite booked up though.. perhaps there is a good reason for this though!! Paul

Charlie, We are going to fish Friday as usual, so will be on the water nice and early!! Plan is to head back after brekky Sunday. Please confirm us for berthing on Fri/Sat N and for the restaurant. Cheers Paul p.s. What if any was the plan for eating Friday? Pub in town??

Hi Ben, Whilst initial capital to make the purchase is available, do think about the maintenance and owning costs. The fuel IMHO is not worth worrying about (as long as you dont go for a petrol V8) compared to the annual mooring fees and maintenance. Charlies boat runs on just over a litre per mile, mine a little less - which is not much different when you think Charlies boat is 50% bigger again all round. Also... make a list of everything you want or would like on your boat and then buy the one which has all or most of these .. because even adding a better plotter, or putting in a sea toilet or whatever after you have bought it is an expensive (if great fun) way of burning a hole in your wallet. Have fun looking!! Paul

Martin, Thats great for Tom! he puts in plenty of time so fair play to him.....Nice Fish! We will probably find some other spots, as the area I was referring to had not much in the way of stars on the ground, but also a mate of mine went out saturday on a charter and they hauled plenty of rocks with stars on them, but only had the one codling of 5lb.... Just goes to show, there's more skill to this than it seems.... sounds like your day was a cracking day - one we all wish for. I cant seem to get over the magical 15lb mark winter or summer.....yet!! (I hope) Paul Dan we are going out from Parkstone but as said will be ahead of you.

Dan We (Alun J and Myself) will be going out on Friday as well - so you have a buddy. We are out early and back early - but will be stopping on some banks mid way before going to the codless grounds.... we will definitely be in range - so give us a call on ch6 when you clear the swash. Boat is Imagine. Room for one crew if anyone fancies a trip out - share costs etc.... Paul

Short notice I know, but AlunJ and I are planning a day Friday. We are going early and back early - Out to some banks and maybe the Cod Grounds again.. Room for another Crew... Post here or PM. Paul

I had decided to take imagine out in search of the Cod on Friday, forecast looking good even from as far away as Monday! Despite posting for a buddy boat, no-one responded on the forum ??? and with just Gordon H, Jon (aka Jay Kay) and Myself we reduced to one boat and set out from Poole on the last of the ebb, slightly behind the Alderney boats, at just before 0700hrs. The plan was to fish a mid way wreck before going to the channel grounds, as low water was expected an hour after LW Poole- about 0930, and we wanted to arrive at the grounds with at least some tide.... What had started as a lovely sunny blue sky zero wind type of morning at -0600 quickly deteriorated into a north easterly F3 and we wallowed and bounced our way out via swanage stopping for a few hairy drifts for bait across peveril to no avail. Forecast was wind to drop after 10.00hrs which it did, but we still found it a bit lumpy even across the dumphries. We saw one charter who stopped up tide of us near the wreck, but this was the last boat we saw all day!!! He obviously was going elsewhere probably rust hopping.... nothing doing on the Dumphries despite being right over the wreck and plenty of fish showing on the sounder... The tide got going fairly quicly so we then went onto our intended drift on the cod banks... We persevered for a couple of hours here, with Gordon being the top gun on bottom features... but no rocks had the right marine life on it, so after a number of fishless drifts we headed off to the pinnacles.... More interesting features here, plus a few overfalls... and a few drifts produced just one Pollack to Gordon - but welcome nevertheless.. Then off to another spot which had produced in the past.. and by now the wind had eased to zilch so a lovely afternoon and a few beers to wash down the last of the lunch. Then almost at the end of the afternoon, but not late enough to qualify for the 48 hour competition... a GOOD pull from the bottom, and a fish which felt much heavier than its weight, which stayed deep for a good while. But that was the only one, and the absence of any other boats, except channel coasters confirmed our thoughts that it might be the last of the Cod from these banks... Our return trip was un-eventful on a smooth sea, until we reached 10miles out, then the ebb kicked up a short chop, which disappeared entering the swash. An enjoyable day out with some new faces, and some old... a long way to go for only the one Cod, but better than toiling away at work.... Thanks to Jon and Gordon for crewing... for the good company, and opportunity to go and fish this area again. Maybe next time.....we'll have more luck... Paul