Malroy

Hi, Yes it was 3/4" that the guys up at Warrior recommended when I went up there. When you are countersinking the stainless to let the head drop below the surface, you will find that 3/4" still protrudes thru' the strip. When I actually fitted them this worked out fine, going thru' the glass and into the wood. You need a really good and accurate pilot drill. I actually snapped a couple of screws even at 3/4" length but managed to get them out, if you go for more you have a further risk of snapping when biting into the hard wood. On the technical side the actual required amount for a screw to function i.e. to secure, is 1 1/2 times its diameter on positive bite.

When making your own keelbands, make sure you are using 316 grade stainless. 2.5mm to 3.0mm thick is ideal. Bending is achieved fine if you secure at stern first then work your way round the front by bending as you go. On the Warriors, the keelband is tapered from end to end so parallel strips are not suitable. Warrior suggested 3/4" long csk head screws as a max to avoid any going thru', Silkoflex to seal. We have two high powered laser cutting machines at work so I was fortunate in beng able to get mine cut in two lengths (cut from 2500mm long x 1250mm W sheets). This was done measuring the width at 200mm intervals to get the taper right and the holes were also laser cut. Still had to csk all the holes though, Cobalt cutters and drills help a lot, slow speeds with coarse feed to eliminate the risk of rubbing & burnishing.

I manage to keep my rope neat by using two tubs - one inside the other. My standard tub is the type with two rope handles like you get at most hardware shops. Inside side this I managed to find and fit a similar length plastic tub with a smaller diameter which just actually fits the anchor inside of it. The smaller tub is bolted inside the centre of the larger tub. My main line is coiled around between the two tubs and never gets tangled. The centre tub takes the anchor & chain + surplus rope if you are using Alderny ring recovery. I have drilled both tubs all over with a large circular hole cutter to enable the tubs to drain and the ropes to breath.

http://www.porthcawl-insurance.co.uk/ You will have a job beating them (Approved by Warrior). Malc

On the subject of safetey and for anybody who may be interested, take a look on Fylde Boat Clubs web site - safety ( ww.fbac.co.uk ). They have done a lot of work in conjunction with the RNLI safety checks thus coming up with both Silver & Gold SeaCheck award systems in respect to equipment/training requirements that are relative to the nature of launching. Not being able to join a boat club in the vacinity where I regulary launch on Anglesey (as there just arn't any) and normally launching on our own (wife and I), we set the Gold as our target as we had no other benchmarks. Its not cheap by any measure, i.e. 2nd backup VHF and back up VHF Aerial etc. We still felt this to be quite appropriate as we go out on our own all the time & up to about 15 miles offshore and the Gold is levelled at covering this. Levels of safety gear needed can be very relevant to how many there are of you and where you are going. There's a lot said for the old saying "safety in numbers", so when on your own you need to be extra specially protective. Late last year we had our 1st SeaCheck done using this as the benchmark. During the check the Advisor noted on the report a couple of things that had been missed i.e. reflective tape on the lifebuoy, having at least one of the lifejackets fitted with a safety harness + having the harness safety strap itself per chance I had to do any work where I was at risk of falling overboard e.g. changing or clearing a prop etc. Since then these have been sorted. He looked closely to ensure we both had crotch straps for the lifejackets, stressing how critical these were (fatalities having been recorded where they had slipped off) & how often they were overlooked etc.(we did have them having already been advised to do so). It appears that this is not listed and becomes a word of mouth issue however I may be wrong on this. Safety Advisors although working to a set check list, appear to add and apply any relevant experience/tips/knowledge that they pick up within their own realms of experience which I feel makes each check slightly different and unique. As a consequence, I feel pretty sure that if you had you boat checked twice over the same weekend by two seperate advisors then different points would be noted. It gets out of hand with suggestions of having liferafts on 15' & 16' fishing boats. We become at risk of accidents by falling overboard from tripping over all the safety gear if we are not carefull.

Yes the Honda 50 hp is carbs. There is no problem with cold starting as it usually fires and idles as smooth as a dream straight away from cold every time providing the bulb is primed well. Just takes a little warming up before off, but has that blip/flat spot if given too much throttle from either warm or cold and can sometimes if too harsh, cut out. Re stainless props: If you do frequent trail aways I would avoid them. If there is risk of unknown sea bottoms then you could well damage the gearbox shaft or casing if you bottom out. An alloy prop can be considered a type of fail safe, it will bend and break usually before the gearbox internals, usually around the

At first you may be a little dissappointed with the cold start performance of the 4 stroke, i.e. a short warm up period coupled with slower acceleration than the 2 strokes. My Honda will also stall if I wap the throttle fully forward quickly, I have to be less aggressive on taking off than when I last had the 2 stroke. Don't know if other 4 strokes behave like this, I would be interested to know. Once the engine loosens up, this will improve a bit. The advantages of the 4 stroke will far outweigh this e.g. better idling, quietness, fuel economy, low speed trolling ability etc, etc. As with most 4 strokes it will take around 20 hours plus to loosen up enough to pull full revs. Try not to be too eager to get there during this period at first. What you are doing in building up the revs gradually in varying length busts is right. When you start coming close to max rev achievement, limit the periods of max bursts until it is fully loose. During this period I would not advise playing around with prop pitches unless your existing one supplied is already known to be too high, as others have mentioned there may be a risk of undue strain on the engine.

Thanks for the info on the props, in particular on the likelyhood of straining the engine The Honda 50HP is designed to pull 6000RPM max where it actually red lines. The engine is actually governed at this figure and cannot in fact be over revved. Given the right water conditions, both the 13" & the 14 1/2" props will pull max revs with relative ease. I am still playing about with both these props & keep swapping from one to another. I find that in smoother sea conditions the 14 1/2" is in fact actually achieving better fuel econony than the std 13" however when there is a good chop the 13" gives better results. Neither of these actually seem to load the engine too much, however the 14 1/2" needs patience and a more gentle approach on acceleration to avoid excessive loading. Its about time they developed a fool proof snap on and off system for props, so as you could just pop the right one on relative to the conditions and the amount of steaming you intend to do for the day.

I had the exact same dilemma early last year, repair an old engine (2 stroke 70HP) at vast expense or replace it, again at vast expense. I took the plunge, borrowed the money and got Warrior to put on a New Honda 50hp. For

I would do my best to avoid buying anything with a Force engine. When they were imported into the UK they had to bring in 2 to get 1 good one. They are very thirsty and not well engineered.

Hi, The traingular/with small circle has in fact two important functions. The one that has been mentioned i.e.: It is a stopper to allow the recovery buoy to stop short of your hull so as not to bounce against it which is very annoying when sitting at anchor. The other far more important function is to maintain the bouy at an important distance away from your hull (I find that around 20' is about ideal) so as when you are ready to steam past it you can clearly see the ropes trail, thus you can very easily avoid running over rope with your prop and getting it tangled. If the buoy is actually next to your hull this becomes far more difficult. This by far being one of the most dangerous mishaps that can happen when using the Alderny method as there is nothing worse than an anchor rope catching around your engine leg & dragging your back end down. When I am about to drop anchor I hold up the large circular ring up as high as possible using it as a guide for my chain and rope which keeps it clear of the hull. When the anchor hits bottom I then attach my buoy to the large ring by way of a large stainless snap link attached to a short rope on tied onto my buoy. I then actually lift my engine clear of the water with the trim button and then let out all the slack anchor rope. I lift the engine clear to avoid any chance of drifting my prop over the loose rope before it has chance to settle & sink. Nobody else seems to mention doing this, but I actually find it essential as the tide can soon pull the engine over the rope. When enough rope is considered out I attach the triangular stopper by pushing a loop on the rope thru' the small loop then bringing it right back over the triangle. I then let out another 20' of rope or so. Using a bouy also has the added advantage of telling other boaters nearby that you are actually at anchor. These are actually excellent kits from Crayside marine and well worth the expense. I certainly have not looked back since buying one, well worth it. Their web site actually gives out the procedure for anchor recovery using this method. Another thing I tend to do slightly differently when recovering is that once I have steamed past the bouy and the anchor entually reached the surface (miles behind when anchoring at depth) is to turn my boat at right angles to the 'way off' buoy, keep the engine running so as I can maintain it at right angles to the bouy. This I do again to absolutely minimise the risk of the rope coming aroung the stern and tangling with the engine leg. Again, its surprising how quickly this can happen in a running tide. Hope this is of help.

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Thanks for the info. I was wondering what the compramises may be over the more expensive Garmin 182C which has been mentioned/reviewed earlier. Plenty to ponder over. Malc

Would suggest the Hansson Coastal pack. They come in their own container and and quality looks good. If you shop around are round the

Try: http://www.billhigham.co.uk Malc