great white

Happy Birthday Terry I hope you have a great time, whatever you are up to. Charlie

Sorry I had presumed from earlier in the thread that the hull was clean. Slime will easily take speed down and in 4 months you will gain a lot of slime. I see this all the time at work, and our racing yachts would not go more than about two weeks between hull cleans. Its only been a couple of months since Alfresco was last cleaned by a diver and she is already slowing down. Yesterday we cruised at 18 where in that weather at 2500 we normally get 20. Charlie

Sch Nigle, don't tell everbody

1 Court Jester - Neal Sturt and crew TBA 2/Wishin Too-Nigel Allen,Martin Cherrett,Mike Toms 3, Kingfisher - Chris Witheford and crew TBA 4. Alfresco - Charlie, Sam, Dan?? plus others TBC

Monopoly You'll never look at the game the same way again! Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British Airmen found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third Reich(as POWs), and the Crown was casting about for ways and means to facilitate their escape... Now, obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end is a useful and accurate map, one showing not only where stuff was, but also showing the locations of 'safe houses' where a POW on-the-lam could go for food and shelter. Paper maps had some real drawbacks -- they make a lot of noise when you open and fold them, they wear out rapidly and, if they get wet, they turn into mush. Someone in MI-5 got the idea of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be scrunched-up into tiny wads, can be unfolded as many times as needed, and makes no noise whatsoever. At that time, there was only one manufacturer in Great Britain that had perfected the technology of printing on silk and that was John Waddington, Ltd. When approached by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit for the war effort. By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the UK licensee for the popular American board game, Monopoly. As it happened, 'games and pastimes' was a category of item qualified for insertion into CARE packages, dispatched by the International Red Cross to prisoners-of-war. Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely guarded and inaccessible old workshop on the grounds of Waddington's, a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass-producing escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany or Italy where Allied POW camps were regional system. When processed, these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would actually fit inside a Monopoly playing piece. As long as they were at it, the clever workmen at Waddington's also managed to add: 1. A playing token containing a small magnetic compass; 2. A two-part metal file that could easily be screwed together; and 3. Useful amounts of genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and French currency, hidden within the piles of Monopoly money! British and American air crews were advised, before taking off on their first mission, how to identify a 'rigged' Monopoly set -- by means of a tiny red dot, one cleverly rigged to look like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the 'Free Parking' square. Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped, an estimated one-third were aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly sets. Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy indefinitely, since the British Government might want to use this highly successful ruse in still another, future war. The story wasn't declassified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were finally honoured in a public ceremony. It's always nice when you can play that 'Get Out of Jail Free' card!

We had a nice early start to maximise our daylight time. 0715 we were on our way to the needles car park, when we arrived an hour later there were so many boats it was hard to find a known mark that did not have a boat on it. [we counted 72] We fished the whole tide for many many LSD and pout and one tiny conger. By 1400 we moved and White Magic came with us to a mark 5 miles nearer to Poole. More LSD but at least here there were a few whiting for the table [ben had a PB which was great for him, but not that difficult as had never caught one before ] A lovely day to be out fishing, but a very slow day Charlie

Well done Chris Good decision not to join the masses at the Car Park We had a very slow day. Charlie

Well done Steve What a terrific amount of effort you guys put into your fishing, and no doubt that picture will take pride of place in your 2012 album. It looks like there are more cod down that way than there are here. Charlie

Hi It seems to me like you are doing the right thing and getting another engineer to look at your engine The hardest thing can be trouble shooting A constant need to bleed the fuel system is pointing at a fault that should be in the l.p. side of that system. Good luck with your hunt for the cause of all of this grief. And ln your cod trip. Charlie

Well let's say that we have tweaked our plan and are now looking at going on Sunday instead

Lets all hope that this idea catches on with teh commercials.

Sorry but that is totally differant to my 60 so it may just be fitted with the pre filter. Only a couple of knots and 200 revs could easily be loading of additional gear, a bit of slime on the hull etc Is there any differance to the engine revs when you take load off by running with the tide as opposed to into it? Although as others have said it would be well worth keeping an eye on your fuel filters.

I had the Prima 60 in Great White a good unit that did us well for 15 years. On the Fuel lift pump there is a fine gauze filter under the round cover with a fixing screw in the centre, the slightest build up on this effected the WOT on the 60, but I am not sure if it would be fitted on the turbo version. Easy to take apart and clean, on my old boat a job well worth doing. takes less than 5 minutes. Ref engine RPM, I presume that you have had it up to the stated max revs at some point. If not then it could be down to the prop size. 200 revs would be about 1" of pitch. Possible to have the pitch adjusted but needs to be done by a prop company and a much bigger job. [ Boat out , prop off etc] Ref the parts , get them from a company like New Forest Auto Factor 01202 691111 and they will be a fraction of cost. Perkins use a couple of differant anti freeze mixtures, but they are differant colours so easy to match. A lot of us use Rimula Oils for Marine Diesels, we buy ours at work through specialised oils at ferndown. Hope that helps Charlie

In my experiance inshore the fishing does really come alive after dark. with eels bass and Cod having no problem getting the scent trail to the baits. Some fish really do become pests [Pout] but others go to bed. However for all the improved catches, the fishing is harder work. seeing what is going on generally is hard, tying rigs etc very hard. Jobs that we take for granted in daylight can be very very hard , like alderney ring anchor recovery when you lose sight of your buoy. You need to be very confident in your ability and the boat. There are not many others out there to help once darkness sets in. It also gets very cold at this time of year on those calm clear nights. All that said I still love it when I can go, we just take plenty of clothing, all sorts of extra lights, plenty of food and make teh most of calmer weather. Charlie

OMG we urgently need some better weather.

Sorry I am getting a little lost here. and its over 20 years since I worked on a mermaid. How does the engine stop when you disconnect the battery? I thought the turbo 4 was a diesel. The rib ones had a shut down solonoid that closed the air intake at idle revs. I suppose that could be held open by electrics and shut with no voltage by the spring. Sounds like a bodge up to get you to pay the bill to me.

Hi we used to have these engines in Navy RIBs Good units but in the ribs they were prone to issues with the fuel systems. mainly caused by too many 90degree fittings on the supply line from the tank. That tended to give poor performance rather than poor starting. but eventally it would make it impossible to start. I would agree with the advice about contacting the Boss at Mermaid Marine. Servicing an engine and not bleeding the fuel system is an aprentice type error. If it were me I would expect them to be correcting that without charge and checking that the service was done correctly, something as simple as an incorrectly fitted seal or a slightly loose filter could give you these problems. Fitting a non return valve in the LP fuel system is very good advice. and priming the fuel lift pump prior to the first start of the day helps with Alfresco when its cold. Could not say about the battery, it may have just been tired and not helping to crank the engine. Does not sound like a good report for mermaid Marine.

Nice fishing guys, well done So jealous that you can get out fishing on a calm day , while I am stuck in the office looking at a still harbour [and Imagine on her berth] Charlie

Happy Birthday mate Have a good one

Well done Lofty What a great result, stick with baits like that and it will not take long to get your first eel as well Charlie

Sorry f I missed something , but if it was not weighed where did the 14oz part of your question come from

Well done Rob and Charlie the main organisers, and to all of the hardy souls that joined in on a windy day. Thanks to all of the helpers at the sign in points and the weigh station Huge Thanks to all at Cobbs Quay and the various tackle shops that helped and fed the hungry anglers after the Prizegiving. Last and of course not least. Thanks to all of the sponsors and those Members that arrange them. Without them it would not have been such a success. Charlie [Gettingverygoodatearlycatchandreleasetactics]

Blimey Chris You were very lucky with that anchor, Dare i suggest splicing it on rather that trusting knots. No wonder you entered the Open, with that sort of luck running. Charlie

Glad you got a ride Jim CU tomorrow

I am sure there will be fish bought to the scales that people will try to keep alive,[something we encourage as many anglers as possible to do, if you have live fish in a container please jump the weigh in queue] Unfortunately not all of these fish can be returned after weighing. It usually means that the anglers may not want them. In my case I would rather give these to someone, than see them go to waste. Charlie