great white

Bad luck Jack and an expensive lesson ref rigging the anchor to trip. It also shows that not all numbers translate well from one source to another, time has to be put in to find some of these rusty bits. I have passed on numbers that do not work for others. Which leaves you wondering how good your electronics are I feel worse when I have tried to help others, than I do when I can not find a wreck that others have given me. You may have got the anchor back if you had waited for slack tide and had another go at lifting it. It usually works but can some times mean a long wait for slack and the bloody thing is still stuck. I got one stuck and had to wait hours once, which would have been less of a nightmare if my mate had not ditched all the bait we had onboard when I started the engine. we had about three hours to wait in the dark and cold nd could not even fish. But eventually we got the anchor and chain back. Better luck next time Charlie

Gordon as you know the colour of the wire coming out of the box just contact a dealer for your engine and they should know what that wire is for. As Duncan says there is no need to cut the wire to find out. several wires come out of control boxes for instruments ie: Trim gauge, oil level, Tacho etc and if your boat was not fitted with these things they would not be connected to anything, except a blank to stop water getting in. I am sure it is nothing to dramatic Charlie

Paul Do you want to add some older lists? I definatly have last years on my PC and have at least hard copies of other years. Charlie

As it reads the wheel could it be the steering wheel Adam?

I doubt it

Have a great Birthday Dean I hope you get all the nice things you wanted Charlie

Martin I have some room in the freezer, and am working Sat Am so I could pick some up on my way home to store Charlie

Very unlucky guys I have not heard of a boat chased from the wreck by the safety boat before, but will check the range is out of action before going there in the future. especially as GW takes so long to get there. Did you find any of the other smaller wrecks this side of the range, or did you not want to miss the tide while you searched? Nice to hear that someone is out looking, if you have anything for the book send me a form/report or phone me. Charlie It sure beats coughing and spluttering through a day at work.

get John Wilson to hold one for the camera. Bound to see it fly then Charlie

Hi and welcome Charlie

Duncan There are loads of tales of boats not being finished, not looking good at the finish marrages breaking up etc etc So you are very right to discuss the "True Costs" of such projects. Friends who earn good money have said to me often, that they were better as you suggest adding a few hours to their working week and paying for a complete boat than to use all their liesure time for 12 months making one, and suffer all the bad feeling at home and the frustration of not having any fishing time during the build. lots to consider Charlie

Hi Alex You certainly are aiming at the high end of the Sport on offer. I ran into Trevor a couple of times in the Channel Islands, a great chap with some awsome fishing tales, but sadly he recounted that most of the fish back then were brought ashore as trophies. which has led to the decline of sharking around the UK. The grounds off of St Catherines point had a reputaion for the best fishing for Threshers and Porbeagles. I have a great love of Sharks and have tried several times and a variety of methods to get one locally but with no success. even though there was some talk on the VHF about them during the summer of 2004 I have yet to see one from Poole. I would love to borrow that book when you have read it. If you want sport on light gear, aim slightly lower for Tope or Smoothounds. They fight like Hell and can be caught on light gear when the tide allows. However the biggest Tope like deep water and strong tides so slightly heavier gear than a fly rod would be required. But the smoothy Marks in the solent may offer light line sport that will bring a smile to your face. Tight Lines Charlie

Some very good advice has already been offered. It is very much a multi skilled task that also requires a great deal of commitment and patience from the "other half" When I fitted out GW in the garden a hell of a lot of hours were spent in the tent while Wendy was left to look after the house and Baby. sitting here at the moment, off work with a chest infection, reminds me of the effects of the GRP fumes as well [and I was using an air fed respirator] There is more to be considered than just the savings, its bloody hard work, takes a lot of time [most people stop fishing during the project] the pressure mounts as the project builds pace. But in my case it was worth it, I can clearly remember launch day and the satisfaction of knowing I had built the boat myself. 14 years and many happy times and good fish later I am still pleased with the results. Charlie

Every time you are in the garage working on the hull as it rains, snow or freezes outside you will appreciate how much todays efforts were worth. Glad it was such a success. thats what mates are for. good luck with the stripping, fairing and painting Charlie

There is a small fin on your cavitation plate that is there to offset the effect of the direction of prop rotation. It is also an anode to protect the gearbox. If the steering offset is being caused by the bite of the prop, then slacken the bolt reset the angle of this fin to counter effect the prop rotation, tighten bolt and try again. Its trial and error but a bit of time getting it right is worth it. Be sure to have the boat balanced correctly and upright when doing the test runs. if you have the boat listing it will turn towards the low side. if you do not think that the listing effects your boat, run it in a striaght line hold the wheel and get everyone else to transfer their weight to one side and see what happens. I can set mine going in a straight line at sea and leave the wheel to go outside, then "Steer her" by moving from port to stbd. usually done when on my own and looking for a few mackeral. Can be useful trick to know if your steering fails to get her on her way home while help arrives. Charlie

I have room in the freezer for some its about empty at the moment, the congers have eaten it all Charlie

Thanks Rich Its about time I had a go at that fluff chucking, I have fancied it but never got around to it. As you know from your own kids patience is not a word they understand to well. He is a good lad, he just has no patience thats the problem you know what I mean "are we there yet" ring any bells Charlie

Hi again, If your reels already making strange noises it is time to strip it down and give it a full service, if you do not know how maybe someone from the Club who lives in your area can help you with that. With reels I am afraid what was said earlier is true, you get what you pay for. As Sam said I have several ABU 7000's that the boys and I use and a selection of Shimano Lever Drags. They cost a lot of money initially but are still as good as they were new, a bit faded and scratched but working A1. Not bad as most of them are a lot older than Sam. On the other hand my spinning reels that I tend to get cheaper ones have a tendancy to only survive a few seasons. Sorry to hear that your Dad suffers at Sea, the tablets will help but will make him tired. Daniel sometimes suffers and we have found that eating dry Ginger biscuits helps a lot. The dry biscuit and ginger both help in their own way. Obviously starting by using the new boat on a few nice days to get used to her action on the sea will help. so just build up gently to the rougher stuff and run back to harbour if it gets choppy before your Dad starts to go Green There are plenty of fish in the harbour if its rough outside Sam the smiley was about how sickening you get when telling everyone what a good fisherman you are. So modest I do not know where you get it from Charlie

Sorry I am not feeling well enough to offer my help. But it sounds as if you have enough volunteers [And beers to buy on Sat] Hope that it goes flipping well Charlie

Yes Paul I think he is When we were over there last summer in southern Brittany we found a couple of fishing cooperative shops that stocked a good range of nicely priced shads and other artificials. They also stocked an interesting range of Livebait buckets, a strong outer one and another plastic mesh like one with a hinged lid that fitted inside it. The idea was that the bait was in the inner bucket with the outer bucket full of fresh sea water while you were enroute, then while fishing some bait was left in the outer bucket while the rest was lowered on a rope to the sea to keep it alive. I wish I had picked one up but the car was so packed already I might have had to eject Wendy's wine Mind you a lot of the fish we saw being caught in the harbours would have fitted into these buckets so perhaps the Frech use them to keep their catch fresh for tea. Charlie

Hi Alex [FishFinger] A belated welcome to the Clubs Forum. I see that you have been chating with Sam, He is as he says himself??? a good fisherman. He tends to use good reels on strong but not overpriced rods. As others have said the best option to get close to your budget without going second hand is to buy cheaper rods and better reels. Rods are after all fairly simple bits of kit, but reels have many working parts. Whatever you get needs to be fairly robust. As the species you are hoping to catch and the size of weights you will need to use due to the strength of the tide will soon get the better of weak tackle. Have you considered using your total budget to buy 1 better set of gear. My boys and I only tend to use 1 set of 30lb test gear each when targetting the bigger species. plus other lighter rods Or is the other for Dad to get him to take you out fishing? The main thing is to keep the reels in full working order and clean the Salt Water off after every trip. A job that Sam and his brother Daniel still leave to me. You may get away with putting course gear away straight after use, but if you do the same after fishing in the sea any rods reels you do get will not last long. Tight lines and good luck with the shopping. Charlie

Hi All Sorry that I missed the meeting last night and the oportunity to discuss this subject. Our poles at work are bolted to the console for strength because when stepping onboard the Members tend to hold on to them. If you wanted a quick stow method they could be made to mount on a stainless VHF ariel bracket, designed to be rapidly relased to allow the ariel to fold. although it would not be as strong and the size may limit how many cables would fit inside. I think that Gary and Peter used two of these when they designed and built the fold away frame on top of Prodigy, so she can get under the Hamworthy bridge. I am sure that you will come up with a good design, to get the best out of all your requirements. Charlie

Hi Wedger I was fortunate to spend a month in New Zealand a couple of years ago after being invited by agood friend and ex Member of the Club who has emigrated out there. They swear by groundbaiting out there and would not even fish from the shore without using it. They package the stuff sold in shops Frozen in polythene tubes, some brands are even in meshing tubes inside the polythene, all you have to do is peel off the plastic attach a line to the mesh bag and put it in the water. Even the small boats out there are rigged for using these groundbait bombs. they have hard plastic tubes fitted to the transom, top is open, bottom is below the water line and is closed with holes around the base to let the groundbait out. You simply buy bombs without the mesh bag, strip off the plastic outer and drop it in the tube to defrost from the bottom. The above info may help you in how to package your groundbait, please contact me if you want to go more in depth. I came back from NZ determined to try more groundbaiting, but have not really tried that much. I would be interested in giving your groundbait a try, especially when the bream arrive, or maybe when the tope do [ I have other methods for use in deep water] where we were using it in NZ a heavy weight was oly 2 ounces, not the 32 ounces we have to use at times. Good luck with your venture Charlie

Hi Colin. A few of the Ribs we have at work are fitted with A Frames, with brackets to hold flare boxes and tubes for boat hooks and Flag poles etc. Not bad as a safety boat for Sailing - Diving. but the all round white light is a pain when looking behind you at night, and the frame would definatly be in the way in a small boat when you are trying to land fish. Our other RIBs and launches are fitted with a stainless pole, with brackets to bolt it to the console and brackets to hold the Nav lights. they are made so that the wiring is inside the tube for protection and have shield plates to stop the light taking away the cockswains night vision. Several advantages Good to hold on to Do not get in the way when fishing undo three bolts and the pole can lie in the boat for storage. Have you considered these aspects? Charlie

Paul it could be worth talking to Amber Austin [Garys wife] about recoverimg those seats. She is doing some boat covers and other bits and pieces. I would phone rather than email. Charlie