Seamouse

Hi Dave, As soon as I can get away on a decent forecast. I'll mail you. Steve

Even a slight protrusion chews the keel rollers to shreds. If there's just a small edge, you can flat them off with an angle grinder. Grinder is also the quickest way to profile the edges of the band. Have you drilled stainless before?? Keep the drill speed low, use lots of oil and keep the pressure low on the countersink run or it could end up being more hole than countersink. Also control where the swarf goes. Unlike normal steel swarf, it won't rust away. Still razor sharp a year later, not what you want lying around the garage floor. Steve

Hi Sam, Try Bessie Vee (Spike Spears) or Barry on Cobra. Both have a name for tope/hounds. I'm not much more than a novice but you and your Dad'd be welcome on Lookfar if dates tie up. Steve

Hi Adam, Thanks re. the braid, PM me an address and I'll send cash and a SAE. Plaice fishing off Eastney is grim, don't even think about it! Utopia has a good name for tope and seems to be a general area rather than a specific mark, I've been given numbers several miles apart under that name. It has a fair head of hounds as well but is only fishable on smaller tides. There's good hounds inshore, bream too but you folks have plenty of them anyway I use the Eastney slip into Langstone. Launch all tide states, plenty parking, about 8 quid for a day ticket. The downside is that it is a good haul over to Selsey, about 12 miles. As I said, if any of the trailer section want to play I'd be happy to buddy them. For a Trailaway, I could try and get a few of the IAC boats involved but speak to Codfather, he knows the area and should be able to offer an opinion whether it is sufficiently different to Poole to be worth an excursion. Steve

Hi Adam, That'd be great, or if you let me know where it came from I could order it direct? I'd be looking at the lower b.s. Are you guys still interested in visiting Selsey at some time? May is likely to be the most productive month. I'm hoping to be launching from Langstone a few times in April and May, if anyone expresses an interest in joining us I'd be happy to show them a few marks. Steve

Hi folks, There was talk a while back of an armoured braid that was tough enough to cope with tope teeth but limper than wire. Anyone remember what it was called/where I can get some? Soon as this weather settles, the tope should be arriving. Steve

Hi Adam, Nope, I'm happy enough with my deck and anyway it just got resurfaced for other reasons. It was just one of those things, Paul mentioned that given the price of the stuff it'd be nice to be able to use the wastage. As for the adhesive, sounds like Evostick does the business. Steve

Adam, Talking to Paul at Warrior a while back, they get the Treadmaster for the 175 on a huge roll and it sounds like they cut a fair bit to waste. You could try asking the factory if they'll sell/donate you some offcuts? Don't forget to budget for the adhesive, it is expensive. Steve

Further east on Selsey, flowing trace definitely works better when there's some tide. Paternosters come into their own as the tide slacks. Steve

Hi folks, With respect to the brake liners coming away from the shoes, I've had that on a Rollercoaster 1 trailer and similarly cooked a perfectly good bearing. Indespension blamed it on launching while the brakes are still hot from the road, sudden cooling cracks the adhesive. Nonsense, it takes me a good 20 minutes to get ready to launch. Just poor quality goods from Indespension, I'm afraid. With respect to finding an automotive direct alternative, that's unlikely. One of the shoes has a spring-loaded section that I'm told is to allow the rig to be reversed even if the braking system has been engaged. Otherwise, stop halfway down a steep hill and there's no way you could back up. They also warned me that the system will allow the brakes to suddenly release if you park your rig nose-up on a steep hill. Exactly what I'd been doing for two weeks at the top of a campsite Steve

Alex, Just to reiterate what Adam said, don't discount the smoothhounds and tope. These are sharks on a smaller scale, they go like rockets on light gear and they are pretty common. Not so sure about the Poole area but around Selsey the tope run big as well. There are persistent reports of 80lb fish returned most years and the females average 20lb plus. That's fact, not rumour, last year one of the IAC boats found themselves a resident pack and they got 4-5 per person across two days, all 6 anglers got at least a 30lb fish and two were edging 45lb. Once a 45lb tope gets boring, I guess porgies are all that's left. There's some evidence to suggest that the North Cornish coast would be a better bet than the mid-channel wrecks. Steve (aiming this year to improve on my rather wimpy 13lb PB tope)

Hi Dave, Nah, I drive like an oldtimer. Maddeningly slow. Car doesn't cope with gravel banks half as well as the boat does. Backing down at Eastney once after a storm there was a big drift of gravel across the slip at the high tide mark. Didn't really think about ground clearance until I was already cutting a Subaru undercarriage-shaped hole through the gravel. Anyone want to buy a nice Subaru? Absolutely pristine above sill level Steve

Hi Adam, You are not far wrong. I was given a trade-in figure for Lookfar recently of 2K less than I paid for her four years ago. Mind you, the price of a similarly equipped 165 ex-factory is substantially more than it was four years ago and that's always going to bolster the used market. Compare that with my Subaru. Only three years old and 50% depreciation Steve

Hi Rich, I colour code my leads. It is a little anal but very handy when conditions are changing as I can see at a glance what the rest of the crew are using, I don't have to fish around in the bucket trying to find the size I want among a mass of anonymous grey leads and I can tell novices "use a red one" instead of having to find them an 8oz and fit it. Steve

Your GPS will convert for you. Dig around in the Menu and re-set the datum to WGS72. Enter and save the PC plots, then reset datum back to WGS84 and the unit will automatically adjust the numbers to suit. This is a common problem with things like Dive site data, which is often in OSGB36. The offset between OSBG36 and WGS84 is in excess of 400 yards so it matters! Problem is, so few folk quote datum when they give numbers. On the same subject, anyone know if a GPS unit will convert Decca? I've been given some Decca numbers and I've not yet got out into the cold to plug the GPS and see if it is possible. Steve

Hi, My 1.6 Escort was happy enough towing a Warrior 165 but struggled a little for traction on Eastney slip. However, Eastney is steep and usually covered in gravel. Kam's tip for skewing the car slightly is good, alternatively just putting the wheels over a bit then straightening up once you have traction works well. Chocking a rear wheel so you don't have to juggle with the handbrake is good but you need to be careful not to squish the crewman charged with recovering it before the boat wheels hit it. Sweeping the first few feet in front of the wheels clear also helps a lot. Steve

Groundbaiting can drive bream into a frenzy, doesn't seem to bring the doggies as badly as you might think either. I freeze any left-over bait and generate chum blocks. Rich is dead right about boiled rice as a carrier, disperses really well and the bream are stuffed with it. For cheap fish oils, pellets, meal and other smelly goodies, try Baitsonline. Steve

Talking of the Warrior 195 no longer being available, when I was at the factory in mid-summer there was a pilothouse style Warrior mocked up in ply over what looked like a 195 or bigger hull. Paul was talking of making the London Show with the prototype, though that never happened. Worth keeping an eye in that direction though. Also, no-one has mentioned the Orkney Day Anglers yet. Any opinions on those? The 20 that I looked at certainly had a very angler-friendly layout. Steve

Putting in your own foam is neither expensive nor difficult, can get it as a 2-pack mix from Glassplies or probably even a boatbuilders. The boat may well have an inspection hatch, if not you cut one somewhere. There are some pitfalls though. It'll make future hull repairs a swine and may trap water. Once it is mixed, you only have a few seconds to deliver it before all hell breaks loose. I used it to strengthen panels on a kit car and tried to be clever and inject it by syringe. What a mess Steve

This's the time of year for it, at least up at the eastern end of the island. We're out on the Spoils in tanker/ferry territory and it is wall-to-wall whiting on a good day. Very busy fishing and it is all too easy to forget the occasional glance forward. By the time you hear something coming it's definitely panic time. Cut lines, dump anchor and run. Hasn't yet happened to me yet but I'll not be wasting any time worrying about tackle if it does. Up to the crew to rescue rods, if need be I'd take off with them still down. Ferrys in particular SCARE me

The problem with that is that if a tanker decides to creep up on you, you are tied to the warp and you can bet that in the haste and confusion you'll not be able to find a bait knife to cut it. Better plan is to end the warp at a small buoy, then you can dump it and run if need be. Doesn't have to be a huge buoy, just big enough to trap the Alderney Ring (if you use one) Steve

Langstone and Chichester both charge harbour dues, I'd have thought Portsmouth would as well? Launch fees depend on the slip and usually seem to include the harbour due in most places. I was told that the slip near Gosport is free to use, though. Steve

Hi folks, With such a big tide, we left the cod in peace and had a look for whiting inshore off Chichester. Nothing on Medmery but a few whiting and pout showed near Bullocks. Listening to the VHF, the Eastney club were inshore too and doing little better and the charter fleet, further out near Nab, was struggling to find more than the odd cod. I hope things down your end of the Island were better Steve

Hi, Same problem in the Solent after smoothies. I use one of those weighted brass-ended priests that the game anglers use for trout. Tuck the whelk shell into the left hand and the priest is pretty accurate to use, breaks up the shell nicely without too much risk of smacking your own thumb instead and no real transmitted noise because it isn't sat on the boat gunnel. Dunno whether Mr Hermit will take the opportunity to graze on a finger though, I've never handled live ones. Curiously, the priest is useless in its designed role. With a rolling boat and a large, lively fish it is difficult to be accurate and after a very painful attempt to humanely dispatch my own hand, I went back to my crude but effective home-made alternative. Steve