Seamouse

That's great, appreciate you sorting it. I'll go for the 12.5kg if there's a choice (and you think it'll cope with tope teeth). Steve

I think sets will only transmit at high power on Channel 16, though I could be wrong Steve

Hi folks, One or two boats were out off the eastern end of the Island on saturday. Plenty of dogs and pout, a few channels and the odd ray. Most of the VHF talk was of no cod but the three IAC boats managed four between them, nothing immense, plus a nice bass. Little sign of the usual conger though. Steve

Hi Adam, I'd be grateful if you could pick me a spool up as well. Never been bitten off yet on 150lb mono but I hate the thickness of the stuff. Steve

Lifejackets are mandatory on Lookfar except for visiting skippers, who I reckon to be responsible for their own necks though I do carry an extra jacket for them and make sure they know where it is. On another forum, I've seen an ex-AirSea rescue operative argue against self-inflaters as they drown folk trapped during a capsize as they are unable to swim down and clear. Not an issue for small boats, something to think about if you have a cabin. Anyone know what the shelf-life of a self-inflate mechanism is? One of mine self-fired on Monday for no reason while we were still on the slip. If it did that when I was in the front hatch hauling the warp, my poor crew would probably die laughing Steve

Hi Peter, You have mail re. the Suverans Steve

Hi folks, With a briefly settled forecast, I took Lookfar on an inshore cod hunt out of Langstone. We fished the flood on Medmery for a steady stream of small rays, dogs, scad, mackerel and a stray bream. For the ebb we came back west to a mark off Chichester that the Eastney club had extracted a number of codling from on the sunday. No such luck for us, just dogs, pout and whiting, including a nice one just under 2lb. Not a spectacular haul but a nice day's fishing and the sun shone all day!! Steve

Hi, The roller at the middle of the keel is height-adjustable, just undo the nut and it will drop down. Mark it first so you go back into the same position, though mine doesn't contact the keel anyway once the boat is fully on the trailer. Next roller forward is fixed and contacts, as does the one at the lower curve of the bow. These two require you to roll the boat back a bit on the trailer. Hitch the trailer to the car first!!! I only needed to drop back a foot or two but if you go further or leave it like that for any length of time, it might be worth lightly supporting the skeg with a trolley jack just to avoid putting too much leverage on the rear section of the hull. As the boat goes back the keel at the front starts to lift, which makes access under the front rollers easier. Sod's Law dictates that at least one screw hole in the keel band will line up with a roller and be a total swine to access with a drill. FWIW, I spaced the screw holes ten inch apart. That's a lot of holes in your hull, made me a little nervous when I got the drill out. I also pumped each drill hole full of Sikaflex just before I put the screw in. Belt and braces Steve

Adam, I used 3mm marine grade (316) stainless strip and bought it from a steel merchant here in London. There's bound to be one local to you, took mine about three days to source it for me. Had to buy complete 4m lengths for marine grade as they can't use offcuts and I got two widths, 50mm and 20mm. Total cost 50 quid including a sheet of 1mm stainless to make an anchor bash-plate. Fitting was surprisingly easy. The 20mm stuff I ran back until the keel started to widen. From that point I cut a length of 50mm to reach the kick-up where the bilge starts. Then a seperate small strip of 50mm for the bilge area. The 20mm was screwed and sikaflexed in first. Then I trial fitted the long 50mm length, marked up the area at the front where it was wider than the actual keel and angle ground it back to match the keel profile. Finally the bilge section which can be bolted rather than screwed. You'll need several lengths of stainless screws as at places the keel wood is well above the gel coat. Drill an undersize pilot hole into the hardwood but then take out the gelcoat to the width of the screw you are using, otherwise you'll crack the laminate. The slower-drying Sikaflex might be a good plan too. Stainless was easy enough to drill on a slow drill speed and plenty of oil, needs to be countersunk too. If the screw heads are still a bit proud, grind them back or they'll play hell with the keel rollers. Steve

Hi Paul, Cod and conger are already showing in the Nab area, plus codling inshore. If this weather will just give it a rest we'll be out on the next neaps. Steve

Ouch! I've tried for the spring plaice off Eastney for three seasons in a row and caught zip. The local boats can often be found tightly grouped at anchor, probably over mussel beds, but even they don't catch much. Be a nice day out if the weather holds good, though

Hi folks, I've fished a couple of holidays in the area around Minehead. Main problem with fishing across the low water is that the tidal range leaves you nowhere to run if the wind shifts onshore. Conversely, you can sit under the cliffs in an offshore gale and be perfectly comfortable. As for slips, Minehead is a fiver or so to launch, there's a nasty kink halfway down that'd be fun to reverse around and you've water on the slip for 2-5 hours depending on the tide size. Parking is cash and flash, not cheap. There is firm sand at the base, a 4x4 could probably launch safely for much of the tide and moorings may be available. Further up-coast, the new development at Watchet has visitors moorings and a huge slip but the gates lock when the tide drops and I suspect the cost will be high. Porlock Wier slips are all blocked with rotting hulks but you can launch into the inner harbour over packed cobbles. On a neap tide, you might not have enough water to do this easily. Launch is a fiver IF you can find the Harbourmaster, parking is cash and flash again and limited in high summer. Once afloat, you can get in and out of harbour two hours either side at best. Paul will often have moorings available at 5 quid a day. Lynmouth has a workable slip but it'd be a brave man who'd tow a boat down those hills. Basically, it can be done but isn't easy. the speed at which the water level drops has to be seen to be believed. Steve

Thanks for the welcome, I'm sure we could arrange a Poole visit next year. Likewise, if the club plans a trailaway to the Hayling area can help out with slipways and such like info, plus a couple of the Solent IAC boats would probably turn up to say "Hello" on the day.

Hi Alan, Long time no hear. Mail me on the old address and we can catch up on the last year or so! Steve

Hi, Rather than use trailer boards with enough cable to reach the car, try fitting an intermediate connector at the trailer wheelarch. Then the board only needs about six foot of cable, much easier to set up, take down and store. The connector at the wheelarch can be bolted to the arch by a spacer plate (Halfords supply all the bits needed) then a cable run forward along the trailer to reach the car, permanently positioned by cable ties or whatever. Much more user-friendly than 20 foot of cable to secure each trip, though it won't serve folk who like to deep-drown their hubs (sealing the connector unit with silicone rubber helps control splashes but won't resist immersion). Steve

Hi folks, Just harping back to the radar reflector thread, last year I arrived at a favoured mark to find HMS Tyne drifting near it doing 'tests'. Meant I got quite close to her whilst anchoring and they came on the VHF and told me I'd got within 50 yards (choppy sea, Warrior 165) before they spotted me by radar - and that was military spec hardware. Later the same day I had to ask another big grey beast to divert as it was coming straight at me. Now I've got one of those tube reflectors, plus one of the alloy cheapo ball devices strapped to a pole that I can shove in a rod holder at anchor but I doubt I make much more signal and frankly, I strongly doubt whether the tankers and ferries pay much attention to the radar by daylight anyway. Right or wrong, the onus is on the small boat to get out of the way. Having the moral high ground is scant compensation for being sat on by a container ship. Eyes peeled at anchor, buoy the warp so you can dump the lot and run at a moments notice and just hope when the day comes it is a five knot tanker that has crept up on you not one of those scary great high-speed ferries! Steve