Afishionado

Dun! PM me to arrange hand over Mike

Free Childs boyancy aid. Suit 5 t0 10 year old or midget. Could be converted to canine use by removing the back legs of a dog needing bouyancy. Mad Mike

Eye's watering as I type! OUCH!!! Paul, having suffered bad infection in a wound I can say with authority .... Don't take risks by pushing beyond your capacity to heal. Mad Mike

Four more like this and a loaf of bread and you'll all get lunch! Mad Mike

Quote.....as for uptiding in Poole Harbour - well the idea was to fish outside the 'scare area' of your anchor rode and boat hull............in the harbour you are feet from a mooring/hull in most places so there's no real advantage over dropping a bait back in the tide - and a lot of disadvantages. All I can repeat is that I find uptiding in certain areas of the harbour very effective. Possibly the fish I caught were as daft as I was for uptiding amongst the moorings? As for outside the harbour anywhere up to about 60ft deep is fine for uptiding and also allows the use of far lighter leads when fishing strong tides. I fish one down tide and one uptide from the boat. The Uptide gets about a 2 to 1 catch rate over downtiding so I will continue to use it but with mono as I said. Mad Mike

Any one looked at . http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Blue-Ice-Ice-Maker-I...Q2em118Q2el1247 Mad Mike

I have found uptiding very successful round here, including a 6lb place in the harbour. I used to use mono up until a couple of years ago and had no problems at all. Then I changed to the new 'miracle' braid but after a couple of years I am going to go back to mono for uptiding. I can't put my finger on exactly what I don't like with braid but the thicker diameter of mono seems to suit the drag profile of the line in a differant way to the thinner braid, making bite indcation far more posative. This is my take but no doubt there will be other opinions too. Mad Mike

My 'Eau, Pride of Morpork has an air draft of 2.15 metres and I would wager is higher than the Romany. I have never seen the air draft on the bridge less than 2.2 metres. They measure the air draft from the lower edge of the big blue girders so if you line up with the gaps between you can slide under. Don't the plastic fantastic posh cruisers get a cob on if you wriggle past them and go under the closed bridge whilst they are waiting for it to lift. Silly buggers, like one is going to wait when you can go under it when it's still closed. Mad Mike

Tarpon and not a Red Herring? Well after all they are of the same family! If it is true Tom, the first line caught must be a British record, but for how long? Mad Mike

Quote....Just got the toilet to sort out looks like it has not been used for years so I hate to think if I will get the seacock to work! The anchor winch needs sorting out as it only seems to wind in and the foot switches don't seem to work but that should not be too much of a problem. Sea cocks...... If I remember they are of the 'taper fit' variety. These do tend to lock twist wise through lack of use. Undo the nut at the bottom of the valve body and tap the threaded bit (rubber/nylon hammer) up to loosen the tapered bit. remembering to have summat to block the flood of water inwards!!. Clean up the seating on both the male and female sides with wire wool or 240 wet or dry and grease both with SILICONE grease and reassemble. The power winches take a BIG amperage but at only 12Volt. They suffer from poor contact at both ends of the cable run (which by the way should be as thick as car battery cable). First check the contacts for verdigris which is removed easily with a very special product called ......... Cillit Bang!! (GRIME & LIME) Mad Mike

Where are you keeping her Dave? My gods that brochure gave me goose bumps of nostalgia, as well as your latest pictures. A fine looking 'proper' boat even with a new 'Eau I feel a touch jealous as I love the traditional shape. Good luck to you and all who sail in her. Mad Mike

As I told you Paul the picture was copyright free via the Daily Mail on line. ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...n_page_id=1770) However as you are so concerned about possible legal action culminating in the imprisonment of the committee and the execution with prejudice of your good self I am sure you acted wisely. I trust that all further pictures and excerpts from any electronic source will receive your eagle eyed inspection. It's nice to know you are so careful. Mike Edit..... Oh, it's also on Utube in full moving picture Technicolour with SOUND!!!! http://milstead.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/w...lodes/#more-549

New effervescent ground bait not the success we hoped for says manufacturer Sorry - had to remove the picture. - Was really funny, but unfortunately the picture is copyrighted.

First thing as far as I remember the QS620 is only rated to a 90hp or 115hp depending on the year of manufacture and they are known to have various hull problems particularly in the area of the transom when overpowered. Hence the re-rating from 115hp to 90hp back in 2006. The QS certainly have had hull cracking and de-lamiating probs in the past although they are a popular boat and even those that have had prob's like them once the problems were resolved. However as these were all new boats still under guarantee I would be wary of a second hand one. If you do go for it insist on a full survey by a qualified marine surveyor and even though this will cost you (about

Mike, please book Pride of Morpork in for a safety check on the day. She is on F19 and I will meet you at the jumble at a time in the morning to suit you. And thanks for the heads up on the jumble. I can put in to sell the crap I bought there last year and buy someone elses crapthis time and keep it in the boat/garage for a year and then do it all again Mad Mike

Quote.......Do you know anbody who knows any thing about how much ballast a displacement boat should carry ? That'll be a can of worms There are going to be several or even many answers. To give you a better chance of getting an answer that actually has any relevance to what is needed, it would be best to give a lot more detail about the craft you are talking about together with the nature of its use. (trailed or moored?) A trailered craft would have the minimum needed, nothing like as much as the ideal amount a moored craft would have. Also it would help if you stated the reason you asked. Are you thinking of a specific problem, like a boat that is tender as hell and rolls on wet grass? There is no such thing as too much information, so if you can fill in the blanks you'll get something like an accurate answer. Mad Mike

A little known and totally useless fact is that in the early steam powered (Victorian) Royal Navy the steering commands were reversed. In other words the movement of a notional 'tiller arm' was ordered. A command Put 20 deg' of PORT HELM on would result in a turn to the right etc. They kept this system for about 20 years. One incident involving it's absurbity was the sinking of two new battleships in Akabar Bay off Lebanon which resulted in great loss of life including that of the Admiral that gave the incorect order. Mad Mike

Charlie, as usual I am not going to mix my words and I expect there will be several 'Brand conscious' snobs who will disagree. Without a doubt for someone who has price and reliability at the top of their agenda Tohatsu is the way to go. It is not just my opinion but many members of the WSF boat owning and maintenance forum, and there are some real experts there. Tohatsu is also Nissan, in fact the whole conglomerate flies under the Tohatsu Engineering banner. The are the only O/B which covers racing within their guarantee. Price wise they sell for less than the 'name' brands because A/ they can sell them at a lower price . B/ to penetrate the European market which is biased towards the known name brands they need to make them fiercely competitive on price. There are many bargains about at the moment with new boxed 2006 and 2007 engines available at great prices. Have a look at http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=77 under the thread 'Tohatsu engines' and don't let the brand name tarts put you off 2 or 4 cycle is up to you, but look at your usage and do the maths. For example how many hours use would it take to absorb an

I would keep checking Ebay as there are often whole g/b's offered there. Also there is a guy on the IoW who breaks O/B's and sells components, check Boats&outboards under O/B's and engine parts. Remind me ..what is the engine in question? Mad Mike

Ooow Er Well the only a little bit of bad news first, is that too much time has elapsed since the service to have any recourse on the people who did it. You can not prove low use and in any event it sounds like you have a gear box seal failure which might well not have been apparent 2 years ago. The really bad news is that your gear box needs stripping and the mechanisms inside it examining for ware and corrosion, together with a rebuild with whatever parts are required. I always recommend Sam Tricket who services my engine and has worked on several of the members boats. Mad Mike

Chemical etch and an epoxy resin paint is the way forward IMO. Mad Mike

Ebay is well worth a look f'rinstance these two...270221151579 130208257964 Mad Mike

I am sure I am reading this wrong but are you saying it's a W 165 with a 175hp 4 stroke on the back????? Or maybe 1 x 75hp? Any way the trailer price seems bl00dy exorbitant to me, but then what do I know? Mad Mike

Seen this on Ebay? Item 120234443480 Mad Mike