Afishionado

As Mike says most A/F's are self abraiding and on slower vessels they are brilliant, a pressure wash at the end of the season and your ready to go next year. The high speed power boats tend to use the hard A/F in several coats as the chemicals are in the paint and they leach out over the course of a season. However here's the rub (pun intended ), at the end of the season it's just paint, most of the poisons having gone, and it will need rubbing down to reduce the thickness before you can stick some more on for next year. This is one of the most 5hitty jobs on a boat!

Also .......... Moorings? Will you also need a dinghy? If so where will you keep it and launch it? Boats get vandalised on moorings also broken into and stuff nicked. You can't leave anything valuable aboard therefore EVERYTHING has to be lugged to the boat and back again every trip.

Having had and used moorings, finger berths, and trailering IMHO trailering is best unless one is filthy rich and can afford a marina berth and pay the yard to do your maintainance. If you are tempted Cobbs, this year, is

not a bit skiddy and slidey then Miguel ?

Well the bathroom mats did slide about a bit but I have Gripfilled them down now so they are nice and fixed. When they get dirty it's only a moments work to give them a go over with Shake and Vac and a blast with a Dyson.

Mad Mike

Obviously as a cosy for the fishfinder.

 

Terry B.

BRILLIANT!

Mad Mike

years of being a proof reader for the guardian you know.

Having seen some of the G's typo's I thought all their proof readers were

Serbo Croat

Mad Mike

welcome aboard rob

only take notice of the good info

bill s

It's finding out which the good stuff is that makes it fun.

Fr'instance I think we went onto 5 pages of discussion on the correct way to anchor and nearly ended up with baiting needles at dawn!

So for crissake don't ask realy difficult questions like 'what colour line should one use on a wet November day with the wind in the north east'. The arguments could last 'till Christmas!!

Mad Mike

This shows exactly what I was talking about some months ago when the argument about cod and other round fish quotas came up.

The quota method based on the tonnage LANDED is utter madness. Any quota should be based on total tonnage caught even if it means spot checks and/or on board observers. The cod end of the average north sea trawl might contain 2cwt of round fish PLUS another 3 or 4cwt of what is euphemisticly called 'by catch'. These are undersized fish, fish of a species that has already reached it's quota, prey fish and fingerlings. All of which are shoveled back into the sea DEAD!

The act of trawling kills all the fish, they are swept into the cod end and the water pressure of the moving trawl stops them breathing.

Fish quotas and the way they are used are sheer madness. What is needed is a 5year rotating moratorium on all mechanical methods of fishing in selected breeding areas. Exactly as the traditional farmer would rotate the crops he sowed on his land.

Mad Mike

canabals (I'm sure I've spelt that wrong

Canybubbles is wot it should be

Mad Mike

Cooor! Nice boat Rob

So you've stopped lurking and dived in, well done.

Loads of advice here, some of it is even usefull

Mad Mike

Some of you may remember that I wrote the other week about re surfacing the cockpit floor with B&Q laminate flooring strips, and how nice the boat looked with the gloss maple floor.

Well I had another bit of inspiration and have fitted out the new floor with two attractive fluffy bathroom mat sets. The ones with the U shaped indent that are meant for the toilet fit nicely round the seat pedestals and the oblong mats realy set the floor off. Now, any sugestions where I could put the knitted lady in a crinoline that normaly goes over the spare toilet roll?

Mad Mike

One has a Harrods hamper that one takes with one when one goes fishing. It is filled with ones cheese butty and a flask of Ruby Lee.

Mad Mike

Okay Mike we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one,but the trick is not to have a trip that is 'overly strong' but one that is matched to the boats size and power, then there are no probs.

 

Islander

Ed Zachery!

Mad Mike

Thanks chaps

 

I have flip down gadget mast and arial so there's not much else to do there.

 

'spose I just need to get out there and see what's what.

 

Any comments on Cobb's?

 

T

Without a shadow of a doubt the best slip in Poole with all the amenities as well. Water at all states of tide easy parking etc etc.

IMO worth the

Quote..strong enough to hold you in a big tide but weak enough to give way under greatly increased load, this is not difficult

The thing is with many small lighter boats it is not easy or safe to put a 'greatly increased' strain on an overly strong weak link. There is a world of a difference between an 18ft boat weighing 1000lb or so and a heavy displacement craft surging up against a locked in anchor suddenly tripping or even worse not tripping and pulling the bow down.

IMO (and that of others over the years) there should be no slack in the line to the base of the anchor and the trip should be just strong enough to trip when the anchor line is vertical and bouyed by the Alderny set up.

Mad Mike

PS. in 40 odd years of owning various boats and trying most things, I stick to what works safely and well.

The bridge is not so much of a prob going out Trevor, it's the coming back that is the problem. We come back mostly at week ends and often between the 5.30 pm and 7.30pm time of day. If I have forgotten to time it to avoid the bridge opening time we are faced with a phalanx of WAFI's and neuvaux rich pratts in bl00dy great plastic cruisers rotating round waiting for the opening of the bridge. Inevitably when it does open the larger (downtide) bunch of boats get the red light allowing the uptide lot to come through first. However this is not realised by some twits who blast forward against the red light and oncoming boats honking furiously.

Then when the green light does eventualy come on there is a 'Grand National' style charge to be the first through and strangely enough it is always the slowest boat that is first through (I haven't figured out why this happens yet?). Anyway this boat goes through the bridge very slowly causing a huge bottleneck crush and then continues to turn hard port towards the wood yard. At precisely the right moment to cause tha maximum confusion and mayhem this boat then swings hard round Starboard, broadside to all the traffic still barging it's way through the bridge and proceeds to fit into a nose on mooring on the West Quay road side!

The best advice is modify what you can to be swing downable or removeable and be sure you do not have to wait for the bridge to open.

Mad Mike

Hi,

 

Can anyone recommend a medium size left handed boat multiplier, its not for me but my cack handed father, hes got a 12lb set of gear, he's currently using an Avet, but he wants a 20/30lb set as well, and there ain't many out there, Abu 7001 would be too small, and the Shimano TLD's only come right handed.

 

Any suggestions???

 

Thanks

 

Scott

enter 'Abu left hand wind reel' on an ebay search and you will find stuff like this..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Abu-TGC6001C-Left-Ha...1QQcmdZViewItem

Mad Mike

Andy admits.......It wasnt untill after we got it we found out that rollers on our trailor were Knacked & we didnt need it anyway !

Andy! You are a true weekend trailer sailor of the finest caliber That remark guarantees life membership of the guild of cock up merchants of which I too am a member.

Any way you reckon one of these electric thingies is worth a go then?

Mad Mike

PS Gazza, my boat is a Sea Hog Samurai which is similar to the Warrior in weight. My problem is deminishing strength

Where can you get a 'leccy winch for 60 squid ?

Have a look at .....

http://motors.search.ebay.co.uk/electric-w...pZ1QQsacatZ1293

Mad Mike

My! thatsabigun Mrs!!!

That looks a real beast and I guess well up on the

As my body slowly disintergrates around a brain that still feels it's only in it's mid thirties, I have to think about technology giving me a hand.

I have seen on ebay and other places electric (12 Volt off the car) powered winches that fit on the winch post of the trailer. Apparently they can pull 5000lb on a level pull and recover at the rate of 6ft a minute.

Has anyone any experience of one of these doohickies, any opinions as to their worth in the terms of function?

Answers please on

Sorry but that slack will mean that you are effectively anchored by your cable ties ..............

 

this is madness

 

no method that weakens the the rode should be employed

Duncan I agree, but I didn't want to be the first to say that it was a daft idea

Yes there should be no horizontal tension on the cable ties/weak link at all. The weak link should only come under tension when the pull on it is vertical.

Mad Mike

He left his missus at the helm as he went below deck.........just quoting(ish) from the echo

I know! I would love to know the whole story. How the hell could either he go below and leave an obviously unskilled helm or be down there that long she could get so close (hitting) the rocks. Didn't she yell for help earlier? I wonder how long the marriage will last!

Mad Mike

A common cause of these symptoms after a period of inactivity over the winter months is a sticky thermostat. At low speeds even the restricted flow through a closed thermostat will be sufficient to cool the engine. However more throttle will create more heat which needs a greater flow of water to cool the engine.

I would sugest removing the thermostat and then re run the engine at home to check the running temp' with it out. It is perfectly OK to run the engine with no thermostat at all, in fact I have removed mine due to a similar problem last year.

If you need a mobile O/B mechanic to call and sort it, I can thoroughly recommend Sam 07810 561520.

Mad Mike

You can still set the anchor with a weak link trip even without the Alderny set up.

Just fix the anchor line to the base of the anchor (so it would be upside down if you hung it up in the air) then lay the anchor line along the shaft of the anchor and fix it to the top ring of the anchor with a cable tie or a couple of turns of light line. If the anchor is jammed just pull the line up tight and make it fast at the bow and then motor (gently) forward against the strain untill the cable tie/string snaps and the anchor turns upside down and pulls out of the snag.

Mad Mike

Ferry responds to yacht's Mayday

The couple abandoned their yacht after it ran aground

A ferry travelling to the Channel Islands has been involved in a yacht rescue off the south coast of England.

A couple were rescued by coastguard teams after they were forced to abandon their 47ft (14.3m) yacht when it hit rocks at Anvil Point, Swanage, Dorset.

The fast-cat ferry Condor Vitesse heard the Mayday relay call on Monday morning, whilst travelling from Poole to the Channel Islands.

The woman, from Wilts, and the man, of Richmond, London, were not injured.

Their yacht Wellworthy was blown high onto the rocks in blustery conditions as they sailed along the coast from Lulworth Cove, Dorset, to Lymington, Hampshire.

The Portland Coastguard helicopter took part in the rescue operation

The man managed to jump from the cliffs they were clinging on to into the Swanage RNLI inshore lifeboat, but the woman had to be airlifted to safety by the coastguard helicopter.

The Condor Vitesse carried on with its journey to the Channel Islands.

Jim Anderson, watch manager for Portland Coastguard, said: "She (the Wellworthy) got caught by bad weather and sea conditions that pushed her into the rocks.

"It may have been a steering fault and she could do little about it but we don't have the full picture.

"They were cruising, they had been staying over night in Lulworth Cove and they were making their way back to Lymington."

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) spokesman said the yacht was breaking up on the rocks.

I think I read somewhere that there were two types of halibut. One the very large ones we normaly think off. These are found in northern deep cold waters. But there is a smaller halibut that is caught off the east coast of America and Newfoundland more or less on the same latitude as the UK.

Mad Mike