Afishionado

Starting with the simple stuff first The double tide bit comes later with pictures too! Mad Mike Re truly insane.... I consider that I am the one looking in at the inmates!

A simplified version........... NEAPS Less water moving and not quite so high or low as a spring SPRINGS Most water moving, higher highs and lower lows THE HIGHT GIVEN is always a 'prediction' not a certanty. This is because beside the movement of the moon, air pressure affects the hight/flow of water. eg .. High air pressure (light winds) presses down on the water surface and suppresses the tidal flow. Low air pressure (stormy weather) With less pressure on the waters surface the level and speed of flow can 'Surge' creating tidal flooding conditions in very low pressure storm centers. WATCH THE MOON Full or new moon = Spring tides Half moon (and degrees of) = Neap tides. The tide hight given is the hight OVER the 'chart datum' . The chart datum is basically the LOWEST tide you could ever expect in that area. Thats why you see lots of drying areas on a harbour chart and yet you might never have seen the water that low. Differences in hight for a given area......... Some areas 'pinch' the flow of water so that the same amount of water has to pass through a narowing channel, this speeds up the flow AND as the water can only move upwards in hight for the given area it has to flow, the depth of the water over the chart datum increases. The perfect example is the Bristol Channel where they get 20 t0 40ft tide hights as the channel narrows. A full 12 hour of tide progresses at 20 min per 12 hour low to high to low again tide. eg Low water Monday 12 noon Low water Tuesday (24hrs = 2 full tides X 20min per tide = 40 min) 12.40pm All of the above is generalisation and the purist will happily pick minutia out of it, but it all one needs to have a good working knowledge of the tide around OUR coast. Oh and lastly the EQUINOX's Simplified, these occure one in the SPRING and one in the AUTUMN, and very roughly coinside to the week we put the clock forward or back an hour. These equinoxal tides are when the pull of the moon, the sun, and the Mirror are in line and give us the highest highs and lowest lows of the year. Any further explination can be obtained by sitting in a bath full of hot water and playing with your duck whilst sliding from one end of the bath to the other Mad Mike

One can buy a none slip mat that is used to stop carpets sliding on polished wood. A 12" square undrer yer bum stops all sliding off PVC. Mad Mike PS they sell the same stuff for none slip router mats at a highly exhorbitant price.

As our seas get warmer with global thingy we might get a story like this in the local news......... Swordfish kills fisherman 22/11/2005 15:07 - (SA) Kuala Lumpur - A fisherman died two days after a swordfish pierced his brain, while he was out at sea fishing, said a report on Tuesday. The Malay Mail newspaper reported that in the freak accident at sea on Saturday, off the northern state of Kedah, a swordfish, measuring 0.3m leapt out of the water and stabbed Adnan Walid, 39, in his right eye. Though the swordfish missed his eyeball, the fish's beak pierced the brain. Although the fisherman managed to pull the fish out of his eye, a piece of its beak got lodged in the brain, which caused his death. Swash Channel terrorised by 6' Garfish Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Mad Mike

Quote.....Just to give you the scale the frame is 97 inches circumference. 32" handle to front rim 27" wide 40" deep. May I buy a pice of that net 100" x 45" please? Mad Mike

He is absolutely right y'know The trouble is we have so many laws that no begger takes a blind bit of notice of that more and more we all ignore more important rules 'because others do it and get away with it'. I have never heard the coastguard telling any of the chatters to clear the channel, in fact I have never heard anyone chastise the channel hogging booring meanderings of so called 'professional' skippers. Mad Mike

The sort of net I am looking for is about a 1" mesh using polyester twine. Big enough to make a 30" dia X 30" deep net. I find the fine nylon woven net is a hook magnet, particularly if one has been using trebble hooks on plugs or spinners. Once in a hook has to be cut out of them. The harder polyester twine is less likely to get penetrated by a hook and as the mesh is wider presents less drag when lifting a fish out of the water. S/S rod I pick up at Walter Shaws metal scrap yard at Nuffield trading estate. One only pays scrap metal wholesale price for it. The rod rest array that a lot of Warrior and their clones have at the back of the boat usually cost in excess of

I agree Martin....... I will open a new thread 'Landing Net' in the tackle forum. Mad Mike

Quote.....No shortage of net around for a bag. You can get landing net net?????????????????? You'll have a lot of takers for that stuff. Me for one!! Is it available to buy? Mad Mike PS For what it's worth I think a wooden shaft is much better for a landing net. Easier to grip, raw wood is none slip, and easier on the hands altogether. PPS 6 mm is ideal, but freeze the gin and tonic before you drill it or it will run off the work bench.

Volvox Scaldia It sounds like the sort of infection that naughty ladies who work the night shift in certain areas of big cities might get? But I am sure that one can get an ointment for it.................................. "Doctor doctor my strawberry has gone red!" "Don't worry my dear I have some cream for that"........... Mad Mike

A bronze prop that hasn't had protection from an anode will fall apart in a year or so. Te same test with a hammer, a light tap should make a "tuneful" sound, but if you get a dull thud, you need a new prop. It also gets a distinct 'pinkish' hue when it has lost the zinc content. All in all, underwater bronze is yesterdays technology and modern marine grades of S/S are far better. It's also worth saying at this stage of the thread that BRASS screws are useless underwater they are too soft and will waste away in no time. It is a common mistake to confuse brass screws with BRONZE screws. Bronze is darker and denser than brass so the feel and look of bronze is different from brass. True bronze is also a damn site more expensive than brass. Mad Mike

'bronze strap'. Yes but it MUST be fixed with brass screws and connected to your sacrificial anode otherwise it and the screw will de-zinc and become soft and porous. If the Bronze strap is not new test it by giving it a tap with a light hammer. You should hear a nice metallic 'TINK' , if it's just a sorta thud then it's been used under salt water without being protected by an anode and is bloody usless. Personally if you can run to it I would go for stainless as it is far tougher and gives real protection if you do have a bump on a stony bottom. Mad Mike

I think 95% of the brass screws will have de-zinced over the years and will shear when you try to remove them. So the best bet is to drill new holes rather than even think about using the old holes. If you offer up the new keel band and wedge it into place then mark of where the best place for the holes to be on the steel, don't worry too much about even spacing 'cos no one will be seeing it underwater. You can then remove it and drill it in the workshop idealy on a pillar drill. Bed the new band down on a top quality mastic (sickoflex) when you do the final fix. For screws I would recommend stainless steel 'turbo' screws from Screwfix. Brilliant grip in GRP. Mad Mike

I could try for a cheap laugh and say Me rollicks 'ave alus got me into trouble Yer 'onour............I could, but I wont. But if one thinks about it boats and ships do have their fair share of 'rude' sounding thingies...... Haws hole Futtock cringle tumble home (out on the hiss again?) rowlocks bunting (and we all know what that really means! ) cow hitch (as in reflections on marriage) And as for HM Ships, who would want to be a Number One let alone a Number Two. Mad Mike

Charlie didja get my PM? Mad Mike

Quote... doing things to small boats Not only illegal in public but very painfull as well! Mad Mike

Stop whinging Sam We all had to do it and trust me pal there will be many many times when your an adult that you WILL say "I wish I was back at school again" Mad Mike

My thoughts too. A touch of Teneriff's 'black sand'. As I said though I wonder how many of the old traditional harbour marks will disappear, or hopefully new marks develop. Mad Mike

Quote......Drilling 3mm 316 stainless isn't too bad. Slow drill speed, plenty of oil and keep the pressure steady. I did a DIY keel band on my 165, went through about five or six standard drill bits. Good advice. When you do the job invest in some top quality titanium (gold) plated HSS drill bits they are the Perros Cajones for drilling SS. Ditto a titanium coated countersink. Mad Mike

How many threads are on this subject? I thought it was about boat bits and lately keels, how the heck do camera boats and the channel islands get in here? Mad Mike

Me too with the query <through the channel with a shrimp rig> Which channel and wassa shrimp rig?? Mad Mike

What's it made of at the moment. How is it fixed to the hull. Can you use the same mounting method again? (ie Can you get to both heads and tails of the screw/bolt fixings. Without recourse to very expensive 'marine' chandlers there are two materials I have used with success in the past. #1/ Hot dip galvanised 'WaterBar' from builders merchants. Comes in up to 3M lengths about 1 1/4" wide and 3/16 thick. #2/ Stainless 316 bar in 5M X 3 or 4mm lengths available from Ferraris stainless steel stockists at Verwood Mad Mike