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Post by pilgrim17 on Nov 28, 2014 18:22:45 GMT 1
Still 1 place left
Ken Ward has had to withdraw because of family illness, so there is 1 place left for Sunday's Belle trip. It wont be fast, & it wont be far, but hopefully we will get something for the pan. It seems that there is a concencus for the 9am lock out which will put us over Mumbles area about 9.45 which is perfect for what we have in mind (as long as the weather plays ball) worm bait & bling will be the order of the day I reckon The major attraction of the day will be chilli dogs, with fried onions, & English mustard, that should clear any long standing blockages, it might even drive the growlers away! Instead of "Let it Go" we could have "Let one Go" (if you are very brave)! I see "Oysterdog" has cancelled its trip, so we haven't got a lot to beat, so a golden opportunity to win well.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Nov 30, 2014 20:39:39 GMT 1
Not a bad day after all
Despite some late withdrawals through ill health, we managed to get afloat with just 3 of us aboard, & after getting a bollocking off the marina lock keeper for going into the lock without permission (I couldn't see there wasn't red over green with the sun that low), we eventually headed for Mumbles head & our "plaice mark". Well nobody told the plaices that we were coming, so they didn't turn up, a few dabs did, & a 2lb 13oz bass did, but no plaices, & we did have a few "Swansea Bay Tuna". We stuck it out until high water, then went around the corner to a spot outside the moorings where we sheltered 2 weeks ago & had a few dabs, well we had a few more today as well, in fact they were coming up 2 at a time sometimes, unfortunately for Richie he was catching little ones, & my "blinged up" size 1's were attracting the big ones, which p****d him off somewhat, we had quite a few small whiting too, just undersize unfortunately, but a change from the growlers, we stuck it out until 2.50pm then headed back to catch the 3.30 lock in as planned. So we had a few fish for the pan for a pleasant change, the boat went very well without any hitches, the new hand winch works a treat bringing the anchor up, but I still need a piece of 15mm x 15mm box section to make a new handle, & I need to fit another bow roller for the rope gypsy (because the existing one is lined up for the chain gypsy) but that is a minor problem now we have mechanical muscle to lift the anchor. On a culinary note, because only Richie & I like chili-dogs we had 2 rounds of buttered thick sliced toastie bread, with a thick layer of fried onions, then 3 chili dog sausages covered in English Mustard, with another slice of thick sliced & buttered bread on top, SUPERB is the only word to describe it, sat off Mumbles, catching dabs in the sunshine, eating red hot chili dogs with lashings of mustard swilled down with a nice mug of tea. Who said we don't know how to live?
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 1, 2014 18:42:00 GMT 1
STILL LOOKING FOR
About 6" of 15mm x 15mm (5/8" x 5/8") steel box section to make a handle for the hand winch I have fitted onto Mumbles Belle, I have asked every likely person I know, my alternative would be to get 2 short sections of angle iron welded together, or 4 short lengths of flat stock welded up, but I am sure somebody has about 6" of box section lying about?
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 3, 2014 17:13:54 GMT 1
Forget rummaging!
I cut 2 pieces of angle iron down with the angle grinder, & now they await No2 sons welding skills to complete the winch handle , should be ready for the trip on Saturday. I am taking advantage of every day the weather is suitable to get trips in, before Christmas, lock closure, bad weather, & whatever else rears its ugly head! Saturday looks good, light northerly wind early on, then it turns westerly & increases slightly as the tide starts to flood, so it should be fine we will have wind with tide flattening it off, & with wind & tide behind us we should break the 6 knot barrier coming home . Depending on the sea state it will either be the hole between SWIGG & the Strombus, or just outside the mooring in Mumbles where we have been getting some nice dabs, & a few whiting, then maybe off County Hall (where they have been catching codling), either way we will have a few fish, & as usual it will be slow but cheap! Lock out at 9am (plenty of time to buy bait) come back in at 3.30 "Gentlemans hours" as Ken Davison calls them, all I need is anglers, so don't be shy ladies
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 6, 2014 13:38:42 GMT 1
NO TAKERS!
That was a surprise, (& a bit of a kick in the teeth), a 9am - 3.30pm trip in good weather, on a Saturday, with dabs & whiting being caught in numbers, & no takers? (well one who had to cry off with good reason). Now we enter at least a week of winds too high for Belle to go out, so I am stuck, tied up alongside the pontoon doing maintenance & odd jobs, kicking my heels waiting for the weather to improve. When it does am I going to get more of the same? Arrange trips, watch the weather, keep the boat ready to go, buy the bread & sausages/bacon, milk, only for nobody to show any interest? Not good enough ladies, I am running on about 4/5 people who are interested, & 2 of them are fellow skippers/crew, even my wife is saying to me now "Why bother going down the marina so often, if nobody is interested?", & that is a good question?
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 9, 2014 15:11:02 GMT 1
SATURDAY 13TH
Looks to be the only option weatherwise, strong winds from the SW before & after, so Saturday with a lighter NW looks to be the only option. After last Saturday's total lack of interest I wont be holding my breath waiting for the boat to fill. The boat is ready, I am prepared to take it out, its up to you to put bums on seats.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 10, 2014 14:41:11 GMT 1
Maintenance update
The handle for the rope gypsy on the "new" anchor winch has been made, & a modification to spring load the anti-reverse pawl has been done, all I need to do now is to swap the existing anchor rope, for the one we recently got donated by one of our members. The existing rope is "Sea Steel" & although extremely strong, it is quite "springy" & shiney & not very "gypsy friendly" (I noticed that when we last used it) I had to take about 4 turns around before it would bring the rope in, with this many coils on the gypsy, it causes the coils to go under each other & jam the recovery, so this new softer rope should work much better. I have been looking at the information available on the effects of the steering tube fitted to Mumbles Belle, given the difficulty of getting it to respond to the helm, especially in the locks. From what I have read, the tube serves MAINLY as a prevention to ropes snagging the prop (the last thing you want is to be attached to a blazing oil rig, by a stray rope around the prop! It's purpose as a steering mechanism seems purely secondary, which is why it doesn't respond well. Furthermore (as we have all witnessed) it causes cavitation when you increase the revs quickly (such as in the lock or coming onto the berth) the limited amount of water entering the tube is aerated by the prop, causing it to froth & bubble & with that much air in the water the prop does not respond properly & it is acting more of a whisk than a prop. Once you are underway the effects are not so bad with an adequate amount of water flowing through the tube, the prop works to a reasonable % of it's efficiency (not 100% as can be seen by the need to keep the prop down by moving anglers to the stern). During all this reading up of other peoples attempts to solve steerage/rudder problems, it became fairly obvious that there is a figure that represents the "average" surface area of a rudder, compared to the size of the boat. It appears that this is approx 10-12% of the boats "underwater footprint" (less for yachts?). I have noticed that the skippers on the Oystercat have very little tiller control over it even at speed, & looking at the size of the rudders, I think that is what might well be the problem, given that the boat has 2 "footprints" (34ft x ~6ft each hull) Then 10-12% of that is 20/24 sq ft each rudder (6ft x 4ft) If my memory serves me right, last time she was out of the water, they looked about the same size as a pair of serving trays? Of course it would be prudent to ask Blythe Boats their thinking behind the small rudders they have fitted to Oystercat, it may well be scientifically determined by some marine designers, but it seems that they have to really struggle to keep it on course at any speed, so another topic for discussion!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 12, 2014 14:27:10 GMT 1
YET AGAIN!
Absolutely no interest in taking advantage of the only real weather window in a stormy week, that's two Saturdays on the trot when everything was favourable & I had proposed taking Belle out, that I had no response. So I will now leave it for anglers to ask me to take the trip, the boat is ready to go anytime, so if you want to go from now on YOU ask!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 16, 2014 21:16:20 GMT 1
The good times are here!
Went out on Oystercat today, & we hit the jumbo whiting for the first time this year, not in LARGE numbers but we had a few 2lb+ fish & a lot more smaller "takers" things are going to get better. The whiting were taking the baits from the top hooks of the traces, if you were on the bottom you got dogs & the occasional dab & small whiting. I had my bigger fish on a fluorescent green "muppet", baited with mackerel, & fished as the top snood on a 2 up 1 down Wessex rig. Dean was using a paternoster & caught a lot of sizeable fish, those who fished hard on the bottom struggled today & what they caught was mainly dogs & the odd dab.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 19, 2014 15:45:39 GMT 1
Now the fish are here!
The weather turns bad on us, looking at the forecast for the week ahead I casually said to my wife that Xmas Day was the only reasonable day of the week "Don't even let it enter your wildest thoughts" was her reply (well the locks are closed anyway) apart from that, there isn't a "Belle Day" on the calendar! Looking forward to drowning a few worms with the gang down at Aberafan on 28th lead slinging off the beach for a change, & by then the boredom level will have reached fever pitch, & the belt will be out to the last hole. I am looking forward to some fine weather after Xmas so we can take advantage of the large whiting that are now out there, & maybe even a cod or two as well! Especially looking forward to SYSAC Cod Comp on Jan 4th, Belle is already over subscribed for that one, lets hope we have good weather so we can put ourselves in with a chance of getting onto the prize list. A couple of "rehearsals" before the big day would be welcome though to sharpen the reflexes, & put some fresh fish into the freezer!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 21, 2014 15:41:35 GMT 1
Wanted!!!
Somebody with knowledge of how to get a Garmin Chartplotter, to "talk" to a DSC VHF. or somebody who can read the handbooks of the same! I have tried to read them & the "straightforward" language describing how to do it, might as well be in Cantonese. Even when they were in a dialogue they never spoke the same language (much like my wife & I), the position shown on the VHF was never the same as the position showing on the chartplotter, (which was a bit unnerving) Unfortunately even that distant friendship has ended & now the VHF message stream tells me that there is no date/time/position being received. Now I can manage without the date & time ( I have a newspaper for the date, & a watch to tell the time) but the position of the boat is a bit more important. Last time it was "working" we were over the Strombus, & it was showing on the VHF that we were somewhere near the bottom of the Knab Slipway, not a huge distance I know, but I would prefer that the lifeboat came to Mumbles Belle direct, rather than go via Mumbles Moorings. So anybody who has their own plotter/vhf are welcome to have a look while I make the tea
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 23, 2014 21:12:10 GMT 1
Don't all rush lol!
To help with this chartplotter/VHF "Failure to communicate" problem, it is probably something simple which I just cant see, & the more I read the handbook the further away from understanding it I get! There must be a "Send posn to external device" or something in the chartplotter menu, but for some reason I cant find it, & the more I look, the less I see. Maybe if I give it a sharp rap with the priest it will solve the problem? But which one do I hit the chartplotter or the VHF? Merry Xmas
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 24, 2014 15:39:52 GMT 1
Been down to check
Went down to Belle this morning to check that the automatic bilge pump was working, checked the oil & antifreeze levels & started her up because she hasn't run for 2 weeks & although there is a solar trickle charger on there, I don't know if the solar charger can cope with that much drain, so I gave her a run to top the batteries up. I also picked up the handbooks for the chartplotter & VHF to go through them again, the answer to the problem lies in them somewhere, I will just have to use Xmas to find out what that answer is? I don't fancy the VHF giving a different position to where we are if I ever have to press the DSC button! Merry Xmas & Happy New Year to all
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 26, 2014 21:47:48 GMT 1
Monday 29th December
Forecast & tide times are good for a 9am to 3.30 pm lock for Belle, there are good whiting to be caught so if you want a feed, contact me on 07814528082 or put your name down on the Booking Form. Don't forget the SYSAC Cod Comp on 4/01/2015 book early or get left behind!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Dec 29, 2014 20:00:26 GMT 1
29/12/2014 Mumbles Belle strikes silver
After a leisurely 9am lock out, we ran out in beautiful cold crisp winter weather to an areas we know yields good whiting & dabs, & the occasional cod. Things were quiet at first with a few of the obligatory dogs, than Stan John hit the first big whiting, & at 2lb 7ozs it also proved to be the biggest of the day yet again! (He won the longest fish prize at Aberafan yesterday) Stan you are "the man" at the moment. We continued to hit sizable keeper whiting most of the day, but the "golden hour" proved to be the last hour of the flood, when we landed 5 more 2lb+ whiting & a host of other keepers. Stan also hooked & landed a small conger & lost 2 more on the surface. Trevor Stewart proved to be the dab king landing at least 6 keeper size dabs. Along with good bag of whiting Richie Pearce also landed the only codling of the day of about 3 lb, I also kept up my end with the second & 3rd best whiting of 2lb 5oz & 2 lb 3 ozs.The only one to FAIL MISERABLY was Lewis who spent the majority of the morning hiding in any corner he could moaning that he was cold, he kept his hands over the stove as the kettle boiled & he was huddled in the cabin until I prised him out of it, then eventually when the sun broke through he sat with his back to his rod trying get warm It appears that having a "designer look" is more important than being warm? He has been given the "Gypsies Warning" for next week, no cabin, no cooker, no borrowed gloves, hats, coats etc its "dress warm or stay cold" lol. A pleasant change to report a good day on Belle, we proved that when the fish are in the bay, we can find them, & catch them, but when they are further away, we have to accept our limitations. Still looking for an electronic genius to get the plotter to talk to the DSC VHF, that still gives me concern, now for next weeks SYSAC Cod Comp lets hope we can get the rub of the green in that & pick up a prize, probably it will be "Stan The Man" if its anybody, he is the man in form at the moment!
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