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Post by pilgrim17 on Aug 28, 2015 19:21:20 GMT 1
Well at last we got it sorted
After much deliberation, & some switching & swapping, we have settled on one trip & that will be on Sunday with a "gentleman's" lock out time of 9am & its full speed ahead for Oxwich again, we had a decent catch last time we were down there & the weather looks calm but cloudy with rain. I can get in the cabin the rest of you don't forget your waterproofs No doubt we will use the same tactics as last time fish St Christophers Knoll on the ebb & the first of the flood then try for mackerel off Pwll Ddu head & maybe a few gurnard if we bait the bottom feather, it worked last time. The estimate for new handrails was far beyond what I expected & quite honestly it couldn't be justified for what we take in donations, so its "Plan B" which Carl & Keith came up with on Thursday evening down the club, so that is the next step
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Post by pilgrim17 on Aug 29, 2015 19:33:49 GMT 1
I HATE spending money!
Even if it isn't my own! Today I had to replace the front bilge pump because the automatic switch wasn't working, & Steve Bryant & I were having to go down almost every day to pump it out using the manual switch. I went to Force4 to get an new one, & would you believe "We have had something of a run on bilge pumps this week" & surprise, surprise, all the cheaper ones had gone leaving only the £95.99 type available, but I rummaged through the stuff on the shelf below & found an Attwood Sahara 750GPH with auto switch for £49.99, it had fallen down because the blister pack it was in had snapped off at the tongue (much to the guy's annoyance) Anyway back to Belle & getting the old one out was quite easy, get hold of the hose & pull, & out it comes but to fit the new one, I have to move a tongue & groove floor that wont come out through the hatch, so I slide it back as far as I can, & slither into the bilge with my legs outside, & up in the air. I eventually manage to get it into position & screw it down, plug in the electric & get soaked ( I had forgotten to tighten the jubilee clip on the pipe) unplug the electric, tighten the clip reconnect the electrics & whirrrrrrrrrrrr away she goes & in a minute or so a very full front bilge was dry. I put the hose pipe in the bilge & washed all the sludge off & it all went up the pipe & into the marina & when it switched off automatically there was only a tiny drop left in the bilge. So now Steve Bryant & I can lay in our beds & hear the rain hammering down without having to get up & go down the marina & stand with our fingers on the manual button for 20 mins! Oxwich tomorrow I will be Russell Crowe "Journey to the far side of the world" last trip produced some nice dabs & plaice, & some big mackerel & red gurnard, lets hope it does again tomorrow. Unfortunately the donations I take tomorrow wont even cover the cost of the new bilge pump it seems to be one step forward & two steps back trying to get this bloody boat to break even, what I need now is the weather to allow 2 trips a week with at least 3 people to get this boat on a financial "even keel" now I have managed to get it on a real even keel. Plan B for the handrails has come into my head, cut the uprights of the existing handrails in half, & bolt a piece 1.5" angle iron, 12" long in the middle & replace using the existing bottom part of the rail back into its original mounting holes, by using angle iron instead of flat bar, it will give more rigidity & a fixing surface for braces if required. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Aug 31, 2015 18:34:56 GMT 1
After the "Lord Mayors Show"
Comes the cart shovelling up the horseshit! After last weeks trip to St Christopher's Knoll I was hoping for great things, left the river at 0845 & I was dropping the anchor on the knoll at 0950, (a new world record time for Belle). Well things started off quietly & stayed that way all day, with the occasional plaice & dabs coming aboard, I was expecting it to fish well with the ebb of a big tide running, but in fact the tide flow a lot less than I expected on a 12.9m tide consequently there wasn't really enough flow to make the attracter spoons etc to spin in the traces. Phil Cryer once again caught most of the fish with his head hooked maddies like small squid, he had a couple of decent plaice & a few nice dabs while the rest of us really struggled. Regardless the banter was good, especially between Nigel Ellerton & myself (are all ex-matelots plonkers?) We even failed to catch mackerel on the way back off Pwll Ddu Point, where it is usually a "banker" for them, & to cap it all it pissed down for most of the day! We drank plenty of tea, coffee, Oxo & had sausage sandwiches to brighten an otherwise miserable day! A couple of positives though, the new automatic bilge pump came on a couple of times emptying the rainwater from the bilge, & the boat fairly flew along at one time hitting 8.3knots at 2200rpm off Langland Point, (saying that we must have had 3 knots of tide behind us ). Furthermore with 5 on board, the donations for the day will cover the cost of the new bilge pump, so every cloud has a silver lining, now lets see what I can arrange for midweek(ish)
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 1, 2015 19:18:59 GMT 1
Went down the marina
To wash the frying pan & the cups etc after Sunday's trip, & to do the paperwork to prevent a contract being put out on me by Janet Hurst, & I found Steve Bryant on the boat, he came down to pump the bilge out only to find it bone dry thanks to the new pump We got nattering about the handrail problem & I told him about my plans to modify the existing "grab rails" & make them into proper handrails, & he said he thought he had some 1.5" angle iron (which I intend to use) in his shed & he confirmed it later on with a text, with luck all I will need to buy (if I cant scrounge it) will be the tube for the new handrail across the stern. I have plans to remove the grab rail that is mounted on the cabin door (its overkill) & by attaching it to the existing stern handrail I should be able to totally rail off the stern to prevent any accidents happening. I don't know if anybody wants to go out this week? The weather isn't that bad the only thing is the tides are big & dropping never, a good omen I prefer small tides rising myself, but if anybody wants to go out I will gladly take your money off you. Sunday is out I am going to Aberafan Beach fishing a competition for charity, lets hope my shore fishing is better than my boat fishing recently, regardless it will be a nice change providing it doesn't piss down, I hate beach fishing in the rain!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 3, 2015 16:37:18 GMT 1
Well I have made a start on them
Finished & fitted one of the heightened handrails, maybe not as aesthetically eye catching as some in the marina, but they will stop people going overboard. Steve was down there yesterday with a tape & a pad & pencil, so it looks like we will have lift off very soon. Weather is looking good for the early part of next week (albeit light easterlies) as long as it stays light its ok, & I have 3 takers so far for a trip on Tuesday 8th, I may try Aberafan again seeing as we have easterlies we will get shelter from it over there, & probably take a run to fish just off the Long Arm again the potential is there I think its just a matter of persevering. I noticed when I went down the marina yesterday that somebody had dumped 8 good sized bass in the marina between the wall & the pontoon, the only thing I can think of is that somebody spotted the Fisheries people in the car park & dumped them as they walked towards the exit. Either that or somebody dumped them off the wall into the marina? Why anybody would dump perfectly good bass in the marina (unless they were breaking the rules) is a mystery. With all this bullshit that is talked about "Bass conservation" there seems to be a very large body of anglers who target nothing else but bass, yet still talk about "bass conservation"! Roll on the cod season they can conserve those as well!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 5, 2015 18:20:07 GMT 1
That saved £600!
& has made it virtually impossible to fall off Mumbles Belle unless you do it on purpose! Steve Bryant chipped in with most of the fabrication work & it now looks the bees knees well done Steve, & all for the cost of 6 cups of coffee, & many dozen long hoarded stainless steel, nuts bolts & washers! I also mounted a stainless rod rest (that has been hanging about for years) on the rail next to where I fish, (tough Nigel) We will give the new rails a try out on Monday, I have had to change the trip from Tuesday to Monday because the winds are going to the E/SE & increasing on Tuesday, & E/SE winds are bad news except over Aberafan/Sker area & you have to fight it either going over or coming back, so its best to stay on the berth when the Easterlies are blowing. Looking at xc weather & BBC the easterlies are here for the next week so I will use that time to get the garden civilised ready for the winter, I don't want to be tidying up the garden when there are jumbo whiting & codling to be caught Plus I still need to do something about the rot around the wheelhouse windows, I may have to cut the rotten ply away replace it with new, then put quadrant around the windows to seal the end grain of the ply. otherwise the lot will end up on the deck, plus the roof is delaminating in parts & that needs to be repaired with fibreglass, so maybe these easterlies are a blessing not a curse. Maybe I will fit a brace in the middle of the stern rail to take any flex out, this bloody boat is a full time job!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 6, 2015 23:22:15 GMT 1
Nice day out
At Aberafan Beach sun shone, lots of people supported the charity match, not much caught, but enjoyable. I managed 2 finger sized bass & that was it, about 100 anglers fished, & the 5th prize was decided by a card draw, so you can se how much was caught! The trip tomorrow is cancelled because I couldn't get enough anglers for different reasons, & when there are enough anglers the weather changes I will go down the marina in the morning & use the maddies I have left from today, to catch some more micro bass on my coarse fishing tackle. I may well measure up for a stiffener on the new stern handrail, as that is the area most likely to take a hit if anybody loses their footing. It looks like the next suitable day to take the boat out will be next Sunday, so if anybody wants to go, fill in the booking form as usual.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 7, 2015 18:11:57 GMT 1
Caught a cracker!
With todays trip called off through lack of interest (again) I thought I would go down the marina anyway to put some fuel in, & to use the maddies I had left from yesterdays beach comp at Aberafan. Did what I had to do & was just about to tackle up for a micro bass session when Steve Bryant arrived (I am sure that man can smell boiling water from 300yards away!). Anyway after a cuppa, & a general critique of most of the club members, we set about catching micro bass by the dozen, after a while I got bored & handed Steve the rod & went off to make another cup of coffee, leaving "Ian Heaps" to it, after doing nothing in particular for a while, I went back to the bow & reclaimed my rod. I decided the maddies weren't going fast enough, so I set the micro bass a challenge by putting about 5 head hooked on & cast it out, asking Steve how he reckoned they would cope with a big bait, had a bite, float went under, I struck & all hell broke loose ! This fish shot off down the pontoon taking the 4lb line off the reel against the drag, so I tightened up a little & put pressure on it & turned it back, & it came back & headed the other way up the pontoon, then it went down deep & around in circles, then it went under the boat & I pulled it out & saw the first flash of silver, but wasn't sure what it was. I asked Steve to get the landing net as this wasn't going to be lifted out like out micro bass, it went all over the place & luckily the yacht that has been next to Belle for years was moved on the weekend, which is just as well because this thing made several runs which would have put it underneath its keels. After many attempts Steve managed to get it into the net & we brought it aboard, as it flapped in the net the 4lb hook length snapped! It was a fine thick lipped mullet about 40cms in length, really broad across the back a really solid fish, we never weighed or measured it just put it straight back, but it was my biggest mullet for years, especially pleasing because of the gear it was caught on, I can see me doing more fishing like that, the need to keep adjusting the drag was exciting after boat fishing all the time! Plus I can put the kettle on whenever I want to, & go into the wheelhouse if it rains
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 8, 2015 17:36:03 GMT 1
Today's call proved to be a good call!
Looking at "Gower Live" online this morning, my call to cancel todays trip looked sound, Swansea Bay, Langland Bay, & Caswell Bay looked most uninviting to anybody going boating, & with the forecast for the next few days being the same it looks like the rest of the week is out too! It does however give me chance to pick up on the DIY chores that "She who must be obeyed" has dropped fairly large hints about, the length of the grass in the lawns "Too wet to cut them dear", the amount of weeds between the pavings of the drive & the slabs around the front of the house, "B&M are out of weedkiller dear", repair the tumble dryer "Haven't had the replacement belt off E-Bay yet" etc, etc, etc Well with the handrails fitted, fuel topped up, & easterly winds, now is a chance to get the DIY done before it gets critical! Tackle the grass first, take the first cut out of the bedroom window almost, take all the spacers out of the Flymo & hone the blade until you could shave with it & it fills the grass box about every 30secs, I eventually managed to cut it 3 times & got a reasonable finish with 2 spacers back in, despite the edges of the blade looking like a bread saw, that will have to be re sharpened! I start on the tumble dryer belt, & get to the critical point where I have to compress the spring to tension the belt, when "dring, dring. dring" of the bloody phone, I manage to extract myself from inside the dryer & get to the phone & give the caller a gruff "HELLO!!!!!!!!!" "Good morning sir am I speaking to Mr Victor Lilygreen? "YES WHAT DO YOU WANT?". "My name is Duncan & our records show that you are owed PPI from your bank loan". "YOUR NAME IS NOT DUNCAN, IT IS SANJIV, OR RAJIT, OR OMAR, OR MOHAMMED BUT IT CERTAINLY IS NOT DUNCAN, NOW **** OFF BEFORE I REPORT YOU TO TRADING STANDARDS" Back to the tumble dryer belt & I fit it but it wont stay on the pulley it keeps throwing off, "ding dong" front door bell, back out of the dryer & open the door, to a courier with a parcel for a neighbour who isn't in, will I take it, so I do & I sign his electronic receipt pad with a large X which he doesn't even look at! & back to the dryer. I notice that the belt has a couple of grooves in it & checking the pulley it has a couple of matching ridges I have been trying to fit the belt inside out, I turn it around & away it goes. That done I turn my attention to the Triffids growing out of every orifice in the front & back garden, so with a spray of weedkiller in each hand I set about them like Wyatt Earp! I reckon with the wind being quite strong I may have a problem with drift, & the wife's flower beds may suffer somewhat but hopefully by tomorrow all the weeds will be looking sick or dead & hopefully some of her flowers will have survived Roll on winter when grass, flowers, & weeds stop growing, & the garden always looks tidy when it is covered in frost, snow, & rain, & nobody goes outside the back door to take a close look anyway. The time when jumbo whiting inhabit the Green Grounds & the occasional cod or codling turn up amongst them, & when small baits fished hard on the bottom produces fat dabs, & DIY is nothing but a distant memory!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 9, 2015 15:51:53 GMT 1
True to our word
Richie & I put the trailer back into service, after freeing the brakes off last time, we went up today & removed the wheels, & battled with the funnelweb spiders that had taken over the inside of the hubs. We took all 4 wheels down to my house where I set up a couple of trestles on the drive, & I cleaned them up with a wire brush mounted on an angle grinder, & Richie painted them Hammerite Silver on the outside , & Red Oxide inside, they now look as if they have come off a pikey's caravan She is now ready to go anywhere anytime. The weather is looking really bad for the next week with winds for the E/SE all week, I don't know if the cat has any plans but I am not considering anything until these easterlies blow themselves out. I can always find things to do on Belle, I am trying to psych myself up to tackle the rot around the windows, maybe with it forecast to be dry for a day or two I will make a start. Again it will involve cost, which I hate, as there is so little coming in from the boat I cant really justify spending any money on it, unless it is absolutely essential, the bilge pump was essential, but I don't want to incur any more cost with these windows. I also want to sort out the problems with the anchor winch, you can only take a single turn around the drum (well not even a full turn) otherwise the rope forms a loop under itself & you have to stop & sort it out by hand. Steve & I studied it the other day & we both feel the rope is coming onto the capstan too high & is trying to ride up the roller, so I will remove the bow roller & the roller axle, round over the front of the bracket so the rope comes over the bracket on a rounded over profile rather than over a sharp edge. I hope I can solve this problem because although it is much easier than lifting by hand, with less than a full turn on the drum I still have to put some effort into lifting the anchor, when the winch should be doing ALL the work. So as you can see there is never a dull moment on these boats if we want them to be ready to go at all times!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 11, 2015 18:25:40 GMT 1
Well I did that
Removed the bow roller & axle, & filed the bracket to a rounded profile instead of a sharp edge so the rope should come over it without any damage, & the chain coming over it will very soon take any rough edges off. I hope this works, so that I can stand inside the boat & feed the rope & chain into the locker, it is most arkward with one foot on the seat pulling the rope at 80 degrees to stop it tangling. If it doesn't work, & I still have to pull at 80 degrees, then I will mount some form of pulley on the gunwhale, around which I can run the anchor rope around while standing square on in the boat & feed the rope into the locker. Just in case I need to make a pulley does anybody have an alternator pulley with a Vee pulley, or does anybody have a cam belt idler that I can use to make a pulley mechanism? Steve Bryant has made & fitted a great safety handrail across the stern, & because I was unconvinced about the fitness & ability of my motley crew he has fitted a support midway along it, it would now take a charging bull elephant to move it, so I can now sleep soundly knowing none of my anglers are going swimming! When these hardy souls will be going out next I don't know, the forecast for the next week is bad & getting worse, but at least it is done ready for the winter. Speaking of which I am contemplating making lightweight wooden frames to attach to the new safety rails, & covering the frames in the same waterproof material I made the sidescreens out of, This would give an extra 14" of wind protection which will be appreciated in the winter when those cold winds blow, a prototype is in order I think (to be fitted to my side of the boat naturally)
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 12, 2015 19:49:40 GMT 1
This weather is so unpredictable
I had a couple of guys put their name down for a trip on Wednesday 16th, & I commented that they were being optimistic with a 20mph S wind forecast Then I looked at xc weather on Friday & they were predicting 6/7/8 mph S/SSW for Wednesday, so all of a sudden the trip could be on, now I look & the winds are back up to 18/20 mph, where do these guys get their information from? We have satellites, massive computer technology, post graduate meteorologists, & they still cant accurately forecast the weather 3 days ahead? John Powell the forecaster from Gower, had a bunch of seaweed outside his kitchen window, & a kids windmill on top of his shed, & his forecasts were a damn sight more accurate than what we get from the "Walking Weather Faggot" & Co! So we might go on Wednesday & we might not, regardless I am going to make a start on my handrail windbreakers to see how efficient they might be, with more orange around the boat we will look like a floating Satsuma, but if they work that's all that's important, watch this space for progress reports!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 13, 2015 18:03:59 GMT 1
Santa Claus came early!
I went down the marina this afternoon for my usual check that all is well, & Santa Claus must have come early because I found 6 white tubular rod holders in the stern (thanks Ken ) I have long been warning people about laying rods down along the seats or across the seats, in the way of me making my way back & forward to the anchor, & my 17st delivered through my size 10 hiking boot, wont do the thin walls of a carbon fibre rod any good at all. So now there are 6 rod holders across the front of the wheelhouse, 5 across the stern, & 3 on the port quarter, we have more rod holding capacity than Mainwarings now, so I will be giving no more verbal warnings about rods left lying on the seats, I HAVE to get back & fore the anchor, so from now on I expect not to have to ask people to move their rods. When we are going to put these new rod holders & handrails to the test I don't know, the forecast seems to be changing by the hour, first off Wednesday was a no chance day, then it changed to acceptable, & now its gone back to winds gusting up to 36 mph & getting both BBC & XC to agree is like arranging a party for both North & South Korea, I don't REALLY expect to be going out this week, but I will watch the forecast daily & if we get a day, it will be short notice that its on, so WATCH HERE & ON THE BOOKINGS SHEET, I am not going to phone around people its up to you who want to go, to watch the booking sheet for the latest developments & then either inform Trevor you want to go, or ring me, text me, or e-mail me.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 14, 2015 17:43:20 GMT 1
I think I can safely say
That tomorrows proposed trip is OFF, at the moment the conifers I can see are trying to do a Chinese bend, the rain is horizontal, & the curtains are trying to wash the ceiling, & this is supposed to drop to 8 mph by the morning? As Catherine Tait used to say "I don't fink so". I need to pick up a prescription in the morning, so if the wind isn't too high I will nip down & check all is well, the wind is a real problem on the moped it tries its best to blow you off the bloody thing, especially when you cross junctions that are exposed, those down the marina are deadly I have nearly ended up in the doorway of that tower a few times, the wind comes off the beach straight up the cutting & blows me all over the place as I pass! I still have one or two things to do but nothing important, the bilge pump was the main problem & that's done now, all we want is some weather.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 15, 2015 17:54:43 GMT 1
Still finding things to do!
Richie offered me a lift down to the marina this morning, he was going to check the Cat so he asked if I wanted to go down as well & with the rain, I jumped at the chance. There was no need to panic the ultra dependable Steve Bryant was already down there, having had the some concerns I did, but the automatic bilge pump is working fine, & the tell-tale black line around the hull was its usual 4"/5" above the waterline, & even the manual function only pumped about another half a gallon out of the bilge. I found some bath chain in my shed, so I swapped the cord I had helping to support the 6 rod holders I have fitted across the front of the wheelhouse for a nice shiny chain, now the anglers cant complain! Steve showed me a roller fitting for the anchor that he had fabricated & its a perfect fit, & he pointed out that I may be having problems with the anchor rope tangling, because the rope is not coming up in the centre of the winch drum, when you look from inside the boat the centre of the bow roller is level with the outer edge of the winch drum, when I checked other boats in the marina the bow roller is directly in line with the centre of the winch drum, so before our next trip I will line everything up & see if that solves the problem. Standing inside the boat directly behind the winch, & feeding the rope directly into the locker would make life MUCH easier for all concerned! The forecast for the weekend is improving so I have posted a trip for either Saturday or Sunday if the weather holds, I would prefer Sunday because I am going to Amroth on Friday night, Keith is taking the minibus down to fish 3hrs up & 1hr back so it will be stupid o'clock before we get home, so Sunday would suit me better. I have also had a request to take the boat out on Tuesday, weather isn't too bad, the tide is small so it might be a good tide to give Langland a last try for bream & maybe pick up a few gurnard or a codling or two, provided we can get past the Cherry Stones Always good "Arse Twitching" water over those bad boys.
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