Mackerel trip :It went with a bang.

[Gummage]

I booked a launch and retrieve at Ridge wharf  and sat/sun on a finger pontoon with a view to returning to wilts on Monday.  I’m trying to avoid the late night tow home. Endeavour 3 has a 6 foot cuddy. I cut some board to throw across the benches. Me and an old Ag college friend Ian,resolved to have another boys weekend staying on the boat.

The steep slip launch nearly went badly. I shall use a belay rope next time. Spent the day scratching a variety of the usual marks and jigging for mackerel for a few hours.

I blanked but my guest caught a small bream on the drift and managed to foul Hook one Mackey on the feathers.  As advised we found less weed on the Patch and Ian upped  a lively conger.

Intersting couple of minutes when Ian’s light tackle was slammed and bitten off  then immediately this denizen snatched his heavier ledger which was nearby. Eventually all we got was a well chewed snood. (There’s a song in that).

Got back to Ridge late evening and slept

p

 

 

[Gummage]

Having trouble editing the photos..2irrellevant ones theresorry

[Maverick Martin]

Nice report, I have edited out the last two photos

[Gummage]

thanks maverick but I havent go to the good bit…..

Day 2

We seriously wanted to take some Mackerel home and avoid the weed. So resolved to go to Hengistbury jigging.

Thought we would explore the blind side of Brownsea route by way of a Jolly. 
I got confused amongst the way marks and concerned about shallows so we switched off to check the chart.

Now I bought this motor last year as a replacement for my aging 2 stroke 1982 mercury. I bought a 90 hp mariner 4 stroke 2004 vintage for economy and key start reliability. I got a bit more than I bargained for when I went to restart it . The starter motor failed to engage there was a popping sound and in the time it took us to say” that didn’t sound good” It exploded sending the cowelling 15 foot into the air. The rest of it was ablaze. 
Using an extinguisher in earnest was on my bucket list. We quickly had the fire out. And then saw the canopy about 20 yards away still floating but in trouble.

We grabbed the paddles and pulled hard towards it as we got within 6 foot down it went.

still using the paddles we did a bad boy thing and roped up to a metal  shallows marker. 
Ian advised that our hearts and nerves needed to settle. It was a hell of a bang! So we sat down and had a cupotea.

It was not long before we had the attention of the jolly boys on the harbour authority vessel.

On realising our predicament they were friendly and helpful. They offered us a tow which we declined but they put a man aboard who helped us rig and start the auxiliary.They also politely toldustoget off their pole😕😕

They saw us off…Hooky meanwhile on hearing our problem turned 

Doombar into thunderbird 11 and launched from Cobbs to cover our backs.

When he caught up with us we accepted his tow and he skilfully and Quietly took to the ridge wharf slip and assisted us in a low water retrieve. (We used a belay😃) It’s great to have good friends in the boat club.

So it all ended in a blank and an early run home.

The following photo sums up our mood

 

[Gummage]

[Mike Fox]

Glad all went well in the end - and well done Hooky!!!

 

I was fishing the Patch last friday on a charter, and small tope to 15lb were biting off snoods. Two came to the boat on conger gear, but bit through before a chance of netting.

 

Mike

[Hooky]

I was sitting in the lounge watching some boring crap and the phone went ,

Errrrr , my engine has gone up in smoke, the cowling shot 20ft in the air and singed my eyebrows but the good news is the fire extinguisher worked fine and we have got a flask of tea and the old auxiliary is on and running 🤔

 

Tracey was already sitting in the car, I grabbed the vhf , a very quick trip to Cobbs 🤪and found the Gummidge crew pootling along all safe and well (nothing I could do about the eyebrows etc) so as a exercise , we tide up along side and took the p*ss out of his engine that was covered in a heavy clotted cream with burnt bits 

 

A very slow trip up the river, , round the nasty bit to the slipway, I’m getting good at this retrieving thing 😁

 

Very simple job getting the old crusty tub onto the trailer , all nice and easy UNTIL a passing comment about how slippery slipways are saw me on my ass and sliding into the stinking 💦.

 

Next issues, errrrr , forgot how quickly the water disappears from the river , 😅 oops 

Sometime later , back at Cobbs, noticed my knees was more than a little swollen, that’s the lawn not getting any attention for the next few days 😂😂😇😇😇🥳

 

To sum up it does show that you that it is better to have it and NOT need it than trust a chubby old man put the boat onto the trailer

 

Amazing how a sticky starter motor and a split fuel line can make your days fishing that more challenging 👍💪💪

Edited ☹️ Tracy insisted the need to film me taking a bath and show my shame (I’m NOT posting the video 😂😂😂)

[Tarlach.]

Oh dear, sounds like a day to forget, and a day to laugh about all in the same breath.
Glad everybody was fine, and hope the repair to the engine is not too steep (like the slipway)!!


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[Jim]

Well done Hooky.

Let's see what the insurance man says.  😉

 

[biggcol]

Glad you are ok and the extinguisher worked.
 Your aux motor seems to be missing a cowling too,is this gonna be your preferred option from now on 😜

[sparky]

Ouch!!  Glad you got home safely

[Gummage]

 

8 hours ago, biggcol said:

Glad you are ok and the extinguisher worked.
 Your aux motor seems to be missing a cowling too,is this gonna be your preferred option from now on 😜

that better?

[Gummage]

It’s been a slow process but I have received my insurance payout.

They sent an insurance assessor all the way from Porthtalbot to check it over. I thought all was lost when they asked for proof of service/service history. The seller was unable to provide anything but   
the oil was still IPA  colour so they accepted that.

 Surprisingly they allowed me to acquire the old motor.

 Why did it explode?

Engineers agree that the bottom carb seized possibly with its float down which caused excess fuel to run into the air intake. I moored near Wareham so we idled down to Brownsea not sucking this back in but letting it tosh out onto the engine bay floor and air intake.

The engine stalled eventually.

when we tried to restart it the fumes found a spark and hey presto Gummage had invented the seagull scarer!

 

 A proper rebuild for this requires new parts; 4x carbs ,starter motor, wiring loom etc. all valued at over £6K hence write off.

 

when we got it home after the fire, my son couldn’t resist turning the key. It ran.

 

I should say here that in a dispondant mood back in June I decided to purchase a brand new Merc 60 EF I . From HB Marine.

I now have doubts about my sanity but my friends assure me that I won’t regret it .

 

I need to move on the 2004 mariner 90.  I want to turn it from a fire damaged insurance wreck into a fire damaged runner. My crew mate is a self employed freelance garage mechanic and is of the opinion that if we fix the carbs the motor will be a good’n.
 

we stripped the carbs yesterday and found the bottom one to be so seized that we broke the spindle that holds the butterfly trying to free it. The others seemed serviceable.

 

To progress this project I am looking for a serviceable replacement carb part number

804168T10

and a replacement canopy for mariner 90 yr 2004. (There are one or two on eBay)

 

Any comments ,offers, encouragement,discouragement, etc gratefully received.