Steve S

Great, thanks Mick, I'll do that

I would like the life preserver if it still available Mick.

Oh I see you say: AD31P and early model? They don't look like they would fit a D4 then.

If they fit a d4 I will take them, but they look like they are for another model.

Good effort Martin, offshore bass on a small tide are always seem to be a challenge and yes wrecking on very neap tides seem to be more often poor than not given the cost of getting out there I avoid it unless putting the hook down for ling and conger. I don't do that a lot, not that I've had a ling for years! It's ok having a pop for them on an Alderney trip as we are out there anyway. There has been a bit of a resurgence of macks, I was out on Sunday and had some everywhere i fished, some pushing a pound and others joeys, I heard other boats had no trouble finding them either. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for their comings and goings. I fished a bank about 5 miles south of the light, not where I intended as that spot had a couple of charters on it already, the joy of radar I was able to see they were on it before i could see them so switched mark without wasting fuel. A decent double figure blonde ray and a couple of tope was the result then I moved to some rougher ground at the change of the tide, that produced a conger probably just shy of 20 and a near double thornback, later got a fair bass to a livebait. Just for a change the weather got better and better as the day moved on. So good to be out after a week working indoors.

I don't think there is a problem with the way you describe it being wired with the combine switch normally off being wired to bypass the house switch when on. It could have been wired so the house switch had to be on as well, however, there is an advantage the way it's wired, if the house switch fails you can still get power to the domestics.

Nice one Charlie, I'm a trigger virgin as well. Were you fishing for them Charlie?

If the boat hasn't got it already I do recommend volt meters on both batteries that can be seen all the time from the helm, my boat has them and it will quickly show up if one isn't being charged or in a poor state when the engines are off. I've fitted a 190w solar panel which with a MPPT solar charger does a great job of keeping the batteries topped up while at anchor/drifting. If you have room on the roof I'd recommend fitting one. I fitted a Bosch panel (same as on house roofs) about 6 years ago, chosen because it had been tested in salty air. No sign of any corrosion and vastly lower cost than the specialist boat ones.

Seems fairly normal to me, obviously you should run with the combine switch off, it's just for emergencies.

Well you got to be happy with that.

Multiplait doesn't work on all windlasses unfortunately, the manufactures spec normally state if it is compatible and what size. I had an old Lewmar on Tigerfish that the multiplait kept jamming in, replaced it with a Lewmar CPX 1000w which in the spec stated it was compatible and I've never had a jam since using the same rope and that includes regularly dragging the boat towards the anchor in fast tides.

I use multiplat with a windlass, works great no tangles, one key difference, as the rope comes out through the windlass I lay out it out by hand. One finger on the retrieve button the other hand in the locker putting the rope in strips. There is 200m of rope plus 15m chain in the locker. I don't think using 3 core is going to solve that problem of tangles it doesn't lay very well due to it's memory.

Good choice Andy, now if you could spend say a week on Jersey taking the boat out plenty getting to know it then it would be a lot less risk. VAT! If the boat was bought new in Jersey they may not have paid VAT, that would be due when bringing it back to the UK. Could be an unwelcome extra cost, it's always a question when selling boats in the UK.

Hope that's the only thing he drops on your cap!

Thick lipped mullet 4-5 - caught off the mooring