mike farrants

not the move to once every 2 years - but the fact that a 2nd opinion really is worth it........ I took my aging T4 camper for its MOT in Jan and the failure sheet was over 2 sides of A4 - 27 separate fails - some simple stuff Washer jets, and some not so simple. I got quoted in excess of £1600 to fix and even then the garage said they didn't want the Job and wished me luck. I had my suspicions about the MOT test as firstly - the garage didn't actually test on site - rather they used a 3rd party and didn't want/need the job. secondly some of the fails were a bit far fetched.... eg they failed it on not having seatbelts in the back - its a van - there's no seats - just a bed, so i took it for a 2nd opinion today and was staggered to see the fail sheet was a quarter of the size - only 6 fails, the 1st guy condemned the brake pipes stating them all as "Excessively corroded", stated the brakes were imbalanced, exhaust exceeds smoke levels for a TDI and 'likely' to be impacted by a vac leak, etc etc the 2nd mot agreed with the welding on the 2 rear suspension arms, the CV boot, ball joint, and head light adjustment. he actually stated that the brake pipes were fine in his eyes, and having seen them on the 1st fail sheet specifically inspected them closer and actually disagreed with the 1st test on a total of 14 previous fails new quote is only £800. moral of the story - sometimes it is worth a 2nd opinion (needless to say once i have an MOT on the camper it will be up for sale before it costs me any more!)

cheers! money off the tiger xtra too - that makes is only a bit more than their basic stuff - 2 coats enough then? question though - i thought i had to avoid hard as i dont go fast enough...... does my speed (lack of) determine i need a different type to you speed freaks?

i meant 3 coats for self eroding - the more layers you put on the longer it lasts no?

So pugwash comes out the water on the 6th for a week of TLC at portland marina pic for ref: the lift out includes a power wash, and i plan to - Wet and dry below the water line, apply 3 coats of antifoul, i'll replace anodes (there's one in the engine, but i dont know what's below the waterline. (will add a prop shaft one for peace of mind) i'll also sand, stain and varnish the rubbing strakes, and gunwhale tops and the rudder (made of 4" of ply sandwiched) will need sanding and painting too. Questions: Best antifoul? self eroding i assume? are there types better suited to different water types/areas are there different types of anode? what should i look out for? any tips appreciated? should i over paint the topsides as well? if so what paint do i use for that? or just leave it - not too fussed about it. who wants to guess the top speed she'll get on the way back once she's clean? thanks in advance!

no worries - keep it - only if you were chucking it - im not a fame hungry diva 🤙

it was only a month or so ago - so march or april issue.

have you got the one with me in it? with my turbot? i never picked up a copy?

🤣

et voila the design means no knots, and simple to attach and take off - ive heard mixed reviews though - i prefer the bouy near the boat, as it keeps the rope (mine sinks) higher up in the water and taught/taut/tort nearer the boat - i worry that when you start to move off and the bouy moves away the rope will sink further and you cant see it then or grab it

AF?

size of that whiting!

i couldnt decide to get Fernandes or Ronaldo - i went with fernandes and ronny bangs in a hatrick!

cracking conditions!

Had the inlaws down for Easter and with the Weather looking great for Friday and having recently found some Bream on lulworth ledge i thought it worth the long hour and half steam over in pugwash. I wont go that far often, but the weather was set to be glorious - and it didn't disappoint. the journey out seemed to take forever and got the better of us - choosing to anchor in the middle of the ledge rather than the far end where id had loads of bream, 2 weeks ago. However on the first drop Phil hooked into a nice bream, followed quickly by mine - which was bigger and went to 1.5lb. bouyed by the awesome start we thought we would be into a great day of fishing - sadly not - just a run of dogs for me and nothing else for phil! Perhaps we shouldnt have been on top of the bank? perhaps an end woudl have been better? the Tide was ripping through - maybe that put them off? a cracking day out none the less - and with a following tide and wind I managed 6knots on the way home and shaved 10 mins off the time! that evening we went to Rockfish seafood restaurant on the sea front and i had John Dory for the first time - very nice! Easter sunday we found it to be too rough n the bay - but made our way over to portland harbour - anchored up there and i had 3 pin whiting nothing else and nothing for phil - still a nice day out! And now i have Covid!

nice looking boat! ☺️

lovely looking boat! welcome!

yeah i remember as a nipper travelling to the "mainland" on the hydrofoils - they were called Shearwater (1,2) etc - so exciting - they were ok in a rough sea but would get cancelled in high winds - the hovercraft would be cancelled first though. foiling is now a technology embraced by surfers, kite surfers, wing boarders is the latest, but also dingy sailors - even the race yachts now use foils etc - the amount of "foilers" that come out of Portland sailing academy is mad - they are so fast and almost silent - they tend to go out in out in all weathers as the foil lifts them above the swell - cutting through it with the hull well above the waves! they all enter the water updside down though so your wet before you start lol heres the future: 🤙

awesome result - stonker of a gurnard!

i'll leave now then 🙂

is this a bring your own boat meet? or just a charter day? once dates are confirmed - I'll confirm - but in principle yes.

we had buzzards nesting in the woods at the end of our garden last summer - they dont half get the seagulls all riled up! I was luck enough to see one of them swoop across the lawn to grab a squirrel sitting on the fence - the Wiley old squirrel ducked out the way just in time! magnificent birds!

No haldoukan for me, I’m from the iow so much more of a six knuckle sandwich kinda guy!

i moved to weymouth 2 yrs ago from High wycombe - just up the road from where the red kites were re-introduced in Stokenchurch - the skies over south bucks are full of them - more so on a sunday when everyone puts their sunday roast carcass out for them! lovely to see but my god there's thousands there now!

dont let @Andy135 hear you say that 🤣

sandeel can be awesome for rays too - but you'll have to bind 4-5 together to get a big enough bait!