LostPiker

Got out, boat actually worked for once. Sadly my brain didn't and while drifting by the needles got snagged rod bent over double and the drag was too high and snapped the tip off. 2 drifts later, did exactly the same with my other rod except this one snapped by the handle. Luckily I had 4 rods so could carry on. Wasn't very productive, really need to learn how to find spots and anchoring them to find the fish. Caught a few nice mackerel and bream push a few small doggies Also the trailer winch cable snapped as the trailer was pulled up the slipway so we had an involuntary re-launch and had to Mcgyver the boat back on using rope and a ratchet strap

Finally the stars of work schedules, weather and the boat not being broken have aligned and I should be out Sunday

You'll have noticed there wasn't a pilot 520 ablaze on the Solent today. It actually works! Sort of. I don't think it's getting full throttle and barely moves in reverse. Hopefully it's just the cables that need adjusting. Walker outboards supposedly did them so I'll call them Monday. Very quiet on the fish front, just a small whiting and a tiny doggy but at least it's not a blank

to be honest I just want to prove the engine works, any fish are a bonus. If the engine doesn't work look out for a burning pilot 520 floating around the solent

Me me me! Finally got a day out planned for Sunday. Not sure if I should go east to the forts or west to Lepe and the needles. Don't really care, just want the engine to work...

Finally got the boat back with the engine sorted and the weather goes to shit

WOW, thanks for taking the time to give me all that info, its very useful. In your opinion is it worth bringing any terminal tackle from the UK or should we just bring rods and reels and buy the lures etc there? I don't have any lures the size and weight you're talking about here so would need to buy it anyway? Is there an Aussie equivalent to angling direct I can compare prices on?

thanks for the info. It will only be the two of us going so I don't think a self drive thing will work out, also I like the idea of the fully catered style so we can just fish and be lazy the rest of the time. The big cat reality trips you have to supply all your own tackle so any tips on the sort of things to take rod and reel wise?

lol, its expensive but not that bad. Also I won't have the money for another 6 months and can't wait that long to use the boat again

re battery, thats my thoughts on it. No idea why a 1500cc outboard would need a battery bigger than a 2.5l diesel car? Loom isn't being replaced, it works just been cut into and rejoined and don't look great but it works so it stays. One of the fuel pumps - the lift pump can be rebuilt so they are doing that, the other 2, low pressure and high pressure apparently can't be so are being replaced. I normally do everything myself, I've rebuilt car engines etc in the past but I just want to use the boat and I don't know enough about boat engines to be confident yet, I didn't know this engine had 3 fuel pumps to go wrong for example. It was tempting to put the money towards a new engine on finance and give up on this one but the other money is gone and isn't coming back so its a choice of spending 2k or spending 8k minus what we'll get back on a spares or repair outboard. It'll all be forgotten when we get out on the boat and have a beer and catch a few fish

Hi, to cheer myself up from my outboard woes I have started to plan a once in a lifetime fishing adventure. After watching big cat reality on Amazon me and my boat mate have been talking about it. I have a little bit of inheritance so we are going to go for it unless we can find something better. Big Cat Reality is a 3/7 or 9 day trip on a big cat with a number of smaller tenders aboard, we are looking at the 7 day option. You sail out of Bundaberg Marina in Brisbane to Swains reef where the big boat anchors up and they put the little tenders in the water and you spend the days exploring the reef and fishing off the tenders, pop back for lunch then out again. There is a chef on board and you can fish off the main boat at night. Looks amazing and like nothing I've done before. I've not seen anything similar on offer anywhere else, does anyone know of any? Either in Australia or elsewhere?

Little update, it gets worse. I think I managed to buy the worst outboard available in the UK. Tried to bypass the sensor and it still didn't work, bought a new sensor and tried to trick it with a magnet. No change so I gave in and took it to a Mercury dealer. Some good news is the tank is fine, the float was held down by sludge which when cleaned works perfectly and no oil errors and the compression is fine. Almost nothing else is though. All 3 fuel pumps either need rebuilding or replacing Alternator mounts perished Throttle not opening fully throttle body linkage seized Battery undersized Engine harness cut into and damaged Air filter very old and damaged fuel filter damaged Another £2k bill to put it right🥺 by the time its back in the water will have spent what I could have got a brand new engine for. Painful and expensive lesson learn

Didn't make it to the slipway. Bypassed the oil level sensor and it is still reading low oil and guardian mode. Unwrapped the loom and checked the wires, cleaned all the connections and no change. Tried removing the sensor and checking it with a magnet and multimeter and it seems to work but there is a spot in the middle where the resistance goes to infinity and then reads again reconnected the sensor and held a magnet on the end so it should read as full and no change. Can't get any one to look at it until July so going to buy a new sensor and try again. Anyone know if you can get the software to properly read the codes for a laptop cheaply anywhere?

trip planned for Saturday. Hopefully we'll get more than 10 yards off the slipway this time

I work in insurance, albeit the technology side, and personal lines are very heavily regulated. You say you're talking to the ombudsman, is it the FCA? Have you made a formal complaint to them? Check if your policy was written on Lloyds paper as if it was and you're not satisfied with Amlins response you can complain to them as well. Companies take complaints to Lloyds very seriously and may offer a goodwill settlement to avoid the grief