JDP

While you can certainly buy a folding anchor, if its wanting to hold at anchor in any wind, tide or chop, forget the folding ones. But hey its your money!!!!

Yes, I will be out next weekend skippering for a spearfishing comp.

We've used several anchors with our rhibs, while there are numerous that will hold the boats very well, its only Cooper anchors which I would truly recommend. Obviously these anchors being fibreglass and plastic are made so they don't have sharp edges. They hold almost instantly even when we are anchoring around shallow reefs in very rough windy conditions. We use the black 1.5kg anchor for our 5m Zodiac, so you would most likely get away with bellow 1kg. I was first introduced to using these by a Navy bomb diver who rated them highly. There are some interesting video's online showing the effectiveness of these if you google search, also this video helps with sizing and rode lengths etc. Just to add, when we anchor our boats, we often leave them unattended while we spear or dive for lobsters, often swimming far from the boat and out of site from it. As for grapple anchors, those are junk in my opinion.

Back on subject please. Are you out on the weekend🤠

Ethanol attracts water, which obviously is bad news for any modern high pressure fuel injection system, at least old carby motors can normally be drained and fixed. Water separators are a must on any boat if you use ethanol blends or not. Simply temperature variations can cause condensation in fuel tanks, which is why it's a good idea to keep tanks filled after a day out rather than leave until the next trip. In regards to additives, the only one recommended to me by a good fishing friend who's an oil and fuel expert who works for many of the worlds largest oil companies has been Castrol fuel doctor. This is more of a water and fungus cleaner. According to him, the fuels we buy from fuel stations already have all the necessary cleaners and lubes needed for vehicle and marine engines, all meeting an industry standard. These big fuel companies invest millions into research and development unlike these small additive products.

From what Ive been told by a specialist outboard tune centre (JB mechanical) who's dyno tunes are used all over the world, is that the octane level reduces after time, which can cause knock. Octane boost additives can be used but his is often more for engines which have been dyno tuned to run on 95 or 98 octane, not so important on small outboards. Though most new outboards have the sticker station they can run on e10, you will not find any dealership that recommends using it.

I posted some other links where pumps have been used to use the same solution in a continuous recycling process through the engine. Obviously doing it that way like in the video's you can use a more concentrated amount but really not needing that much as its being pumped back through constantly using a simple bilge pump hooked up to a 12v battery. Those guys have left badly blocked engines pumping the solution for several hours. Salt-Away is probably the most expensive one of these on the market here but they were one of the first so have been able to hold that top price from the reputation they have earned over the past 20+ yrs. I do also have another 4lt container of another brand which seems ok but will go back to the original as the blue die in the copy can stain things blue.

Are you sure you are getting those ratio's right ? that sounds like a crazy amount of solution. The 3.79lt container lasts me over a year. The 3.79lt is expensive at around 40 UK pounds but replacing engines is far more expensive and besides that if you regularly use the engine I would only use Salt-Away once a week or so, as the salt doesn't get chance to dry inside the engine when used more often. You will find commercial engines used daily suffer very little from corrosion issues. Heres another tub setup for flushing. https://www.facebook.com/baypowerandsail/videos/571397994546325

I believe you can neutralise the vinegar with baking soda after using it, not something Ive even done as I use the salt-away. There are a couple of interesting videos from this local dealer up the road from me that could possibly help with a flushing setup. Common theme here being basic maintenance, flushing. https://www.facebook.com/baypowerandsail/videos/465325701451034 Also this one shows how badly this low engine hour engine is from lack of flushing. https://www.facebook.com/baypowerandsail/videos/1385946574920577 And a little sea horse holding to the shark net at a little bay inside our local harbour, specially for @JonC

He's simply jealous again that Im such a fun-guy 🙃

Salt-away and the numerous other products similar on the market are extremely popular here. If that thermostat looks that way you can bet your entire cooling system on the engine will be much the same, possibly the same on your main engine if you don't regularly flush out the cooling system. I would also be checking a data sheet to see exactly how many anodes are on the engines and checking everyone of them. There are even permanent mounted flush systems for Diesel engines such as the ones found here (specially for @JonC https://www.salt-attack.com.au/products/marine-boat-motors?keyword_k=&gclid=CjwKCAjwrdmhBhBBEiwA4Hx5gxJH-PpWNekdJ5pk0u1sQZp6yKzx_x_yCr8T78IcHPOIcLtDz_5P1hoCTxsQAvD_BwE If you can't get your hands on such products you could try cleaning vinegar, which is slightly more acidic than normal vinegar. Vinegar will quickly break down the salt but if your anodes have dissolved the motor could be in a bit of trouble. And here's a picture specially for @JonC of some glowing fungus I took locally.

My son looked at your young fellas link, his advice is to interact with people who comment (tough for my lad being dyslexic). He posted a video Friday of himself and another young lad simply doing a quick song sitting on the grass which has had just under 8000 views over the weekend. Considering we live in a quiet small population area the views must be coming from much further afield. By the way its TikTok which he is using which he claims the best for quicker views. I don't think the views really help in way for my lad though, his reputation only comes from his last gig. If yours wants recognition consider one of the talent shows. Does he also sing, or would he like to sing and has he considered acoustic at all ? My son started with electric and metal before moving to music that can turn a few $$$ on a weekend and now he makes more in a couple of pub gigs than his full time work earns (aged 18).

I live in a part of the country where the winters can chill down a fair amount, not that its winter yet but this weekend has been around 10'c and Im ready for a hot trip up north to try and miss some of this cold weather. I hate the cold🙁

Looks like good rewards for your efforts, a trout is such a good bonus, I would of been stoked with that.

Great fish, I do miss chasing those, so good to eat.

Looks like you've already met the biggest tool in the shed, he normally sits in the corner next to the scaffold couplers🤠 The pumps do take a bit of getting used, another Aussie invention to make life easier than digging. They work best if you work for worms very close to the waters edge in the wetter sand and pull the handle as you push into the sand. Before I had a a pump I used a plain garden fork which was easy enough once you got a hole started.

A couple of years back we sent the worlds second largest super trawler from here which its target was mackerel. From here it headed to British waters, where it still regularly fishes under its new name. Mackerel here seem to be in such large schools that we will often spend hours offshore travelling over a constant sounder of fish showing from the bottom at 140m to just bellow the surface or spring across the surface. The game fish such as marlin, tuna and sharks are in good numbers, both juveniles and bigger fish, all of which would of been allowable catch as bycatch if the vessel had stayed here. When the vessel was leaving here heading to British waters the general conception on another mostly UK fishing site was the UK mackerel stock was so large the super trawler would have no threat. Personally I couldn't believe there were so many dumb people believing that. Also its hard to believe the angling community simply sat back and did nothing in regards to trying to stop it.

The bar crossing today. Police involved after fatality.

Feeling a bit shattered after a 120k run in the 15 footer today. Bar crossing conditions were pretty good but unfortunately one boat just after we headed out was overturned trying the crossing and a life was lost and one in hospital. The run out tide with swell and wind chop is what makes this crossing so dangerous, even on a day like today where wave height was just 1m. Today’s trip was just a spearfishing session, wanting to get the young lad I regularly fish with into his first dolphin fish. There were no end of fish in the 80-90cm size but no big fish sighted. My daughter was in the water with him giving him a few tips. The lad was soon back in the boat when a 4m tiger shark checked them out!!!!!….also a small mako of around 80kg made a brief appearance.

Do you own a kayak ?

Ive got two hobie kayaks for sale, simply way to big and heavy, yes stable in slight chop but not so good in bigger waves. Ive had these for sale for 6 months, new over 5k, selling 1.5k and not a sniff of interest. Trouble is they are to heavy to lift into the back of my ute tray on my own and owning more trailers defeats having a yak to me, not to mention the yearly rego fee's on trailers. Foot pedal mechanism broke on the one which made for an interesting trip to shore!!!!!

Changing the subject again @JonC why not start your own and leave this on topic. Looks like a fun time lads.

Any tips on how to overcome an allergy to a cat (old cat) which I believe has been sleeping in my guest room. How's that lads started another new thread rather than follow on from another, Jon will be so pleased.

No not been back for a while but things seem much the same on the IOW according to family I have there. Im not planning on heading back over until JonC gets the spare room ready and a tank full of fuel in his boat!!!!!

Doe's he busk at all ? my lad was doing very well at that age busking at markets and fund raisers. I suppose it's a fair amount easier doing his acoustic and vocals at those sorts of venues than heavy metal, though it was heavy metal that first attracted him to the guitar.