JDP

Right, the floor was redone with 18mm marine ply, everything around the transom seems pretty solid. There is some soggy ply at the front on underside of cabin, but well away from cleat. Possibly caused by a hole through the front, possibly access to the anchor well.
Yeah, the pod looks shit, but it is solid, good enough for this year anyway. As I like the space at the back, I don't think I'd like to have a splash well there BUT I could be tempted to take it back to inboard diesel in the future........
Just been and picked the new trailer up for it today, so will get that prepped during next week, and hopefully have the boat on it next weekend..... Needless to say, not only have I got and outboard to sort for a customer this weekend, but some idiot has just given me a full time job starting Monday!!
Fun Fun Fun
Ps, the dog says he wants a word @Malc 🤣

He's no fool. I'm sure he knows what could possibly be ahead on this project. I'd be tempted to remove the pod and try and get the boat back to its original state if it was something to sell on. Ive also been caught out with rotten floors and transoms both here and the UK, the costs to get repairs done well can soon mount up. Ive also put more than the cost of a new boat into the small 15ft I own now after replacing the trailer and engine, so I know how quickly things can get out of hand.

He's no fool. I'm sure he knows what could possibly be ahead on this project. I'd be tempted to remove the pod and try and get the boat back to its original state if it was something to sell on. Ive also been caught out with rotten floors and transoms both here and the UK, the costs to get repairs done well can soon mount up. Ive also put more than the cost of a new boat into the small 15ft I own now after replacing the trailer and engine, so I know how quickly things can get out of hand.

Why not tell him his dog is useless, runs in and pegs birds as well?

what a fantastik time you had i am so jelous of you bouth.
 

huge fish! that barra has scales the size of coasters!

New chain to be fitted. She was having a tart up. We don’t do much anchoring down west it’s nearly all drift fishing.

Excellent 👍

More of a shared post due to been busy commercially fishing followed by a stuffed back. 

My last trip in my own boat for a fish was after seeing big numbers of snapper while commercially catching abalone (shellfish). I took my daughter along on the 60km each way run to find the snapper truly on fire. I got off to a good start but after a deep cut from the gills of a snapper things went down hill, to the point even getting seasick!!!!  My daughter continued catching snapper after snapper on plastics, resulting in over 40 fish caught and released to around 15 by me. 

 


The plan was to shoot a few fish to take home. A few days before I'd had to get my divers from the water at this spot due to a large great white showing interest in the seals and snapper at this spot, so I wasn't keen on her diving alone. Still vomiting we hopped in and soon had the first fish, a perfect kill shot. Still vomiting at the surface and gagging while holding my breath at around 10-12m I must admit I wasn't feeling the best. It was still amazing to see these fish in such numbers that rarely interact with humans given the location we found them. 
 



The day after we popped her on a plane, where she headed off to NZ on a hunting holiday due to the charter boat she skippers being quiet this time of the year. Target species was Tahr, a species she hasn't shot before, so she was even more excited than her normal hyper manic self!!!!!  This hunting was pretty remote extreme stuff, first getting dropped by helicopter high into a remote mountain area for 7 days. Target species found and knocked off the list and several nights of fresh meat.

 

 
So with the New Zealand trip done and dusted she headed home for two days before deciding to head north and try some new toys from Daiwa (her sponsor). First target was freshwater murray cod. After a tough day and hundreds of casts she managed this thumper cod, not bad for a freshwater fish. There were a few smaller ones around the 55cm size.




Next day was back to one of her favourite river species, barramundi. Barra can be quite common in some areas especially the smaller fish. Last year she caught and released over 100 on one tide with a fishing buddy but the holy grail of these is a fish over 1m. Last year she managed a 1.30cm and sure enough after hundreds of casts she's managed another cracking 120cm specimen. Not bad for first fish on the new barra rod and reel.




So with a new trailer and my back on the mend, I hope to be posting a few of my own catch reports soon. I was meant to be heading offshore tonight targeting broadbill and tuna but my fishing buddy stuffed his shoulder. All part of the getting old syndrome.

Top sport!! Very well done to her 👍

Started off quiet well offshore but just a haddock and crabs mullahing the bait. Inshore we were hitting lots codling to 3-4 lb and a cracker of a pollock for the skipper on light gear. We tried big lures, little lures, big baits, little baits and it was either mackerel hitting them on the drop or codling on the bottom little chance of getting the species we haven't got as yet in the competition apart from the haddock. Even 8/0 meat hooks with a 6" muppet and 1/2 mackerel fillets were getting codling on them. 
It was not all action all day but it was a laugh and we have a codling a piece and mackerel for bait in the winter. Tea was cod with tumbet. 

More of a shared post due to been busy commercially fishing followed by a stuffed back. 

My last trip in my own boat for a fish was after seeing big numbers of snapper while commercially catching abalone (shellfish). I took my daughter along on the 60km each way run to find the snapper truly on fire. I got off to a good start but after a deep cut from the gills of a snapper things went down hill, to the point even getting seasick!!!!  My daughter continued catching snapper after snapper on plastics, resulting in over 40 fish caught and released to around 15 by me. 

 


The plan was to shoot a few fish to take home. A few days before I'd had to get my divers from the water at this spot due to a large great white showing interest in the seals and snapper at this spot, so I wasn't keen on her diving alone. Still vomiting we hopped in and soon had the first fish, a perfect kill shot. Still vomiting at the surface and gagging while holding my breath at around 10-12m I must admit I wasn't feeling the best. It was still amazing to see these fish in such numbers that rarely interact with humans given the location we found them. 
 



The day after we popped her on a plane, where she headed off to NZ on a hunting holiday due to the charter boat she skippers being quiet this time of the year. Target species was Tahr, a species she hasn't shot before, so she was even more excited than her normal hyper manic self!!!!!  This hunting was pretty remote extreme stuff, first getting dropped by helicopter high into a remote mountain area for 7 days. Target species found and knocked off the list and several nights of fresh meat.

 

 
So with the New Zealand trip done and dusted she headed home for two days before deciding to head north and try some new toys from Daiwa (her sponsor). First target was freshwater murray cod. After a tough day and hundreds of casts she managed this thumper cod, not bad for a freshwater fish. There were a few smaller ones around the 55cm size.




Next day was back to one of her favourite river species, barramundi. Barra can be quite common in some areas especially the smaller fish. Last year she caught and released over 100 on one tide with a fishing buddy but the holy grail of these is a fish over 1m. Last year she managed a 1.30cm and sure enough after hundreds of casts she's managed another cracking 120cm specimen. Not bad for first fish on the new barra rod and reel.




So with a new trailer and my back on the mend, I hope to be posting a few of my own catch reports soon. I was meant to be heading offshore tonight targeting broadbill and tuna but my fishing buddy stuffed his shoulder. All part of the getting old syndrome.

More of a shared post due to been busy commercially fishing followed by a stuffed back. 

My last trip in my own boat for a fish was after seeing big numbers of snapper while commercially catching abalone (shellfish). I took my daughter along on the 60km each way run to find the snapper truly on fire. I got off to a good start but after a deep cut from the gills of a snapper things went down hill, to the point even getting seasick!!!!  My daughter continued catching snapper after snapper on plastics, resulting in over 40 fish caught and released to around 15 by me. 

 


The plan was to shoot a few fish to take home. A few days before I'd had to get my divers from the water at this spot due to a large great white showing interest in the seals and snapper at this spot, so I wasn't keen on her diving alone. Still vomiting we hopped in and soon had the first fish, a perfect kill shot. Still vomiting at the surface and gagging while holding my breath at around 10-12m I must admit I wasn't feeling the best. It was still amazing to see these fish in such numbers that rarely interact with humans given the location we found them. 
 



The day after we popped her on a plane, where she headed off to NZ on a hunting holiday due to the charter boat she skippers being quiet this time of the year. Target species was Tahr, a species she hasn't shot before, so she was even more excited than her normal hyper manic self!!!!!  This hunting was pretty remote extreme stuff, first getting dropped by helicopter high into a remote mountain area for 7 days. Target species found and knocked off the list and several nights of fresh meat.

 

 
So with the New Zealand trip done and dusted she headed home for two days before deciding to head north and try some new toys from Daiwa (her sponsor). First target was freshwater murray cod. After a tough day and hundreds of casts she managed this thumper cod, not bad for a freshwater fish. There were a few smaller ones around the 55cm size.




Next day was back to one of her favourite river species, barramundi. Barra can be quite common in some areas especially the smaller fish. Last year she caught and released over 100 on one tide with a fishing buddy but the holy grail of these is a fish over 1m. Last year she managed a 1.30cm and sure enough after hundreds of casts she's managed another cracking 120cm specimen. Not bad for first fish on the new barra rod and reel.




So with a new trailer and my back on the mend, I hope to be posting a few of my own catch reports soon. I was meant to be heading offshore tonight targeting broadbill and tuna but my fishing buddy stuffed his shoulder. All part of the getting old syndrome.

no  he is right. so i removed it
but dear he ever put up anything like what i put up . i will leave that up to your amagernation 
where am i. w s f f or o outlaws

Good lookin trailer Jon 👍

Looks very nice 👍

Been off the water with a stuffed back and also my boat trailer with a stuffed back too!!!
I had planned on having my trailer repaired but after pushing my thumb through one spot and two cross members cracked, I decided a trip the dump for that one. 
So a 7hr drive each way to pick up a new aluminium trailer was the go. Did the drive over two days rather than cram it into one, given I had to go over the snowy mountains to get there. Must admit the -2’c overnight temps were a shock, which made packing the roof tent away while covered in ice not so easy. 
 
As you can see all parts of this trailer can easily be replaced by simply bolting on and off. I’ve also upgraded to a heavier max load rating allowing 250kg for carrying items in the boat.
 
Just need to replace the centre rollers and skid's to suit a fibreglass boat, then adjust heights to fit my boat and I will be back out there in a few days wetting a line. Doubt I will be able to do any trips further afield to avoid winter this year now the budgets blown, so local fishing only.
 

 

 

 

I've used a few different smokers including the large version of the Cameron's with reasonable success but now use a Kamado bbq. The advantage with the bigger Kamado is I can use large chunks of wood, rather than the very expensive fine wood chips and also it doesn't create steam.  I did find that I sometimes got a more sweaty steamed fish or meat using those metal styles in comparison. Making sure moisture doesn't drip onto the saw dust will help. Some people dampen the wood chunks or chips but again makes for sweaty fish which allows the fish to dry out to much. 

Have you experimented much with different wood ? After trying all these bellow I now pretty much use cherry on everything, which I buy in 10kg bags for the equivalent of about 3 quid. Chunks are about the same size of the charcoal I use.

For all the fish species, I use a dry mix of 2 parts brown sugar to 1 salt completely covered and allowed to sit in the fridge for 2-3hrs. I then rinse under the tap, pat dry with paper towing then leave on a drying rack until the surface of the fish turns sticky. If it doesn't form a tacky surface its likely to dry when smoking rather than remain moist inside with a golden surface. When its tacky its a good time to crack some fresh pepper over it before smoking. 

Once the charcoal (3 05 4 chunks ) has completely turned white, I place a chunk of cherry wood on top of the charcoal and shut the bbq down to a very slow burn at around 50-100f for 30-40 mins. Once cooled I will vac pack some which will last a few months in the fridge. 

With meats such as pork or even venison which are the most common we smoke, I use around 8 chunks of charcoal, 2 chunks of cherry and one of hickory and leave for an 8-9hr slow cook at 100f. This is good for tender pull apart meat. There are some really good video tutorials on Kamado cooking which could be applied to the Cameron smoker to a certain point.

Me and Jon C entered Brightlingsea Boat Comp on Sunday, the tide was awful, the sea conditions were terrible and the weather was crap but despite that Jon C won a £50 chandler voucher with best unusual catch which was an 8lb Stingray, we both enjoyed the 3 hour raffle after as well which meant we missed all the football but we made great use of Jon C’s Willy Wang Air horn abusing Bradwell beach goers as we passed them.

No, I cut the cherry and oak and had 2x coal sacks full unfortunately I had to get rid of most of it when moving house. I found that the dry chips would catch fire too easily and you would have too much heat in the smoker, the chips would be just dust inside but damp chips and dust smouldered nicely and no appreciable difference in the food. 

Managed to get out on Saturday after having had a few issues with a gearbox but now all sorted so was lovely to be out
 
sadly the forecast changed at the last minute I warned the crew we’d be in for a rough ride but tbey were keen to get out. 
 
After a rather bouncy 3 hour steam we were on the shark grounds…. First run in 30 mins. Was a decent porbeagle but sadly managed to slip the hook. Rather frustrating! 
 
we had another run which after a spirited battle we had a cute little porgie abour 100-110lb to the boat. It was wrapped up but a wave soon washed it through the door…
Quick photo, tagged and released. 
 
Anorher blue of about 80lb soon came along, again tagged and released. 
 
Sadly the crew lost another porgie just underneath the boat…. 
 
I was keen to carry on but with 4 anglers with heads over the rail they decided to head in… another 3 hour steam home in a lumpy beam on sea and we were home 🙂 
Lovely to be back out there hopefully a few more weatger windows abd can get out again 🙂 

I use Garmin blue chart g3 vision which has been extremely good in both 8410 and 8412, one off purchase, no subscription. I also had the simrad Navionic vision for simrad, which I gave to the owners of the commercial boat I work on at times. I also had the phone app version but dropped it after the subscription doubled. 

I also build my own quick draw charts in areas which haven't been surveyed. To be honest though, Ive been busy on other boats and stuffed with my back for a while, so will need to get my head around using it again now, especially given the boat Ive been working has Simrads. Building your own charts and setting various colours for different depths can be very useful.

We tend to hook a fair few from the shore, which can be very large stubborn things to land and unhook. I have some good friends who moved to Maroochydore and my daughter is up there at the moment fishing. 

We tend to hook a fair few from the shore, which can be very large stubborn things to land and unhook. I have some good friends who moved to Maroochydore and my daughter is up there at the moment fishing. 

I use Garmin blue chart g3 vision which has been extremely good in both 8410 and 8412, one off purchase, no subscription. I also had the simrad Navionic vision for simrad, which I gave to the owners of the commercial boat I work on at times. I also had the phone app version but dropped it after the subscription doubled. 

I also build my own quick draw charts in areas which haven't been surveyed. To be honest though, Ive been busy on other boats and stuffed with my back for a while, so will need to get my head around using it again now, especially given the boat Ive been working has Simrads. Building your own charts and setting various colours for different depths can be very useful.