GPSguru

Yawn …. 🙄 1 / 10 …… because that one is older than Geoff 🤣

A replacement would be a Knott coupling, the nearest I can find would be a Knott KFG27 (2.7T), which is £227 ................. A coupling with a pressed steel hitch (2T), rather than a cast hitch is a tad cheaper at £198.......... I prefer the cast hitch with a lock in the top of it................... You have been a bit unlucky as dampers usually last years. My old GP trailer that I built from anything I had to hand in 1997 had an old Bradley hydratow coupling (3T) circa 1984 and the damper was still going fine when I sold the trailer last year and got the Ifor Williams! .......... I guess it has done many thousands of fully loaded miles over the years.

Actually, that is not a bad price. In the past Snipe used Avonride couplings and axles, which is now Knott-Avonride. Dampers are really expensive, and I am guessin you probably have an AV27 coupling, so I would expect to pay something like £60 - £80 for the damper and another £50 ish for the energy store (it needs the energy store, so the handbrake works in reverse).

Yep, the 13 pin UK version (only 7 pins fitted) is definitely a superior plug, both electrically and mechanically. I fit a 7 - 13 adaptor to plug into the Jeep, and it is always the 7 pin side of the adaptor that fails, so I keep a spare in the car(cheap £2). The failure is usually tarnishing, and dirty pins, probably due to the cheap metal they use. Next time I change the socket on the Jeep it will be 13 pin.

The cowl looked like the later optimax DI engine, but 140 is an unusual size, normally here in the uk they were 130 or 150 2.3L V6 These are good engines and were derived from the Mercury racing engines. Very reliable, but tended to be heavy on 2T oil.

Yes, totally different, my freeboard is about a foot !, and if you get it wrong it is easy to get ejected form most RIBS at speed, however, the hull design of the Ribcraft generally stops that from happening. All my crew wear a LJ on the boat whether they like it or not !

IIRC Haines boats are very sort after in oz due to their build quality, performance, and sea keeping, so I reckon you will provably go for it. Is that engine an Optimax direct injection 2T ?

Bruce at his best ........... a powerful piece of music if you have ever seen the film

Stolen from elsewhere .............. Please take this Indian COVID virus really seriously. My neighbour has caught it and been in a korma for a week and has only just buried his naan.

Hmm ........ the fish can't be feeding because he hasn't taken the bait ............. yet 🤣

Yeah, but all the sheep shaggers stick together…… just saying 🤣🤣🤣

All my crew use standard seago auto LJ’s apart from Kyle who often wears a Crewsaver. Because I go offshore a lot on my own, I use a seago dymanic 3D which is 300N and has a lot of additional safety features, but they ain’t cheap ! Seago after sales service is excellent. My LJ is 4 Years old and I broke one of the crutch strap buckles (it has twin crutch straps). It was probably broken when left in the car etc. I called Seago to see if I could buy a new strap and the guy said to me that the jacket has 5 years warranty, it should never have broken, and they would send me replacement straps in the post FOC. The straps arrived the very next day, so a big thumbs up to Seago.

I would like to get just a new head with the primer pump etc, but as yet I don't know if it is available. ASAP sell the whole complete filter at £208, but I don't need the clear bowl and sensors.

An update on the Jeep. The filter is a Racor 200 series (Jeep OEM) with primer pump, and clear bowl with a diesel heater and water sensor. Hopefully I can get a new filter head from ASAP supplies, but to keep it going I have made a repair. when I checked the temporary fix the derv had eaten the PTFE tape and started to dissolve the O ring. It really needs to be a vitrex (sp) fuel O Ring. The bleed screw is a 10mm brass bolt which is ‘necked’ for the O ring. However, when I checked the thread was slightly kess than 10mm, so I an guessing it was probably a NPT thread, So, I have tapped out the thread to 10mm and fitted a SS 10mm button head with a copper washer and O ring. This will hopefully provide a decent temporary / permanent fix. before After

Yes, we had Bass for evening meal with peas and small roast spuds 👍

The lure is a RedGill evo 115mm blue/white. I tried SPJ but the jig was streaming quite quickly, even using a 120g jig in 100ft of water. The heavier jigs were just way too big as the fish were also ignoring the RedGill 178mm blue/white.

Found another couple of pictures off the gopro ............... average sized pout 🙄

I went out this morning, before the shite weather arrives, it was really nice to be out there, very pleasant indeed 😎😇🤣

Another short weather window, the forecast was NW F3 for the morning and veering South to F5 later in the afternoon. The tides suited me, launching just before high water and being as it is mid springs there would be enough water on the slip to land a 1:00pm. I always hitch up the trailer to the Jeep on the evening before for an early start as it saves time. However, disaster struck, at 6:15am I started the Jeep ready to go and after about 5 secs the engine died and it wouldn’t restart, just cranking and not much else. A quick look under bonnet didn’t reveal any clues, but experience told me it was probably a fuel problem, and most fuel problems on diesel tractor engines are caused by air in the system. I loosened the bleed cap on the filter and the problem became immediately apparent, the O ring seal had broken but more annoyingly the brass screw has picked up on the aluminum filter housing thread. I quickly bled the air out, found a new O ring of suitable size, and then wrapped the bleed screw threads in PTFE tape which enabled me to screw it down finger tight. Turned the key and the Jeep burst in life, so that delayed me by about 15 mins. After getting fuel for the boat I launched at 7:30am, and once out of the estuary I was expecting to find a choppy sea as it was also mid spring flood and the wind was against it from the NW, and I wasn’t disappointed with a short chop of about 0.75m. However, I was still able to hold course at 25kns without being too uncomfortable. The first wreck was at 11 miles and it was an OK drift, but quite fast at a little over 1knt. Soon I was into Pollock and they were a decent stamp of fish, with the best going at about 7lb. After a few drifts I had 4 Pollock and the flood slack water was approaching, which would also signal a change in the sea conditions to hopefully flat calm. In between the Pollock I also had a good number ot Pout (probably 6 or so) but they were quite small. I decided to move to a 9 mile wreck that is a tackle graveyard. Here I found slightly smaller Pollock and Bass to about 4lb. The drifts had slowed to a reasonable 0.6knt and the sun came out to play. TBH it was very nice to be out there and whilst bathed in sunshine I could see the rain showers all along the coast. As late morning approached the bites dried up and I decided it was time to head back in, with a flat sea I was cruising very smoothly at 4500rpm (35knts). A great day and nice that being retired I can pick any weather windows that pop up. Total trip was 28nm, and the catch count was 9 Pollock and 3 Bass, plus a good number of unwanted Pout. A few pics off the gopro, A Pollock of about 5lb, A Bass of almost 4lb The return trip, flat calm ....

Those junction boxes are very good, I had one on my last trailer, and it never let in any water over the 20+ years that I had it.

Yep, I have quite a lot of weight under the float when i stop freelining, and i also tend to use big baits. Float fishing a Redgill works quite well ................. it tends to swim behind the float and at the same level as the lead.

No, any state of the tide ....... the float only drifts a little faster than the boat, and then I stop freelining when it is about 30yards from the boat.

I am surprised that masimbula (135) hasn't made a comment yet ! 🤣

Boat is valued at £47K and the policy was about £289, with a £250 excess ............ I thought it was good value, compared to last years price with Porthcawl (£375)

Yes, we do it for flounder in the estuary and for gars/wrasse/ spiky pot bait over rock marks and when in close to structure. I have also used a float for bream over the wrecks. float fishing a live bait for big bass is quite an exciting and rewarding method. All of this is done on the drift.