GPSguru

I might just take you up on that offer Luke ............. we will have to see how the year progresses ............

Well done on getting out, it is a shame the Cod didn't read the script ! We have not been able to get out off the South Devon coast for a while now ........ way too much East in the wind !

That is a good fish Dicky ........... well done. I have never fished BC ............ the colour of the water never appeals to me !

For me, it has to be the original Kenzaki braid rods, although I have a couple of Super Kenzaki 6 -15 rods on order, but delivery is not expected until mid Jan at the earliest. However, in the cheaper category you always get the odd surprise rod and for me that was the Tronixpro Aphex boat 8.5 -15 .......... a superb rod that really delivered beyond expectations. Unfortunately is no longer made, but that is only due to name 'Aphex' being a close resemblance to a similar named brand. George at Tronix is having the same blank remanufactured for another rod launch in the spring ...............

With small tidal streams in lyme bay I usually only put out 2 x depth of warp. It is not as it you are leaving the boat, so warp can be adjusted to suit. As my boat is ‘open’ wndage is not an issue ........currently my anchor is a 3.5kg bruce with 6m of 6mm chain and 12 mm 3 strand nylon warp. The ony time you need a lot of warp is anchoring wrecks. Next year I am considering fitting a bow mounted trolling motor to use instead of an anchor. It would give me 5 to 8 hours anchor time and stay within 1m of the position.

Yes and no ........... a lot of water slopping around the deck in bad weather will cause a huge amount of instability .............

Yes, it is surprising how many litres there are in a decent wave ! On the rare occasions when I take one over the bow, I just drop the elephant trunks and the water disappears at the rate of almost 40,000L/Hr

Yes, that sound more like the problem. A pump switching on a handful of times every hour under torrential rain conditions would not flatten a decent battery, and over 4 weeks it hasn't rained 24/7 ! (Seems like though). Those subs are good, but the sump well has to be kept very clean. I had one on my last RIB and it would stay on until the pump housing was cleaned. I think I would change it for something like a Johnson or rule. solar charging is ok but you need to fix the illness and not the symptoms 😉

Something doesn't seem right here ... When were you last at the boat ? what is the time period in which the battery has become flat ?

I think it is you that needs the butt plugs Jon ..............especially with your gimp suit 🤣

OK ........ more info that might help............. Long strings of T connectors work OK but are prone to vibration and damage, so for 4 or more connections it is preferable to use a unified connector like this,

This is what a Nmea2K backbone looks like ............ You will need a T connector for each device and an extra one for the power. Don't forget the 'terminators' at each end and ideally (not essential) keep the 2k drop cables to the backbone as short as possible. I doesn't matter which manufacturer of T connector you use, they all meet the same spec and are interchangeable ............

That one is not rubber (hyperlon), it is a tough PVC, same as @JonC gimp suit 🤣

There are already a couple of excellent tutorials on youtube ......... I will dig them out and post them up ............

i have 9 Charter specials, both 1000's & 2000's, some of which are over 10 years old ............. a massive improvement to the reel is to fit a carbontex drag washer coated in Cals drag grease. This transforms the drag to being super silky smooth ........... at the same time I always replace the original bearings with stainless steel bearings ................. after that the reel is fairly bombproof ...............

Experience has taught us that once the dogs are around in force, then they seem to be everywhere along our part of the coast. Often, after an hour or two they clear off, which usually coincides with a change in the tide. That day we carried on bait fishing, but my usual tactic is to lure fish over a reef to avoid the dog plague. We didn't have as many dogs as usual last year, it was a quiet year for them ................but we did get a huge amount of smoothound pups in mid summer ...........

Any fish bait works a treat .............. Off of the Orestone in early Sept, Kyle and myself managed 31 in 3 hours (plus a couple of jnr Huss) .......... what is your record ? Disgusting things ......... they always, every bloody time, shit all over you when unhooking ............... but, they also put a decent bend in the rod, which is fine by me ...

Very similar to cod .............. sort of in between Pollock and cod ...............

Probably one of the best reels ever made ...................

These days, I will only use Carling switches in boats, most others seem to rot in any salt air environment ...

So was @jonnyswamp first in queue 🤣

I buy all my bait from Andy ....... top quality service and the Rag are like snakes .................

Indeed .............. Shimano give you a large print warning about doing that ! For now, i will stick to Shimano (Charter Specials and TLD's) and Fin-nor (twin speed for the bigger stuff) ............

They also suffer from pinion bearing issues ................ IIRC the bearing gets slightly crushed, and it makes the reel feel really rough ?

I am sure that @Odyssey will be happy to spill the beans in a couple days time .......