Breaking Ice on Loch Fyne

[The Gurnard]

Yesterday ... I met up with Kaman from this forum and we both enjoyed another great winter’s day SIB’ing on Loch Fyne ... a lovely sea loch almost 50 miles long.

Below is the video depicting our adventure ...which included being an ice breaker boat to get across to Inveraray.

We covered 37 miles and were out and about for 6 hours. I used approx 5 litres of fuel.

Hope you enjoy watching and perhaps it may inspire you to get your own boats out on the water.. So far its been a great season for me. ... in between the Beasts from the East blizzards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d4I07dHj6Q

Best Regards
The Gurnard

[jambo]

Great day Donny[emoji106][emoji41] Hope to be up in two weeks.

[hadd]

Great vid donny good to see you out & about

[Stevie Bill]

Inspiring as ever Donny.

What dyou reckon the chance of me getting sfb into the water at St Catherines? Look maybe even enough, but (your opinion, no guarantees sought!) would it take the trailer wheels without sinking?? Thanks...

[breezeblock]

hopefully this weekend we will get out which day were you out on loch fyne I ended up past fort William on Tuesday and it was a beautiful day seen my first golden eagle at the glen before fort William

[The Gurnard]

Hi Jambo ..yup the year is getting on..soon be easter ..just wish it could get a bit warmer. Im heading out your way next nice spell.. I have both Loch Sween and a round of Gigha / Cara in my sights now.

Hi Hadd..great to see you around too.. are you ERR’ing this year ? If so..it will be here before you know it...hope its fair weather this year for you guys

Hi breezeblock ...yup it was Tuesday this week. I love that section of water between Fort William and Loch Eil ..its very scenic and almost like a big river. Im hoping to film a few eagles this year ..I usually see them around Ardnamurchan area ..in fact saw four in one day there.

Think there are more sea eagles now than Golden ones as they are as common as crows around Mull. The sea Eagle is a big lazy bird.. and wont fly far if disturbed.. the Golden Eagle will be off for miles if disturbed.

Hi Stevie .. the honest answer is .. it would be difficult on your own without mechanical assistance. Its soft sand and stones at low water.

However I used to beach launch a heavy fibreglass boat all over the area. It would be similar weight to your funyac. I have a small electric winch..costs around £70 now a days.



And put two screwfix wheels on the trailer drawbar.



The additional wheels make it easy to push downhill to the sea.
Then to get it back..tie a rope to the car towbar ..secure the winch to the trailer.. (I had an old car battery to power the winch from the trailer) then let it winch you up the long rope from the car.




This is Minard beach launch at low tide on Loch Fyne..possibly easier than St Cathrines. A 4x4 makes life easy too.



Give me a yell if you want to try an electric winch or meet up for a go on Loch Fyne ..myself and Kaman managed his trailer at St Cathrines..high tide recovery was easy.

[Stevie Bill]

Thanks Gurnard... Those screwfix wheels look to be exactly what I had been thinking around... Normal jockeys are just way too small. Will pick your brains sometime about how you attached them, but defo would solve some of my issues! If you have any pics, or old threads describing your set up you could link to i'd be very grateful. Thanks muchly.

[The Gurnard]

Hi again Stevie ..the screwfix wheels come with adaptors for different sized axle diameters.. so its easy to source an axle. Think mine is 1” diameter. ?

I am terrible for clambering into skips and taking rubbish that I think could prove useful ..so sourced most my materials for free ... but I had to buy the wheels.

I made this dolly for my boats with the recycled scraps from skips. I wanted it to be small size ..so the axle comes off ..its bolted with wing nuts. You could use a bit of 2”x2” wood to secure your axle to .. if you cant find anything else.



This is it in position on one of my boats ..it fits all my boat.. just required drilling two holes through the transom to secure it.. works great too



But that is not helping your question much ..except I use the axle for many other purposes.. including fixing to the trailer drawbar with U bolts as shown in this photo. The wheels are held on the axle with washers and R clips fitted through drill holes in the end of axles. The trailer is easy to push on a beach as I don’t need to lift and shove..just shove. Jockey wheels are next to useless on a shore as you have found out.



But here is why I love my small 2.75 F Rib.. with a 6HP..its easy to do the turtle walk across any shore.. down bankings ..across fences ..you name it.

A 6HP 4 stroke outboard is easy to carry too... which is why I don’t mind a bit of a slam in chop. Not many can put a funyac on their back ..or carry a 20hp 4 stroke across a rocky shore.

[Maximus]

Honed by experience ....and well built for the Task...(Like most of you're Kit)
With some "Scottish ingenuity" thrown in for good measure!

Nice Job Donny!

[Stevie Bill]

Fantastic. Thanks Donny. I had thought about fitting something like a sack barrow with a tow ball to fit the trailer hitch, but your method is more straightforward and elegant... Although with no steering I might struggle with a dogleg slip! (Eg Dunbar...) Will measure up and go shopping...

[Fenlander]

Donny thanks for linking this and the previous several videos which we in Cambs have much enjoyed. Gives some encouragement to those of us that have so far failed to start the season to get on with it.

Much amusement at the waders test too!

[The Gurnard]

Hi Maximus ..thanks for the kind words ... I confess though ... most of my ideas are not original .. but come from a generation that used small boats before the mass production years of SIBs and their accessories.

Steve.. a normal jockey wheel is perfect for slipway use. Fit drawbar wheels and detach your boar from the car..and it will pull you down the slipway too. Beach launching is a breeze though..as this video of a heavy hardshell illustrates. No problem for you at Minard with decent drawbar wheels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTYCLGVPzUc

Hi David great to see you still around. I hope you and good family are all keeping well and Im glad the family still enjoy the videos. I hope to post more on here as the season progresses.

The Waders Verses Drysuit video certainly caused a stir on the forum I posted it on. It was an idea born from cabin fever as I couldn’t get out due to bad weather. It was a light hearted attempt to illustrate the pros and cons of waders and drysuits for winter use in small inflatables.. however those that recommended waders took the huff and locked the thread.

For those who missed that video..here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EB0sZZpbRQ

If I had an accident and ended up in Loch Fyne wearing chest waders when I made the Ice Breaking video .. I doubt I would be alive today. My dry suit would give a fighting chance until assistance arrived to help me out the water.


Best regards
The Gurnard

[Poly]

Steve, I have a larger than normal jockey wheel with an inflatable tyre. That helps with these sort of issues, but I have considered making a bracket for the spare wheel that could swing down to be a giant jockey.

If you have a long rope in most places you can use the car without a winch but just a bit more faff. If you go that route I’d recommend some decent chocks because at some point you’ll need to park the trailer on a slope whilst you reposition the car. I don’t have a 4x4. Decent tyres are helpful.

[The Gurnard]

Hi Poly ... Yup chocks are essential either using the car or the winch.

I initially recovered the hardshells from beaches by towing using a rope.. but gave up in favour of the winch mounted on the trailer. (You can of course use the hand winch that most trailers have instead of a small electric one.) The climbing jumar (shown in winch photo) attached to the long rope from the car towbar makes it easy to slide up for another "bite" when the short winch tape is fully wound.

I preferred being beside the trailer when recovering on my own. There are too many rock or hollows on most beaches I use .. that can jam a trailer wheel .. and you may not notice them driving the car at rope length. The rope can break..and in a few unfortunate circumstances ..the boat and trailer can head off back down the beach at quite a speed.

Each to their own method though.

[Stevie Bill]

Chocks already standard kit!☺, and I'm OK on most slips without a draw bar.. Although I have used rope for recovery when waves got a bit much at drum more.... Found this whilst browsing Google... http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBa...85243000&ver=0
This is exactly what i was imagining... Anyone got experience? Seems daft to reinvent the wheel, although the price is a bit much, and doesn't look very rust proof....

[jeffstevens763@g]

Originally Posted by Stevie Bill

Chocks already standard kit!☺, and I'm OK on most slips without a draw bar.. Although I have used rope for recovery when waves got a bit much at drum more.... Found this whilst browsing Google... http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBa...85243000&ver=0
This is exactly what i was imagining... Anyone got experience? Seems daft to reinvent the wheel, although the price is a bit much, and doesn't look very rust proof....

i bought one stevie seems ok i will be trying it in earnest in a day or two moving my boat home so a bit of maneuvering to do, although i have a t bar which fits in the coupling i find good keeping the jockey wheel down [now heavy duty] as you pull on the t bar it lifts slightly easy over lumps/kerbs etc cost about £20.

[zip]

Donny,
Thanks for that great start to my day.
Love the full face windshield.

[willk]

Originally Posted by The Gurnard

The Waders Verses Drysuit video certainly caused a stir on the forum I posted it on. It was an idea born from cabin fever as I couldn’t get out due to bad weather. It was a light hearted attempt to illustrate the pros and cons of waders and drysuits for winter use in small inflatables.. however those that recommended waders took the huff and locked the thread.

That video is too funny - your neighbours are probably used to you by now, but I bet the curtains were twitchin' like mad that day.

Grumpy mods on that site you mention - zer vil be no dissent!

I took the plunge and bought a surface drysuit recently - of the Typhoon MaxB flavour - not in black of course, I wouldn't want there to be a Shadow of doubt... Great in the splashy cold of February, but I must get some decent gloves sorted - OMG, talk about cold hands!

[Poly]

Originally Posted by The Gurnard

I preferred being beside the trailer when recovering on my own. There are too many rock or hollows on most beaches I use .. that can jam a trailer wheel .. and you may not notice them driving the car at rope length. The rope can break..and in a few unfortunate circumstances ..the boat and trailer can head off back down the beach at quite a speed.

Each to their own method though.

Aye, I can certainly see the attraction of standing beside the trailer rather than sitting in the car. My other big worry when "solo" is stupid people who try to walk between boat and car (or behind both - oblivious to the fact the boat is hanging off a know tied by a guy who is usually pretty tired). I do have bigger trailer wheels than many sibs so perhaps that helps, although I am also a bit more cautious about where I launch as I don't have 4x4.

[The Gurnard]

Hi again guys.. apologies for delay in replying but another nice day drew me away. This time hill walking won my attention and I visited an old friend ..he lives below the Merrick .. deep in the Galloway Hills



Hi again Stevie.. I couldn’t get the link you posted to work ..but Jeff has covered that point anyhoo.

Hi Jeff ...looking forward to another adventure together and Mull in May wont be too long coming now. I know Highland Haggis is desperate for it to arrive too.

Hi Zip.. glad you enjoyed the video .. it was a lovely day ..just a bit chilly.

Hi Willk ..yup.. my neighbours must laugh at my antics at times

A dry suit is the business for this cold weather..but even so..I have to keep stopping for a walk to warm myself up. Roll on the real spring weather.

Hi Poly.. I thought it was only my rope that was a people magnet ..but you are correct .. folk come from miles along a beach just to watch and get in the way. Truth is ..I seldom beach launch the bigger boat now. I float it on and off the trailer at slipways. The wee F Rib handles my beach launches beautifully.

Thanks again to everyone of looking in and commenting ..its appreciated

Best Regards
The gurnard.