New to this, advice?

smeelith · 03 May 2010, 15:42

Hi guys,
just read through the past 27 pages of this forum (phew), it's exam revision time so i'm procrastinating

and most of my questions have been answered. Just after a bit of advice really, I have a 2.4m airdeck SIB with a 4hp johnson 2 stroke ouboard, bought them together on ebay for £300, was hoping to get out into the rye/dungeness coastal area (no more than a mile out!) for a bit of fishing over the summer with a friend. Am i right in thinking that 4hp may be a little under powered? I'd only go out on really calm days, keeping the tides in mind, lifejackets, waterproof phone (coastguard on speed dial) and oars just in case. This is something i'm really quite keen on but dont have the cash to buy anything a little more gutsy. Absolutely any advice welcome. Will 4hp be enough on a calm day? Is there anything else I have overlooked?
Thanks in advance.
Leigh

smeelith · 03 May 2010, 15:48

actually, come to think of it a mile seems like a very long way! make that more like a few hundred metres at most.

Nos4r2 · 03 May 2010, 16:11

4hp should be fine. It may even plane when light.

smeelith · 03 May 2010, 16:14

great, i was hoping that would be the case and that i hadnt just bought a £300 worth of rubber and metal. Do you know of any licenses or legislation i have to comply with?

Nos4r2 · 03 May 2010, 16:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeelith

great, i was hoping that would be the case and that i hadnt just bought a £300 worth of rubber and metal. Do you know of any licenses or legislation i have to comply with?

Depends where you are. Some harbours won't let you launch without insurance, but apart from that there's nothing.
However, it's a very good idea to learn the colregs and generally assume if it's bigger than you it's a good idea to stay out of the way!

Might be worth doing a PB2.

smeelith · 03 May 2010, 16:49

ok, cheers for the advice. I would probably launch from the beach tbh, i doubt it will be too difficult to carry it the 50m or so from the car park to the water with 2 of us even if it took 2 trips.

Nos4r2 · 03 May 2010, 16:54

I would get some insurance if you're beach launching. Swimmers/tourists are usually very short on brains.

On a busy day at Studland I often wonder if they'll run out of new and inventive ways to potentially get themselves killed.

smeelith · 03 May 2010, 16:56

Haha, duly noted. Ill look into it. Any insurance companies you can recommend?

Nos4r2 · 03 May 2010, 17:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeelith

Haha, duly noted. Ill look into it. Any insurance companies you can recommend?

All much of a muchness really. I use Craftinsure, just because it's easy to do online. A lot of others use Porthcawl.

Poly · 03 May 2010, 17:25

Quote:

it's exam revision time so i'm procrastinating .......Absolutely any advice welcome.

Advice: you'll only get one chance at the exams, but RIBnet will still be here after you've done them

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeelith

Haha, duly noted. Ill look into it. Any insurance companies you can recommend?

Porthcawl are generally popular on here - but search insurance and you can waste a whole evening looking at competitors. Porthcawl also run Insurance-4-boats. Noble are also trade members on here so should get a mention.

smeelith · 03 May 2010, 17:30

Lol, true, astronomy is very interesting until i have to revise it, then it quickly becomes tedious. Ok, ill give them a call (after exams!) and see if i can get a good quote. thanks for your help.

1eyedjim · 03 May 2010, 18:32

iv got a 2.3m yam sib with a 4hp and a 2.8m sib with a 5hp yam both are good the 5hp is slightly faster with the bigger boat, with me 13stone and a mate 20 stone we have both gone brixham to torquay Approx 4 ish miles on one of them and 2 mates on the other, wasnt the fastest i have been but made it ok, worth keeping a 5ltr can of fuel with you aswell as we ran out and had to top up during the adventure, also worth a dry bag for ur mobile, my mate had the great idea of leaning over the front so when a wave hit came into the boat and killed my phone, wasnt happy made him walk the plank and bail out the water. glad took out insurance tho lol

thornbackflound · 03 May 2010, 19:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeelith

Lol, true, astronomy is very interesting until i have to revise it, then it quickly becomes tedious. Ok, ill give them a call (after exams!) and see if i can get a good quote. thanks for your help.

Have you thought of launching transom wheels ,will help to get down the beach easier as dugie is a pebble beach, it maybe a little further away but minnis bay is a cracking place to launch,sandy beach ,catch good fish ,don t have to go out far and more safe then dungie in my honest opinion,we go out on a 2.7 and a 3.3hp o/b,not much tide run,at dungie a mile out with a 4hp,i would nt want to do it,calm day tho may be allright never fished it ,so may be wrong

9D280 · 04 May 2010, 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeelith

waterproof phone (coastguard on speed dial)

You can get waterproof handheld VHFs for around the £80 mark. A VHF course will be around the same cost. It;s a one off cost, and money well spent.

Problem with phones is no matter how waterproof they are, if you got no signal, or the CG is engaged, you are stuffed. The VHF mayday / panpan will be received by anyone in range, as well as the CG.

......and welcome to Ribnet!

Philuk · 17 May 2010, 19:30

We have used a SIB for the same thing as you for a couple of years now and its great fun, you got a bargain boat and outboard at that price and 4hp will do you fine, we used little 2hp seaguls for years and go out about 2 miles, recently upgraded to a 4hp and it gets us out very fast! I also looked for the same advice when we first started and got it from a local part time coast guard at our favourite fishing/boating/drinking holiday site on the west coast of Scotland and he pointed us in the direction of a small hand held Marine radio (From Midland £39) rather than the mobile phone as he rightly told us that you cant always guarantee a mobile signal on the water! he was spot on as when we got out about a mile the phones on two different networks were out of range.
He also said a small watertight flare box with a couple of handheld flares are a must as inflatables are hard to see out at sea.
PFDs! always no matter how good a swimmer you are
Other recomendations were always have your oars aboard (Ive been pleased to have mine a few times when the fuel tank needed refilling and we were drifting towards rocks)
Spare fuel and dont forget to premix it if your on two stroke,
A well serviced outboard, spare spark plug and plug spanner.
A small anchor (we lost two stuck on the bottom so dont bother any more)

We always carry a watertight dry bag with the hand held marine radio and botled fresh water in it, it comes in very handy for keeping a warm dry fleece in it if the weather turns cold (and the sarnies are in there) you will be suprised how much water ends up inside your inflatable even on a calm day so a big car wash sponge for bailing out helps!
We always wear lightweight easy dry clothes and lightweight waterproofs that can be removed and stowed away in the drybag when it gets warm (you will get wet on the way out and badly sunburnt when out there) so sun cream and sunglasses also in the dry bag!
I would recomend a small sheet of thick pvc or tarpaulin to hang/cover over one side of your boat when fishing as we have nearly hooked ours a few times when bringing in a large fish and the swell hits you broadside at the same time, we only use light tackle and have still hooked 6lb fish which can actualy turn the boat when retreiving them.
I am going to try a drift chute thing instead of an anchor (forgot the proper name) as while offshore one day we met a kayak fisherman using one and we quickly drifted past him and the shoal of fish he was on top of, it was very anoying lol
Ive never personaly used a fish finder always prefered to use good local knowledge and have now invested in a cheap hand held sat nav/gps system to log good fishing spots we have found in the past and new ones we come across.
.
Fishing from both sides of the country East and West on both sides of the Scotish border we have never yet met a harbour master that wont let you launch an inflatable (most just laugh and say dont waste my time or bring me back a cod lol) some ask for a couple of quid, some say dont hang around in the harbour or I will kick your ass lol, we have found that if you are hand lauching without a trailer its usualy free but its always best to ask out of politeness.
Stay safe and have fun, tight lines aswell.
Phil.