One old guy's outings & kit (Aerotec, Yamaha 15 2T etc)

[Fenlander]

I mean the area is not up there with the Scottish west coast or Devon/Cornwall but it ticks all the boating old folks boxes and under two hours from home.

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

Hi David, an area of the country I don't really know. Been to Ipswich and Felixstowe on business but that's about it. Looks like another couple of places add to the list.

The River Deben is delightful

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

Just had two of the best days at the coast in the SIB for a good while. Great mixed cloud/sun weather, accommodation and food all coincided for once.

Day one was an afternoon tide so lots of mooching about, couple of shackles plus a new hat in the chandlers, some food and playing which one we'd choose of the classic yachts.

We'd grabbed the best sibbers parking space in the car park on the front as it is adj the motorcycle spaces which are always empty in the day hence our perfect set up location adj the car. Forecast was light winds and of course as usual they weren't light locally. We'd only made about 2Nm before we were forced down to mostly displacement speed faced with intermittent white caps on the wind over tide waves. All great fun and as usual when that's the character of the run out the return trip was huge fun on the plane surfing back. The Aerotec never seems to get near stuffing into the back of a wave but you do need to be quick to catch veering from a bow steer when pushing on in these circumstances.

I'm always scanning the water for any situations and off out to sea I thought I could see an Atlantic challenge type rowing boat adrift with no signs of movement so we headed out to find it was indeed that craft type but at anchor fishing. Oh well no crisis but you've got to check.

Covered 23Nm and used 10l of fuel which matches the previous Yamaha 15 2T we owned which I recorded on a similar run using 10l over 22Nm.

I like to start with a mid trim post with any altered SIB/outboard set-up and work from there but the Yamaha hasn't a middle one. So far we've used the two out of four available and it was near but not quite right. So I went for three out and that small change has helped the general feel and we reckon the outfit is running as well as the Aerotec ever has in nine years ownership.

Continued...

Is that a Ford Transit Custom I see in the left of that Picture

[Croolis]

I really ought to have a go at West Mersea when I'm heading down south for a visit. How's the mackerel? I'll take a dogfish. Hell, I'll take anything.

[Fenlander]

Goodness knows.

I river fished casually up to about age 8. Then there was a gap until aged about 12 we were out off Torbay and lobbed in some feathers from a dory just for a laugh. Caught over 50 good size mackerel in about 30mins before storage on the boat caused us to stop. We thought the hotel owning friend we were staying with might appreciate them for the hotel freezer but after a poor uptake on the menu the following nights realised we'd gone a bit over the top.

Fast forward some 50yrs and on starting small craft boating again I bought all the kit. Dangled the rod in a Scottish west coast loch for 20mins on holiday and the lack of action caused me to say right guys on with our trip... and I've never fished since.

[Fenlander]

Trip report to follow over a few posts...

Managed an excellent single location four days, three nights away and three outings.

Booked with OK tides but taking a chance on the weather as always. No rain and mostly really sunny but a bit more wind than ideal as per the pictured forecast. On this occasion decided to use the luxury of the boat park adj the hard for a first time. Aerotec in the yard ready to use daytimes and in their shed overnight. This worked really well to give us a rest from the daily setup. We just took off the electronics and spare fuel overnight but left everything else on.

We always wander down the pontoon on arrival evening to get a feel for being back at the coast. In one direction at the scrubbing posts on the hard the lovely restored oyster smack CK18, turn round 180deg to see very different craft in the marina basin.

[Fenlander]

As per our previous trip a few weeks ago the waves on all three outings were such that it was near impossible to plane into them without significant discomfort, but we had some great runs back at a lively 15kt plane. On the day of the greatest wind and when the tide was running the waves reached 1.5m with the occasional 2m or so. This just about matches our previous heavy conditions more than a decade ago running down Loch Sween from Tayvallich with the remnants of a force 8 from previous days blowing itself out. Huge fun.

We were lucky to have accommodation near enough to the Ponton to return and do our own refuel stops from cans to save carrying extra all the time.

You always have to keep eyes peeled at the launch location for the unexpected and in the image of me looking fierce standing in the water the yacht had been left on a cradle trolley for the tide to float it off. As we were getting set up to leave they decided to pull the trolley out with a tractor and very long rope but it skewed off out of line under water and the gnarly looking steel cradle started to rise up from the muddy water under our tube. A determined stop signal to the tractor saved potential damage.

On a pootle down the estuary for a look at the boats we saw this Honwave, they never die just merge into their weathered surroundings.

[Fenlander]

On this trip I'd finally finished all the 50:1 mix I've had for our Tohatsu so reverted to my chosen 80:1 mix for the Yamaha. I truly believe it was much happier trolling in the 4kt harbour limit with less oil and also seemed to run more cleanly at speed. So much so that we took the previously favoured 9" prop off and went back to the standard 9.75" pitch which it pulled really well.

Despite the significant winds we were determined to get out to sea and not hide in the estuary and really enjoyed the experience which added to my understanding SIB handling in general and the Aerotec in particular.

The dog is a natural and loves it, apart from copping the odd faceful of spray which isn't his ideal but he has the sense to know where it's come from and look over the other side back to wind.

None of the images are of the heaviest weather as it was too rough to get the phones out. On this trip I decided to leave the GoPro at home as it's just extra faff.

[Fenlander]

To finish some gratuitous images of East coast mud.

Also a very interesting image of two props. The one fitted had been run at 80:1 and the other had been run at 50:1 for a similar distance. A significantly more oily exhaust at 50:1.

Finally packing away in the sun.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

You always have to keep eyes peeled at the launch location for the unexpected and in the image of me looking fierce standing in the water

“I’m Watching You, Wazowski! Always Watching”

[Fenlander]

Is it the grey hair and glasses?

[Fenlander]

Well it's that time of year where we happily pack away everything and winterise the outboards. The kit was washed and dried on a sunny day after its last use. I take all the batteries out of the safety kit to avoid corrosion and use them in home items then replace with fresh next year. The outboards are run through with Aspen mix, fogging oil in the intake until they stall, injected through the plug holes and sprayed over the block/carb, grease points and pivots lubricated etc. Finally some polish on the paint then chained up under the dust sheets until next year. Only 10lit of E5 fuel mix (inc Quickstor) left over and that will mix in with new next year.

[Steve509926]

Do you use the Rock oil as a fogging oil David?

[Fenlander]

Yes in the carb until it stalls, then in the plug holes and all over the block and linkages. Outboards of course may well survive the winters without but for about 30p worth of spray and a couple of mins work it can never be wasted effort to know you’re doing the very best.

[Steve509926]

As you say it can never be a wasted effort and can only be a good idea when you are putting your OB away for the winter. I'm tempted to do the same with my 20hp Merc. I fully intend on getting out on the water over winter, probably on Windermere, so I won't winterise the Tohatsu.