where to go ? round isle of wight area

[lee.f100]

hi every one just got back into fishing, me and my pals have broaught a 14' dijon with a 50 hp suzuki on the back first of all anyone know safe revs that the engine will go up to and second we are gasping to get out to sea and get catching some fish we are not sure exactly where to go we set off from gosport so good spots round there would be great we have fish finder on board any markings on the bottem would help cheers for any replys

[Ben]

try the forts for macky and bass(i think)

[Lookfar]

Hi,
With respect to the revs, a 50hp 2 stroke (?) will probably redline at 5500 to 6000 rpm.

Have you or your mates done any boating before? If not, then keep in mind that this can be a VERY dangerous sport for the unprepared. Don't wanna lecture, but you need to pay safety a lot of attention if you still want to be alive when the RNLI arrive. Life jackets, alternative means of propulsion, flares and VHF radio or at minimum mobile phones in sealed bags. Watch the weather, only go on a settled forecast. If I'm teaching Grandma to suck eggs, I apologise.
I'd guess you are launching Gosport? Watch for the boat traffic in the entrance, watch also the speed limits that apply. As you come out of Portsmouth entrance, you should be able to see the Forts. Girt round towers in the sea. The one nearest the Island (No Man's Land Fort) is built right on the drop into the main channel and is good to drift for mackerel and bass. The muddy shallower ground to the south-west of it holds a few small hounds, ray and dogs and is easy to anchor but the deep channel to the north is the shipping channel - definitely no anchoring!!! From the towers looking southeast on a clear day you'll see Nab Tower. Inshore of that, and much closer, you should just be able to see a cluster of three buoys about 2 mile away. That's Dean Tail. There's a wreck slap between the black and the yellow buoys, the green is just a channel marker. There's mackerel and scad on the wreck and dropping anchor about 400 yards due east can find rays. Don't anchor south of the green buoy - shipping lanes again.
If you want a sheltered spot in a N or NW wind, go right out of Portsmouth round Gilkicker Point and into Stokes Bay. A quick run offshore should show you where the ground drops away sharply a few hundred yards off the beach. Anywhere along the drop off is worth a go. Within the Solent I've no experience but I'm told that drifting close inshore in the evening and working shads and leadheads can give plenty of bass.
Beyond that, you are really going to need a GPS.

Hope this helps. If you need more info on boat set-up or marks PM me and I'll help as best I can.

Steve

[lee.f100]

cheers steve you have been a great help we couldn't wait to get out at the weekend and we did go out unprepaired we underestimated how much fuel was needed we had £30 in the tank and was full we did some fishing around the bembridge bouy we did start to go towards the nab but checked our tank and was already half empty so we went back towards the forts but oops we ancored in the shipping lanes couaght enough makeral to freeze for bait over the winter so was quite good but we had to get that ancor up quite quick when we saw britainy ferries coming it wasn't that close but we did get worried for a minute or two our next problem is that our boat ran out of fuel on the way back and we had to radio the coastgaurd as we were smack bang in between ryde and gillkicker does this seem exccesive fuel consumption to you or does it seem about right we set off from gafirs slip not sure if there is something wrong with the engine we have just brought a 25L jerry can so we dont get caught short again thanks again steve you have been a great help cheers lee

[Lookfar]

Hi Lee,
Working roughly from your route, I'd guess you did 20-25 miles on what sounds like an 8 gallon tank. That's no better than 3mpg but without an accurate mileage.....?
A Warrior with a 2 stroke 60hp does about 4mpg, a Strikeliner on a 30hp about 5-6mpg. I don't know much about the Dijon but with the size of the thing in relation to the engine I'd have expected to get further than you appeared to have done. Fuel consumption is far worse at displacement speeds. Get the boat up on the plane asap if the sea state will allow it. Most efficient travel is when planing around mid-range engine speeds, say 3500rpm or so. Start running near the redline and the fuel useage will go up again. Once you've got a feel for fuel consumption, you should always carry at least 25% reserve. It allows you to change plans during the day and gets you home if the weather cuts up rough and trashes your fuel consumption. The Solent is safe in the sense there are folk around to help, but also a damn dangerous place to be drifting. A tanker simply cannot turn or stop to any significant degree.
Glad you found a few fish. Mackerel isn't a bad winter bait but offshore squid rules the roost. When the budget runs to a GPS you'll find things a lot easier, be able to keep an eye on mileages, find exact marks and get home if fog or darkness catch you out. Good luck on the next trip!

Steve

[lee.f100]

thanks thats good to know it did seem to use more fuel than i thought maybe we're not driving the boat right we were around 4000 revs the engine is a tilt and trim and i cant remember if the bloke we brought it off said to take the engine up slightly when its plaining along so i have just left it at the bottem as we are going along.( is it plaining when it starts bouncing on the waves or does it plane before that cos it starts bouncing when it starts to hit 5000 revs, are we going to fast ?) any help would be great cheers everyone thats taking there time to reply its very much appreciated

[Lookfar]

Originally Posted by lee.f100

maybe we're not driving the boat right we were around 4000 revs the engine is a tilt and trim and i cant remember if the bloke we brought it off said to take the engine up slightly when its plaining along so i have just left it at the bottom as we are going along.( is it plaining when it starts bouncing on the waves or does it plane before that cos it starts bouncing when it starts to hit 5000 revs, are we going to fast ?)

The back of your boat hull has quite a flat profile, which is designed at speed to skim across the water surface. At rest, she sits deep in the water with the bows dug in. As you speed up, you push a bow wave in front of the boat and the bows will lift as they try to climb this. Effectively you are running 'uphill', which is why you use so much fuel. A bit more speed and the bows start to lift clear, the bow wave reduces and the boat starts to skim along on its flat rear sections. As this happens the bows will drop a little and you are on the plane. Most folk floor the throttle until she's up on the plane and then ease back to a comfortable speed. You'll plane somewhere around 8-12 knots but your top speed is dictated by comfort. If you are flying off the top of waves and crashing down, just a few knots less speed could well smooth things right out. On a flat day, you'll run at up to whatever rpm the engine will pull but I'd be very wary about going much above 5000rpm on an aging engine. The rub comes in really heavy weather, when you might struggle to keep her on the plane at all. Time to head for home!
Trim, or rather tilt, is an added complication. Tilting towards the transom is trimmed in, away from the transom, ie raising the outboard, is trimmed out. It radically affects the way the boat rides. If you think of the boat floating level and the engine trimmed out so the prop points partly up, it figures that as well as the prop pushing you forward, it will also try to push the stern down. So trim out raises the bows. Conversely, trim in past the centre line and the prop will then be trying to lift the stern, so trim in lowers the bows. To get up on the plane quickly, trimming out slightly will help lift the bows clear. Once up, trim in to bring them down again until the ride is good. That's a question of what suits you. Running nose-high keeps the boat well on the plane and is fuel efficient but you are presenting a huge flat surface to every little wave and ripple you hit. She'll slap and bang, take off over small crests and generally ride hard. On a flat calm day trimming out will make any po-go tendencies worse (that's an annoying slow bouncing up and down of the bows). The more you trim in, the more of the bows you bring down. You'll start cutting through the chop instead of leaping and slamming, so the ride will soften but you'll pay in terms of fuel and speed. Have a play next time you are out.
Cavitation is the last point. Trim the prop out too far and at some point you'll hear the engine revs surge while speed if anything drops off. Effectively, the prop is too near the surface and losing drive. Just trim in a touch to stop that.
It takes a long time to describe but as soon as you start to play out on the water it becomes pretty obvious.

Steve

[lee.f100]

cheers steve once again you're a star i wiil have a play when we're next out hopefully the weather is good at the weekend might be out then cheers again best regards lee fletcher.

[Lookfar]

Weathers OK, 6mph S on sunday, but you've a massive 4.8m (Nab) of tide. That'll make anchoring interesting!

The winter species will show from next month. If we get settled enough conditions for a 14 footer and the dates suit, do you want a look out to the Spoils after cod? Its always best to go with another boat where possible.

Steve

[lee.f100]

yes count us in thats what were looking forward to a bit of cod bashing in the winter do you have to go out far for those i'll have to sort out how much fuel to take do you go for cod in the day only or do you catch at night aswell we've yet to go night fishing bit wiery at the moment just getting used to the boat first sounds like a plan anyway steve i'll be keeping in touch speek soon lee