Hello from a newbie.......

T

The Dogs Pollacks Brother

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Hi all. Been reading this forum for a while but joined up today.
I am always on the worldseafishing forum as that is my main interest,but I have read a lot of interesting things on here relating to my boat and its location.
We,thats myself, my brother (aka The Dogs Pollacks) and our brother in law Rob are partners in owning a Colvic 22 fishing boat........The Grumpy Uncle......currently in Milford Marina for the winter, but moored at Dale in the summer. Probably not as stylish and sleek as your boats guys, but its perfect for us and big enough to overnight on or take the wives and kids for a cruise on a summers day.
We picked her up from Watermouth in August and sailed her to Oxwich, then down to Dale the next day.........an epic adventure for us as we were used to a 17ft boat around Dale for a few seasons (if anyones interested,I can post the details of the journey?) just fishing.
So if you see a navy blue Colvic chugging out of the marina, or moored alonside the pontoon at Dale in the spring, give us a wave (she should have her name decals on by then).
Happy boating......
Jeff.
aka The Dogs Pollacks Brother.
 
Hello Jeff and welcome. I'm sorry nobody else has yet responded to your excellent first post.

I would certainly like to read more about your epic voyage from Watermouth. I'm sure that other forum members would too.

We're based in Milford Marina although our boat's out of the water for the winter. See you next year.
 
Morning guys and thanks for the welcome!

Probably not an "epic" voyage for you guys,but we all have to start somewhere don't we.

We had a small 17ft cathedral hulled boat at Dale, just the job for two fishing or three at a push and used to bomb about the local marks with the Suzi 55 screaming away and drinking fuel like its going out of fashion! Great boat and engine,but it was a case of "what next" after 2 seasons. We all decided we wanted bigger.........kids were getting older so wanted to come along more,wives said they would come out if it was bigger with a loo! and we definately wanted more space (and I wanted a cooker!).
We searched the usual sites for months, not being tempted to buy the first thing we saw, and then a Colvic 22 popped up on B&O for the right price in the right location.
Dave(aka the dogs pollacks) and myself drove across to Watermouth to take her out on a sea trial one sunday (we live near Chepstow so not too bad a drive) and had a good hour or more out in a realy horrid sea......we most definately would not have gone out in the old boat!
All the boxes seemed ticked so we done a deal.
In august myself and Rob made the trip to Devon to collect her. We had to get new saftey items such as hand held vhf as back up and off shore flares, which my wife thought were some sort of 70's fashion trousers!, then left Watermouth one Monday afternoon.
20 odd miles in a straight line to Oxwich.........easy peasy for you experienced guys,but a "great crossing" as its become known to us!
A snotty beam sea with a force 2-3 over the tide made for a bumpy 3 hrs or so,but as the wind and tide eased it ended nice and calm when we neared the Gower. We saw our first ever Porpoises and Dolphins which made us well chuffed as well!
We picked up a bouy in Oxwich,had a bite to eat and a celabratory can or two then got our heads down for the night. The boat has bunks/seats but no cushions so we used those roll out camping mats.......just as well of used newspaper for all the comfort we had!
It was my first ever night on a boat and the worse nights sleep I ever had.......every creek,groan,clunk,rattle,slap of a wave and I was wide eyed! Then I awoke because of the silence......not a sound,not a whisper, no movement....."oh my god,we are adrift in the Bristol channel!" Shot of the bed,head out the hatch just to see a lovely sunrise over a table top like sea.
We survived the night!
Leg two to follow........
 
Welcome to the forum. I would also be interested in hearing more about your trip. By coincidence we were in Watermouth on Sunday night before sailing back to Cardiff on Monday.
Allan
 
The Dogs Pollacks Brother said:
Hi all. Been reading this forum for a while but joined up today.
I am always on the worldseafishing forum as that is my main interest,but I have read a lot of interesting things on here relating to my boat and its location.
We,thats myself, my brother (aka The Dogs Pollacks) and our brother in law Rob are partners in owning a Colvic 22 fishing boat........The Grumpy Uncle......currently in Milford Marina for the winter, but moored at Dale in the summer. Probably not as stylish and sleek as your boats guys, but its perfect for us and big enough to overnight on or take the wives and kids for a cruise on a summers day.
We picked her up from Watermouth in August and sailed her to Oxwich, then down to Dale the next day.........an epic adventure for us as we were used to a 17ft boat around Dale for a few seasons (if anyones interested,I can post the details of the journey?) just fishing.
So if you see a navy blue Colvic chugging out of the marina, or moored alonside the pontoon at Dale in the spring, give us a wave (she should have her name decals on by then).
Happy boating......
Jeff.
aka The Dogs Pollacks Brother.
Click to expand...

Welcome on here. I think this is the nicest area on these forums. If you want boat names doing give me a shout, bust leg so nothing else to do.
Andy
Cardiff....also colvic.
 
Welcome from a Swansea based infrequent poster. Had a week in Milford in July, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We will be back! Oh and thanks for taking the time to write about your delivery trip. I really enjoy reading about everyone's adventures.
 
Thanks again for the welcome everyone!

Ssssoooooooo........we awoke after what was the worse nights kip of our lives all tired and bleary eyed. A bite to eat and a cuppa and we were off on a lovely Gower morning. We had the ebb tide with us this time and the old BMC 1.5 gave us a death defying speed of 7kts!.......still, whats the hurry? we had a lovely day ahead of us, the sea was nice and we had yet more D's and P's leaping out of the water all around us. We were most definately sold on the idea of a more sedate way of boating!
The sea being the sea, decided that calm was NOT the order of the day.......well in periods at least.
We approached the Hellwick shoals where the sea got a bit more lumpy, not uncomfortable or as bad as when we left Devon, but just anoying that it changed so much in such a short distance.
So on we chugged over Camarthan bay and past Caldy island, still with P's and D's (never knew they were so plentifull!) and the sea became calmer again as we got nearer the coast line. We had been watching the gauges as we were at the helm and noticed a very slow but definate drop in oil pressure, and guess what we forgot to bring?.........yep...........OIL!.
We had filters,fuel,belts,enough tools to put screwfix out of business,water,ect,ect, but no oil. The dip stick confirmed our fears, we were very low and had to put a plan into action quickly. Can't believe we missed that out on the check list (insert pillock icon here).
A quick call to my sister,Robs wife,and she was on her way to meet us at Freshwater East. We got there ok at reduced revs/speed to a flat calm and damn hot bay......shorts and flip-flops weather! We made our way to the beach and as the tide was pretty much out by now,we chucked the pick over the side and rowed up to the slip in the dingy. Dinner and a pint in the bar there was the order of the day,then pick up the oil and a passenger (Robs son,Ewan) and off we go again.
Ewan spent the next 2 hours with his head out the hatch on Dolphin watch and guess what?.......we saw no more!
A call to the Castlemartin range controller and they put us on a course miles around thier danger zone!........it must have put about 2 hours or more on our journey.
The last leg was probably the roughest........from the western end of the range and around St Govans head into the Haven. The waves were about a meter high but from all directions at times,speed was down to about 5 - 6kts with the odd wave coming over the bow. Around the head and into the Haven and we were almost there! We then rounded Dale fort and home was in sight! Not quite like the Arc Royal coming into Portsmouth, but we still had my Mrs,Robs Mrs and his daughter all to greet us. I then had the "lucky" job of putting her alongside the pontoon at Dale........first time parking on a strange boat on a busy pontoon with a packed pub and 3 million crabbing kids....Great! Just as I was getting nervous,a boat left the pontoon leaving me a nice gap and I just slipped in as if I had been doing it for years!
RESULT!

As I said,not an epic for most of you guys,but for us first timers it was a massive buzz and we were so chuffed with ourselves to get it under our belt.......its given us some priceless experience and confidence.
As for the boat itself, I have the upmost faith in that Colvic hull to get us home,it just punched the sea out of its way and not once did I feel intimidated by mother nature........respectfull always of course, but not worried on this trip. The old BMC was fine all the way and never missed a beat and used the grand amount of 25 lts of fuel to do the 70 odd miles!
We have learned a lot about the engine in a few months and done a few things to her as well.......there was no sea water strainer fitted (its new to us so we did'nt know any better )so we have done that,then after a few trips out we discovered a potential head gasket gone (exaust in the water header tank) so we have had that changed as well and it was indeed blown.
We have her in Milford marina for our first winter to see how we get on with restricted lock times and winter fishing.

And there you have it.......the story of the Grumpy Uncles emigration to Wales!
Jeff.
 
Welcome back
Yes, St Gowans shoals are not to be taken lightly.
I've been past at times when it was flat calm and at others when prayer has been the order of the day!
See you around the haven sometime
 
story

Nice story and well written. thanks for that and also thanks for extolling the virtue of Colvic hulls! They seem to be a neglected beast in the yottie world but I have had two now and they are great hulls I think. Its a pity they are out of business. I have a 33ft Countess and she may not be the fastest in the club but I think she is one of the steadiest in a blow. It may well be that this is the great satisfaction you will have on your trips and adventures to come. The knowledge that you have a sturdy boat beneath you
 
Yes the Colvic 22 is a most sea worthy vessel but not, in some eyes, the most attractive of craft! Myself, I like its almost ugly,workmanlike look and it just screams "Fishing boat" at you! Just what we wanted and we done a lot of research on these boats and found nothing but good results.
Obviously our interests are primaraly fishing and she is well suited to this,but we are looking to eventualy kit the cabin out to a more "comfortable" level for the chance of overnighting in the summer.
At the moment she has just a bare fibreglass interior aside from the toilet locker and the wooden seats. If anyone has any ideas or pointers for me on how to line the inside and what to use please feel free to pass on the information!
TDPB
 
chrishelen said:
Welcome to the forum as Andy says the most friendly on here. Good account thanks for posting

love your username BTW.
Click to expand...

+1 The boat name made me chuckle as well :-)

Re lining the inside of the hull. Waterproof carpet as used in shower rooms etc can be good. I think one version is called "floatex "or similar name. Ask in a carpet supplier, may have some smaller bits at cut price.
 
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