Having sold Joint Venture quickly, Adam and I settled on a 7.9m Cheetah Cat with twin 150hp outboards to continue our boat fishing partnership. We checked out four on the market at the time, and settled on one in Belgium that was being used by a commercial fisherman there. (Apparently a 7 tonne bass quota is not enough to be worth the effort!) Three years old, very basic spec but engines and electronics were in good order. Within a few weeks the boat was brought over to Ramsgate, transported to my drive, VAT paid and settled in for the winter to be prepared for the 2024 season.
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It soon became apparent that there was a gulf between a Belgian fisherman’s “that’ll” do self installation and Adam’s near OCD desire for everything to be spot on. So I did my bit by keeping out of the way in New Zealand while Adam and Rob got stuck in, mainly rewiring everything, adding an oven and galley, fitting side rails and a custom cool box/bait board/rod holder as well as a good clean, cut and polish + anti-foul and with a few tweaks she was good to go.
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BEFORE - Belgian wiring
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AFTER - Rob’s wiring
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New Galley - oven, stove and sink in Adam’s hand made unit finished in Cheetah Grey to match interior.
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Custom frame for IceyTek cool box and bait board
Adam and I both joined North Haven Yacht Club, taking one of their swinging moorings. While we were sad to lose the convenience of a fork lift launch and recovery and a pontoon walk to the boat - we resented the 45% price increase in two years and the take it or leave it attitude that prevailed. NHYC is proving to be a vibrant friendly club of c 600 members who all muck in to keep costs down and make it a success.
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Unfortunately we lost a few weeks as Poole Boat Transport no longer seemed to be trading, but Malcolm Elvy came to the rescue, lifted Kodiak last Saturday and after squeezing down a lane between two Sunseeker factories, quietly dropped us in opposite Poole Quay. Engines started first time, we dropped our new tender off on our mooring and we set off for our first proper sea trial and a quick fish. Our focus was on checking all systems, and establishing speed v fuel consumption. First impressions were the flat ride, low noise and ease of manoeuvring. Flat out she gave 30knots but 20 knots was the sweet spot in terms of fuel per nautical mile. The only items requiring attention was to calibrate the auto pilot and adjust the throttle controls.
In the short fishing time available we managed a few bream, some mackerel, some small bass, a smoothound and an LSD for good measure. And we managed to test the oven for the signature spicy pasta bake.
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No it’s not a bathtub! It looks bigger in my garage……….
We then got back to our mooring as we were quickly running out of water to get back to NHYC, and three men in an 8’ tender plus gear showed us that more than one run ashore may be required in future! The yacht club run a water taxi to the moorings from 8.00am until 5.00pm which is great, but too often we need 5.00am until 8.00pm so the dinghy will get regular use.
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KODIAK on her new berth
Adam and Rob managed a couple of hours on Tuesday with a Bass each for their trouble - and we look forward to many safe and successful trips in years to come.
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Great effort guys, good luck with the new venture. 👏👏👍
I can't claim all the glory for the wiring, Adam did much of it. Having both watched Bob on the last 2 builds, he would be proud!!
The schematics Adam drew up on the "Belgian" wiring made no sense. It turned out, the schematics were correct, the wiring was horrendous.
Biggest 3 issues (other than the mess), were:
- black battery cables in use for positive (some negative ones had red heat shrink on the tips too)
- unnecessary runs of cables where spitting them was more efficient
- a 3rd battery that was assumed for windlass, doing absolutely nothing, except being charged underway, yet no option to throw a switch to bring it in to service
All sorted and satisfying to get some dangling time on her!
Thanks gents!
R
Great effort guys, good luck with the new venture. [emoji122][emoji122][emoji106]
Maybe that should have been the name!!
What a fantastic effort. Well deserved, congratulations.
Tips needed, I think my boat was wired in Belgium 🤣
Well done guys
Looks well worth the effort
20 knots will get you there.
Kodiac looks great, well done all you must be very proud of your efforts
Superb Job.
You really do have an eye for detail Adam.
Thanks for posting up the report and pics Ian - I don’t seem to be able to find much time anymore to be on here! Anyway it’s good to be back, good to be back fishing after a year off and exciting to have a new toy to play with.
JV was great and suited our needs at the time but a floating caravan / fishing boat isn’t needed anymore and the Cheetah is a pure hardcore fast offshore fishing weapon.
I really need to learn that when I think ‘ that needs a few weekends work’ it’s usually 6 months!
See you all out on the water soon.
Adam
Need to update your Avatar Adam ! 😉
Nice boat you must both be chuffed to bits with it, let's hope it does you well, good luck ,colin.
Well done guys, you've done a top job there, that's a lot of work put in, she looks the business, a 20knot cruise will get you most places quick enough.
Kodiak is going to be a more stable platform than JV!
Not so sure about the tender...
Well done guys, you've done a top job there, that's a lot of work put in, she looks the business, a 20knot cruise will get you most places quick enough.
Kodiak is going to be a more stable platform than JV!
Not so sure about the tender...
The tender is a cat too! They don't do things by halves!
R
Congrats on the new boat guys!! D
Cracking trip today, not the best forecast and pretty windy and sloppy!!
Bass a plenty out there. We had multiple 4-way hook-ups. Mind you, the bass were highly concentrated. Miss the spots and blank drift, fortunately, those were few and far between.
I've never been on a boat where the faster you head in to slop, the smoother the ride, awesome!
Cracking first use of the oven, Adam made moussaka and we shared a bottle of red once back in calmer waters [emoji108]
Thanks chaps.
R