S/S Puhois. Steamer from 1925

Fuel! Birch from Russia. One cubikmeter will last for three hours at full speed. Not cheap really!

Hull made of pinetree. Most of it is still original.

Just about to leave. Just tie up the rear to the pier. Put in reverse and stern will turn out. 

Here are som photos of a really nice boat i use to work on summertime. S/S Puhois is one of two remaining steamers in Finland, with the hull built of wood. She had a duty at times when logs were transported on water; she has a crane, crew lifted up bunches of 25 logs and wrapped a steelwire around it, for easier handling for the towboats. She is now on museumregistration. That means she has to remain original, atleast externaly. She has about 25 beds so there is plenty of space on her. There is a sauna too, wich adds some luxury to it. 

24 meter long, 5.1 m wide makes her a big vessel. She has a 65 hp engine. Not many horsepowers, but the torque is massive. She will cruise at 6 knots, with 8 as topspeed. With tailwind of course:-) I am lucky to have been on S/S Puhois for some summers now. I'm a stearmen and deckhand on her plus just be around and do this and that kind of sources. There is also a set of downriggers to use, so i can use this pearl to go fishing ;-) Quite unique trollingboat, eh?

I have hundreds of photos of her and i will add some more later. The photos didn't appear in order here, of some reason. Last photo should have been first. Well, well.../ Jussi

New Battery for the Warrior.

I bought a new battery for my boat. It's an Deka Seamate AGM (AbsorbedGlassMat). Completely sealed, no acid or explosive fumes coming out from this battery. The speifications are the same as for an ordinary battery, weight, size aso. 

Amp.hours are 79. Prize is the double compared with an ordinary acidbattery but an battery with AGM will last longer and with the advantages it have, it is well worth the money. This type of battery also has better ability to last longer even if t is completely drawn out and recharged more times than an ordinary battery. I bought it from Svenska Batterilagret in Borås. Deka in made in USA. 

I have had my recent battery for more than five years and thought it was time to update it. It works, but i don't know for how long. A battery in a boat lives a hard life. They can work well, start the engine and get the instruments working. But once you leave the harbour and give gas, it could be good to have in mind that an fuelinjected outboarder needs 11.9 Volts to have enough power for the ignition. Lover voltage in battery than that, and engine will stop. The more gas you give, the more power the engine  takes out for the ignition. If you have an old battery it will be a hard work for it to do that job, especially with lights, GPS, fishfinder and all other things that is running at the same time. Wintertime it will be even harder for it. If a fuelinjected engine stops while running, due to an bad battery; stop and turn off all consumers. Wait some minutes and then start up the engine again. But DO NOT try to give gas. Engine will stop again. There is not enough voltage for the ignition, so just let it run on idle for a long time. Hopefully you are not outside Omberg, Lake Vättern in an hard westerly wind as i was when my engine did just what i described above. I managed to get back to Hästholmen, one experince richer what fishing from a boat wintertime can be like when it's cold. My battery in the boat, at that time was just low on water and voltage. Just a little but enough that day to almost make my day really bad. A battery, the best you can get is a cheap ensurance for safety. A double set up of batterys is a good way to add safety too, but heavier and more expensive. A small kicker next to the big engine is good aswell. / Jussi

This is the way how to put a warrior in the water!

Problems with your trailer?

Look at this. Perfekt to prevent problems with brakes or wheelbearings. When i imported my trailer from England it had something like this mounted to protect and grease the bearings. The idea is simple.  Just pump in the grease and the spring system will make sure there is enough of it to keep water away. The bearing get new grease all the time. I have had my trailer for five years and this far i have done nothing to it. Just the ordinary things, adjusting brakes aso.  These bearingprotecters doesn't mean that you can leave the ordinary service, maintenance undone, but they do make things a lot easier. 

I have found this maker in US: www.bearingbuddies.com

There is one in UK:  www.trailertek.co.uk/ acatalog/BB101.jpg 

Looks a little bit different, but works just the same.

I have copied the photos from the webpages. Well aware that i'm not allowed to do that. I let the photos be here till someone tells me to remove them! I think theese bearingsavers are good things. Making it more safe to drive around in bad conditions with our boattrailers, especially now, wintertime. I have seen what happens when bearings get jammed due to bad grease or none at all. The friction will make the brakepads and the drum even hotter. This will be to much for the bearing. Finally, It's not a pretty sight when a wheel leaves the rest of the trailer. No horrorstorryies to be told here! It's a lot more fun to be home in time, safe and sound. 

There are a lot of places to order on the net. If you order them, measure the diameter on your hubs, so you get the right ones. Safe ride and Tight lines. 

Warrior 165

Here are some photos of my boat. It's a Warrior 165. I bought her five years ago straight from the maker. I also imported the trailer at the same time. The boat is only 5.05 meters long, but the deck could fit on a much bigger boat. The hard top provides just enough shelter to ceep the rain and wind away, but sleeping in this boat is not good. This is a fishingboat, not a compromise, not made for camping. She is built to stand the Irish Sea, wich means marin conditions and water scimilar to Lake Vättern and Vänern. That means current water with high, short waves. I have been out in windy 16 m/sec. with her. It's not really effective, but it's possible. Did i fish that day? No comments! She handles the waves and swell very well. There is no selfdraining on this model, so from floor to rails there is 85cm of hight. No risk falling out from this boat. I have had waves coming in over the hard top, leaving plenty of water on the deck, so a bilgepump with high capacity is a must on a boat like this. That big deck collectes a lot of water.
With a Suzuki 70 4-stroke, she will cruise 12-13 knots in rough water, wind 8-10 m/sec. Some banging and slaming, but she will stay together. Handrolled glassfiber with some layers of kevlar in the bottom will do the job and ensure that. The gelcoat on the boat is not best quality. There are some hairstringcracks here and there all over the boat. I don't know if it is from five years abuse on the lake, bouncing around on the trailer for 10000 km or just poor gelcoat. I think little of both. The hairstring cracks are not to much to worry about and i just wax the boat regularily. She is resting on the trailer when not on the lake, well taken care of so she will last for many more years. I haven't seen any other Warriors on Swedish water, except in Baltic Sea, Simrishamn. These boats are popular in Denmark and according to the Warrioragent in Denmark, he has sold three Warrior boats to Sweden. I haven't seen any of them! A good friend of mine, Pedersen, "Team Tortuga" from Motala had a Warrior when i bought mine, but he's fishing from a Campion explorer 542 now, selling away the little fishingmachine, so now I would like to know if there is any other Warriorowners out there, in Sweden. I would like to get in contact with them, i want to know how they they are doing with their boats. As i said the gelcoat is not good on my boat, but overall the boat is just fantastic. The issue with the gelcoat should have been delt with now, as far as i know.
I have all the contacts, phonenumbers and emailadresses, if someone want to import their own boat from England. I can help you with that. Warriors can be bought from Denmark too, but then they are expensive, so importing one from GB can be a good affair. Check out the boats at www.warriorboats.co.uk
Leave a comment and contactinfo. if you are intrested in owning one of theese fantastic, practical, but ugly fishingboats;-)