hytte

Boat

Table of Contents

• Useful Shops
• Lustadvatnet Map
• Storage
  • The Boat Shed
  • Mooring
• Motor
  • Assembly
  • Starting the Engine
  • Stopping the Engine
• Otering
  • Supplies
  • Handling the Oter
  • Records
  • Advice
  • Gutting the Fish
• Misc

Useful Shops

• Biltema (Good for oars, rowlocks)
• Steinkjer motorsenter AS (Boat and outboard)
  • Heggesengvegen 2, 7715 Steinker
  • +47 741 62 232; deler@steinkjermotorsenter.no

Lustadvatnet

Lustadvatnet map showing rocks & points of interest.

Places of Interest:

1. Dam - tie up here and walk down to the gorge
2. Litlfjorden - water lilies and dock by Lustadstua
3. Zambezi - more water lilies, impassable by boat

Storage

The Boat Shed

• The key to open the side door lives on the hooks in the main room (labelled: Bat)
• There are two latches on the inside of the double door at the back, they can be stiff
• Note: the stream can be very shallow!
  • If the stream is too shallow then you can drag the boat over the shallows, best to wear wellies when launching
  • If the stream is shallow, then you can dig it out if you have nothing better to do
  • Transport oars,outboard motor, petrol tank and petrol hose etc separately
• To get the boat back in the shed:
  • Attach front hook to the winch and slowly wind in
  • The wire will all bunch up on one side - every so often, you should slacken off and adjust the distribution
    • Push the ratchet switch down to allow you to unwind
  • When you get the boat nearly to the boatshed, unhook the winch and manhandle the boat to align it with the boatshed
  • Push/pull the boat into the boatshed (it may need tilting). There is a blue nylon comealong if you need help

Riverworks

In 2024, the levee (Riverworks) had worked and so no digging was needed, but this may change year to year. This project has been ongoing since 1974 (?!).

Potentially useful jobs:

• Dig out the stream, if it is too shallow
• Collect rocks (recommend far side of the lake) to add to the levee

Mooring by the Jetty

• Pull the boat as far onto the beach as you can
  • Wrap the rope around your shoulders and pull backwards to maximise power
• With the blue rope taut, tie to the white loop on the bank with two half hitches or a bowline
• Bring everything up to the porch to keep under cover when not in use (other than the bailing Solo bottle & the priest)

The Motor

Fuel

• Use normal petrol (4 stroke engine), there is a refillable can (black) in the boat shed
• The fuel tank (large red) has an airlock (twist) on top: open when in use, and shut for storage

Assembly

• The fuel tank sits under the rear seat
• The motor slides onto the transom (the back edge), then screws tight (you should retighten once the motor is lowered)
• There is a fuel line to attach the motor to the tank
  • The thinner end (that fits!) feeds through the hole in the seat at the back and plugs into the tank
  • The other end plugs into the motor
  • The squeeze bulb should be above the seat

Starting the Engine

• Lower the propeller into the water - pull the motor towards you, pull back the lever on the LHS, then lower gently
• Rotate the tiller 180 degrees so it’s pointing into the boat
• Put the black U-shaped clip (on the curly red lanyard) around/behind the emergency stop button (red)
  • Ideally, the other end is clipped to you so that if you fall out, the engine will stop!
• Put the engine into Neutral
• Prime the engine - squeeze the bulb a few times to get some fuel in the engine cylinders
  • Do not over-prime, you can flood the engine!
• Pull out the choke ~half way
  • The choke restricts airflow - totally cutting off the air when pulled all the way out
  • Pulling out the choke a bit means there is higher fuel density available for the starter
  • On a cold day, you may need to pull out the choke further
  • If you are worried you’ve flooded the engine, push the choke all the way in and try pulling the starter cord a few times to clear some of the fuel
• Turn the throttle ~as low as it can go (marked Start)
  • If you are restarting the engine, instead keep the choke pushed in, and turn to Restart
• Pull the starter cord back quickly - it will probably take 2 or 3 tries to start
  • You should stand, and can put your foot against the back of the boat to give more leverage
• Turn the throttle up a little, then push the choke in
• If this is the first outing of your trip:
  • It may be a little harder to get started, don’t be discouraged
  • It’s worth doing a big slow lap, then running it a bit faster, just to get the engine properly warmed up

Stopping the Engine

• Turn the throttle all the way down
• Pull off the clip on the red lanyard (or push the red button the lanyard clip fits around)
• If going to shore, pull the engine up (you will need to be in Forward gear)

Otering

Supplies

• Oter
• Yellow box with spare lures
• Fishing pliers (blue handles), useful for removing hooks
• Dimpled gloves can be useful for holding slippery fish (but the hooks get caught in them easily)
• Check for the priest!
• Suncream for those days when you catch no fish

Handling the Oter

• When unwinding
  • Unhook the lures from the foam and toss them in the water as soon as possible
  • Tie the handle to the middle bench once everything is out
• When winding, make sure you take each lure as you recover it, hook it into the foam and then wind both the main line and the lure line together onto the reel
  • This makes it MUCH EASIER to undo when unwinding the line
• When you’ve hooked a fish, pool the line in front of you, and place the hooks behind you to keep them out of the tangle
  • If a hook does get caught up in the line, you can often untangle just by gently shaking the line with the lure on it

Records

• 2024-08-19: 36.3cm trout caught by Hunter
• July 2013: 19 trout caught in two days by Freya & Dad

Record-holding trout, August 2024 (Hunter, Emily assist).

Highly Reliable Advice

• Goldie will attract the most fish, but they jump off of her easily now she is down to two hooks - to help you out, she is the first you’ll pull in, but you need to keep pulling steadily and quickly when she works her magic
• There are more fish at the coast than in the centre of the lake
• A light breeze is helpful - millpond is the worst (but is good for sunbathing)

Gutting the Fish

• Best to do this east of Hytte, given prevailing longshore drift
• With a sharp knife, slice perpendicular to the fish just below its front (pectoral) fins
• Slice the belly open down to the anus, careful not to puncture the guts
• Take the guts out (and toss them into the lake)
  • Save roe, if there is any
• Scrape out the black stuff on the spine with your thumbnail (this is the kidney, apparently?!)
• Rinse well in the lake, until it looks clean
• If you want to eat the skin, scale the trout by running the back of the knife from tail to head
• Line up with all other fish from this catch on the white chopping board on the porch table, position the tape measure, and take a photo for posterity
• Most importantly, take note of all statistics (number, max size, weather conditions, which hook) to record in Hyttebok

Misc

• The oars are 2.4m long, if you want to replace them
• The rowlocks are held in place with screws (Bodge), but keep spare rowlocks in the boat (in case of accidents!)

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