Well Rob I'm not sure why you're having such trouble. I've never had such trouble finding targets in GW 1.1a.
Also Rob you say that you try for a couple of days and then return to base. That might also be a problem. I can go more than a week without meeting a contact sometimes. 3 days patrolling your likely empty patrol grid doesn't sound very effective. In reality (as GW is trying to recreat) u-boats often wouldn't encounter anything for weeks. I'd keep cracking at it. Also ask around for suggested patrol grids with good activity for your time frame and use SH3 Commander to make sure you get that as your grid next patrol.
