Now that 2020 is done with a very trying year for many what are people's plans and hope for 2021. 

I hope that all the small business owners have pulled through ok and are on track bouncing back. I was very lucky being in the food transport business working in hedland it hasn't affected me apart from being away from Sandy so much. 

Got 1 trip locked in to coral bay and another just about sorted as a surprise for Sandy.  

All the best to all in the new year and hope everything goes well for everyone and may 2021 be a much better

 Howdy,

I am in the market for a 9.9hp - 15hp to power the camping boat. The 5hp Yammy we had was a great motor (and hopefully still is) but it just didnt push our lardy arses around quick enough. 8 miles is a long trip squatting in an inflatable doing 4.5 knots.

The motor will be stored somewhere on either the roof rack or in the tray of the ute so it has to be physically moveable by myself so that is restricting us to around the 9.9hp area.

Question is: Has anyone recently purchased something around this size? Merc's seem to be the lightest and gruntiest though i have historically kept clear of them. 

I see Suzuki's have one in the range I am looking at but you dont see many of them around.

Has anyone got any advice for me? 

 The short story -

My boat was running fine, but i decided to get the annual service done on the motor prior to cray season. That was the 13th october , so now it is nearly the end of december , i am $1000 out of pocket , and after 3 attempts , the (mechanic ? ) at Allsafe was not able to get my motor running properly. So i now have a hole in my wallet , my boat is dead in the water , and i have to wait for my old mechanic to find time to fix my motor and  get me back on the water.

*** I understand there is now a sign on the counter at Allsafe Marine , saying they will not guarantee any work on motors over 10 years old , or something along these lines. I for one will never be taking my boat anywhere near them again !!***

The long story, as sent to consumer protection -

I took my boat to Allsafe Marine for an annual general maintenance service on 13thOctober. The boat was running fine prior to taking it for a service.

As the mechanic was very busy with other boats , i offered to leave my boat there as i was back at work for the next 5days , this he was thankful for.

The mechanic phoned me approx 5 days later , saying he had done the service , but the motor was running rough , and he would like to put a carby kit through the motor. I replied that i have owned this motor for over 10 years and it has never ran rough , but i said if he, as a mechanic , thinks it best to put a carby kit through the carburetor , i was happy for him to do this.

I collected the boat from Allsafe marine on 19thOctober with the service being complete , and paid the invoice of $1000 by cash.

It wasnt until approx 3rdNov that myself and my brother decided to take the boat out fishing.

Once in the ocean, the boat started fine , but it stalled as soon as i tried to move away from the jetty. I immediately phoned the mechanic , who said for me to bring it back in right away. I took the boat back , the mechanic made some adjustments , and he said to "give it another go " .

We headed straight back to the boat ramp , and once in the water , the same thing happened, the boat motor stalled 'under load' . I phoned the mechanic again , he said he was very busy with other boats, but to bring the boat back another day for him to have another look at it.

It was aprox 11th nov when i returned the boat to Allsafe marine.

I was contacted on approx 18th nov to collect the boat.

i picked the boat up the next day , the mechanic said there was an ignition problem, which he had fixed, i asked about the issue with the motor stalling , he said he did not find anything wrong. I paid $250 cash for the work done on the ignition system .

On the 1st Dec , i took the boat to the boat ramp for a test run. On putting the boat in the water , the same thing happened , the motor stalled under load.

When i arrived home , i phone Greg, the business owner , explaining the whole story. He was sympathetic, offering to get the mechanic to look at the boat again for no charge.

I told Greg i was not happy with the mechanics work, as he had already worked on the boat 3 times , and i was still having engine trouble...i did not want his mechanic to work on my motor again..ever.

I sent Greg a text  on 1stdec saying i would settle for a refund of $500 , to which he has not replied.

G'day all,

Well after selling my reef runner a few weeks back, I'm currently looking for a new smaller rig, probably soemthing around 5m Ali and preferably centre console. Had a look at a few forward control Quinnies/Stesco/stacer etc and considering the option of buying something like this and converting to CC. 

So to that end I'm keen to hear anyone's experiences with doing the same.  Interested in approx cost of conversion, pro's and con's of conversion as opposed to just buying a CC boat. 

Appreciate any info any of you have.

cheers 

 From what I have heard, Billabong roadhouse is shutting down at 1300 on Xmas day, not sure about Overlander roadhouse and we at Wooramel roadhouse will be shutting the door at around 1300 as well and putting the feet up for the rest of the day.

If someone is really stuck for fuel and my can is in need of refilling then they may be lucky but there will be no food after 1200

Can anyone suggest where I might buy one.   plenty of large ones around but I am after a supersized one 

 I will be flying home for a few days to spend time with Sandy and family hoping to get out for a fish depending on the weather . Most importantly is family time. 

What have others got planned. 

All the best for Christmas to all, stay safe and hope you all get  chance to spend time with loved ones .

 Went down for a fish today not expecting to catch much after the rain we had and the dirty water but ended with a nice feed . Had a he'll of a battle with my $20 k mart special landing a decent size spotted ray on the whiting gear , certainly gave me a run for my money. Quick pick and it swam off strong.

 Ive just replaced all the bearings on my boat and in doing that noticed somebad rust on the cross beams (box trailer).

Stupidly i gave them a tap and discovered they are pretty crap (I stuck a hole in one of them).

Im ringing around looking to see where i can get a new trailer (ideally thsi week), but dont like my chances (7m, 3.2-3.5T).

Anyone know anywhere that can do a repair by replacing a few cross members? Im guessign this would screw any galvenising, but open to suggestions.

Thanks

Got lucky on Friday. Playing on the back of Garden island on Friday and taking advantage of a high tide to get into some places i havent been before. 

Anchor in, turned motor off and some alarms sounded (very strange) but jumped off the back to put in a stern anchor. Tried to lift motor - nothing. Tried to start - nothing.. Shit. 

We were in a spot that was good for 10 minutes but in a very difficult spot if we had to be towed out so on go the flippers and mask and i swam the boat into a safer spot. Not after the anchor got stuck under a rock, and then the rope around the same rock.... Pulled the battery out and thankfully it was just a loose connection so she fired up straight away. Anchor up and back onto the beach. Carried the kids in then on the way to take my booties off and carry the wife in, i copped an electrified nail to the top of my foot. 

Jumping around like a moron, the wife says "oh, look at the stingray". "Yep, it got me". She didnt believe me but yeah it got me twice. Thankfully it was dinner plate sized and i was wearing my dive boots still and they took a most of the punch off it.

Back on the boat and we putted out to get reception where i called health direct to find out what to do. 

The biggest risks are the location of the sting, and allergic reaction.

Thankfully, it was a small ray, i was wearing booties  and due to a combination of the two, all i got was two puncture marks and no venom still, there was some heavy duty anxiety.

So, long story short, if you ever have an interaction - hot water soothes the venom if you are unlucky enough to cop a hit and allertic reaction is a real possability so moniter your breathing (itchy mouth/throat) etc.

Windy is showing a nice cyclonic development. Interesting to see where it goes.

 For those planning on heading north for the Xmas holidays, please think seriously about not driving at night.

There are no shortage of roos from Carbla station turn off north past Edagee overnight caravan area so great care must be taken. Also word has it that they are in numbers the other side of Carnarvon as well.

The last thing we want is for someone to clean up a roo and stuff up your holiday plans completely just because you were impatient and tried to play chicken with them at night

 Just got sent this one . Very clever

 Had loads of rain in hedland yesterday with flooding all around town . Went for a trip out to a mine site today and went over Turner river (which I have never seen water in ) was flowing real fast . For those that know the river know how wide it is . 

Well pretty interesting listening if that's your thing...

Every academy player that a team threw in a bid for was matched including the no 1 pick Ugle Hagan by the club that had the rights to do so.

Adelaide seemed to do pretty well taking safe local options with talent.

It sounds like the Bombers have taken somewhat of a gamble with their top ten picks - could be lots of upside though.

Hawks grabbed the WA boy Barrass after Sydney grabbed Logan McDonald.

Freo snared Heath Chapman, sounds like a good pick-up.

 The day was too nice to be sitting around all day so went fishing instead. Pity I got to go unload a truck 

 For those who were interested, Shark Bays, Rescue 3, Edencraft, is listed with Boats on Line. For someone chasing a quality boat with good gear onboard and motors with only 80 hours on them, $73K is a bargain

Interesting that they listed top speed at 42 knots, she does a lot more than that.

 Hi all,

Have really been getting into the whole trolling / game fishing thing the past couple of years. Don't worry, still a rank amateur at it, but a good mate from Qld has shown us many a pointer, with good success over the past 18-24 months. I don't mind the odd bit of fishing footage to play back to the wife and kids when we get home, but you have to be well setup with about 4000 different gopro's to catch about 5 mins of footage. 

wondering if anyone has, or is using a car dash cam, to constantly loop record their billfish trolling? Would take some of the complexities out of having to run so many gopro's, and would mean you could just run the power off the engine battery. I understand video quality would be middle of the road but it's far less mucking around. 
 

any thought or suggestions 

many thanks

scano 

 COVID vaccine

Seems that it must have spontaneously combusted at some point in the past 12 hours. The fire is in the islanded bit and the beach to the north (Kwinana horse beach) is littered with burnt timber. 

Just be aware of any potentially floating hazards 

 Any roof plumbers on here that want to help me out with a reno im doing in balcatta? Need new facias and gutters with a small portico roof an box gutter. Small 3x1 single story house with good access all round. TIA 

 G'day all I think this issue might have come up before but my beloved 585 is starting to delaminate on the screen. I've also managed to break the power plug at the back so the lead doesn't 'lock in' anymore. Anyone know of anywhere local that can give the unit some TLC and sort these issues?

Cheers 

I really really wanted to put this post in the fishing section....

So with the appealing old Trumpy is doing which is costing a fuckload and INCREASING the gap he lost by when is he going to man up and fuck off?

Such a fucking Rogue, $4 million to re count the votes so far in Wisconsin which has widened the gap in that state that Biden won by...

Surely that 4 million could have gone towards sick kids or something worth while but the fucking tool is so hell bent on saving some sort of face he doesn't give a fuck...

Just shoot him already....

What are your thoughts on setting up a Gazebo for week long camping trips? They all appear to come with disclaimers suggesting to only use in light wind. Assuming they are properly tied down with guy ropes and good pegs, do they stand up to our regular sea breeze? 

 With the "White Run" about to ramp up I was looking for some tips on how to deal with the blue / black gel (blood?)

I usually desensitize crays in an ice slurry, separate the tails and cryovac these, on polystyrens trays to avoid having the bags pierced. Sometimes the tails turn black when defrosting. How can this be avoided?

Appreciate any tips.

 Looking for some general information on where to get onto some barra in the far North West and maybe the NT :)

Taking my 4.2 Stacer so need access to creek, ocean or river access.

 So I have been having trouble with my sounder for about 6 months now and this weekend seems to be it for it can't get it to turn on and stay on. Bought a sounder online off of whitworths on special then after sorting it all out realised that you can't put any maps on it so started sending emails to try changing the order to a more expensive sounder another $300. Haven't heard anything from them so thought I'd ring and try get it sorted as soon as I told the guy what was going on he hung up on me, rang back nobody answering the calls now. Cheeky so and so. 

 Couldn t fish my usual spot because of the damn wind but went for a walk and found them elsewhere . Going to go well done in panko crumbs for dinner

 My hot water system is rooted (gas storage system about 160ltrs)

bloody thing barely lasted 7 years! And I even gave it a good regular flush out every so often.  
need a new system supplied and fitted. Lucky it's not winter!!

Hey guys, damaged my prop a few weeks ago and looking to replace it with another ali prop. Is there anywhere in Perth you could recommend for an aftermarket brand prop? I have called a handful of suzuki dealers and all were either out of stock or of no help at all "we'll call you back..."

One dealer put me onto Michael at Just Propellers in Osborne Park, yet to give him a call