Just wanted some opinions on which autopilot seems to work best in a small boat.

Apparently Garmin is the go due to its highly responsive compass.

So anyone with a Simrad or any make! I would love to here your views before I commit.

Cheers Stoinka

Hey Guys & Gals,

Looking for a big favour from someone

Grandfather passed away late last year and as part of his last requests he wanted me to have his favourite shotty.

We have a small property but it's not quite big enough so I really need a letter from someone with over 100 acres so I can proceed with the licence and transfer

I have heard 10 acres is big enough but the gentleman handling the transfer used to head up that Department suggested for a mostly trouble-free transfer that over 100 acres is best

No stranger to firearms (Ex Club member) but I wouldn't put it on a club sponsored licence for obvious reasons

Thanks!

Righto, I have a Yankie Magic Tilt Ali 3.1 t rated dual axle trailer with leaf springs, dual 1.55 t axles, UFP disc brakes and Ford 5 bolt hubs and 14 inch wheels.

Is 4 years old and has served me well, I have done nothing but grease the hubs and wash her down well. Tows well.

Boat is 235 Boston Whaler Conquest, a bit of a fattie so boat on trailer will be closing in on 3t and I am possibly over with full fuel and water.

Taking her up to Exxy in April with Bodie, and the springs and rotors are rusty and need replacement......now the bad news.

Whilst I got the trailer bloody cheap (A$5,200 brand new in the US), getting parts in Aus is hard.....options are:

1. Buy replacement springs, new rotors and hubs, new callipers (not much more than getting new pads and bolts). About A$1,000 plus freiht from the US. No idea of freight yet, waiting for a quote. Heavy springs could burn!

2. Get new Aus spec leaf springs and modify to suit, should be able to get bearings and rotors from Us at reasonable price.

3. Upgrade the whole rolling stock to torsion axles, but this will need me to go to 2.5 t axles to get a rating above what I have now (you need to de-rate torsion axles as they are not load sharing) and this will need bigger bearings, 15 inch rims and tyres and callipers. May as well spec everything to 3.5 t. With new rims and tyres this will all add up!!

Rob H's retrospective recommendation in the ended was No. 3 as I recall (although he actually went with leafs because of the load sharing) and Bodie went dual 2.5 t torsions and new rims for his Fury.

Possibly a lot more money......but likely safer.

EXCEPT, torsion springs don't load share like leafs, which is their only major negative from what I can tell with dual axle set ups and large loads.

Any recommendations and/or manufacturers.... I can do all the work myself, can weld etc so none of that is an issue.

Will head to Martins and Tow Safe and get some quotes, other suggestions (happy to order from interstate if needed) welcome.

Cheers

 Any computer experts here who may be able to give me some advice?
I have Windows 7 Pro and its playing up since last night.
Have run "repair" multiple times to no avail.

Cant seem to reboot it from the installation disc.

I was watching old mate down at Challenger Beach this morning with a set up consisting of a few bits of 50mm conduit glued together, a secure chamber he pumped up to around 70psi and a cannon outlet elevated to about 55 degrees. Once pumped up, he'd drop his gear into it and release the pressure to shoot his bait out. Was only getting out about as far as most could cast due to there only being about 40% of line on his reel, but with a full reel of some kind of braid would have given him a heap more distance. Got to admire the effort though. 

 On another topic old mate wanted to know about the towing in 4th or 5th and DD_01 pointed alot of us in the direction of the Diagnostic tool....

Its a great place here to learn & pick up ideas...

I thought i'd get that going so if there is something you think others are mad for not doing pass it on here....

I'll obviously start it off and its not really a biggy but for the past 3 years we've been going halves in a beast, works out to be about 70kg of meat....

Because the price of meat went up a shitload the first one we had done was $700 plus $400 for the butchering, the last one we had done was $1000 + 400....

It still worked out at $10/kg and that is everything.... The best snags i've had, fillets, roasts etc etc, Fuck the big supermarkets with their shit meat and i'm afraid the butchers now are pretty expensive for the good cuts so we've found it awsome value...

Got one hanging up as we speak and it will hang for 10-14 days before the cryovac gets a work out...

Lasts us 12 months....

Give it a go if you know a farmer, i'm sure you wont be disappointed....

 Howdy, 

Read lots of conflicting reports on this one. Towing about 550kg with a manual TD hilux. Is it better to use 4th or 5th gear at 100-105km/h? 4th is about 2300rpm and 5th about 2000rpm at 100km/h from memory. 4th just feels like it's busting its gut at that speed. Obviously up hills drop to 4th but on the freeway and flat ground is 5th okay? I feel like 5th is okay because it's fairly light but I'm interested to hear other people's thoughts.

I've done a lot of reading! All the caravan forums talk about 4th or 5th at 80-90kms with 2T loads which is a bit different to my scenario  

Thanks fellas 

 Hi all.

Just curious whether any other amber liquid loving forumites have tried a drop called Feral Hop Hog (I think it's a pale ale)?

If so, was your experience the same as mine - the stuff is bloody horrible and should be called feral Pig swill lol.

I was given a 4 pack of this putrid stuff at Xmas and I couldn't get half way through 1 stubbie and I can usually drink most beers / ales.

Just interested in anyone else's experience 

 Doing a family trip to Exy in second week of May then back to Perth for 10 days before heading back up to Ningaloo Station  with the mates for a boys fishing trip.

Rather than towing the boat down and back up again I was hoping to leave my Barcrusher up there with my fishing gear and perhaps hire a storage unit... I tried to call a storage place but the number won't connect.... does any locals know someone with a garage/ or secure yard that could help me out??

Dimensions are:

8.1m long

2.4m wide

2.2m high

Cheers...

 Has anybody been down broke way recently?

Does anyone here lanuch anywhere between Windy & Walpole?

It would obviously have to be a smallish swell to bother, I'm thinking of going down there for a couple of days when we get a weather window...

TB

Anyone available, or know someone that is, for a small welding job Nth Freo way?

Just one weld about 20cm where hull sheet joins (or doesn’t join anymore as is the case!) the chine/ side sheet.

Preferably someone mobile but otherwise can tow it wherever.

Cheers

Brett
0439099597

hi guys, not fishing related but I need to get a genuine Toyota roo bar installed onto a landcruiser 200.

im in Perth, NOR.

anyone know someone who can do this (and do a good job)?

 Have a look at https://thewest.com.au/

had a bit of a look on fuelwatch today to find a place tomorrow for fuel. I usually fuel up with 98 but the price for that is crazy just now, so I was looking for prices for 95Pulp. Fuelling on Monday is no good since my current roster is 5/2. But back to fuelwatch. The cheapest for 95 tomorrow is 131.9 and that is at Caltex Woolworths Busselton, in fact in the top 10, 4 were in Busselton. My good wife had a laugh. I thought ok, let's see about 91 fuel, best price, Busselton. What the Fark is going on.  

 Hi guys.

"She who must be obeyed" reckons I've been a good lad. Lol

So she wants to buy me a 4WD which we can use for family trips and also to tow the boat. Was using her Murano to tow... lol

Requirements:

7 seats (we're only a family of 3 but extra seats would be great if other family members want to come along)

Preferbly diesel.

Can tow around 2500-3000KG.  My boat & trailer doesn't weigh that much but I'd like the extra capacity, just in case I upgrade to a larger boat in future.

Budget is only about $20K.  Have pretty much narrowed it down to Pajero and Pathfinder.  I know I can get used Patrols and Cruisers for the budget, but they'll be quite old models?

Recommendations please, especially if you've owned the models mentioned.

Thanks!

 Gents

I have had a lowrance elete 7 sounder GPS combo with a navonics map that was suplied as part of the combo and was looking to upgrade the maps. 

 What's the  general thoughts of the brand of maps with the most  detail 

I mostly fish the jurien bay to Denham area of the west coast

 anyone head down to the waca today? I borrowed some members tickets from a mate who is away and the end result was pretty dissappointing but it didn't matter. Being there to watch Chris's Lynn hit 98* off 49 including 11 sixes and McCallum taking a support roll but still hitting 50* off 32 was amazing. Mitch marsh had a good innings but nothing compared to Lynn.

 So have had our pots in since season started out the back of stragglers. 

Today mate went past to rebait his pot and a pot we are sharing, all in a row and marked on gps and checked last wed. 

All three pots missing?? One pot maybe, two pots bit suss but three pots in a row?

Apparently there are heaps of pots in that spot now, going out to do a long look in the morning. 

Happy new year all. 

 Helsinki today -8C and the sea has started to freeze.

 Hey guys down in Mandurah ATM saw a flare go off and a couple of police boats heading out been going on a while does anyone know what is going on. Hope all is well

rocked up to see a Triton ute minus tow bar trying to recover his trailer from the water. 3rd hand story was that the pin on the Rees hitch either broke or fell out.

Anyhow, timely reminder to check all of those bits you don't always check...

They got the trailer out but it certainly would have spoilt the day at recovery time.

First day of 2017 is a cracker down here, heading to the mouth to hang out and catch a few yellowfin, will be in the blue wooden boat if anyone's there today.

 He's just a little bit pished.

http://www.watoday.com.au/business/aviation/citilink-executives-quit-after-video-emerges-of-allegedly-drunk-pilot-20161231-gtk6ox.html

 Hi all heading to Rotto tomorrow for a

dive , cold beer and a feed at the pub in the afternoon

Anyone FW's their give us a shout and say gday 

Heading out for a fish Monday morning and would like the Co ords and roughly distance from Rotto of FAD buoys 

cheers all 

enjoy your  New Years 

 Now this is pretty damned unlucky or this product is the ultimate shark fishermans tool....

Perhaps you shark fisho's out there could save on bait and just thread a 10/0 through the band?

http://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2016/12/30/teen-wearing-sharkbanz-attacked-shark

 Another cat upside down off bunbury

Has the obligatory "Xmas Gift" thread been started and i have missed it?  Apologies if so.

What did Santa bring this year?

Our Xmas was a bit light on but i was lucky enough to get a small tackle bag which i have dedicated to my range of soft plastics and jig heads.  A $50 Bogans Can't Fish voucher which i converted into a 5 function head lamp (red plus four levels of white brightness) and a $100 Tim's Tackle voucher which i used to add 300m of pe4 braid onto my trolling rig, a tackle bag with heavy duty clip seal envelopes inside on a three ring binder which i have dedicated to my bottom bouncing bait rigs, and a pair of braid scissors to use up the balance.

I am happy with that. 

I have noticed the steering on my Webster with 60hp Y amaha 4 stroke is atarting to get stiff, I regularly remove the rubber seal and backing nut on the steering rod near the motor and coat with automatic transmission oil and replace the seal and holding nut. I have been advised in the past not to use grease in this area as the grease only hardens up and presents problems. Seeking advice on what other s are using and is this a common problem???

The boat gets used very regularly so is not sitting unused for amy length of time, what is the best maintenance method?

Merry Christmas and a safe and successfull New Year to all..........

Wondering how many members are travelling up here for the holiday break and whether a catch up time is in order

Seems a few people forgot how to play boats this weekend.

Before I get stuck into the three today, condolonces to the family of the bloke who got hit by his own boat at Rotto yesterday.

What sort of dumb arse would go out to James service reef today? Punching into 30's and a bit of swell to make it more entertaining.

Clearly they didn't take the rite precorshuns or however that bloke spelt it. It's people like that who get marinas/ramps shut when the wind is up.