Just checking to see if anyone owns or knows someone who owns one. I am looking at a 5.99 cuddy with a 115 E-Tec. Not to sure how this setup will go over here with the different conditions compared to over east. Only looking at the moment as i will need to sell my boat before i make a choice. I have had a look at a few smaller alloy boats also but at over 50k for a new 5.8mtr the polycraft is a bigger boat for 10K less. Any thoughts would be good. I am downsizing from a 7mtr plate boat.

Thanks

Knocked off the Recreational Skipper's Ticket today. Did the theory and then the practical on the Swan today with an assessor from Challenger TAFE.

Pretty happy to have got it out of the way, and at a $100 all up, can't really complain about the cost.

Still trying to get my head around the fact that you don't need to carry an anchor/rope on the Swan River. Bizarro!

John

I need help here. One of my best buddies is very sick.
Its my shimano thunnus 1600. In my quest to love her and clean her ive dropped her on the tiles in the laurndry while giving her a wash. Theres no phycical marks or cracked housing but now when i wind her the spool doesnt go up and down. Causing all the string to lay in the same place on the spool. Ive had this reel in pieces many times relubing and removing salt build up inside her. So im prettyu sure the warrenty is up the shite. Its got somthimg to do with the worm drive that lifts the spool up and down. Ive had her apart at least twive since the acciedent and cant find the problem.does anyone know of a good reel repair man. This was not a cheap reel to buy and would be willing to spend a couple of bucks 100 or so getting her going again

cheers mitch

If any boaters wish to get an insurance quote for their boat online, from me - then please feel free to contact me for an obligation free quote!

You can do this at my own web boating fishing forum below:-

http://z7.invisionfree.com/Fly_West/index.php?act=idx

or you can phone or email me!

shann_low@hotmail.com
Ph Hm 08 95 377 613
Mob 0400 271 282

I am an authorised agent for Nautilus Marine Insurance, in Australia, and our product is very competitive with any other boat insurance product in Australia.

http://www.nautilusinsurance.com.au

I would be more than happy to help you out!

Please understand I will NOT entertain any discussions, either here publicly, or in private, about any other insurers products! Our Securities Commision Laws specifically preclude me from doing so!

Likewise I cannot give you any form of financial advice, with regards to any insurance product - not even my own. I CAN tell you the conditions and cost of the product I sell, and that is all. It is up to you the consumer to check these against your own insurance product by reading your Insurers Product Disclosure Statement, and exisiting policy document to make comparisons!

I CAN tell you about the product I sell and what it costs, nothing more!

If anyone makes a post that mentions the name of their current insurer, or the product/ aspects of the product, they currently have from their current insurer - then I cannot participate in that thread - or make any public or private comment so your question will effectively go unanswered by me!

That is of necessity the way it must be - in order to comply with our strict laws on these matters!

Please phrase / compose your questions with this in mind!
Please Do NOT mention your current insurers compamy name or details of the product you now have or that effectively precludes me from helping you with a free quote on the product I sell!

Typically you will need to answer a few questions of a private nature with regard to your past insurance history etc which you may not want made public here, which is why this is best done by phone / email or my own forum (above) - where I can have control over the moderation of the thread if someone inadvertantly posts some detail with which I cannot by law be associated with, about their current insurer or the insurance product they now have!

That is why I suggest the method above! It protects me, you and my underwriter Nautilus Marine Insurance from any adverse potential law suits by other insurance co's or breach of the Act charges by the Australian Securitys Commission.

I trust boaters can understand the Security Commission and Privacy Act laws that must be complied with in this respect and hence my reason for this method of providing the information (obligation free quotes) you desire, online!!

Many thanks in Advance

Cheers!

G,Day Guys, Does anyone have a wiring diagram on how to install a second battery? I wish to install a second battery in my 5m Stacer 90hp Merc. Any info would be appreciated, thanks.

just a question on boat radios
i have a 27 meg unit on my boat and it does the job when close to other boats and in sight of land. what are the upsides to useing a vhf unit ? as far as distance i can talk and recieve. What sort of range can i expect from your average priced vhf ??? does the lenght of the arial make a difference. Does the wattage range make much of a difference. How much difference would i expect to find conpared to a 27meg jobby. What are the pros and cons. Every add i look at for these units say how there the ducks nuts. WHAT IS THE DUCKS NUTS???????????

any knowlege would be greatly appreciated

cheers mitch

What does Everyone use to tow their boats?

This is what I use to tow mine!

If you had a choice, what would be your next tow rig!

This would be my next tow rig if expense were no consideration !

Cheers!

http://www.wally.com/jumpCh.asp?idUser=0&idChannel=44&idLang=undefined&idProd=37&attivo=2-6&txtStartRecord=2

wow.
i don't think i can afford this.

just yet.

Yikes the fuel costs are getting seriously high these days!

It's getting to the point that I'm considering brewing my own bio diesel!

Not only that but setting up a still for making ethanol (alcohol - moonshine - white lightning - mountain honeydew - grappa - corn squeezins, ah call it what you will!).

Now I don't know bout you guys - but the sound of diesel at a buck a gallon sounds mighty fine to me!

http://www.ethanolstill.com/building-Your-...ohol-Still.html

http://www.biodieselhomekit.com/biodiesel.html

So...

Does anyone know if it's still illegal in Australia to brew your own alcohol without some kinda liquer license??????

I bought a bottle of whiskey made in tasmania - surely it can't be illegal of someones making alcohol in a state of the commonwealth for us to do it in Western Oz?

What the heck - at the prices of fuel I reckon it's probably worth the fine!

Biodiesel for the truck to haul the boat and ethanol to run the outboards once you get to the fishing village!

Could make for a cheap fishing holiday - or else holiday inside being big bubba's b!tch!

Either way it looks like it could be worth the risk!

So - whos'e with me?

Gogo juice brewing partys of a thursday night - make your sourmash and fire up the mountain honeydew water of the vine still for a few hours!

God's Own Drunk
By: Lord Buckley
1974
"Well, like I explained to y'all before I ain't no drinkin' man. I tried it once, and it got me highly irregular and I swore I'd never do it again. But I promised my brother-in-law that I'd go up and watch his still while he went into town to vote.
It was up there on the mountain where the map said it would be. Friends let me tell you one thing though, it wadn't no ordinary still. It stood up that mountainside like... like a huge golden opal.

God's yellar moon was a' shinin' on the cool clear evenin', God's little lanterns just a' twinklin' on and off in the heavens and, like I explained to you once before, I ain't no drinkin' man, But, temptation got the best of me, and I took a slash... (wshew!... woah...) That yellar whiskey runnin' down my throat like honeydew vine water, and I took another slash. Took another and another and another. 'fore you knew it I'd downed one whole jug o' that shyt and commenced to get hot flashes.

Goosepimples was runnin' up and down my body and a feelin' came over me like, somethin' I'd never experienced before, It's like, like I was in love,

In love for the first time, with anything that moved... animate, in-animate it didn't matter. It's like there's a great neon sign flashin' on and off in my brain sayin, "Jimmy Buffett there' a great day a comin'..." 'Cause I was drunk.

Now I wadn't, uh, knee-crawlin', slip-slidin', reggy-youngin', commode-huggin' drunk, I was God's own drunk, and a fearless man; And that's when I first saw the bear.

He was a Kodiak lookin' fella 'bout 19 feet tall he rambled up over the hill 'spectin' me to do one of two things: flip or fly, I didn't do either one. It hung him up. He starts sniffin' 'round my body tryin' to smell fear, but he ain't gonna smell no fear, 'cause I'm God's own drunk and a fearless man. It hung him up. He looked me right in my eyes and my eyes was a lot redder than his was. It hung him up.

So I approached him and I said, "Mr. Bear, I love every hair on your 27 acre body. I know you got a lotta friends over there on the other side of the hill. There's ole' Rear Bear, Tall Bear, Freddy Bear, Kelly Jair, Relly Bear, Smelly the Bear, Smokey the Bear, Pokey the Bear; I want you to go back over there tonight and tell 'em I'm feelin' right. You tell 'em I love each and every one of 'em like a brother and a sister; but if they give me any trouble tonight, I'm gonna run every Goddamned one of 'em off the hill."

He took two steps backwards and didn't know what to think. Neither did I, but, being charitable and cautious, well hell, I approached him again. I said, "Mr. Bear, you know in the eyes of the Lord, we're both beasts when it comes right down to it. So I want you to be my buddy, 'Buddy Bear.'" So I took ole' Buddy Bear by his island sized paw and I led him over to the still. Now he's a' sniffin' around that thing 'cause he's smellin' somethin' good. I gave him one of them jugs of honeydew vine water, he downed it upright, (looked like one of them damn bears in the circus sippin' sasparilly in the moonlight.) I gave him another and another and another 'fore I knew it, he'd downed eight of 'em and commenced to do the "bear dance." Two sniffs, a snort, a fly, a turn and a grunt; and it was so simple like the jitterbug it plumb evaded me.

And we worked ourselves into a tumultuous uproar and I's awful tired, went over to the hillside, and I laid down, went to sleep, slept for four hours, and dreamt me some tremulous dreams And when I woke up, Oh, there was God's yellar moon a' shinin' on the clear cool evenin'. And God's little lanterns just a' twinklin' on and off in the heavens, And my buddy the bear was a' missin'... yeah, you want to know somethin' else friends and neighbors, so was that still.

Well in North Carolina
way back in the hills
lived my ol' pappy
and he had him a still
he brewed white lightning
till the sun went down
then he'd fill him a jug
and he'd pass it around
mighty mighty pleasing
pappy's corn squezing
shhhhhhh "WHITE LIGHTNING"

chours

well the g-men
t-men revenures to
searchin' for the place
were he made his brew
they were lookin'
tryn' to book him
ooooo "WHITE LIGHTNING"

i asked my ol' pappy
why he called his brew
white lightning
stead' of mountain dew
i took one sip and
right away i knew as
my eyes bugged out
and my face turned blue
lightning started flashin'
thunder started crashing
oooooooo "WHITE LIGHTNING"

chours

well the g-men t-men
revanures too searching
for the place were
he made his brew
they were lookin'
tryn' too book him
ooooooo "WHITE LIGHTNING"

well a city slicker
came and he said
im tough
i think i wanna taste
that powerfull stuff
he took one swift slug
and he drank it right down
and i heard him moaning
as he hit the ground
mighty mighty pleasin
'your pappys corn squezin'
ooooooo "WHITE LIGHTNING"

chours

well the g-men t-men
revanuers too
searchin' for the place
were he made his brew
they were lookin'
tryin' to book him
but my pappy kept a cookin'
ooooooo "WHITE LIGHTNING"

Man's gotta do something to make up for no fishing in the winter don't he???

Cheers!

I'm about to winterise the boat and may not use it again until December. Trouble is I have a full fuel tank and have heard that petrol goes off if it gets too old and can result in the engine running rough and possible damage.

Does anyone know how long fuel can remain in the tank before deteriorating (if in fact this does happen)?

Thanks

Big Frank

I know its a long shot, but does anyone in exmouth hire out boats besides bluewater boat hire? I know theres the scooter place that has some boats but is there any private people who hire out there own boats or anything?

Looking to hire from anyone but bluewater, doesnt have to be big either just a tinny will do :)

Ok a simple one!

All outboards (except the Yanmar diesel ones) - require a change of spark plugs from time to time!

Now back in the good ol days - spark plugs were built to last basically the life of the engine...and came in a series of "parts" that could be dissassembled, as the cathode (+ve) part wore down...and replaced / changed, re-adjusted, insulator replaced, whatever!

You had the ceramic (porcelaine in those days) insulator and the body of the plug plus the cathode rod and a fitting at the end for the lead to either press fit over or screw to, with a washer etc...

OK,

Here goes nothing!

Step 1).

I always put my engine into forward gear before I drop the lower unit! The reason is - it helps to relocate the gear shift linkage into the same position..so that your gears remain exactly where they started!

On some OB's, you actually have to find that gear shift linkage under the engine cowling and generally somehwere near the bottom of the pwer head and undo a connection such as a allen key screw thread...to disengage (uncouple) the gear shift lever rod!

Check out this one guys.

http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/fishing-girls.html

I lashed out yesterday and bought a new gadget for the boat!

Called a Ezitrak boat bandit, it is a security alarm / tracking GPS - GSM tracking device, that I distribute if anyones interested in one for their boat!

Basically it's installed in your boat and alerts you if anyone breaks into it, steals it etc, by sending you a mobile phone voice call and SMS message!

It works back the other way too, where - using your phone, you can "track" - the boat wherever it goes by water or land....and you can even remotely disable the engines, turn on the horn / sirens, lights whatever you want to wire it up to!

It even comes with a bilge float switch alarm so if you leave your boat in the water for any period of time - and rain gets into the bilge (or a leak develops) you get a sms message or voice call - and you can manually activate your bilge pump by mobile phone to pump it out!

Lots of different stuff it can do..

I will report on it more fully when I have it installed and have fully trialled it!

You can, if you have a laptop, feed the tracking location data (lats and longs) to your laptop - and have your C map chart chip (and /or road maps if it's a trailerable boat) loaded onto your PC, so that you in effect have a chartplotter tracking real time the movement of your boat!

Then just get yourself in place to intercept the boat and remotely disable it using your mobile phone!!

If you don't have a laptop - but have a internet enabled mobile phone,you can log into boat bandits site with your phone and it will display a moving map, behind your gps waypint data on your phone screen so you can track your boat with your phone!

If boaters are sick of losing boats or gear from boats - then these types of devices will make a LOT of difference, in terms of getting your property back.

Compare to what we already spend on boat electronics they are not THAT expensive!

I understand (from the company who supply me with these units) that they have a prototype now in testing (after 3 years development) of a similar "personal tracker device", that is miniaturised, with NicCad batteries etc and gets placed inside high value personal equipment..

Boaters often wish after owning a boat for a while that it would perform better in some way - go faster - use less fuel, turn in tight corners better, etc etc

Often their fiorst thought is they need a bigger, newer OB engine! (More horsepower).

However, sometimes - they just arent utilising the power they already have wisely or effectively for a host of reasons

Sometimes we just accept that the dude at the boat yard who sold us the new boat knew what he was doing when he rigged and sold us our boat!

Sometimes thats far from the actual result!

What follows - is the manual calculation method first of all - to determine how efficient your existing propellor is working right now!

Cheers!

Ok our First Boat maintenance thread! Lets hope it works!

It is a good idea - to periodically take a look at your propellor and service it, in order to avoid potential drama's at sea and avoid expensive breakdowns / repairs.

Things can and do go wrong with propellors!

I hope this thread will assist folks to confidently take a peek at their own propellors and keep them in tip top shape for good performance, reliability and safety!

OK Guys,

I am about to post over comming days a series of new threads about boat and outboard maintenance!

I happen to have had to do in the last few days the 500 hours services on my pair of Honda 115 Hp 4 stroke Outboards, so I figured - since I have a digital camera thing on my new mobile phone, that I might try and put together enough "how to" photo's to write a thread for anyone else to be able to do their own minor servicing tasks on their outboards if they have a mind to!

I have to state at the outset that I am NOT a qualified outboard mechanic! I do hold a marine engineering qualification obtained when I did my Skippers ticket so know a little bit about such things - but I have NOT done a 4 year apprenticeship to become a practising OB Mechanic!

So - anyone who knows MORE than me - please feel free to chip in and and suggest better, easier ways to do things, or correct me if you consider I've given 'bad or potentially misleading' advice!

The idea is that these threads can be 'edited"!

I.e. That - we can add in steps for more clarity or delete something thats potentially misleading if necessary!

I have a simple Prop maintenance thread to start with!

Lets see how it goes eh?

Cheers!

http://fishwrecked.com/image/tid/58

I thought I'd heard it all for incompetence in the public sector but today takes the cake!

Apparently - under the new boat licensing laws, if you have owned a boat for the last 5 years - you are considered exempt from the compulsory license "practical boat handling test"...

Apparenty all you need do, is sit the written test to pass and be issued a boating license!

So - you can imagine the surprise, of someone whose been a professional in the boating industry, all his life, holds a university degree in naval architecture, has sailed a few Sydney Hobart races, and owned a host of boats all his life, designed and build a few of Greg Normans luxury yachts, you know - boats in excess of $5 or $6 Million

Because he's owned all his boats in his companys name - he doesn't get any exemption and has to sit a test administered by some public service peon who isn't as qualified or experienced as the person he's testing! :Rollseyes:

This is bullshit!

All rec boaters should bouycott the new Rec Boating license until they fix the system!

Can you imagine how many company execs have bought $Million+ floating Gin Palace boats in their companys names, who will end up not being qualified to drive them?

Rec Boaters should bouycott this new license til they fix the bastard!

If we cop this shit now, we will be stuck with it forever, they cannot prosecute everyone in the state - just tell em to shove it where the sun don't shine, till they fix it!!

I have absolutely No Faith left in this Labor Govt and it's public service instrumentalities to administer a sausage sizzle and free beer at a brewery!

It's time Boaters said enoughs enough - and bouycott everything to do with Fisheries / Marine Safety Branch - until we get the competence we deserve and the launch facilities our license fees have already paid for 10 times over - not to mention the GST on boats and boat fuel etc etc!

We are being screwed and haven't the collective gonads to do anything about it!

Don't know if anyones interested, but I've pulled the boat today (onto it's trailer) and am going to do a couple 500 hrs services on a pair of Honda 115Hp 4 Strokes in comming days!

These will include replacing the old impellers with new impellers!

If anyones interested I could probably photograph the essential stages and post up a step by step 'how to' thread - for anyone wants to do their own servicing / maintenance on their 4 strokes OB's?

I shudder to think what this would cost in a boat shop - but just the parts (filters etc) and oil alone for 2 x 115 Honda's was about $550.00

Add in the numbers of hours for each engine @ $60 or $70 / hours and I'm guessing the bill would probably get no change from $1200 or so!

So - anyone wants to save emselves a quid (and waiting in line without your boat till your yard can find time to get around to it) then maybe watch this space! ;o)

I don't claim to be any sorta mechanic, but I have me a ball pein hammer and a monkey wrench so I'm good to go, right? ;o)

Hey - maybe you'll get to see some one screw up $40k's worth a perfectly good engines - that alone should be worth the price of admission! ;o)

Cheers!

gday, guys i am looking for a hatch for my deck, the cut out size is 435mm x 445mm it has to open 90degs to stick your body through to access the anchor well. any information would be appreciated bolts

Does anyone know if it is possible to convert (and if so how) co-ordinates that read 31 xx xx 115 xx xx to that which a Garmin handheld uses ie 31 xx xxx 115 xx xxx. Is there a way of converting the seconds. Is it a matter of multiplying the seconds by 60 or is it simply a matter of adding a 0 to the end/before the seconds co-ordinates ie 31 xx xx0 or 31 xx 0xx.

I'm sure there is a name for both styles but I am not aware of either

Cheers

So what does everyone have for brekky/snack before they hit the seas? Usually im in a rush to get to the water so its either a quick sandwich for the drive or toast with cheese. This morning i went for something different - a banana and a sustagen shake, went down well but i think the banana jynxed me

So whats yours?

After a great idea from Flywest I have created a new forum section for any boating related questions you may have. Feel free to ask as you never know who may have had a similar experience or may be able to help you out with the information you require. Ask away.

Happy boating,
Adam