thought Id chuck something up for the DIY'ers on here.

When I replaced my boat, the baitboard was missing but the mounts were there, and at 750 apart quite large.

I looked around for one but while there were some nice ones available on line, I didnt fancy forking out $400-$600 for something that might look vastly less appealing in the flesh.

So I decided to attack something myself-starting with a drawing

then borrowing a router trimmer, started chopping bits out

lots of routing as I wanted it strong and well fitting if it couldnt be pretty!

there was lots of shit to vacuum up as the router and rip saw made a hell of a mess especially with the shed door open, like snow!

slowly taking shape, I wanted plenty of storage underneath i

trial fit up, looks ok?

and the final product!

As usual there are a few bits still to do, hose holder, rod holders, and especially a baitbin to go under the chopping board, but I dont really want to lose the storage space underneath.

So maybe the next project is to insulate the live bait tank you can just see in the left of last pic, so it can be used as an day icebox/killtank (will fit a few good size fish and drain overboard)

At the end of it all, did I save money? not sure, who gives a shit?

Did I save time? jeezus no

why do it then? Well if ya have to ask then its not worth explaining!

Does anyone know any good places in rockingham to get a 15hp yamaha serviced

 My hds5 lowrance has shat itself, does anyone know where i can get it looked at. 

It is no longer in warranty.

Cheers,

Pete

Bought a boat last year , 23 ft + 2ft pod , 225 yammy , guy I bought it off said It was a leeder which I disputed , can anyone tell me what it is , I reckon its a Baron Sea Eagle Targa that been tampered with .

It hasn't let me down at all and overall have been happy in all respects but curious to know what I'm riding on

Hi all,

Just a question

I have a fraser 626 fibreglass boat that currently has a yamaha 2-stroke 1990 150hp v6 (600 hours). I have a spare motor which is a mercury 2-stroke 2006 115hp optimax (150 hours). Thinking of installing the mercury and getting rid of the yamaha.

What are peoples thoughts on this? The mercury runs quiter, uses less fuel and smokes less. But how would they compare power wise?

I can't find any specs anywhere for the yamaha

Thanks
Shaun

Hi guys,

General question, how long would it take to get to Mandurah by boat. From fremantle

A casual, laid back trip, say 15-20knts, just a ball park time as they say rotto is 40mins, surely mandurah isn't all that much further .....

Hi guys, new here so hi to all.

Just after your thoughts\recommendations  when it comes to running in a new engine, other than the obvious as stated in the manual.

The boat is an early Chivers thunderbird and I have repowered with the mercruiser 135mpi sterndrive.

If I can get out of work by lunch tomorrow, it will be getting wet for the first time with a gentle run on the swan.

Thx in advance for your advice

Things were going fairly sweet, I had a nice new 5.7m ali boat and was getting out and amongst it reguarly. That all changed on 11/01/2011 when the floods hit Brisbane. We had invested in property and took a big hit when the insurance company decided no deal. Something had to give and unfortunately it started with the toys. I had to sell my boat but was determined to keep boating & fishing one way or another. That's how i ended up purchasing this boat -

1978 18ft Mustang 1800

90hp Evinrude FICHT (it's ok, the problems were mainly with their V6's)

It had what I was looking for, solid hull which had been garaged most it's life, nice deep bow, new trailer, low hours motor and suitable for chop & change

And so the project began. What I wanted to create was a centre rear console boat suited to fishing inshore reef systems, squidding and cruising the river. I wanted the console as far to the stern as possible creating maximum deck space and a smooth ride for the skipper.

Start stripping and out with the grinder and recip...

They love helping their uncle

I built a new under cover area off the end of my workshop and pushed her into her new home for the next 14 months.

Gunwale detail

Foward bulkhead, casting deck with floor hatches. The larger for relocating the fuel tank.

Forming new shape with expana foam

Shape it up & glass it in (middle of summer, had to work fast)

used 200 pair of latex gloves!

A big tin of filler and a crap load of prep work later, ready for paint

All painted, ready for carpet

From there I moved onto the fit off, electrical rewire, installing instruments, reconfigure the remote control, reticulate fuel & oil lines, setup hydraulic steering etc. I updated the stickers, added a bit of bling and it was time for a much anticipated water test. It needed the console stripping down again to get it through my garage and out to the street so once out it wasn't coming back in again.

On the water...

Once I trimmed the motor correctly she went like dream!

Very happy with the wet test, now save some more bikkies for the bar work.

The local top bloke ranger warned me for having it on the verge (quiet cul de sac)! so no choice but off to ABB for storage

Thanks to trevor @ Nautec Fabrication for building the targa we designed. Sets it off nicely.

I improvised with a pre made bimini canvas and made it work for now, also trimmed the skippers seat with foam from an old boat cushion I pulled from a bin and yoga matting. 

Almost finished -

What it's all about...

It turned out a great boat for what I want. Really glad I did it although it was a little ambitious given my wife was 4 weeks away from having our first baby when I started it. It was a lot of work, you start one job and create 5 more and it absorbed much more time than I was prepared for. I made plenty of rookie errors long the way but thats how you learn. Would love to do it again one day.

Thanks for reading guys, see you out there!

Cheers

Jude

this has probably been asked before but is a 70 hp 2stk big enough to push an 18ft fibreglass boat.i don`t want super speed

but enough to get on the plane and get out fishing.

cheers

keg

 Hello all, hoping some of you can help me out with your own experience.

As the title suggests I'm looking for a prop to suit a merc 60hp 4 stroke that I recently repowered a Hinton 4.5m runabout with, Hinton is a direct knock off of the Haines 445r.

The motor is still being run in so I can't tell you what my current max revs are, but I can tell you I struggle to get on the plane with the factory 3 blade, once it's up it goes well until it drops off the plane which happens easily. I slowly climb on the plane at about 3200rpm and 12-15kn at 4500rpm I'm doing 22-24 kn

Anyone else have the same motor/445 hull combination, if so what size prop are you running and what set of holes are you mounted on? I'm thinking I may lift the motor another hole

Thanks in advance

Josh

 Oceansouth boat covers.

Hi guys, I am looking for anyone that has personal experience with the large jumbo boat covers from Oceansouth. It is for storage only and I have felt the material and it seemed quite thick. I have my boat parked under a Jacaranda tree and it is constantly getting filled with leaves. I think the cover will do the trick but I am wondering if anyone has has one for a period of time and see if they stand the test of time and how do they go with leaves. I have been through the search and read all the threads on covers and I don't need anything fancy like a custom made one, just looking for feedback that has had these type of covers and had them for a period of time. 

Thanks in advance. 

Hi, I've just bought an anchor winch and am searching for some 25mm2 or 3awg copper cable to wire it up. Does anyone know of a supplier in the mandurah/rocko area who stock it. 25mm2 welding cable would be ideal, I need about 13m of it. Cheers

Another random act of pain from the gift that keeps on giving (the boat that is)

I have analog tacho's (factory) on a 250hp 4stroke Yam - have had no issues with previously until a few weeks back -
it now registers about 1500rpm above the "real rpm" - when you turn the ignition on the needle drops to zero but once started jumps up to 2200rpm (motor idling at correct speed)
I know they have a few switches on the back but before i start fiddling just thought i would ask if anyone has experienced anything similar?
cheers
Clint

Looking at buying a boat with my brother at the moment & the builder can offer us an ex-demo 115hp Mercury Optimax, so I'm after any advice if anyone has one or heard of any reports they can share. Couldn't find much with the search icon & Mercury's website states they're better than the e-tec in every department?? But nothing beat user feedback.

Cheers Fozz

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone can give me the name of a good and not over priced person/company who could make me a bimini for my boat, a tree attacked mine in the winds and tore it. dont worry I killed the branch...

Only had one quote so far and thought it was super expencive..

Any help would be greatfull.

Tight lines people, or slack if you fish that way. :-)

Hi Guys, I have recently purchased a 2008 model Boston Whaler 255 Conquest. I have an issue with keeping the underdeck fishboxes (both port & starboard) dry, as they seem to be taking in reasonable water during a days trip. I use the fishboxes to store equipment that I wish to remain reasonably dry. I summarise as follows: (1) The fishboxes were dry at the start of the trip; (2) The drain plugs are in firmly and I can confirm no water is entering through the drain plugs at the bottom of the fishboxes. (3) Upon investigation it appears that the water is entering through the fishbox pumpout holes (which is used to pump water out of the fishboxes). It appears that the holes on the outside of the hull where the water pumps out of is actually also taking water back into the fishbox when these holes become slightly submerged during water travel. Can anyone please confirm this is the case (as I would expect there should be one way valves to stop this). Or is there another issue I am overlooking. Any advice on how to keep the fishboxes completely dry would be greatly appreciated.

I own a Quintrex Bay Hunter and have been doing a bit of beach launch and retrievals lately around Ledge Point and Horrocks, I have found that when bringing the boat in I cant really get the trailer in the water far enough and have to half drag the boat up the trailer which when a wave comes in tends to throw the boat off line and as a consequence the boat hits the guides and is causing damage to the front of the boat, has anyone got any ideas on how to modify the trailer so as to minimise damage. I am fairly new to the beach launching/retrieving so any help would be good.

 Have done a bit of a search around and some varied info on this so hoping to find some expert knowledge hereabouts. :)

 Whilst rinsing the motor out the other day with muffs on I noticed some water slowly coming out in two or three pinholes around the join where the gearcase is bolted to the driveshaft  housing (near the anti-ventilation plate).

 The water pump is running fine and have a good pressure stream from the indicator.

 It appears to be caused by some corrosion around the join, how serious is this? Some of the info on the Mercury forums indicate it isn't a major issue but thought I would ask some  opinions.

 Cheers

 Hebbs

G'day folks,

Having trouble getting a good operation from the transducer for the new Garmin 750s. As these photos show, I have fitted it, (with modifications to the bracket) to sit as per the manual. However, as soon as the boat reaches around 15kts, the depth starts to flash and  it stops recording. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Guys im about to replace the transom on my Baron Sportsman and are thinking of adding a pod and getting rid of the motor well and 2 formed rear seats to give me more Dek / Fishing Room

While doing this i will make the back deck flat and fit in live bait tanks and cupboard for batterys ect. 

Has anyone added a pod to there Baron and has it effected the way the boat handles or sits at rest . 

Any info would be greatly appreciated thanks

HI Guys after a bit of advise or maybe an Outboard mech can tell me how much to look at engine,

So I bought my little half cabin (not sure of boat make) 12 months ago, and have only been using it last few months due to RST and getting licences ect,

Any way my prob is that i am unsure of service history and dont wanna go too far from shore, as its always a problem to start (to the point i need to spray 'start ya bast**d) into motor to get it going,

it runs fine once running but can take a couple of tries to start up, can run up to 20 min no prob then once I m ready to move spots same prob every time,

Im not much mechanically minded so will require someone to fix , but kinda on a budget so would like some one to look at it and help me with what it could be and potential costs, I got it as a family boat but havent taken them out on it as yet due to starting probs, taken mates out but only to back of penguin is and the sound (playing it safe)

Am happy to pay to get it looked at it prefer to pay with some beers and hopeing someone will offer some cheap advise,

any help is appreciated.

Currently in the process of buying an early 90's Caribbean reef runner 6.3m with a 225 Optimax on the back of her..

Im thinking of downsizing and putting a 4 stroke on the back.. Would a 130hp - 150hp 4 stroke be enough to power this baby along??

Looking at her, Id say she would weigh a fair bit.. Pretty solid boat!!

Mainly be used up in Shark Bay/ Carnarvon around the islands for fishing n trolling..

Cheers

Damo

 Hey all,

Trying to get the trailer than is under my project boat over the pits and licenced so that I can more easily (legally) move it around. It is a really solid looking stainless steel trailer so I'm pretty keen to keep it, but don't want to blow too much of my project budget on it. The problem comes in that the trailer (1980s built) was registered under the old rules where gross mass could be up to 1000kg without brakes. Because licence has lapsed a couple of years ago I need to put it over pits, and the new rules require brakes for over 750kg (rig is about 920kg dry). 

I was initially not too worried as I'm handy with the tools and have replaced the whole running gear on my tinny trailer last year. Then I noticed that the hitch was offset downwards (see pic) from the top of the drawbar, and the mounting area is built for an unbraked hitch that is shorter than the braked hitches and has only 2 bolts down the central line rather than 4 (one in each corner) on braked hitches. So basically I need to figure out a way to mount a basic mechanical brake hitch securely to it so that it is level with the top of the drawbar.

Any ideas from some engineering, welding, diy types on the forum? Ideally ones that won't blow my budget out the water (so to speak).

Anyone got a Baron Sportsman windscreen with a frame in reasonable condition.

Hopefully someone has experianced similar problems and can give me some guidance. I have a furuno 585 bout 5 years old and lately it has been playing up by loseing image and/or depth recording often on a fishing trip. (Usually when i get to that secret spot). Have had the unit checked over once and the plugs replaced because some pins had broken, but still issues. Yesterday the guys checked out and passed the transducer, so its not that.

They are investigating if there is any updates for the unit.

One particular thing they found it does is when you change the range, it apparently impacts on the power to the unit.

Anyone else had similar issues?

I need a small repair on a broken rear ladder on my Trailcraft. The 50mm tube has cracked through so will need a couple of welds to fix it. It’s tough for the kids to get onboard without it. Need someone south of the river to do it. Any suggestions for a cashy or carton would be good.
Thanks Brad

Hey guys looking at upgrading the boat soon and wondering if anyone knows something that will fit my needs.

Usual good fishing boat qualities will be a must (good dry ride and stable at rest) would prefer a walkaround but a runabout with large deck area will suffice or even a center console with a console big enough to keep a couple people dry from a howling southwester.

Shed dimensions are 2.7 x 2.7m (door) and 7m long, from what ive seen around 5.7m will be the biggest that fits. Will be looking at both glass and ali.

any ideas on what will fit my needs???

PROPELLER WANTED FOR EVINRUDE V4 85hp

sizex13x19

little bit of damage ok, just want to get back into water why i wait for a new 1

OR IF ANY1 KNOWS A GREAT PLACE TO GET AFTER MARKET 2ND HAND OR CHEAP BRAND NEW LET ME KNOW

cheers guys

 Hey all, I'm just trying to plan the way forward with my project boat and thought I'd pick a few experienced builder/renovators brains for the best options for some of the main aspects. Project boat is an 80s Savage Lancer 530 runabout (pressed ally hull)

Painting

I had initially planned to do a full paint strip down to bare ally and then etch/prime and finally paint with a 2 pac polyurethane. I was going to apply the paint using the 'roll and tip' method as I don't have access to or much experience with spraying and also I'm on a small block with the boat on the drive and dont want to start drifting paint onto neighbours cars etc.

However, looking at the current (factory I think) paint a bit more closely, there are a lot of chips in the usual areas (bow, rails, corners), but overall it still seems to have a pretty good bond to the metal so I am wondering if I can get away with a very thorough sand down, etch the bare metal areas, high build prime and then overpaint. I realise that a full bare metal respray is always going to give better finish and lifespan, but this is a budget renovation so things like sandblasting, professional respray are pretty much out of the question. Also, having read a few of the rebuild threads on here, paint stripping seems like a real nightmare.

Deck

Current deck (warped and rotten) is 12mm Ply consisting of 4 main pieces and 3 small bilge access panels screwed down to the aluminium deck stringers. Previous owner has already cut new pieces of ply for the two main sections and should be pretty easy for me to cut out the rest using old sections as templates. After that though, I have found a lot of conflicting and confusing info on the correct/best way to seal and cover the ply. Main queries are...

1. Where is the best place to buy 12mm Marine Ply? Bunnings had some but not big enough panels to cut out the sections I need.

2. What should I use to seal the ply? I've seen recommendations of Poly resin, single layer fibreglass matt with resin, nothing! At the moment I'm leaning towards the single layer of glass, but if this is uneccessary or there is another way that avoids having to handle glass matt then I'm all for it?

3. What should I use for the final deck covering? Initial plan was for ribbed marine carpet glued down to the sealed ply. However, I've been looking into alternatives like removable tube matting (as used in Baden01's Swiftcraft rebuild), but not sure what I would cover the ply below with (gelcoat?)

FLotation

When I removed the two front sections of deck, there were some ugly-looking offcuts of hard, yellow foam stuffed randomly between deck stringers. I assume this is what was under all the deck sections but had been chucked by previous owner. What should I use to replace it? I want something that can be easily removed to clean/check under deck. There is an aussie company (Thermotec) that makes pool noodle type insulation with a fire retardant in it that I was considering, as it would be easy to cut short sections to fit between stringers and then maybe bind them together with PVC tape for easy removal. Otherwise I could try make molds for that expanding pourable foam (would I need to cover the blocks with something to avoid reacting with the ally?). Any other ideas? 

Sorry about the long-winded post - any advice on one or more of these aspects will be appreciated though.