Hi guys finaly got a new project boat which my  Family bought a 18 ft Douglas Craft $3200 all registered in original gelcoat faded and flow coat in side.The floor is rotten but has glass top hat stringers new trany as it use to be a inboard.The trailer is sound all fittings and seats included radio safety gear.

so what is the catch the 90 johno is stuft  and the old owner stripped her a part intending to do a refit

                                                                                                                            So the plan is a budget of 10 k approx to install new floors stiffen hull and stringers new side pockets custom pod with swim platform raise screen height with new custom dash to flush mount electronics built in esky's built in water tank built in fuel tank  bowsprite full cut and polish  and gecoat repairs where needed cold gal trailer finish brakes  oh and a old 2 stroke which will be rebuilt .So this tub will be 21FT when i am finished and heavier a 225 hp should get this rig moving reason for the old engine low budget and  can tune and maintain it our selves.Not the ideal engine for now but the opti will have to wait till the bank balance grows again.I will keep posting pics of the project proceeds showing you how the build progresses.

Hi guys,

Decided on the used boat I want, for my first boat:

- 5.0 - 5.5 m fibreglass cuddy/half cabin.

- 4 stroke engine ( ideally yamaha, suzuki, honda ).

- no earlier than year 2000 boats.

Particular models that seem to fit the bill are :

- Haines Signature 540f/542f.

- Cruisecraft explorer/outsider 550.

- Haines Hunter cuddy cabs in this size range.

However been looking on all usual used boat internet sites ( boat point/boatsales/boatsonline ) for several months in WA region and nothing has come up in above preferences.

Though different case if look in other states where such models appear more frequently.

Getting to point where I am wondering if any such boats are likely to appear any time soon and how long I may have to wait.

Wondering if I want to get the boat I want, will have to buy new ( new Signature 540f qoute as mid 50k from allboatbusiness ).

I'd be grateful for any advice, any of you guys been in similar situation ?

Cheers, Joycey.

i have a 5.5m boat at the moment, its not a hard top and has a split screen at the front and clears.

it lets water through when the sea is heaving and spray is going anywhere...i am wanting to get the screen and canvas removed and a hardtop built on top.

has anyone done this before and is there any tips or things i should know???

does anyone know who does this aswel? i have spoken to hayway marine about it but its soo expensive to get it done through them.

any help would be great.

cheers

G'Day,

I was wondering if any one knew what's involved with repairing a starter motor. The gear won't come out and engage. If I muck around with it, it will work for a couple of revolutions and then go back to not engaging. I have checked and it is receiving full power from the batteries. Otherwise the motor's in great nick and pushes a 20 ft Berty runabout along at 37knots WOT or 24 cruising.

Any info would be appreciated.

Stu

Hi Guys

            Can anyone give me info on Pacemaker hulsl 21 Half cab looks very similar to Haines Hunter / Bertam hull i guess 20-21 Degree deadrise when where these built and by who? I have found one that could be a good restorer as my hands are getting itchy for more Glass work and plenty of custom mods and i also came across the moulds but dont think i have the space and time to build from scratch. Any help would be good

                                     cheers Nico

I am fitting out our 3.9m stacer tinnie and want to add a windscreen anyone know of a good place to purchase one that is at a fair price?

Also anyone made a icebox in a bench seat?photo`s would be good

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone owned a 350HP Yamie. I am considering getting one. Any troubles with them??? Pro's and con's, fuel efficiency?

any help will be appreciated

Having a bit of trouble with the old GPS. It is a navman tracker (5500 I think).

Was working fine, but last few times I have been out, occasionally it would take ages to get signal and would require a bit of a jiggle of the wires, turn on/off etc (not sure what it was that fixed it, but always came good in the end).

Last time I went out, the f'n thing wouldnt get signal at all. Ended up fishing the day putting my marks into a mate's mobile phone and using that.

Tried jiggling all the cables etc, but I am thinking that perhaps the cable that runs from the unit to the external antenna is cracked internally. The cable seems to be sealed at the antenna end, and then screws on to the back of the unit. Tried a bit of RP7 in the connector on the cable, connectors otherwise look clean.

Anyone know how I can test the integrity of the cable? Or alternatively, any other possible causes? Thing fires up fine, shows all the maps etc, just cant get a reading from the sattelites - remains in the 'searching for signal' mode.

Any help greatly appreciated, as don't fancy another GPS free trip out (or another boat toy purchase if can be avoided!).

Cheers

Dan

Looks like a lot of people do have dinghies and do make modifications/add ons to them to make them work better.

Just to give people ideas could you share these with the forum, please?

Hi all

Just replacing my spin on fuel filter(Racor S3214) on my Yamaha 150 4 stroke and have noticed that there is a gasket about 1" in diameter that I can not find a home for. Has anyone come across this before. I've replaced the gasket where the spin on filter meets the housing and the o ring where the clear bowl screws on. This little 1" gasket/oring has me stumped.

Thanks in advance

CCC

Having a fair old time splitting the Savage and Quinnie apart... And havent written of the Stacer 429 Seahorse either (I looked at the Ally Craft, just wasnt conviced)

I already have a near new 40HP Yamaha Tiller Steer...  (I bought a year ago new)

Inshore work only in the right conditions (Inside Garden/Inside Naturaliste) and the odd river foray when I want a change...

Leaning towards the Savage, mainly as all reports have thier build as being the most solid...

Quite happy to get it as new hull/trailer combo, though I go a 2nd hand one if the price/condition was right...

Any thoughts/pointers ???

I have encountered a problem with my HDS 5 combo unit. Whilst out the other day the GPS system essentially froze up on me and wouldn't track. Turning the unit off and on again reset it and it worked again for about 30 seconds then froze again (did this a few times with same result - now it doesnt even seem to reset and work again as still has my position out enar garden island somewhere). I have done a 'soft' reset that hasn't fixed the problem. A hard reset will wipe all my marks so if I can avoid that I would like to. I will obviously be backing them all up paper based and on my navionics app on my iphone as well.

Has anyone had similar probs or know what might fix the issue?? Any help appreciated.

Just thought I would ask.

I have a 200S Cruiser and took it out where it belong into some mud. Washed after the trip but it has left some stains on the chrome where the mud was. Have tried polish without a dent in the stain.

Anyone have any idea about this nuisance problem please.

Neels

just hunting some info on 4 blade props?

was thinking of putting them on the boat because it planes pretty slow and would help it get out of the hole a little easier

and what pricing i am looking at for 2 115 yammy 4 stroke props?

Hi all,

Just wondering if there's any DF-150 owners out there, and interested in what props you are running - along with what boat you've got it hooked up to.

Regards,

Dizz.

Hey all,

Just wondering what you guys have used for hole saws through fibreglass

I've got a few new gauges & speakers to install, and need to drill holes from 50mm to 150mm through fibreglass and FG / Acryllic where I've had some panels made up to recover the old hole layout.

Not a lot of big hole saws around anyway, but it seems most have a really agressive saw tooth pattern, and I'm concerned something like that is going to rip the shit out of my new work !

I've got proper grit-style jigsaw blades for FG, but (apart from it being a rough compromise for doing the job) I won't be able to get the right access using my jigsaw.

Anyone around got the right gear to do it right ?

Thought it might be best to mark up where they have to be drilled and get someone to drill them for me.

Advice appreciated !

Regards,

Dizz.

As you can see the difference in size of the 600w in hull on the left.

 Sounder pics added, pretty sloppy conditions, no fish only green eyes today until we headedto the 90m late arvo and got our bag limit in 1 hr - close to the tide change.

Hi All,

Need to fit  electric brake controller to an 09 Prado and hoping that I can get some information on electric brake controllers, are there any that I need to stay away from or are they all fairly similar, do you need certain controllers depending on the make of the electric over hydraulic brake system on the trailer (trailer has brake rite system) and also info on some good auto sparkies that are able to install preferably NOR.

thanks

Mark

looking to pick up something bigger than the tinny i got befor summer comes around. ive done some reserch but havent really come across any brands of boats that stick out and can only really go by what  pics i see on the net, looking for something that can get a few ks offshore, nothing major. What i would prefer is a runabout with as much deck space as possible with no seats exept a couple of foldaways up front. Can anyone point me in a direction of what sort of boats had these attributes and anything to look out for in the private adds as no-nos?. budget will be around the 5k mark.

hi guys

going to put in an under floor tank on my 4.8 savage just wondering should i use ally or stainless?

cheers

Rod

ive got a raymarine A65 sounder  and furuno 620 but running transom mount trannys thinking about running in hull trannys  question is can i  run  2 of them or just one ?  and does any1  have the in hull tranny for a raymarine A65 or the furuno 620  how much difference will it make it?

i need at least of the transom tranny gone to put  the  cannon digi troll downrigger tranny on

cheers

This Dinghy has a folded/rolled/pressed & welded hull.

The name "Sandman" still legible on the stern.

Would anybody know what brand this could be?

Looking at the hull shape ,this could be a very smooth riding unit. (fot a catfood tin)

From the rego it seems to be an old made boat 37#*#

Have to get a HIN # and re register this one.

Also what max HP outboard would it handle?

Have an 18HP, a 8HP or a 3.3HP for it.

It looks like a 18 would make it sing.

Thank you up front for your input.

. 

Hi All,

Just pulled the old Radio & Stereo out to replace, and the existing holes are rough as guts.

Unfortunately the new gear won't cover the old holes, so I'm after options to fill / repair / cover them. 

Figured while I was at it I'd do the old mounting holes etc on the upper surface too.

Just fitted Digital Gauges and got a new sounder combo coming too, so will also fill / cover a couple of the old 2" gauge holes on the helm side.

I've made up some cardboard templates to take to a Plastics mob to get them to cut & bend a couple of one-piece panels to cover the entire flat surfaces , but thought I'd check in

to see what other advice / options were around.

Obviously there's the filling / reglassing option, but figured a couple of 3-4mm thick plastic panels to cover the holes (and enable remounting of new gear) would be a pretty neat and economical option ?

Advice / comments very welcome !

Thanks,

Dizz.

Thought the TV just told me Offshore Marine was closing down?

Hey guys just wanted your opinion on a couple of fish finders. I want to stay cheap so I was looking at either the Eagle Cuda 300 or the Humminbird Pirahnamax 170x.
The Humminbird is a little more expensive is worth spending that little bit more?

Eagle Cuda 300
http://www.eaglenav.com/Products/Fishfinders/CUDA-300/

Humminbird Pirahnamax 170x.
http://store.humminbird.com/products...PiranhaMAX_170

Cheers.

Gents,

Hoping someone could help me out here or someone has had this happen.... here goes.

Just towed the cat a painful 8 hours to hopetoun, put her into the water today and the water in fuel warning has come on. Turned back towards the ramp and she shut down.

On inspection back at home looks like a have copped some water in the fuel tank/shitty fuel. I cleaned it out cleaned all the filters and the lines, couldn't clean the line that goes from the pump to injector though. Now she just turns over and doesn't fire, plugs look dry.

Thinking you might be able to bleed the injectors or something but might be a bit out of my league. Any idea's would be great, heading back monday and tomorrow will be the only day to get out!!

Cheers.

Sorry guys!!!

I know this has been BLASTED in the past but I have a 115 2S Johnson and it is time for an upgrade. $$$ comes into the equation a little but I would pick a ETEC or Suzi 4S. $ and servicing as I would do 100+hrs easily a year. I know the servicing for ETECs is 200hrs and I wont let it go that far, maybe yearly or 100hrs min.

I can get Honda and Etecs up here in Karratha new OTFloor. Good deal on the Etec probably would save me $4K cf Honda and Suzi.

Am I making a huge mistake if I go the Etec. My gut feeling is not because I do like a bit off grunt low end (You cant take the Rally driving out off me, even though I had to settle as a co-driver because I was not that fast around corners as my buddy). Not a speed freak on the sea so WOT doesnt realy bother me.

All I would like despite the previous discussions (which I have looked at) is whether there is a huge issue with Etec's cf 4S, esp Suzi and H.

Cheers and sorry to bring this up again.

Neels

Hi All

As the title says I have had my baron for 4 years now and have worked out what works and doesnt work for me so now it time for some mods. Fishing use is typically out of sydney with extended trips (30NM each way) limited trolling but mostly shallow and deep reefs.

1. Engine is a 1980 150 hp evinrude which wont die. Each year Ive said when it dies Ill upgrade, whilst the power is good the fuel economy & fumes are a killer. Looking over the forums there seams to be a huge range of engines fitted to these boats from 75 to 225 hp. The fishing magazine article I have when these boats were going to be released on the east coast had a maximum of 175hp. Ideally I wont to keep the same performance as I have now (not quite sure if my OB is still putting out 150 but I can get 40knt on a good day) but am interested in peoples experience with other HP range engines fitted to these hulls.

2. Fuel capacity. Have an underfloor custom aluminium tank that runs down the centre but only have 100lts usable capacity What sought of capacities do others have and is it enough? Im expecting a new engine will halve my fuel usage so this may not be an issue???

3. Transom layout. Dont really need the rear quarter seats and would like the extra room that I would have by utilising a straight transom and a pod. Whilst I have seen a few Barons fitted with pods were they an afterthought (along with all the issues that that can cause) or are they a hull that readly lend themselves to the fitting of a pod and ideally a 150hp 4 stroke?

Thanks in advance

Bob