My boat trailer winch is on the way out and I am considering replacing it with a 4x4 car winch like this one..............

11000LBS / 5000KG Electric Winch Synthetic Rope ATV 4WD BOAT 12V Wirless Remote

Has anyone done this? What are the pros and cons?

How have you attached it to the trailer?

Thanks

Andy

Ive been sifting through the website trying to get my head around all the regulations on max braked and ATM and GTM and vehicles to tow them. ( I saw on the transport site something about taking the weight thats on the tow ball off the ATM to end up with the gross weight, but now i cant find it again, got me buggered ).

My boat and trailer weighs 2600kg, my Prado has a max rating of 2500kg to tow a braked trailer. If i could subtract the weight on the tow bar it might make my Prado legal to tow it, or swap the Prado for a Landcruiser ?

Also has anyone here put the fancy braked system onto an old trailer, what would that cost me?

Just trying to weigh up my options here ?

 Morning all.. I am hoping someone will be able to assist me please. Hoping to take my young boys out tomorrow morning after about a year. Started motor and checked everything was good. I fully charged my batteries and then Accidentally reconnected the poles the wrong way. I had to change all my sounder and gps fuses, but now my motor won't even come on. There is no power coming on at all to the motor or oil or fuel. Is there anything else I can check please as I have two very disappointed 8 and 10 year olds. Any assistance would be most welcome.. Thanks so much in advance.. Don

 Howdy all

Happy Easter to everyone I need to get a hole fixed and some gouge marks re gel coated on the bottom of my hull does know of any fibre glass repairers in Rockingham cheers. Darryl

Was putting the boat cover on & heard a slight buzzing noise. Was the bilge pump (Rule 1100 with a separate float switch - pic just for visual) the light on the gang switches was on but it was in the off position so I pulled the fuse behind the switch - light still on pump still running but not full speed. When I lifted the float next to the pump it crancked up to full speed. Ended up pulling the fuse that was on the power lead direct to the battery which stopped it. Thing that throws me is it was running but only just. Any ideas on whats going on? Any thoughts on Rules v's other types?

 I'm on a large corner block and have a very large verge.  Have been parking my boat on the verge for the last 3 years with no issue, but recently I came home and found a parking ticket on the trailer.

On further research, the council fined me for parking an *un-attached* trailer in a *public place* or *throughfare*.  So they basically say that I am not allowed to park any trailer if it is not attached to a car.  This leads me to a difficult situation where I now need to park my car and boat on the street instead of having just the boat on my verge.

Has anyone else had to deal with this?  Any ideas how I could approach it?

 Howdy all

I need help before Friday thanx i intend to take the family for a ski biscuit on Friday. But at the moment my motor doesn't seem too  idle down enough after going from forward to neutral. It idles fine when I start the motor but after putting it in gear then back to neutral it doesn't idle down enough it's still reving a bit. So I need someone with a bit of tech knowledge to come and maybe do a bit of adjusting to it. All boat shops in Rockingham are booked out until April. So I would be most grateful if some knows how to do this for me at short notice I live in warnbro and it's a 90 hp 2 stroke  evinrude thank you

           Darryl

 hi all I'm sourcing first hand knowledge of what is the legal requirement for trailers needing a breaking system .The scenario I have is a boat with motor and fuel weighs in at 1600kg put this on a trailer that weighs 500kg pushes the total weight over 2 tonne 

Questions - what breaking system is now required 

Must I know source a trailer with an ATM greater than 2100 kg

thanks all 

Just a plug after some good service today. I have a 2006 Trailcraft Freestyle and thought it was about time to consider giving the trailer a birthday.
I put in new bearings every year, run bearing buddies, top up with grease after each trip and recently replaced the winch rope just incase.
My concern was the condition of the brakes, springs and the shackle bolt.
I dragged the boat to Martins Trailer parts in O'Connor. Great blokes. They had a look over it and recommended I don't do too much. Mostly cosmetic. I had set of shackle bolts already, so I did get some bushes.
The final bill. $1!
Plenty of other places would have gone here we go. replace this, replace that.
Really happy with the service and when the time comes I will head back there for sure.

 All,

Just seeking some advice with regards to some Suzuki 4 stroke outboard options I'm currently looking at for a new bow rider. It's about 6.5m in length. I'm deciding on either 1.) 175hp 2.) 4 cylinder 200hp or 3.) a V6 200hp option. I'm leaning toward the 200hp option (whether that be 4 cyl or V6) for future proofing and resale value, but 175hp would probably be OK as well.

The difference in 175 and 200 hours (4 cyl) is about 3k, to the v6 is about 4k, so it's probably splitting hairs a bit. What's people's thoughts on going to 1.) the 200 hp over the 175hp and 2.) if going to the 200 hp option, would the 4cyl version suffice or is it better going for the V6 version?

thanks in advance

 Apologies in advance fellow FW ers ...and I know this isn't protocol.  Has anyone been in touch with Feral  on FW lately? I've sent a coupla pms to him in the last month and had no reply as yet after he had been in contact with me via PM on FW. He maybe  Fifo or away on holidays. Appreciate any feedback thanks folks.. and apologies again. 

Dad is not currently using his boat and has decided to sell. But what is it worth?

The boat is a 1971 Quintrex Fishabout, has been stored in a shed, used for river fishing, the motor is 1988 Classic Mecury 2 stroke that has done about 300 hours.

Hull is good conditions but could do with a coat a paint. The trailer (brake back) is in good condition. Both boat and trailer are registered.

Here' s a question that might be a bit out there. 

I read lots of posts about re chipping or remapping ECM's in vehicles, particularly diesels but also petrol engines. Soooo . . . . . . can you remap the ECM on an outboard or are they already tuned to the max.

From what I understand, a lot of the 4 stroke outboards out there are basically car engines that have been beefed up to handle the consistently higher engine revs and maintain reliability. That being the case are these engines detuned so as to stress the engine less ? For example a Yamaha 115 is 1.8 litres and puts out 90kw or thereabouts, not much compared to modern car engines ?

Im not sure if re chipping is the way to go as I can't ever recall reading or seeing anything on chips for outboards. However, re flashing the ECM and changing the engine mapping seems to be the current flavour for vehicles so would outboards be the same ?

For interest sake I would like to hear feedback or real life experience that anyone might have on this.

 Can anyone advise where I can get this done. Or has anyone used a printer before they can recommend.

Cheers

 After my post in 2015 asking questions on the costs involved with a Baron Sportsman project boat I thought I would chuck a new post out there with update photos of my Baron "Bight Club"

 Hi my trailer is starting to get a bit of rust apearing on the main frame.

Has any one put sacrificial anodes similar to those on cray pots to slow the rusting process on their trailers ?

How many would you think a trailer for a 20ft boat would need ?

Would you think they would work ?

I would appreciate any ffedback .

Cheers Paul

 Howdy all

tonight I noticed this oil on my Skeg would it suggest a prop seal or maybe something else and would it cause damage if not fixed soon cheers.

 Looks like this could be it. Google Penguin Ultimate and look at the images. There a quite a few shots. I like this one, he's fairly hooting along.

Bought this boat last year but still unsure of the model.  Is it a Penguin Ultimate ?  , or Huntress, or Sportsfisher ?   Its 6.560 mtrs from bow to transom. Im told the Ultimates are 7mtrs, 23 ft so not sure if they include the duck board wich takes it to seven metres.   Ive owned quite a few boats over the years, alloy, glass, and wooden. Very suprised with its sea handling for a 30 year old boat. Put it through its paces in a shitty southerly, and handles better than some of the new boats ive been on. Nice heavy hull, deep V and good in a following sea and sits on the chines well.

Just though there might be some Penguin owners on here that can help answer my question as to what model Penguin it is ?

Have found a few Penguin Ultimate 23s as comparison, the photos below this one. And have also noticed alot of the Penguins have this same type of trailer, up until they were up graded at some stage.

Cheers

 Recently I have been feeling a bit of shame as to the state of my upholstery in the boat. It had that brown tinge like I thought it had been badly sun affected and would need to be replaced. The reason I thought it was the sun was because it was worse on the top of the seats and coaming pads.

I got some quotes and just to do have one seat re-upholstered ranged between $250 and $350 and that doesn't include the foam! I had a crack at recovering the worst cushion myself and while it is slightly better than the ripped cushion it replaced, it doesn't look professional. Needless to say it wasn't good enough to warrant doing the rest of the seats myself.

At this point I put it out of my mind as I can't afford to re-upholster all the vinyl in the boat.

Then I happened on a youtube link today that showed some decent looking vinyl getting the detailer treatment and it looked even better. The 'secret' ingredient was high concentrate degreaser. So off I went to supercheap and bought a $12 bottle of degreaser (don't buy the stuff in spray cans), a spray bottle and some microfibre cloths and set to work this afternoon. I diluted the concentrate about 5 to 1 and as soon as you spray it on, scrub it with the little microfibre pad I bought and then wipe it clean, it looks miles better and is now all the same colour. It took about 30 minutes to do the whole boat (remember it is a dual console so has seating and coaming pads in the bow as well).

It isn't the same as re-upholstering the boat but it has removed 90% of my shame! I can't believe the seats were basically just dirty and not sunburnt, well about 10% sunburnt. I can live with that for now.

Hey guys can anyone recommend a good marine mechanic for south perth area? I need a standard issue service on a yamaha 4 stroke. 

The one i've used for a few years seems to have bigger and better things to work on than trailer boats. I've also tried Kane from west coast marine who doesn't seem to answer his calls or return calls.  

The wife has given provisional approval to get a classic older boat which I can tidy up over the winter months.

The current Haines Signature 600 is awesome, but considering I only use it by myself and the family rarely if ever come along I dont really like having too many $$$ tied up with what is essentially a fishing boat. And honestly, I'm not that good a fisherman:)

So, considering they are roughly the same size but have very different hull geometries, which hull would be most suitable for Perth/Jurien when the weather goes to crap and you are trying to get out to pull your cray pots.

These arent my only 2 options, but Im just trying to separate the two.

Forget any mention of motors because I already have that issue sorted.

I had a Swiftcraft Viking many years ago but I cant really remember how well it handled because I never had it out in crappy conditions.

Looking for informed comments. Cheers

So, spoke to the dealer today, to get his point of view.

After a few polite discussions, I asked what he thought of the weight, and how they go usually with trailers etc. I then said how heavy my boat was with half tank of fuel and some fishing gear etc

I then said it would be even heavier with a full tank of fuel, and how do people get these to the ramps legally......

He said, and I quote, "its your choice to fill the tank full of fuel".

WHAT THE .......my choice....who doesn't fill the tank full of fuel.

I just assumed that my boat, 6.2, soft top, would be well under weight, considering they sell 6.7m, hardtop, with the same trailer as mine. (he even said these weight 1870kg unloaded, so as soon as you put fuel in your over the limit!!!)

Rang consumer protection. Can't do anything as I am the second buyer (didn't deal direct with dealer). If I could get the original buyer on board to complain, maybe, but seems like a lot of hassle for potentially no reward.

Anyway, buyer beware of course. Just absolute crap that they can do this.

Anyone have a trailer rated to 2.5t for sale?? Or does anyone have amny recommendations for a trailer.  :)

 Hi guys, I need to stick down the carpet after pulling it up to access the fuel tank. Any tips on what glue to use. Looking for something that will hold it down but will come up easy if I need to access the tank again.

cheers

So took my boat over the weigh bridge the other day, on the way to Jurien.

Coraline, 6.2m walkaround, soft top, half tank of fuel, some fishing gear, ice box with 2 bags ice, safety gear etc

Came in at 2250kg!!! Not happy!

Means I now have to upgarde my trailer or get a new one.

How can boat sellers sells boats like this? Surely this is illegal as they are not fit for purpose.

Any advice...? Anyone want to buy a john papas trailer?

 Hi guys,

Just behind the water intake of my Yamaha 2-stroke is a small hole (dunno how else to describe it).  I noticed today a very minor oil drip running out of that hole.  Theres not a lot of oil at all, but never had any leaks before so it's got me concerned  

Any by ideas what might cause this?

Is it safe to use before I get it fixed next week?

 (Picture obviously not mine, but showing where the oil is leaking)

cheers, Dave

 Heading to abrohlos island late march pending weather. Will be my first time and heading over with two other boats.

So to all you abrohlos gurus what are the boat must haves?

From reading Rob H and Paul G posts it seems tarp for wind block, star picket for a solid beach mooring, plenty of boat shade is a must.

Anything else you can recommened?

Regards Mitch

I've just purchased a new Honda 150 for the Baron project, and looking into batteries.
Only running engine, vhf, stereo, sounder.. and maybe a waeco
Whats everyone running?
Good and bad points?
amp hours?
crank power etc.

-C

Hi Guys, Just looking for some advice on deckwash placement, currently it is in the hatch with the batteries. Just wondering if anyone has any ideas on a better place to put it on a trailcraft.

Cheers