So apparently there was some footy game on today, but i had bigger fish to fry (not literally because I can never get out to fish!!!)

I've been planning to get around to installing a trailer walkway since getting the boat about 2 years ago and today was finally the day. 

My trailer is an older roadmaster with a long draw bar so when retrieving I either get a wet bum or try to do a circus impression which has nearly ended in tears a few times.

This is how it started out.

And my materials, 600mm wide aluminium walkway, 150x75x12mm Galv u-bolts and some 30x30x1.6 Galv square tube.

So I basically cut the walkway into two sections, one long section for the front of the trailer and one shorter section for the space above the axel.

I also cut the square tube into 500mm lengths and drilled them so the u-bolts could go over the draw bar, through the walkway and through the tube to act as support and the means to clamp it all up.

The rear sitting in place.

The front sitting in place. I had planned to frame the entire walkway with U channel but the stuff I got when I bought the walkway turned out to be too small. The walkway was about 23-24mm thick and the inside of the U channel was 20mm. So i had to settle with just shaving the ends of the walkway with the grinder to get at least some channel on it to protect from losing the skin off shins.

And this is what it looked like just before I squared it all up and bolted it down. The picture from underneath shows how it was all mounted up.

Turned out to be solid as a rock. 

Hopefully I'll get to give it a try soon enough!

Cheers

Steve

 I have recently gotten a VHF radio and I am getting a lot of interference from the fish finder(lowrance elite 7). The cables originally all went through the dash through the same spot, but thought I would try remove them to see if it fixed the problem and it doesn't. Have tried removing the power only and the antenna only and both with no change.

even if the radio is on the opposite side of boat still get it, I have also noticed that it is only when the antenna is plugged in that I get the interference.

when the sounder is off I get good two way comms at a good distance but as soon as it is turned on alof of interference and can't receive anything, not even sure if it goes out.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions to fix this?

Cheers

Leigh

 Anybody running one of these on their tub. 

Typically have run Yamaha on most of my boats but these look quite interesting

Old motor was 189kg and these aren't much heavier so the extra horses would be nice

They look simple to service too

Thanks 

 Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone has their VHF and AmFm antennas mounted pretty close together and whether or not it causes any issues in reception/transmitting?

My current amfm antenna is a crappy dipole one so I've purchased a proper one and the easiest spot to mount it is beside the VHF one, about 0.5-1 foot away.

got a bit tired of looking at the underside of my dash panel, it probably started off good but then all sorts of addons have been fitted with inline fuses all over the place.

Bought a Narva 12 fuse panel of Autoelecau, and chopped, re-routed and replaced a fair bit of wire.

Still looks a little untidy to me but the only inline fuse now is the "always on" bilge pump.

Gave it all a test run to the islands last week with Dan (Bitten) and another mate, much easier if you need to fault find a dodgy piece of equipment.

 I need some direction in wiring up a 12 pin flat trailer plug. I have just had a new tow bar and tekonsha P3 fitted to my vehicle. When Parkside fitted they recommended a 12 pin flat connector so that I could get power to recharge the backup battery for the Hydrastar brake system. So I have picked up a 12 pin male connector for the trailer end and removed the 7 pin round connector.

I am now presented with a trailer cable that has five wires in it and a separate heavier blue wire and an even heavier black wire. When I google the wiring diagram I get for the 7 smaller pins:

• Brown = tail lights on pin 7
• Green = right indicator on pin 4
• White = earth on pin 3
• Red = stop on pin 6
• Yellow = left indicator on pin 1

So that accounts for the wires in the trailer cable, I assume I don't need pin 2 (black) or pin 5 (blue) to be wired to the SMALLER pins. So which of the larger pins do I wire the blue and the black to ? From what I can see on the car end, pins 9 and 10 have been used but not sure which is for what?

Any help will be appreciated.

 Hey guys trying to work out how to drill some holes for spotties in my stainless bar work. I've tried fast with oil slow with oil and with good viper bits mad just seems to destroy the bit before I get even close to a hole. Any help would be much appreciated cheers 

  just had fuel stolen from my boat recently in my yard,just wanting to know where i can get a lockable fuel cap in perth,have tried whitworths,allboats,boatcity and hitech marine,would even like to know if you can get custom fuel caps,even syphon stoppers cheers 

 I have a 3m Spindrift plastic twin hull dinghy and I bought a new 6hp Tohatsu to avoid needing a skippers ticket for my Wife and Dad who will also use it. When I'm out on my own or with my 4y old we have no problem getting on the plane and cruising around at the 8kn limit in the river but when I take my brother, Wife or dad she struggles and I only get 6kn out of her which can feel agonisingly slow. 

I plan to head out to Parmelia Bank, just off Hillarys, Palm Beach etc when the conditions are really calm and am considering trading in my 7 week old outboard and buying the 9.8hp. The builder's plate says 6hp but the 9.8 is the same weight as the 6 so I can't really see a problem there and the manufacturer said they use a 10hp on theirs. The 9.8 is that it is the exact same engine as the 6 but with different head, carby etc so I can put a 6hp decal on the cowling to avoid the need to only have a skipper driving it.

What is everyone's thoughts on upgrading the outboard  i.e. will the9.8hp be enough to get two adults or two adults and a small child planing or is the trade in not going to be worth the $780 it is going to cost me? Stupidly I've now realised that I should have just paid the extra $200 for the 9.8 initially and whacked a 6hp sticker on a it.

 gday guys 

im wiring my new brake actuator and controler and i have wired the blue/ controler to the number 5 pin in the trailer plug as per the wiring diagram from the red ark contoler  but it dosnt say anything about a 12v wire to the actuator but in the diagrame for the actuator it says you need a 12v supply and you connect this to the black wire on the actuator do you just wire it to the reverse light pin in the trailer plug as it would be the only one left?

OK so I have an old 96 evinrude 115hp thats had the oil injection system disconnected and I'm running 50 to 1 premix. Trouble is she smokes a fair bit at low speeds and it kind of kills the enjoyment factor of cruising around rivers slowly with the family. I was planning on filling my sub tank with 100 to 1 ( half the oil ) , and making  sure I dont go over 5 knots. Anyone think this is a really bad idea?

hi guys my father in law and i were working on the boat today we have changed the impeller the gear box oil and done new batterys etc etc bla bla and all that jazz, what i would like to know is has anyone ever had a problem with the control box continuously beeping at us, has anyone ever had this problem and worked out what the fix was. The boat is located in ellenbrook and the area has low water pressure but could be wrong, i have even tried to call Shane from hayway's but to no avail. any info will be very helpful, as we were planning on going out tomorrow

cheers guys

 Hi all

Seriously looking at buying a boat, and was wondering about private buying.

How do you check if there is money owing on the boat? What else should I be looking for in terms of owner actually owns it etc? Is the HIN on the paperwork? 

Any by other tips welcome. :)

Hi , Does anyone have a south pacific anchor winch on their boat ?

Are they any good ? Any info/feedback would be great .

Cheers Paul

Hi all, recently found some info about using Epsom salts mixed with des tilled water to rejuvenate car/ boat batteries, all info I found was from the US, just wondering if anyone here has tried it? And does it work? Won't go into detail of how it's done but it's easy enough to find on the web. Cheers

Im trying to get my Navman DSC to work with input from my Lowrance without success, has anyone done this?

Its a Lowrance LCX37 to Navman 7100.

Googling doesnt gring up an installation manual for VHF, ops manual doesnt cover connection. Navico no help either.

Anyone got any practical tips?

 Another sign that Retail in Australia is being hurt by our high dollar and no GST on imports under $1000? 

 I have just bought a float attachment setup for my boat. 

My current anchor is a sarca #2. A good thing it is. 

Are the retrieve floats designed soley for reef anchors or will I be ok using the sarca?

 Hoping someone who has used the float can chime in. 

Cheers Craig. 

I am hoping someone has installed a Hydrive hydraulic steering recently and still have the refill / bleeding kit (bottle cap with clear hose and nipple etc) lying around.

I need to bleed mine and cannot find the kit. 

A quick question regarding an Anderson plug for power supply to the electric boat trailer winch.

Winch is a Powerwinch 912, boat is a 6.7 metre ally centre cab weighing around 2 tonne.

Would the 50 amp Anderson plug be adequate, or would something bigger be required ?

The next size up that I have seen is 120 amp, is there anything available between 50 and 120amp?

Thanks in advance,

The Saint

 Hi guys

just put a new yamaha F115A on the back of my ocean whaler, when the dealer sea trialed it to find the right pitch prop they ended up settling for a 17 pitch but said the ultimate would be an 18 pitch if that size was made. 

My question is what are the benefits if any of firstly a stainless steel prop and secondly 3 or 4 blade. 

The motor is currently doing about 5700-5800 rpm wide open throttle. 

Any input would be appreciated. 

 Time has finally come for a new boat

After months of looking and finally getting the missus somewhat keen

We finally found a boat that ticked all our required boxes, Searider 5.5 mtr

While I am at it I just want to say that Chris at Allboats was great to deal with, in fact so were Maz , Damian and Bridget

My wife is a legend , all she asked for was a transom door and the boat could not be red

Looking forwards to some great fishing moments coming up

Any chance that the previous owner is a member here ?

Katman

Hi guys,

I have a Haines Signature 550c and have a space where a 45L fresh water tank can be housed. I am keen in putting in a fresh water deck wash/shower and have the room at the back of the boat to mount the pump and the curly hose and trigger sprayer will fit towards the back of a side pocket.

Originally I was just going to run a smallish pump with fresh water but it wouldn't be very hard to put a 2-way valve in and switch inputs between fresh and sea water. The Jabsco Parmax 4 kit looks good and is recommended by a lot of people but seeing it can pump somewhere between 15-20L/min, would empty my tank very quickly.

Has anyone used the smaller Jabsco parmax 3 which pumps closer to 13L/min.
Or even the little Jabsco parmax 1 which is only 4.2L/min?

I don't really needs heaps of flow, or pressure. Its more so I can use it as a general deck wash when fishing and fresh water wash/shower after wakeboarding and diving etc.

Thanks,
Dale

 So my boat that got stolen last night was found in Ellen Brooke. The guy who stole it used his own number plate to put on the trailer and the car plate reported belongs to him aswell and neither were stolen so he is going to get a good knock on the door from the cops. Wish I got his address because I'd love to pay him a visit. They stole literally everything from the boat most of which is custom to it and won't fit other boats with out serious alterations this is what is left

Looking at Suzuki and whether to wait for the new 200HP 4cyl they have just announced (expected later this year) or get their 225HP V6.

http://www.suzukimarine.com/News/2014/01/Suzuki%20indroduces%20a%20New%20200%20HP%20Four%20Cylinder%20Four%20Stroke%20Outboard%20Motor.aspx

Boat currently has a 225HP Suzuki 4 stroke (2004 model) and we are looking at something newer mainly for trips to the Monties etc. Currently does ~41knts flat out and ~27knts at 4100rpm when calm.

Not many figures for fuel yet for the new Suzuki but comparing the Yammie 200HP 4cyl versus V6 it looks like quite noticeable fuel savings could be had.

http://yamahaoutboards.com/sites/default/files/bulletins/ALM_Trophy195LT_F200XB_2013-04-30_ALM.pdf
http://yamahaoutboards.com/sites/default/files/bulletins/ALM_Trophy195Limited_F200XA_2012-07-02_ALM.pdf

RPM MPG V6 MPG 4cyl Improvement
1000 4.46 6.86 53.81%
1500 3.72 5.08 36.56%
2000 2.69 3.71 37.92%
2500 3.1 4.64 49.68%
3000 5.11 5.6 9.59%
3500 4.97 5.41 8.85%
4000 4.05 4.43 9.38%
4500 3.56 4.12 15.73%
5000 3.04 3.29 8.22%
5500 2.72 2.79 2.57%
5900 2.79 2.8 0.36%

Comparing the Suzuki 200 V6 vs Suzuki 175hp Lean Burn

http://www.suzukimarine.com/Product%20Lines/Outboard%20Motors/Products/DF175/2012/~/media/Marine/BoatBuilders/TestResults/B/Blue%20Wave%20Boats/Blue%20Wave%202000A%20Pure%20Bay%20DF175TX
http://www.suzukimarine.com/Product%20Lines/Outboard%20Motors/Products/DF200/2012/~/media/Marine/BoatBuilders/TestResults/B/Blue%20Wave%20Boats/Blue%20Wave%202000A%20Pure%20Bay%20DF200TX

RPM MPG 200hp V6 MPG 175hp 4cyl Improvement
1000 4.89 6.67 36.40%
1500 3.33 5.09 52.85%
2000 2.3 3.33 44.78%
2500 1.64 2.19 33.54%
3000 5.06 5.97 17.98%
3500 5.16 6.23 20.74%
4000 5.17 5.86 13.35%
4500 4.48 5.17 15.40%
5000 4.22 4.7 11.37%
5500 3.7 4.13 11.62%
5900 3.39 3.48 2.65%

Leaning towards the new 200HP 4cyl Suzuki, what do you think? We will miss the extra power of the 225hp V6 Suzuki we currently have?

Started out as a rewire a few weeks ago and now have internal stripped out and 350chev about to be removed and install an OB and paint job on internal.

Researched this and stuck on final choice on whether to install a pod or notch the transom to make a well WITH hydraulic jacking plate on the Berty.

Appreciate any comments/experience from anyone who has gone down this path. Notching transom keeps the look of boat but performance wise the pod might be better. 

Looking at a 225HP YAMMIE 4stroke on back.

Hi Guys its a 31 degree Winter's day here in Karratha.

I'm a Newbie to posting so please accept my apology in advance, searched the forum's but got weird results - like my search item inserted in all random posts?

Just picked up a Leeder 710 Deluxe '96 model Carby 5.7L Alpha One leg.

Can you tag me in existing site posts that discuss solutions to:

1. Mystery electrical fault that sees the engine running fine then (550 genuine hrs) stop randomly but will restart almost straight away?

1b. Service intervals must do vs can do.

2. Leeder specific prop/pitch/blade# thread for the Alpha One leg.

3. Leeder tips and tricks for weekly running.

Thanks guys much appreciated.

 Looking for comments good or bad for who services Mercury Outboards SOR as mine needs its 500 hour service, the first since I bought it. I used to use Saltwater Marine but they no longer service outboards. Cheers.

Just wondering where do you service your boat annually . I have a old honda and live in north of the river. Any suggestion ?

mobile or shop doesn't really matter as long as honest. The place that I  normally go doesn't service any Honda outboard anymore

Thanks Guyss.