Hey guy im just wondering if anyone has a polycraft 4.8 or has ever taken one for a test drive as i am intrested on moving up a size from the 4.5. so yeh just wondering how the ride becasue there a completly differnt shaped hull from the other boats
Cheers
Trent

Hi Guys,

Looking at putting hydraulic steering on my 5.5m ali with a 130 honda four stroke.

What are good brands and where to buy from?

Would i be able to fit it myself as i dont really want to pay $400 to get it fitted? keep in mind its my first boat and have little boating experience.

Has anyone had any good or bad experiences lately?

Cheers

I just found this info on the net, although I'm sure most of you have read it, some may find it helpful.

http://www.signalelectronics.com/info/furunotransducerhandbook.pdf

What I was really after is " Mounting a transducer facing forward" has anyone played with this. I have a spare through the hull transducer and was keeping it to have a play with. If its not a good idea I will sell it. But would this help when comming up close to submerged rocks etc when fishing or even when passing through gaps in reefs?

Hey guys, I've been trying to find the best way to restore the yellowy oxidised gelcoat on my chivers thunderbird. I came accross this product here and ordered it http://www.cleanaboat.com/Gel-Coat-Restoration/c1/p28/Gel-Coat-Restoration-Starter-Pack/product_info.html

The prob is I have been waiting for over a month for it to show up (even paid for express shipping) and have been getting dicked around no end by these people, so I am thinking about getting a refund. However it looks like a good product from their vids etc so my question to you guys : has anyone used this product before and is it worth the wait, or should I just do the old 600,800,1200 wet sand then use some cutting compound and give it a wax?

I've tried meguiars cutting compound on a small section without wet sanding and it got rid of the oxidisation and made it shiny but didn't get rid of the yellowing.

any advice appreciated :)

Hi All

Well I've taken the plunge and purchased my first large Ali boat - a 2002 Quintrex 6 metre Oceansport with a Honda 115hp. After having Fibreglass boats for the last 10+ years Ali is a little foreign although I'm told the Millenium hull are a soft ride in comparison to other Ali's. Anyway what I'd like to know is what to clean the base of the hull with as the previous owner had the boat in a canal "sling" for some time and it has the remnants of mrine growth- like a calcium type build up on it. Not sure if a hi pressure water sprayer of the suburban standard is gonna remove the material.

I do have an acidic detergent that you water down with so many parts water to the detergent - was thinking of applying this in a very diluted state as I'm aware of what the acid will do to the ali. I know its probably been covered before but any help would be appreciated.

Also saw a link a while ago on Fishwrecked about getting a "wrap around" for a painted hull - does anyone know where these can be ordered from in W.A.

Thanks for your input peoples.

anyone had any experience as looking to buy one secondhand

 Guys,

I am running a set of smartcraft gauges and a system monitor, hooked up to a new 2011 Mercruiser 6.2 lt MPI sterndrive.

The fuel gauge is'nt reading correctly and is jumping all over the place and sounding the low fuel alarm. I dont think any of this is related to the new motor.

There is 3/4 of a tank in it at the moment and the system has been calibrated, yet the problem still persists. 

I have had the sender unit out this morning. It's all still intact and wiring / ground looks good.

Any advice and does anyone know if the typical, analogue, 2 wire fuel tank sender units are compatible with the Merc Smartcraft systems. (it seems a bit odd to me that smartcraft is all digital, yet analogue senders are used??)

Cheers guys.

Guys just want to know about the sd card for a lowrance hds10 are they they standard camera type ones or do you need a specific card.  Looking to upgrade the software and need a 512mb or bigger card to do so..

Just unsure on what type of card I need...

Hi just want to know if anyone has had one done to their pride and joy?

If so what company you decided to go through... Looking at sprucing up the tub a bit.

Cheers Rob.

I'm looking at upgrading to a new boat and after up to 6m fibreglass with a cuddy cab. I was wondering what brands are worth looking at.

Here's my dilema.. I was previously running a HDS 5 sounder and a Navman tracker as my chartplotter. Since then the navman has seemed to stop working so now i only have the HDS 5 combo running both the chartplotter and the sounder which is far from ideal with the 5" screen.

So i guess my options are:

Buy a furuno 620 and run the HDS as a chartplotter only..

have the P66 airmar transducer already but unsure if lowrance plug fits furuno??

Otherwise Can i run 2 transducers? would be nice to keep the scroll back feature on the combo unit.

OR

Keep the HDS 5 as my sounder and buy another Chartplotter.

what ya reckon?

cheers

the steering is still binding.  Should i use a graphite based grease on the moving bits, or could it be something else?  trouble shooting ideas to identify the issue???

Getting serious about installing dual batteries. Can anyone give me a legitamate reason why I can't install the batteries like so. Looking also at putting the oil tank down there as well. Using above deck compartments to store safety equipment, fenders etc.

Any help appreciated regarding the correct 2 stroke oil to fuel mix, have heard from different people 50,75,100 and fuel used is always 98 octane.

Thanks.

Hello to any Barcrusher owners,

I am troubled by a fuel gauge that always shows empty when underway and have to wait for boat to settle before it gives a reading.  It is an analogue gauge but wondering if the problem is in the sender.  Got an option to connect it to the standard Yamaha digital gauge which comes with the outboard.

Thanks in anticipation

Chris

I just purchased a 4.5 douglass runabout but has no windscreen. Can anyone recommend a outlet to buy the materials or have one made to suit??

cheers

Gday fellas

Any one have this on their Barcrushers. Thinking of getting one for mine if they work. Have looked at others ie boat catch that are fitted to surtees but it utilized the winch catch to bolt the stainless catch on to, but I connect my hold down straps to this and I think the bar catch would still enable me to do this.

Cheers neville

 Anyone one know where i can buy 2 stroke oil in bulk and save some money?

Cheers

Pete

Anyone know what it would cost to get a boat from QLD to Perth, roughly?

Some people have been asking me to put this up so here goes

After purchasing the new fibreglass hull i was back sourcing the best low budget, best performance sounder set up that was able to perform in depths upto 700 meters.

Starting with conversations with taylor marine in the west and in the east i had heard the Furuno 585 unit boasted excellent performance for game fishermen in deep water. The best results were coming from thru hull instalations using the 50b-9b Transducer.

Having the same sounder system from my old vessel the next step was to liase with cruise craft on hull construction and if it was possible to install the transducer where i wanted it at the stern.

With a flat surface on the keel line this install was quite simple.  

Then was to cut thru a moulded bilge liner and having a very restricted area to work in.

Next was by far the hardest. This was actually getting the nerve to cut a 160mm by 90mm oval  hole through the hull.

With that done you realize your in so deep you had better do the rest right if your ever going to go boating agian!!

Then i made an exact replica of the transducer but 3 mm larger all round.

The replica transducer was now waxed and release agent applied.

Then the replica was inserted in the vessels cut hole, flush on the front edge and 2mm lower of the rear edge so that no air pockets could ever occur under the transducer.

From there work began on the inside with me applying epoxy fibreglass matt over the replica transducer and onto the prepared inside hull with a 100mm overlap onto the hull.  Four layers of 400 chop strand mat was applied then left to cure.

When cured the replica plug was pushed out by drilling a small hole in the center and tapping out. A larger hole was now drilled in the center of the formed fibreglass housing to suit the transducer cable and the inside of the housing sanded and cleaned with acetone.  

With the housing ready for the transducer. Marine Sikaflax was applied inside the housing and on the transducer. The transducer was now pushed slowly into place and secured, letting the air bubbles escape.

The excess sika was wiped away and another 4 layers of glass applied.

Now all that was left was a quick sand and for the white flow coat to be applied , bilge pump fitted and any sika marks to be removed with acetone.

All done and left to set.

On trial the new picture was almost unrecognizable from the memory of the ground when the transducer was last transom mounted on the previous vessel! A huge improvement. And where before we were sounding in the 250's to 400's at less than 5 knots, now we were clearly seeing ground at 10knots and breaking at 15.

The last shot shows us sounding at 840meters. Faint but readable.

Anyways hope this comes to some for benifit.

BTW this is no plug for furuno. I couldnt care if it was an Nintendo.  

I also believe similar results could be achieved with other sounder systems but the wet transducer face system (through hull) is crucial.

Hi guys, im relatively new to boating and im definitely green when it comes to sounders so was chasing some advice for a sounder for my dinghy. Its a  3.4m savage jabiru. I currently have a hand held gps so i'm thinkn of going a standalone fish finder.

I mainly just go out for a crab and bream fish but would also like to look at taking it out to cockburn sound chasing crab, squid and whatever else wonders in, then once i get some more experience maybe around hillarys.

I've been searching and reading but the unit that has caught my eye at the moment is the lowrance Elite 4x with DSI. The questions i have are, is the DSI a good thing? How good is lowrance as a brand? and would anyone recommend anything different?

http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Marine/Elite-Series/Elite-4x-DSI/

The budget is pretty spot on $300 and from what i can tell the lowrance seems to be a good fit.

Any advice is appreciated

Cheers, Steve

 Hi 

i have been offered a a new in box unit with navionics gold card

What would be a fair price for   it has a shoot thru the hull transducer so I would need to buy a new ducer I think the owner wants about $500 or for that price would there be better options.

hey everyone im upgrading my sounder. currently have a Humminbird 757 and looking at either the Lowrace HDS7 or Ray Marine E7-D. if anyone has any advice or has either one of these units and can share there pros or cons it would be appreciated. thanks

 hey guys

thinking of up gradding to a bigger boat and looking for a project aswell, just wondering what the douglas craft hulls are like, look very soild, can anywon give me there opions on them 

thanks lynchy 

Gday all! :)

I have been altering my 6.2m ali plate, and I want to design and build a bait board for the transom.  I spend more time diving than fishing - which is why I am asking for advice - but I plan on doing more fishing now we have a bigger boat! Havent decided if it will be permanently mounted or removable yet. So what features should I incorporate into my bait board? I have been given a lot of ideas already -

1. small, insulated, drainable or removable compartment for frozen bait - approx third of boards width - accessed via lift up cutting board or a slide out tray

2. larger uninsulated storage area underneath cutting surface - approx two thirds boards width - accessed via lift up cutting board or a drawer that slides out

3. two or three part cutting surface(so you dont have to lift the whole board to get into storage area underneath)

4. gutters that support all 4 edges of the 2 or 3 cutting surfaces and channel the mess toward the rear of the board where it can exit via a drain tube - keeps it out of the dry/bait areas

5. plier and knife holders to the rear

6. rod holders on rear/sides for trolling

7. drink holders

8. folded edges to reduce injuries

What do you think of these features? Any more to suggest?

I have two widths in mind - either 600mm or 800mm wide. What would be your choice? Around 400-450mm deep and 150 high internally. It will be constructed out of 3mm 5052 ali sheet, with 50mm OD tube for rod holders. High Density Polyethylene cutting surfaces - probably around 10mm thick as the maximum unsupported span will be only 300mm.

I would love to hear your opinions and ideas! Cheers

As you all know, I am now the proud owner of a 1993 150hp 2 stroke Johnson. lol. But after all laughing aside, I don't want to jeapodise its performance or reliability so I was wondering what other fishwreckers use for 2 stroke oil. Are they all the same or are some better than others? Do some smoke more than others or do some smell worse? I took everbody's advice and removed the VRO and it certainly has made a difference in its performance. Thanks for any advice given.

Hey guys recently have gained access to a Leeder Tomcat 240 and first thing to be done is manifolds/risers/gaskets/dry joints for the the 4.3 mercruiser sitting in it,  i have someone to do the work but was wondering if anyone knew the best place to source the parts cheaply? Feel free to pm me if you dont wish to post a non site affiliated shop here.

Cheers

Hi Fellas

I've developed quite a bit of that white scale type stuff on my outboard leg. I've had it on boats before but never quite so bad.

Any ideas on how to get it off? I was thinking something like C.L.R. should shift it.

Appreciate your ideas.

 Hi guys re-jigging our trailer drawbar and thought whilst we're at it may as well consider the idea of a swing away extension for beach launching

Would prefer swing away than telescopic set up

Have seen some photos here and there such as the mackay trailer website but curious if anyone has actually done it as I'd like some close ups of the hinge and also how it locks into the original drawbar once you swing it around??!

Appreciate any help and photos

Thanks

Turts

 Hello fishwrecked crew,

I have just joined up and am in need of advice

I am wanting to buy a trailcraft to get me out to fish off the southwest coast & run the family around

I have narrowed it to two option

a 2003 500 freestyle with a 90 merc salty 2 stroke with all gear approx 150hrs  good nik

OR

a 2006 freestyle with a 70 Yamaha 2 stoke with only 20hrs  also good nik not as much gear

simliar prices

my thoughts are : is the 2003 an inferior design..has the hull design or construction changed?? or is it just decals

Is the 70 Yammy too small for this boat??

Any advice would be great

H