rozza_b

bucket load of questions there so will answer what i can. 1. would need to see a wiring diagram of that switch panel to answer that but you should only need to connect positive to 1 point as they are all linked by the looks of it and yes they are spade connectors 2. cant tell from that picture but all my negatives run back to 1 point and then i run 1 wire back to the battery 3. need a wiring diagram to answer that but my guess would be your are on the right lines 4 & 5. run 1 wire for positive and negative to the battery no need to have a million connections at the battery that would be a nightmare to fault find if something went wrong....as for the size of the cable, you would need to calculate the total load draw by all the accessories if they where all turned on at once, 2.5mm is rated for 20amps which would probably cover everything in most tinnys i cant imagine any tinny needing 8mm cable for accessories and as rick mentioned get good quality tinned cable 6. broad question and depends on each accessory but i imagine 1/1.5mm would suit most stuff in the boat, 2.5mm max 7. would use crimped terminals on all and heat shrink the back of each crimp to prevent salt getting in, you could also use a electrical connections gel on each joint if you are worried 8. dont be worried by there closeness they are designed that way 9. get a decent quality set of crimpers and use good quality lugs cheap stuff just doesn't cut the mustard Any more questions shoot me a pm and ill help where i can

Nice work on getting all the safety gear mate, i actually cant believe there is people on this forum who actually recommend going into open ocean without having both items, they are there to save your life in case of emergency not just a casual thing for just in case........anyways your all sorted now to start venturing out further, provided you have all the other safety gear, good luck and hope that you never have to use any of the items

Personally i love my combo unit in the boat, use the gps to get me to my mark straight away and flick over to the sounder when looking for stuff, or split screen it, nice and compact and all in 1 unit. Also as above with the added safety feature or knowing where you area plus the NMEA, no harm in having as many safety features as possible for that 1 time you might need it, i havent hooked my NMEA up yet........ might be a job for the weekend i think

Why not just use aluminum rivets ? No need to stuff around putting strips in to screw things down to unless its really needed

From the manual above it looks like you should have a plug to plug into that port on the rafio, doesnt mention opening it up at all, i haven't connected mine up yet but i know it has a plug for this. Maybe remove the rubber grommet and see if it is actually a plug port or something.

Hi All, Wondering if anyone has had or seen a lockable cover for a centre console, im looking at re-doing the face of my console and i really would love to mount the sounder and radio in the console permanently as it would just look a million times better but wont do it unless i can make up some sort of cover that i can lock, so show me you pics or ideas on what you guys have seen before, Cheers Rozza

Some nice fish there ? great repot

Great bit of information there, have been considering replacing my floor in the boat for a while now and was holding off due to price but after reading this I am a whole lot more motivated, Cheers

Morning, Thought I would chuck up a quick report from Wednesday. After managing to scam a day off Wednesday decided to head out in search of some reds off kiama. Headed out at 6 and first drop managed a small red and a barracuda, with that promising start thought I was in for a cracker of a day but for the next 2 and a bit hrs managed not much, few hits but couldn't hook a thing. Decided to change spots to a bit shallower and started drifting bang, 1 just legal red, which was determined to not come for tea and made a last ditch effort over the side while being measured.....oh well, next drop and bang onto a solid red of around 2kg safely landed, followed next drop by another red just a little bigger happy as. Done a few more drifts around the same area but only managed 1 mowie, headed in around lunch Slow morning but def worth the effort, fished in between 25 and 50m of water, with around 1-2knts of South current

Zoran - love that setup is a brilliant way of setting up your anchors, may have to look into setting my to up like that, Thanks for the idea

Ah yep that explains it, i have had to pull mine out before and they certainly do just straighten out and come up

love the cable tie breakaway idea will definitely look into rigging mine up like so. With regard to the short legs on the pick are shorter legs like that the go ? because the legs on my current pick are far longer then that, might look into shortening mine if they are better that way Thanks for all the input all

Hey fabs, Totally see what your saying, I'm happy to carry a spare anchor for safety with me it can just live under the floor in the box like it currently does, I guess more what my question was aiming at was having a anchor that's suitable for all different bottums, that way I don't have to chop and change anchors depending on where I'm fishing etc, thanks for the input though def something that worth keeping in mind Cheers

i use all 3 apps BOM, willyweather & seabreeze, i check all 3 and make a decision from the combined information i get from them, i find to BOM app to be pretty lacking on the relevant information i need for fishing, the willyweather app to normally be pretty accurate as is the seabreeze one

Thanks for the input guys, those sarca anchors look impressive might have to look at investing in one of them at some point, more money to spend on the boat haha it never stops

Hi all, After some opinions on a general anchor selection, currently i carry 2 different anchors a grapple and a sand anchor, what im after is some opinions on what they use, preferably i would like to carry only 1 anchor with me, i mainly fish broken bottum and reef, i normally use the grapple anchor when fishing reef and it works fine the problem arises when fishing broken bottum/gravel, so preferably i would like something that works across most bottums and provides a solid hold. Before anyone asks i have a decent length of chain, run a lot of rope and have a rubber springer at the boat end Thanks

Nice looking boat, something like this would be my pick, personally i own a 4.8m centre console, is easy to handle and fish on my own or with 2 people and heaps of deck space for fishing/casting etc. As mentioned above if your worried about cover get a decent set of wet weather gear and drive to the conditions i rarely get wet in my boat unless im driving like a idiot, just my 2 cents

Welcome to the region, wealth of spots all within a few minutes from port ramp good fish found just outside the entrance to the harbour and plenty of fish found around the islands, keep an eye on where all the other boats are around there youll eventually get the idea of all the spots, tight lines

i have always used a battery powered spit roast motor to turn my rods while they dry, mounted it in a joist bracket, normally just make something up with tape and a pen to hold the end of the rod, always done the job for me.

I have a similar issue with my 455 VHF interested to see what you find

Just do the theory video online on the RMS site, then head in and pick up the book from the RMS, get someone who you have boating experience with to sign your logbook, do the practice theory test online as many times as you want then go in and do the test when ready. i think in total it cost me $50-$60 to get sorted and licenced. In my opinion those courses arent really for people with experienced with boating and even then i fail to see how a 1 day group course can teach someone enough experience to know how to use a boat safely on their own.....but thats just my opinion,

My understanding of the whole charts things is a GPS combo is not a electronic version or the charts, i think what they are referring to is a actual electronic version of the chart for the area your in stored on a device for example on your phone, i believe the reasoning behind this is so if your GPS failed you would have a way of being able to find your way home. The electronic part of the rule is only new from what i can remember prior to that it was always a requirement to carry actual copies of the chart for the area your in while in open waters, dont know why people are surprised by this rule, its part of your licence........ my GPS/sounder actually says that it is not to be used as the only form of chart when you power it up,

this thread has a heap of info in it around setting the transducer up correctly have a read of it

No worries Sigma and just to clear up what i meant around depth, i didn't mean depth on the sounder i was referring to the height the transducers are set at on the boat, if the transducer is set to high it wont read while you are traveling, ill find a link to the other thread, discusses the problem around setting the transducer correctly, i recently had to adjust mine to give me better readings while traveling as i used to loose bottum all the time once up and moving, hopefully you get it all sorted though

Dont believe their is any law around what beach you can anchor at but theirs plenty of rules around interaction with swimmers etc in the water, get the boat licence handbook from the RMS and read it thoroughly heaps of info in their and gives you all the rules and regs you need to know