helliconia

Thanks for the replies guys With the filleting, how big does it need to be and whats an easy method to achieve it? I was thinking of a run of epoxy through the join then round it out with a piece of dowel? Would that do the job? I warned you I'm not handy. I failed woodwork in year 7 Just thought of something else. I'm thinking I will need to build the shell in 2 stages, glassing one side then turning it all over the glass the other. How do I handle the join between the top and bottom sides? Should I just leave a border of glass mat dry around the edge of one side and epoxy it in when I do the other side with an overlap?

Despite the fact I'm not remotely handy I've been encouraged by some of the projects I've seen on here to start planning my (first ever!) attempt at fibreglassing an underfloor killtank/esky. I have a loosely drawn plan having measured up the space available, but I wanted to grab some info before I go all gung-ho and start buying bits. My plan is to make a plywood frame for the base, line it with foam insulation and encase it all in a fibreglass shell. The lid will be the floor panel that covers the space and will have a fibreglass encased foam insulation sandwich attached to the underside that should fit "fairly" snugly into the base. The reason for going with a home made one is the size and shape of the space. It isn't very deep (about 180mm) and has a V shaped bottom so I was going to make a similiar shaped base that would sit on the stringers. The stringers already have space beneath them for water to move past and I won't be moving any flotation to use the space (it was designed for an internal fuel tank). So, the questions begin here. Firstly, considering the frame will be completely encased in fibreglass does it HAVE to be marine ply? If not, is it worth using it anyway? I was looking at some 6.5mm structural ply with low grade (CD or DD) facings as an alternative since they are significantly cheaper. How thick should I be making the fibreglass? Is it better to do several thin layers using finer matting or would a couple of layers of thicker matting be better? Whats a good thickness and material for the insulation? I'd like to be able to keep the contents cool for 12-18 hours using ice or an ice slurry. I thought about using that expanding foam then shaping it inside the ply frame for fibreglassing. Any other things I should be aware of considering i'm a rank amateur at this stuff? EDIT: Additional details. The space I am working with has a carpeted ply cover and the underfloor area measures: 1100mm long 570mm wide 180mm deep at the centre 130mm deep at the sides. I measured from the top of the frame the cover sits on and not the floor height. Whats the best way to handle the space where the lid meets the base? Should I attach some kind of rubber or silicone seal or is fibreglass on fibreglass sufficient?

Good luck and let us know how you go!

Near as I know its either Bass, Eels or Catfish up there. Eels are easy, tie a junk of meat with a hook in it to a strong bit of string, throw it in the river over night. Wait til morning and pull in a feed SP colours I use are the Nuclear Chicken red/green ones with the waggle tails, but you could try almost any colour really. Lighter colours seem to work better than dark in my experience but I'm no Bass pro. Insect, worm, or froggy type patterns work I'm sure. 2"-3" sizes seem to work best, your not catching marlin Bass'll take hard body lures too if you prefer them. Just remember Bass are usually under cover near weeds/reeds or overhangs in the bank, or big rocks and logs or fallen trees. They like cover to ambush prey from, but they'll also sit in deep holes waiting for prey to swim above them too.

I've had a lot of success on soft plastics for Bass up there, but I'd suggest you be ready to cover a bit of ground to find them. You'll have to be sneaky stealthy not to spook them from the bank. Usually we're up past Rocky Island a few kilometres in a boat. It does look like pretty rough territory to try on foot though.

Looks like a Spanner Crab to me, but I'm sticking my neck out a bit as I'm not sure

Sorry guys dropped it on here a bit late on friday evening. I canned the trip anyway when i woke up at 5am and it was still nearly 30 degrees! I haven't really ventured outside yet. Waiting for a good weather day before I risk it due to my inexperience with the boat (its was brand new at xmas) and it being only a 4.75 metre boat. I wouldn't get very wide anyway, I don't have en EPRIB etc for it yet. Will probably want to get out on my next day off which could be this friday or monday next week. I'll see how the weather looks a little later in the week before deciding.

Hi Guys, heading out on Botany bay early tomorrow morning. Aiming to have the boat in the water at 5:30am. I'm solo on this one so I have a spot or two free if anyone's interested. PM me and let me know if your interested. Leave a phone number so I can call you. Cheers Brian

Count me in too! Will probably drag the missus along for the ride as well

Ok so it's not REALLY extreme fishing but we made a few jokes to our partners about braving the southerly weather on Botany Bay when we organised it! Thursday night 2 of me best mates who hadn't seen my boat yet came over. Neither of them had fished the Bay before either so we organised earlier in the week for an early start on friday. Armed with my new found knowledge, courtesy of SQUIDN and the numerous posts on this site, I boldly declared we'd chase some Kings. It must be noted that my fishing ability is amateur at best, so making the call that we'd target a particular species was a bit like picking the winner of a WWF Wrestling match without knowing the script! Anyway, we arrived at the ramp at 6am got the boat in the water and we battled the swell and messy wind chop to Yarra Bay. Spent 30 mins trying to get some squid or yakkas for not even a nibble. Since the trip there was so slow (on account of not wanting to porpoise my poor little boat into the waves) I'd dropped out a lure and trolled my way there, so we had one bonnie that I'd chanced upon for bait. Moli Pt was practically vacant (I should have taken a photo!) and nothing was showing on the sounder there so I made the sad decision we'd try Watts Reef for a few drifts for some flatties. We managed a flattie for one of the crew and the other hauled in a very nice flounder but the ride was a bit uncomfortable at the end of each drift once we left the dubious shelter of Kurnell. As we reached the end of the last drift near the north clear water marker just east of the drums I noticed a massive bait school under us with lots of fish signs on the sounder. My deduction as that "something" must be happening down there so we anchored up and had a crack at them. I must have jigged softies for an hour trying to get something happening til I gave up with an aching shoulder and was feeling very disappointed. All we'd managed we're some undersized squire on bonito strips and one of the guys got spectacularly busted off by something that nearly spooled his bream rod in 10 seconds flat So we're sitting on a bait school, listening to the fish alarm tease us on the sounder, we've stripped every bait we could from the bonnie and I'm thinking we need to find another, when my mate announces he's gunna try a woolworths banana prawn. He peels it and puts half on his hook and drops it down. A minute later he gets smashed and he's on. 30 minutes later, after swapping the net for the gaff and back again a dozen times my mate boats his first every Kingie! 57cm's on his 3kg bream outfit! Although I finished the trip fishless I was insanely stoked to have helped my mate land such a great catch. Was a great day for us all! In no small part i have to give credit to the advise and info I've gotten off here reading all the reports from my fellow fishraiders. Thanks guys!

you know when Bear Grylls eats all those bugs and stuff it's only meant to be for when your going to die without them, not as a general culinary experiment!

Great catch Em! However, what I really want to know is how you got her to hold them for the photo. If I attempted that with my partner I would get a flat stare and a night on the couch

Unfortunately, just like on the roads, if there aren't any police around there's a percentage of people who treat the rules as "optional" rather than "mandatory". I just started a new job a few months ago and the only thing I don't like about it is the drive there and back. The number of people who think putting their blinker on gives them right of way regardless of whats going on around them is astounding. I haven't had too very many noteworthy run-in's on the water yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. I did get a mouthful from some yatchy who took exception to us using one of the public NPWS moorings in the Cowan Creek area while we ate dinner one evening. We paid him back by calmly watching him anchor his yacht and get settled in then dropped the mooring and left. He looked a little grumpy as we motored off. Funny thing is if he'd asked nicely how long we were going to be, or offered to share it for a short while, I probably would have let him have it but his attitude ruined that for him. As for kids, you are right Kel. I don't know whats going on with them. I was at a train station a couple of years ago and broke up a fight between two kids. One was easily twice the size of the other and when I suggested he find another way to deal with it rather than breaking the little kid I got a tirade of swear words and a smug toe-to-toe attitude like I could do nothing about it. I don't think I've ever had a ten year old try to stare me down before. Personally I put it all down to a lack of consequences. Even if you call the police all they'll do is hand out a fine which most people don't seem to care about. Start very publicly confiscating the boats of repeat morons and peoples attitudes would change a bit I think.

Most of the bays around the lower hawkesbury have beaches at the back of them that hold nippers. Refuge Bay, Jerusalem Bay, Little America Bay all come to mind...

I know a few first year uni students who would be quite offended to here that effort labelled as "Photoshopped"... looks more like Microsoft Paint! Great work keeping the fools honest. I have no aspirations to ever win COTM unless you guys introduce a seaweed category but mongrels like this make a mockery of the people on here who really do deserve the prizes.

Nice effort! Just shows you don't need the fancy gear to get fish

The keys one won't happen to me, I planned ahead, main keys live in the car's glovebox on a floaty thing, and have a spare set on the car keys. There's also 2 spare bungs in the boats glovebox, along with little boxes of all the fuse sizes the boat uses! This ones not really a mistake, but was kind of entertaining. Launched the boat and forgot to raise the bimini, so stopped a ways off the ramp and raised it. Biggest hairiest Huntsman spider had decided to make a home in the folds of the bimini. It was a race to see if I could chase the spider off the boat before the jumped overboard in a panic. She REALLY doesn't like spiders. I had to drive around in a circle and show her the spider doing the backstroke on the water before she would believe I got rid of it

I pull our 4.75m runabout with a Mitsubishi Verada 3.5l V6. Only time it's struggled was up Mt Ouzley near Wollongong, I thought the poor girl was gunna blow a gasket but she got there. I do tend to avoid steep ramps but she hasn't looked like she has any problems getting up the ramps so far. I think the front wheel drive helps as they're always well clear of the slippery stuff. We're planning to upgrade at the end of the year to a 4WD probably.

Your not going to stop a professional thief if he targets your gear. These gadgets are really just to prevent the nuisance opportunistic thieves who see your stuff unattended and snatch whatever is loose. I really just wanted something simple that would give me a little piece of mind while launching or retrieving the boat solo.

The and I are looking at entering this year too. Are there any restrictions on where you can fish? Can you fish deep outside or do they restrict it to "inside" waters? Perhaps the targeted fish are their way of doing this. If its a shocking day outside they could pick all estuary species for example... I'm hoping the lure of prize money will spark her interest in fishing

Ok here's my scribble. Hope you can read my crappy handwriting for the notes! The bit on the left slides into the bit on the right. Hopefully the drawing makes sense printing the pic is probably the best way to view it. Fixed the image so its a bit easier to see

I saved money on the rod tubes and just used 3" or 4" plumbing pipe with cap ends on it. Superglued one end on and gaffa taped the other end so it wouldn't come off. Cost me about $30 from memory. It is worth checking the maximum length they'll allow though. Arguing with the baggage cops doesn't get you anywhere in my experience

That does sound a lot simpler! And if I'm picturing what your suggesting right it could be made just by bending tabs from one flat piece of metal and welding on the tubes for the base. The locking bit would just need an angle bit on each end that slips under it with matching holes for the padlocks. Back to the drawing board!

I did have another thought on this thunderace (nice name by the way, I used to ride one til a truck pancaked it!). You'll want to watch the depth of the leg if you have everyone standing on the other side of the boat. If you run it out of the water there's a small chance you could burn the motor out. That could depend on the quality of the motor I guess.