helliconia

Seems to be a theme here We're all making the same mistakes. I have a new one though that I forgot about. Hooked up the trailer at a caravan park, folded the jockey wheel up but didn't rotate the handle out of the way. Drove off a steep grassy verge onto the road and ripped the jockey wheel handle off the top as the hitch gouged through the rise! Making do jamming it back in its hole but I guess I should look at a replacement

hahaha I bought mine a toaster, kettle and a new fridge and she bought me a boat!! Gotta love a good xmas deal! Guess the pressure is on for next year... wonder if she wants a new Landcruiser?

Your right, it's hard to see how they can know the value of your boat better than you. At the end of the day the sum insured should represent the replacement value of the boat to the same condition it is now. If you "know" that your not going to buy one with exactly the same changes you should factor these in BUT there are a couple of things that insurance companies take into account when viewing these things. 1. Spending $5000 on mods to a 20 year old boat does not add $5000 to the value. As a general rule of thumb they will depreciate any modifications as if they were installed new. 2. The mods you make to your boat are based on your needs and won't necessarily be the same as someone else might do in your place. Therefor what the boat is worth to you is different to what it is worth to the market. I know from my 2nd hand boat studies that the changes gys bragged about meant little to me when I was working out what I thought it was worth. The reason for these "rules" is to mitigate the cost of claims where every boat is highly individualised. If they didn't do this and allowed significantly higher sums insured there would be 2 large effects. Firtly our premiums would go through the roof due to the increased risk associated with managing and paying higher claims. Secondly, paying your claim would become a long nightmare process where they had to verify every change, try and find a replacement, and then after finding the closest match get the work done to bring it back to the same vessel you lost. Insurance companies are in business to make money, if they didn't then they wouldn't be there to pay a claim at all. I'm not offended by any of your comments on my post. I don't even work in the industry anymore, I just hope to throw a little of my insight out there so that you guys understand how the industry works. There are some really crappy insurance companies out there, some have a policy to refuse the first couple of claims received for an event just to weed out the ones that can't be bothered to push them hard enough to get paid. Others will go out of their way when they can to make things right for their customers. As for the floods, they are a tragic situation for anyone to be in, but there is likely to be billions of dollars in damage to clean up. When your talking about these kinds of freak events and those amounts of money it's enough to drive the whole insurance industry into bankruptcy if they jump in an admit total liability. The industry average profit made by insurance companies is around 10-12% of total income. If you don't have the money in the bank to pay these claims you can take on enough debt that you drown to pay them or go bankrupt. That isn't in the interest of their customers, the public, or their shareholders. Expecting a small group of companies to foot the bill is unrealistic. It's a cost that must be born by the whole community via insurance, donations, volunteering, government help, and corporate assistance. I'm just proud to be an Aussie when I see all these things coming together to help a community that has been shattered by an event such as this.

I don't imagine it would be. It's not going produce enough thrust to be affected by being off centre. It's really only there to gently push you around not provide main power where trim is important. My mate has one on his tinny mounted on a plate around the same position as your second pic and his functions fine. Same mate has been pushing me to get one and stern mount it off one side, I just don't have a use for it at this stage to make it worth the investment.

I just put 2 x 1 metre strips of flexible LED's under the gunwales and they're great. The LED's aren't as large as yours and they're in the cool white colour so they're not as bright or harsh. I don't think they'll need a dimmer. I stuck mine high up under the gunwales so you can't see them when your seated. Starboard side was tricky with the engine control looms in the way. I'm really happy with them at $30 each.

Thanks Gary. I'm no engineer so maybe there's an easier way to rig what I'm thinking of. The gimball hinge came to mind so it can be lifted and rotated around the reel itself and fit snugly underneath, but maybe something simpler would be better. I'll try and draw it and get it online in the next few days and we can see how we go from there. Cheers Brian

Can't guarentee the 7 day thing...we are talking about an insurance company here! The only thing they do quick is cash cheques! You would imagine that each year you accumulate more experience driving a boat or car your risk would go down, but this could be offset by complacency. Just read my other post about my last trip out in the boating section and read some of the replies Also, I saw a couple of guys from a boat dealership, can't remember which one, sink a very expensive and brand new looking boat by forgetting to put the bungs in so experience doesn't always count for much The other thing to remember about the sum insured is they compare it to other policies. So if your boat is insured for say $5K more than the other policies similiar to yours you'll pay a higher premium. If they wanted to be REALLY nasty at claim time, they could charge you the premium then argue the sum insured is not indiciative of the condition of the vessel and pay you less. They use the "disclosure" clause for stuff like that - it basically says you have to inform them of any changes, and this could include the value of the boat. The other factor is the age of the boat. Theoretically over the years better technology is available to increase safety, so a newer boat is a better risk than an old one. Maintenance and deteriation are also age based factors. I told you it was scarily complicated! PS to insurance companies we are all donkeys!! hehe

As I've mentioned (a lot) I just bought my first boat and being a lazy git the idea of pulling all my gear off it all the time makes me tired just thinking it... I have an idea for a pair of multi-rodholders that will lock to prevent low life scum from stealing my rods. Unfortunately I'm a terrible artist and even worse with tools (especially those that are powered!) so I hope my description can be understood. The picture: The back would be a flat piece of metal, with a gimballed type mount on the top for a bar that would lock (with a padlock or some other mechanism) to the bottom end of the plate. On the side of the plate would be a number (I see 3 or 4) metal tubes, 10-15cm long and large enough diameter to take a rod comfortably, extending 90 degrees from the plate and welded to it. The idea is that you insert the rod butt into the tube with the reel attached until the neck of the reel is flush with the end of the tube, then swing the locking bar down until it is flush with the other side of the reel neck and lock back to the plate. It would "sandwich" the reel seat and neck so the rod can't be pulled out of the tube and the reel can't be taken off the rod (the reel seat collar screwy thing would be insde the tube). The back plate would be attached to the ribbing of my boat via a big ass rivet (or maybe a better way if someone knows one). I know its not going to stop a really determined theif but it will stop those opportunists in their tracks! Any ideas on how hard this would be to make or what it might cost? I read through the tuna tube post and was pretty impressed with the result, maybe this is something that could be done in a similiar way if others see a need for them. I trolled the net for days looking for a solution but couldn't find one. If someone knows of a product thats reasonably priced to do the job I'd love to hear about it.

Funny you mention green plastics. I got a 41cm flattie on the Hawkesbury with a bright red and green paddle tail. Only legal fish I caught all day and he smashed it hard.

Up until recently I worked for one of the bigger insurers in Australia and the questions you are asking are pretty common. It's probably best answered with a brief description of how premiums are calculated so you can understand why they fluctuate. I like to use a horse racing analogy, although it was never popular with my bosses Basically, when an insurance company quotes a premium they are putting a dollar value on the chance you'll make a claim compared to other policy holders and how much that claim is likely to be. Like a bookmaker, they have to make a profit across the whole spread of risk for the particular policy type. Bookmakers look at things like previous performance, track condition, who they're racing against, the weather, and lots of other factors. Insurance companies are the same, they balance your claim history against the value of the policy (how much they pay if you sink it), the average claim amount for the policy type, any forecast weather events (like the floods, cyclones, storms etc) and a bunch of other stuff, and using pretty scary looking formulas they come up with a percentage chance you'll lodge a claim and how much it will cost, add a profit margin and that becomes your premium. Like a bookmaker they make attractive offers to those in low risk categories. Bookmakers offer better odds if a horse is less likely to win to encourage betting, insurance companies offer lower premiums to good risks. In both case no claim = all profit and this offsets the higher risk customers who may make a claim. In the industry this is called "spread of risk". The important thing to remember is your claim history accounts for a very very very small part of the risk. The fact you didn't make a claim last year has no mathematical impact on your chance of making one this year, just like flipping a coin and it landing heads has no impact on the next flip. Calculating insurance premiums is just a very advanced form of probability theory. The yearly fluctuations in premium are more likely the result of lower claim incidents overall, better weather predictions, or reductions in the cost of repairs for the type of boat you own. Even changes in maritime law can have an impact, for example the new lifejacket laws reduce the chances of a loss of life and hence reduce the chance they'll make a public liability payout. While I'm not a broker and don't want to give you specific advice, I think your idea of trying some brokers for whole packages is going to give you the best deal. This isn't always the case but if you have a lot of insurable assets you'll often get a better deal by marketing them all together than you will with individual policies. The reason this works is because overall the portfolio is more attractive, they make money on your low risk assets and can balance that against the higher risk policies like your car. Hope my long winded reply helps!

I told ya it was funny! By the time I found the problem I really wasn't going to hang around the ramp and put the boat back in!! haha

That's interesting. I believe there was a court case several years ago about region locking DVD players and the result was that manufacturers had to allow the ability for them to be unlocked as it was anti-competitive. The reality is we're a small market in Australia compared to other regions (America, Europe, and Asia) so our prices are higher to allow for the over heads of warranties and servicing. Manufacturers hate these "grey" imports because they can't cover their regional overheads if they're being undercut by their own offices in other countries. Hence why they introduce various forms of region locking to force us to pay for them. I suppose those that are rich enough to buy a blue water touring boat aren't going to use these sounders anyway, but if your exporting a boat from one region to another it would be a pain.

Experience is the best teacher, and it's often not til you do something exceedingly dumb that you learn the value of a full boat check before launching your boat. I thought I'd start this thread so we could all share those moments, have a laugh, and maybe have a little library of things to remember and maybe save someone else the embarrassment. My story occurred yesterday afternoon. Loaded the boat up for a trip to Flint and Steel and left home for the Appletree Bay boat ramp. Launched the boat and off we went. My partner had mentioned she wasn't confident in driving the boat so I got her in the drivers seat and started chatting about how to drive it properly. She tends to over-steer a lot at low speed and I was explaining it's easier to steer when you go a bit faster. So I encourage her to nudge the throttle up a bit. After a few minutes we're on the plane and the engine is humming along at 5000rpm and she's starting to get comfortable with it. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP goes the engine temperature alarm. I tell her to pull the throttle back steadily to neutral and I go back to check the engine. After a minute at idle the temp alarm stops. It's pumping water at high revs so I'm thinking the temperature sensor is cactus. Just to be safe I idle it back to the boat ramp and tie it up. I check fuses, engine oil, everything I can think of but it all seems fine. I was spewing, the whole rig is only 4 weeks old and it's already got a problem!! The actual problem didn't become apparent til I put it back on the trailer. Hauled it out of the water and was strapping it down for the trip home then back to the boat shop when I noticed something attached to the outboard leg. The lesson here is - when you clean your boat and flush the engine, take the flushing muffs off! Apparently at speed they will stick to the leg and not fall off (saves buying more I guess) but the hole for the hose won't allow enough flow at high revs and seals the other water intake. Lesson learnt! I'm typing up a check list now that will be laminated and used everytime I put the boat in the water and take it out!

Here's my Brooker 475 Freedom with 60hp Yamaha 4 stroke... I'm a happy boater! Say hi if you see me on the water! PS. the punching bag isn't actually on the boat. PPS. If you see me at the ramp, give me room I'm still learning to reverse the trailer!

I was gunna say... looks like that boat wasn't designed to be trailered at all... not without a trailer made for solid keels anyway!

My sounder was giving me 26+ in the mouth of Cowan Creek last weekend. Granted not as much current through there but still seemed warm.

I'd be pretty keen to get onto a jew too. Have the boat, might be a little squashy with 3 but we should be OK. I'm a bit busy this next week but next weekend should be OK.

I spotted one in Cowan Creek just before sunset last weekend as well. I'd never seen one around that area before.

I just had another thought. If I take it to a weigh bridge and it is over, are they required to report it? Is there any chance my trailer could get defected and forced off the road immediately?

No problem Huey. I'd much rather be aware of a problem and find out than realise it when the trailer hitch barrels through the back window or drags the car down an embankment. Always good to hear advise from professionals without a vested interest. Thanks for all the advise you offer and the time you spend answering enquiries, I'm sure everyone appreciates them!

Good thought Huey. I took the dealers word for it that it was legal. How do i check it? Use a heavy vehicle weigh station or are there businesses out there that can weigh them? Towing it with the Verada has been pretty smooth and haven't felt like it was pulling a ton of weight. Up Mt Oxley coming back from the south coast was the only spot the car really laboured to pull it. The hull weight is 340kg, the motor is 110kg, not sure of the trailer weight itself. It holds 50 litres of fuel so there's another 50 odd kg's. So I guess with a bit of gear in it the boat & motor would be around 520kgs. Based on that I guess it is possible that its over the 749kg's for an unbraked package. The next question is, if it is over and a "reasonable person" would expect it to be, do I have a case to have the dealer replace it with a braked trailer at their expense?

Will do guys! Weekends are filling up fast Good news is my other half is keen to come along and get into some fish!

Hi everyone, In response to my post asking for some help on Botany Bay, SQUIDN (Moe) and I organised a trip for saturday. Picked him up at 6am after getting lost trying to find his house (must get a GPS for the car!) and we were on the water around 6:30. Headed straight out to the bay from the Como boat ramp with the intent of starting at Mol Pt. We saw some surface action and out of his magic fishing bag (which seemed to contain an endless variety of fishing gear) Moe rigs up a couple of lures and we start trolling around the boils that kept popping up everywhere. A few mins later my reel starts its muted scream and I land my first eve Bonito! Not long after Moe lands a second. The next pass see's me land barely legal tailor that manages to hook itself with all 3 points on the treble. First time I've ever seen a hook up THAT good A few boats start showing up so Moe switches to a metal jig and starts sight casting at the boil. I look around the bottom of my boat, pick up my graphite SP rod, slap a 4" pillie pattern squidgie on it and follow his example. A few casts later I get smashed, apply a bit of pressure and watch my line start zipping around the boat. This is around the point I discover that 6lb braid with no leader isn't a match for sharp teeth. Live and learn!! Fish are moving around a lot and I'm keen to take a crack at a Kingie so we head towards the runways. We get to the yellow markers and Moe says "This isn't Mol Pt?". "I'm new to the Bay and I know that." I reply. A few laughs later we change course and go to the right spot. Find a good spot in the parking lot and drop down some Squid slabs Moe caught previously. Watch the boats on each side hooking into some rat kings as our rods remain depressingly still. Used the time to chat about fishing, top up on fluids and raid our lunches then we headed Watsons Reef for a drift. Stopped around the 8m mark and some how the drift stayed at that depth pushed along by a light easterly breeze. My 3" nuclear chicken grub was merrily bouncing along the bottom and after we both dropped a couple striking late I'm on! A nice plate sized 40cm flattie comes over the side. Moe was true to his word since I'd told him if I couldn't get a Kingie a nice flattie for dinner would make me happy! A few minutes later, Moe pulls in a lovely 50cm flathead. Guess he has to maintain his reputation if he's being a guide I finish the drift with a 30cm bream. We try the drift in a little closer but come up empty. The wind starts to pick up so I suggest we try the river for a bit. We head back under the bridges towards Como and find a nice long shallow bank so the SP's go in again. More drinks and food, a few tentative touches later I bring an under-sized flattie on board that gets released. By now I'm aware that with my phone out of batteries my will be wondering when I'm coming back so we head back to the ramp. A big thanks to Moe for showing me a few spots around the Bay and sharing his fishing tips. I had a great day but in all the excitement only took one pic!

Nice work Arty! Wonder if the eating cutlery counts for FOTM

I paid just over $27K for the lot. I'm pretty happy with the ride, it slaps a bit on short chop and the deadrise at the shoulder is a bit shallow I think since it doesn't "cut" waves too great at speed, but it does give it a lot of stability at rest. Maybe its just my "newbness" and I need to find the right tilt angle for a better ride. Speed wise I clocked it at just over 55kph on the GPS on smooth water flatstick. Can't imagine needing it to go any faster than that, and the fuel economy is great. 3 days of running up and down St Georges Basin and Nelsons Bay cost me $25. Wish the car was as miserly towing it!! The 4 stroke Yammie is so quiet I have to check the water stream to check its running at idle. Makes more noise at 5500rpm but not ear shattering by any means. Beats a 2 stroke for sure! Only thing I've noticed that seems a bit strange is the height of the floor. Seems the interior freeboard is much less than the external at rest. It's a long lean to reach the water over the side.