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Acid Cleaner, might be hard to get a hold of. You can get it from bulk detailing suppliers for about $25 - 5 litre concentrate. You have to be very very careful with it though, and dont get it on anything other then fibreglass, it will remove all stains and rust spots with barely any rubbing, thats what a lot of boat detailers use.

I always use 95, if its not available ill use 98. Put it this way at the cheaper end of the week for fuel your E10 is costing you say $1.16/L - 40L totals $46.40, and Premium 95 is $1.26/L so 40L totals $50.40. Your only saving $4 by using the E10 and it will no doubt probably burn quicker then premium anyway.

I dont understand why they would tell you to remove the bearing buddy caps when launching and retrieving if the wheels go in the water, wouldnt it make more sense to leave them on to stop water getting in, then when you pull it out of the water take them off incase any water did get in there and it can drain out? Rather then taking them off so they do get wet.

Hi All, Was planning on having a flick around Berowra this Sunday 14th with some mates, however i just found out the Hawkesbury Classic fishing comp is on, does anyone know if this part of the river is going to be packed (more so the boat ramp at berowra?) I dont want to rock up late in the morning and find theres already a hundred boat trailers parked at the ramp for the fishing comp.

Hey Mate, I just finished respraying my outboard, i did it over 4 days spending about 2-3 hrs each day on it - This included sanding (smoothing out the chips in the paint and rubbing back alot of the corossion as alot of the paint had flaked and it was bare metal) then applying Etch Primer, applying Primer, Sanding Primer, applying Colour Coat, Applying Clear Coat. I sprayed mine in Acrylic and applied a Clear Coat over the top so it wont fade off and the salt water wont affect it, only because Acrylic is easier to spray and i didnt want to spray 2pac in the garage. The only thing i regret is rushing it, i was so keen and excited to do it i should have taken my time but only because im fussy, other people have looked at it and said it turned out great however i was only 90% satisfied as i rushed the colour coat and probably could have done a better job but at the end of the day its only a fishing boat not a cruiser and it looks better then it did. I was using a 2.5HP 40Litre compressor and it was constantly running whilst only spraying an outboard so you will want one thats a decent size. Materials cost me about $190 for 1LTR Etch Primer - $20, 1LTR Primer - $20, 1LTR Colour (Metallic/Pearl) - $70, 1LTR Clear - $20, 4 Litre Multi Purpose Thinners - $27, 4 Litre Acrylic Thinners - $27. I dont know if id ever take the task of spraying the whole boat as the motor alone was a big enough job for me but it would probably be easier to spray a boat then an outboard as there is so many hard to reach places with the spray gun on an outboard it made it a pain to spray while it was on the boat, you will want a decent amount of room to work thats enclosed also. If its bare aliminium you will need to apply etch primer, its probably the easiest to apply and you dont need to sand after applying it, just apply your primer straight over the top so its also good practice cause you get to spray the Etch and Primer before actually spraying the colour that will be seen. Here's a guide that i went by: Acrylic: http://www.vgautopaints.com.au/acrlicrespray.htm 2Pac: http://www.vgautopaints.com.au/2packrespray.htm I wouldnt bother with going to a boat place for the paint your better off going to an automotive paint supplier and they will give you good advice on what to do and how to spray it and you can get any custom colour made up that you want. If you need any tips let me know. Heres some pics:

Hi, I have an early 90's model evinrude (navy blue) and the paint has flaked off the casing, the leg and cowling is fine. But im going to sand back the casing and i was wondering where i can get the paint? I dont want to do a dodgy spray can job i want to paint it properly. The paint supplier joint near me does colour matching but everytime i have been in there for other stuff they never match it they just look at it and go ok ill mix up some paint, and i know it wont be an exact match. So i was wondering is there anywhere i can buy this paint already made up from evinrude thats not in a spray can?? Cheers

Hi All, Im looking at purchasing either the Lowrance Mark-5X Pro or Humminbird 718X, they are both around the same price so i was wondering if anyone has either of these 2 and what there like? The Lowrance has a higher resolution i think but the humminbird has GPS capatability (which i probably wont use anyway), from what i have seen the Humminbird seems to have better features when looking at the description but i have heard good things about the Lowrance Mark-5X Pro. Im not fishing in deep waters, just the hawkesbury, botany etc.. Any reviews would be greatly appreciated, hopefully one of these will help me catch fish. Thanks.

Thanks mate, the boats only worth $6000 so i wasnt going to bother if the comprehensive was too much more. I'll give them a call on Tuesday to confirm the quote. Thanks.

I was wondering who everyone is using for boat insurance? I am only after Third Party - i rang Sunway and they told me $174/year with a $500 excess, and i did a quote on Club Marine's website and it came back $294/year and a $500 excess. I then did a comprehensive quote with them and the yearly fee of $294 was the same but only a $100 excess. How could the excess be less for comprehensive. Im guessing something was wrong with the quote. And i was told Club Marine is the best to go with but so far they have been the most expensive.

Under 25 rule with insurance doesnt apply for boats, they dont even ask for your personal details when getting a quote, they only ask the Boat Make/Model, Size, Engine Type/Size and location. Thats it.

Just heard on the radio there was a second incident, a 29yo guy died at bondi rock fishing last night.

Nice find, i think someone posted it on here in another thread, along with this page which is also pretty useful: http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDN60901/IDN60901.94767.shtml

Spear fishing is part of the SAS training? Hahaha. I have a brother inlaw high up in the SASR, ill ask him about it. Im pretty sure the SAS would have a black wetsuits not military looking ones. Probably just a bunch of tools wishing they were SAS.

Being a detailer i have the joy of detailing cars and boats day in day out.. (ok maybe its not a joy all the time).. I find the best thing for cleaning boats is just your garden hose, why? Because a high pressure washer is Low Volume Water and High Pressure, great for blasting but not so great if your wanting to hose all the salt water off with plenty of fresh water, you need high volume water to wash it all down, the lack of water means your still going to have salt in the nooks and crannies and by the time you get the high pressure washer out and hook it up you could have been half finished with the garden hose and sponge. I always used to use my pressure washer but the lack of water it puts out i was spending longer using that to wash it down properly even with a commercial pressure washer. Your boat is most likely your second or third biggest investment, take the 10-20 minutes to wash it with car wash and hose it down properly because i can tell you now simply hosing or high pressure washing dried salt water does not completely remove it, and you still have a light film on the surface. This is why so many boats end up oxidized because owners are to lazy to wash them properly and just leave them out in the harsh environment with no protection on the paint. I always take the 10-20 minutes or so to thoroughly wash my boat out after each trip and dry it, making sure i hose the trailer/hubs/axle down also. Id be happy to post tutorials on anything from general washing, polishing fibreglass/aluminum boats and general cleaning/detailing of them but thats up to the admins if they'd want to make a thread sticky with tutorials.

Nice catch on the plastics mate, those jet skiers can be annoying around there and along the beach at brighton, its like they scoot past real close on purpose.

Nice one mate, the tailor are going crazy in the bay at the moment. I was hoping for a big night at brooklyn, everything seemed perfect. But not even a bite.

Gotta be happy with that mate!

Yeah i headed off about 10.30AM, i saw a fair few other boats leaving about then too.

Headed out about 5.30am this morning with the misses, and thought id head out to Molineaux Pt before the wind picks up. After 30min we were on to a school of Tailor for atleast 2 hours drifting towards Yarra Bay then kept going back for a few more drifts, the 3 lines were constantly on the Zzzzzzzz. Fished with Hawkesbury Prawns, got bitten off about 10-12 times as they surfaced and jumped out of the water as i went to net them, by this time i decided to put wire traces on (should have done so in the first place but i was too busy juggling all the lines). After this we landed 3 around the 36-38CM mark, once they stopped biting i headed over to Bright Le Sands for some Bream but there was no bites so called it a day as the wind picked up quiet a bit.

It should be fine if you just want to paddle 50 metres out or so, i wouldnt be going to far. Sometimes when you drift you go further then you realise and it could be a very long row back especially if your going against the current/wind. Somewhere calm like berowra padding around near the boat ramp or around the moored boats would be ok and close to the shore at bright le sands or other calm beaches.

As the poster above said id wait and buy something a little bigger with a small motor, so you spend more time fishing and less time rowing, or if you want a kayak use it somewhere quiet, recently i have been to botany and even along the shore (about 50 metres out) at bright le sands it can get a bit choppy in a 15ft if the wind pics up in the bay, then you get other boats flying past close by and id hate to be in anything smaller.

I have been out there several times (in a boat) and have always seen people in canoes fishing so its pretty popular there, its calm and you wont get any wind. Only problem is sometimes the water may run fast but most the time its alright.

Keeping away from the ramps they will be too busy, will stay home and fix the flooring in my boat, re-carpet and raise the seats a little. Then i might go fishing during the week in the harbour.

Dont worry mate you learn things as you go and once you have been out a few times you get used to doing everything in order and double checking. First time i took my boat out i launched it at botany, drove all the way into georges river and stopped to refuel as i was giving it a fair bit, went to start it and i flooded it big time, i had nothing on me but screw drivers so i had to sit there for 1.5hrs waiting in the sun for the fuel to drip very slowerly out of the carbies before i could crank it over again. Now i make sure i have all the tools i need in the boat in a toolbox.

This might be of some help: http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=47703