Ojay Samson

Hahaha! Top stuff Fab, informative & hilarious

Something that would also be good to implement are for those with boats who don't have a 'head', public toilet locations that are accessible by boat Ie a place to Moore up (preferably free) or beach and walking distance to a toilet. Not sure if there is a feature like this already as I only just got a fish finder with gps and would love to have something like this when I'm out and about. Cheers OJ

Thats awesome Fab, might try replicating this in the future, good work!

Awesome, Good vid to!

Great read! I definitely want to hear her version of events now haha

You said it fab1, cheers Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Hey all, just here to report that everything turned out fine, the washdown pump has officially turned on in at least 3 1/2 years of dormancy. I pretty much followed the diagram Jim drew ( with the added circuit of a negative wire feed going to the negative buss bar from the switch - I assume to complete the circuit to turn on the switches light bulb when on) and replaced all the wiring while at it (except for the small section from fuse holder to switch). Thanks for all the advice raiders. Cheers Ojay Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Hey Jim, thanks for your advice. great pic by the way (nice and easy to read, for the simple folk like myself to understand ) , genuinely appreciate it in clearing up my confusion. Judging by your picture and talking with one of the guys at jaycar about my problem today (picked up some more terminals/heatshrink/junction boxes for the boat etc), it does indeed seem I have been overthinking this and the negative lead from the pump goes straight to the negative post for the battery (and NOT back to the switch somehow). the negative bullet connector in my original picture was just there to complete the circuit to turn on and off the little light for the switch when the switch was turned on (but does not serve as the negative return for the wash-down pump). Thank you for your offer of coming around to help, I will give it a crack tomorrow (as I've run out of time & light today + the weather is being to weird for my liking especially while having soldering equipment and heat gun out if the heavens decide to open up again out of nowhere for a 3 minute torrential downpour lol). If I still don't manage to make it work, I might take you up on that offer to give it the once over if there was anything I am missing etc. Thank You for the kind offer Geoff, I appreciate it immensely. Cheers, and I will let you know if I can't figure it out and Jim's unavailable. I understand the confusion, I confused myself just trying to explain it & yeah its one of those things where it's easier to understand when you see it yourself etc lol. Thanks for the advice Fab1, yeah you're certainly not wrong there about the fellas offering to lend a hand, I can't help but feel warm and fuzzy on the inside about it as as you said since it's not that common anymore, and I truly do appreciate the offers. As to the wires and such, I am rewiring the whole boat actually with marine grade tinned wire (got rid of the original wiring the factory did as it was not tinned, and old mate butchered it with his 5pm beer o clock ethos to doing wiring on the boat, eg only the main positive wire from the battery was tinned, everything else including the negative was standard copper) and with all the connections I either solder wires together directly using the linesmans splice/western union splice then flux and solder, then heat shrink on each individual wire connection then a larger outer heat shrink to bind the 2 wires together for more protection (using twin core only), and sometimes going a bit further with those wires that will be more prone to seeing water with adding an extra layer of security by painting a nice thick coating of liquid electrical tape on both sides of the heat shrink once its been shrunk, and left to dry ... then placed in conduit lol)... With things that do need crimp connections of some sort, like terminals for buss bars etc I crimp then solder with flux to make sure there is a good connection at all terminals, then cover with heat shrink accordingly making the connection terminals 'Insulated' (the premade insulated terminals are not good because it doesn't allow me to solder the wire and the terminal together as the plastic will melt while trying to heat up the little gap for the sodler to go in. Here is a picture of what old mate who owned the boat before did when adding new things with the wiring: (just cut into original wiring whenever needed and then soldered then wrapped with some electrical tape...) Anyways, thanks for the advice all and I'll update this thread accordingly Sincerely Ojay

Hi All, I was wondering if any of you could help me out with a bit of wiring. I'm completely new to washdown pumps and was wondering if anyone had the same or similar unit as me, the unit i have is a johnson 5.2 and the original owner installed it but said to me when buying the boat that the washdown pump always gave him trouble. now from what i saw with the install it is no wonder it never really worked for him in that when i took delivery of the boat, the switch panel had a 7.5amp fuse in it (found a few more rusty ones in the center console) and according to the pumps sticker, it takes 20 amp fuses. Secondly, old mate installed the inlet hose where the outlet hose should have been and vice versa . unfortunately for me the pump didn't come with the original instruction manual and i have tried to look online for my specific one manual with the switch panel integrated unit but none exist, i may be overthinking it but i just don't trust anything old mate has done with the pumps wiring... can anyone with the same unit tell me what i am supposed to do with the wiring, and confirm if the wires are plugged into the right male connectors according to the picture. in the red circle is the connection where the positive wire from the pump was connected to. Am i right in assuming that the blue and red bullet connectors are just the circuit to complete the light lighting up on the switch panel (when turned on) because i dont see any port for the negative side of the wire coming from the pump to go anywhere into the switch. highlighted in yellow box is a slot for a male connector to go into and am not sure if there is meant to be anything in there for the negative wire for the pump. The only thing i can think of in completing the circuit is to attach the negative wire coming from the pump directly to the negative terminal post... the switch seems to work as it lit up when i connected a 9v battery to the red and blue bullet connectors to test and placed a proper 20amp fuse in the holder. sorry if anyone is confused, i just confused myself i think, so if anyone has this same pump copuld they please do me a solid and take a picture of the rear of the switch panel so i can see if the wiring is correct to begin with and to see if anythings missing, and also if you guys/gals connect the negative from the pump directly to the negative post or if it goes back into the switch somehow. This is what my switch looks like This is the unit i have Any help appreciated, cheers raiders.

I Don't have an electric motor but your initial suggestion of a strap should work, just try and find an occy /bungee strap long enough to cater to the beam length, go around the tiller handle once and hook off on the other side of hull... If that doesn't give enough tension, try a tighter fitting occy strap... Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Sorry to revive an old thread but i am having the same problem and would like to know if these 'platinum' cables are still the same ones today or is there a new version of platinum cables. when typing mercury platinum cables online, can only find 'CC189 MERCURY/MERCRUISER GEN II cables'. Are these the new version of platinum cables? I pretty much the exact same problem as OP and dont want to buy a new set of cables which wont end up fixing anything. im running a 2003 mercury 60 HP elpto bigfoot on a 4.5m centre console tinny.

Hi Dogbox, I did as you suggested and found no fault through the seals. when unscrewing it though i did find the top seal had 'jumped' out of where it is supposed to be seated. I am hoping that was the reason for the leak. attached is a photo of how i found the seal when i was taking the filter off... now i am not sure if that happened while taking it off or if it was like that during instal (i am hoping it jumped out during install hence the leaking and thus problem solved). i gave the filter and its O-rings a clean and reinstalled it, this time paying very close attention to the top seal when screwing on (never cross threaded- threads waay to big for crossthreading to be possible i think). it screwed in like normal so here's hoping that the problem is solved. Before reassembling i inspected the base plate for any imperfections/cuts in seals etc everything looked fine. I did however screw everything down with a bit more force than before (all by hand still). i primed the engine again, thus filling the filter and ran the engine for a few minutes on the water muffs, everything went like normal. before attaching the filter to the mounting plate i gave it a good wipe down to get rid of any residue from the leaks before and marked the top lip of the filter with a permanent marker to help identify if new leaks would happen after inspection. After the engine was run on the earmuffs i inspected again and there were no new signs of leakage so i am hopeful the problem was solved. next step is to take her out for a proper blast at WOT and see if any leaks spring up again. Pics: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/86ie63cjtikr882/AAC3is2BmvBBW1hRst2Wl_h6a?dl=0 Thanks for the advice raiders

Yep, put a dab of 3 in 1 oil on both the rubber seal at the top and the O ring in the water bowl and coated with finger to make sure all of it had lube. I might take it apart and redo it tomorrow before I see what I can do for return. Maybe the rubber gromet at the top part shifted when screwing on. Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Hi all, so I seem to be having a problem with my water separating fuel filter. This was one of the first projects i did to my boat a few weeks ago and i noticed that when i installed it, fuel would leak from the top part of the filter where it screws into the mounting hardware. I want to know if this is common or if i got a dud. i could tell it was fuel because the writing on the side of the filter would be eaten away, however, the residue on the side of the filter and drops appearing on the transom closest to the filter is like a runny jelly type viscosity, it also doesn't smell like fuel. What sort of witchcraft is happening? I followed the instructional videos online from Dangar Marine on installing one to the tee and so far it was good, im just a bit concerned if i got a dud filter and need to return it to BCF or if this is a common thing? should i empty the filter and give it a good clean and reassemble it again and see if anything leaks out a second time or should i just get a replacement?... also does anyone know how returning a used fuel filter works? it has literally been used for like 1 hour and the fact that i noticed on day 2 (test run on ear muffs on day 1) it seemed like fuel was already leaking from the top due to the blue writing eaten away from 1 droplet of fuel running down the length i have tightened them by hand to where i beleive it felt snug enough that it wont fall off but i am second guessing myself now if i did something wrong or if i got a dud/wrong filter. Filter and fittings were put on with all the right gear (permatex thread sealant/ SS hose clamps new fuel lines etcetc). NB the initial fuel that went through the system was of an unknown age as this fuel was what came with the boat when i bought it. Does old fuel turn to jelly??? fuel filter is an Easterner C14573P What would people recommend be my initial action to this? Any feedback welcomed. pictures of filter here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3xjdnknax0bn0hf/AADy9IJKmCmWEk95xy7upT_Ha?dl=0

Not angry friend, in fact I want to thank you for your advice of waving more slowly in the event that something like that ever happens again, as to not confuse people like you that I am not having a good old time and do indeed need assistance. Still perplexed why they call it "common sense" or "common courtesy" when indeed its a scarce thing it seems. Thanks for your feedback mate, it's opened my eyes to the egotistic elitist nature of some on the water. I abide by the same mindset of those like fab1 and 4myson, unfortunately I don't have the same pedigree of family boating pedigree as you, so I keep things simple, I see 2 people waving frantically on the water directly at me, I'll motor on over a make sure everything's ok, I don't mind false alarms, better to be sure on the water. Cheers friend for your best wishes, sincerely best wishes to you to Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

You perceive yourself to have a 'by the book' attitude yet you state that all boats should have " V Sheet, Flares, Radio even a hand held VHF". Since I was in parramatta river and thus enclosed waters i never needed any of those at the time, according to the boat user manual none of those are required for where i was, therefore you're statement holds no true value other than your own "by the book" opinion. Thought processes like that are dangerous in my opinion, just like '4myson' example... common sense and courtesy is not so common it seems. "oh look they're not doing the wave properly... lets move on". Its interesting the story 4myson told as it turns out that is exactly how my godmothers husband passed away many years ago. He was out fishing with his son (6 at the time) and he had a heart attack on the water, no one was around where they were so it was up to my close family friend (6 at the time, i was like 1 or 2 or something) to try take the boat back to port & help. Just out of curiosity, were you one of the boat that drove right past us real slow and even glared at us and just trying to justify your actions on the day to yourself? I am not trying to dodge any blame, merely stating my view on the state of the boaters mindsets in sydney harbour on that day. Have a good day mate, and thats just my opinion to. For those of you who did enjoy the post, thanks for your attention. I have taken all constructive criticism on board and am in the process of getting a 3rd fuel tank as opposed to a jerry can as fuel line piping is there for a 3rd tank, i just don't have a 3rd tank at the moment. Thanks Jim, yep always learning. Yep i only ever launch on the side closest to the pontoon, because i only ever walk the boat to the wharf. I am not a fan of power loading either as 1st that is illegal hence i like to stick to the side closest to wharf, and 2nd if any of you have tried to launch at woolwich boat ramp on a low tide, you will understand my disdain to those I see power loading. furthermore i have witnessed 1 boater bottom out when launching at the east side closest to all the rock rubble at rhodes ramp... it was painful to watch & hear. learn from others as they say. Thanks for the advice, the video was cut short very early as it was just 2 of us. in the end we ended up dunking the boat to where the mud guards tops were just above the water line. we also tried the reverse then stop suddenly twice, that didn't work either, maybe i was being a bit to gingerly about it. the problem with the trailer is the wheels on them are properly long distance 4wd type tyres and as such raise the trailer a lot,as the previous owner used to tow the rig up to the NT to fish with the saltwater crocs (hence the permanently impregnated red outback dirt all over the trailer). my mate has a spare set of smaller wheels from his old trailer with the same stud pattern and we will chuck those on my trailer to see if that makes any difference in launching, also the trailer is incredibly over sprung as it has 9 leaf springs on each side (remnants from the previous owner lugging all his gear around up north while fishing) so we might take out every 2nd spring or something. the wood chocks are a great idea, i might make some up for next time when my paranoia kicks in and have the boat fully loaded for a days fish. the wood on the foot brake/hand brake and wood chocks... sounds overkill to some but i've read to many stories now of people witnessing peoples hand brakes let go/Park gear let go and the whole thing rolls backwards into the water (there wa a recent post with an unlucky guys subaru outback rolling into the drink due to slippery ramp). Thanks Jeff, well you know what my boat and I look like so if you see me on the water don't be afraid to say Hi lol. It's always good to recognise 'regulars' when on the water lol.

Hi all, so i bought a new boat last month to upgrade from my 1st boat being a 3.7m clark tinny with 6hp johnson (some of you might recognize my past posts with it): To this: 2003 BMT package Formosa 4.5m with a 60HP Mercury Bigfoot So i have had the new boat for exactly 1 month on the day after buying and bringing it back to sydney from dubbo yesterday. I have been working on it (and still am) to do it up to my satisfaction, but it is more than ready to use on the water. So rather unplanned i get a phone call from my mate yesterday morning who wanted to take it out for a water test... i agreed and a plan was set. A lot of doubt was cleared up for me yesterday putting my mind at ease. I wasn't sure if my little 26 year old (owned from new) toyota corolla seca CS-X twin cam would be able to pull my new boat from out of the ramp. I had my friends work van there as backup just in case it couldn't make it up on its own. Fortunately she pulled up the new boat with no dramas at all, no wheelspin or anything, and on a low tide to so the ramp was very slippery. Vid of the launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isb5baLoD0U The plan was to just test drive it around my place, but sure enough we got carried away with WOT and ended up in front of pyrmont instead... the boat handled brilliantly and my mate couldn't stop praising it enough about how surprised he was as to how it handled other boats waves and chop (he owns a haines hunter 635L and several quintrexes and brookers over the years, as well as being on many other aluminium boats and now rates the formosa as the top for comfort on all the ones hes been on or owned. hes not one to blow wind up peoples sails either as he has a typical brand/type snobbery to mercury but couldn't fault my one either), i digress. So we ended up at pyrmont which was not the plan at all. got the boat up to 53km/h WOT with the bimini up. Does that sound like a normal top speed for a very heavy 4.5m aluminium boat (compared to the other 4.5m boats i've test pushed while shopping for a new boat this thing weighs a LOT more, very hard to man handle compared other boats like 4.5m savage osprey with 70hp yamaha/ 445 brooker R/A with 40hp etcetc) with a 60hp bigfoot gearbox? i honestly dont know what i should be expecting as i am coming from a 6hp johnson. Anyways this is where the afternoon gets interesting, as the previous plan was to putt around rhodes, we thought we had plenty of fuel in the tank (only 1X25L tank that was about 1/2 full, the other tank was completely empty), sure enough after getting carried away with the majority of it at WOT all the way to darling harbour, i was driving and the engine started losing power.... which then eventually died. Checked the fuel tank and sure enough the tank was empty. Threw the anchor out and assessed what to do now ... we had died about 120m from cabarita park in front of the beach. Disappointingly, no one came over to help us or even see what we were waving about, with 1 of those older type flybridge cruisers driving right past us while both of us were waving our hands in the 'international distress signal' type of waving our arms in the air frantically (definitely couldn't be mistaken for a friendly boating wave), this same story happened to 2 other trailer boats in the 5m+ range with the occupants merely staring at us the entire time they were driving past while we were waving our arms. disappointed to be honest the type of attitude people boating in sydney harbour/parra river have... its like the wild west, you're on your own. im glad in the 3 years prior to owning my tinny i never needed help because it seems i wouldve never got it apart form actually calling legitimate rescue services. this is quite the contrast when i remember my mate and I towing a group who's boat had died in the middle of botany bay at night and it took us about an hour to get to the ramp, i thought it was just what you did...if you see someone who needs help you at the very least go up to them to make sure there's no life threatening issues happening, in any case, i digress again. We both got on our phones to try find anyone who could help us, i could see the fuel bowsers at the marina next to us so made a phone call to them and sure enough those bowsers were diesel only, so there goes that idea. eventually my mate found a friend who was free and could help us, so we bobbed around for a little bit as he was coming from punchbowl. we then started the arduous task of paddling the boat to the beach for the rendezvous. sure enough we got to shore in the end and took 1 fuel tank out of the boat and my mate went off to get fuel while I stayed with the boat. They came back in about half an hour, hooked up the fresh fuel and we were on our way again for the final stretch to home. we putted around my area some more until we finally decided to pull up and retrieve the boat. learnt a lot that day on things i want to fix here and there (like changing the skids to wobble rollers to see if launch and retrieve would be any easier, and to make sure to bring extra fuel, now i know this new boat drinks like a sailor). But in the end, we were both glad to know that the boat worked... just not without fuel. might make a boat 'build' post when everything is done and dusted and I have done the majority of what i wanted to do. Sorry for the long post, hope at the very least it was mildly enjoyable reading/viewing. Here is a link to some pics and vids of the day (1st time im trying this so not sure if it'll work). https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5dapwgm7ad7duqk/AADkmJqs3Ecb--Y27Db9XjC8a?dl=0 Cheers raiders

Hi Jeff, so the inspection went ok, however doing a water test at the time was not an option due to the debris in the water and filth on the surface. I ended up buying the boat and actually been working on it on and off just replacing things like the entire fuel system and adding things like a water fuel separating filter. i might make a post at the end of it all as i have been documenting on and off what ive been doing. i still need need to redo the wiring and install other bits and pieces/ investigate the harder than usual gear changing from control box/ general outboard service including water impeller etcetc.

Well that changes things lol, I guess I was told some porky pies then based on the 2011-2012 dates. Thanks. Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Hi all, I'm in the process of rewiring my new (used) boat and want to install a dual battery set up on it. It currently has a 4wd dual battery system in it but would like to give it the axe as I don't trust it. It currently has a ABR - SIDEWINDER unit in it with the remote monitoring station (lcd does not work anymore for voltage readout but switches still work). The previous owner said 1 battery was about a year old and the other one ass about 5 and I want to know which one was the newer and more reliable battery. Here is the picture of the 2 batteries manufacturing melted stamps on the lids... I don't know how to read them. One is a century and the other is a supercharge

Wow, excellent result. Great work Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Lol good effort & entertaining read. Thankfully these mistakes didn't end up as hard learnt expensive ones. Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Thanks Jeff, yeah I'm pretty convinced that I will insist on the water test. Just to much to gamble otherwise, he's an old timer so I'm sure he just couldn't be bothered to tow/ launch etc so will just need to enlighten him that he doesn't need to do anything, we will even tow it to the ramp etc, he just needs to come along if trust is an issue. Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Awesome, thanks for the input about the engine. Does anyone have any experience with the hull? Or centre consoles in general in this size? I plant to take it out past the heads to visit the local reefs on good days. I was pretty set on getting a front steer runabout style but after trying an old top ender 435 side console with after market pod and realising the amazing fishing space, these sort of boats definitely became contenders (sc/cc). Would anyone know if the ride would be unbearable in a 4.5m tinny with a 60hp big foot pushing it along? Ploughing though the water as opposed planing on top. I unfortunately can't take it out for a water test because the water around Dubbo is flooded apparently and too much logs etc floating around and the owner doesn't want to hit stuff (old retired couple that is selling to travel around oz in their caravan) . That and apparently u can't go over 8 knots anyways so can't really test it out until I'm back in Sydney. Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Thanks for the info Jeff, genuinely appreciate it. Makes me feel less nervous about mercury. Also thanks so much for the pps as I was about to set off to hunt for the boat you mentioned to see if it was better value (saves me having to travel 5 hours to go see it). I think in that case with all things considered I am still better off with the formosa. Cheers Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk