thylacene

If you want a decent gun Repco is usually a good punt. I have a small pistol grip I use when servicing reels, and am considering another for the tilt tube nipples, as I have to remove the bait board to get to the with the larger gun. I have two full size cartridge guns, one with a flexible and the other with a rigid tube. Cartridges are so much easier than hand packing guns. If you are doing big jobs, you can get an air setup on a 10 or 20 gallon drum, as well as the chair operated cartridge variety above. When shopping for a gun, dual outlet is a good thing, either 180 or 90 degrees at you leisure. A bleed valve is handy, saves the frustration of trying to pump air through when you change cartridges. Cheap guns often have poor quality components that cause the pump to be less than effective. If infrequent use you may not care, but if it is used several times a day, it will annoy you. Like most tools, once you have used a quality item after a cheap one you won't look back.

Depending on the size of the repair, I have used the clear plastic from business shirts or similar, coat with wax and a light spray of release compound. Use masking tape across the lower edge, and the brush in the flow coat using a squeegee to "spread the flow coat under the plastic sheet. Masking tape the edges and allow to go off, minimizes the amount of sanding, leaves a smooth finish, usually have to fair the edges in. Take care to avoid air bubbles. This method is effectively applying a mould externally. Works well for stone chips, filling holes etcetera. Practice on a piece of mdf or similar until you are comfortable. Good for vertical or overhung surfaces, takes patience but the time spent will avoid even longer wet rubbing and polishing.

Yep, what Huey said. If doing it again would do it differently, but also quite happy with the current setup.

We have the Garmin 750S with the supplied transducer, and yes it is easy to operate, the touch screen is nice. It runs out of bottom around 280m, although has returned soundings from 500+ m consistently, that is we did a loop and marked fish at same depth, while slow trolling baits. Inbuilt charts are good, sufficient detail to be able work out where we want to go to drop a line. If the sounder is your primary consideration, the Lowrance may be you better option. A little less user friendly, but time and practice can sort that, and from my limited experience and understanding, a better sounder with the structure scan option. We bought the Garmin as at the time, they were the better interface to the Suzuki with NMEA, and being on a budget, save a few bucks on gauges. When dollars allow, we will supplement with a Furono 587 and a 2kw sounder, but then we spend a lot of our time offshore. As with everything boating there is always a compromise. Cheers Thy

Got out this morning 16 k's h ead on/ quarter on to a short period 1m chop, all expectations met, consider them money well spent. Can maintain plane at least two knots slower, correct wind list, and the ride into a head sea is so. Much better. Cheers Thy

Do you need expensive gear? No. Does nice gear make a difference to the fishing experience? Most certainly. After a thirty year break, decided it was time to take up fishing when the wench decided we needed a boat. With 30 year old knowledge and minimal undstanding, bought a bit of gear off online shop and off we went. Some of it suffered from corrosion very quickly, and a couple of solid hookups on kings saw anti-reverse in cheapie reels fail, one all but breaking my thumb when hooked up to a shark inadvertently. As we went through and replaced gear we made the mistake of going a bit heavy, but for our bottom bashing, bought a couple of Shimano Tekota reels in the 700 size (too big for general bottom bashing, but served dual purpose as our offshore trolling rods. The diffence was wonderful. It should be noted that we bottom bash in 60m regularly, and a nice smooth reel makes all the difference when you are winding from that depth 40 or 50 times in a session. Smooth drags made boating larger kings much easier, and have boated tuna to 25kg with them also. We came to the realisation that the new generation light gear is more than capable, we have both bought lighter outfits, I have recently acquired a Curado 300 baitcaster, on a 5-8 kg rod, weighs less than half of what my Tekota outfit, and is nowhere near as tiring to use. Hoping to throw it at the kings this weekend. We spend a fair bit of time offshore, and have a couple of thread lines, a Saragosa 18000 on a t-curve 200 jig and a Saragosa 8000 on a T-curve Bluewater spin, both of which get used to chase snapper in their spare time, just use nice long light leaders. Have reasonable success. Nice gear gets addictive, and some care in selecting the right stuff will make all the difference to your experience, but unles you are playing with the heavy weights, top of the line is not ally necessary. As stated above, there have been major advances in both rods and reels, and you can pick up a nice outfit for estuary and bottom bashing for under a couple of hundred bucks that will withstand saltwater exposure if you clean and oil it regularly, and it will likely outlast you. I have a cheaper 4500 Shimano thread line that sees regular use with guests on the boat, and it is interesting to note the comments when they switch over to one of the Saragosa reels. Nicer to use, but heavier (understandable given they are on the boat for tuna and kings). Look around, pick it up, hold it and make us that it feels good, spend what you can afford, and if budget is a constraint, then spend on the reel and live with a cheaper rod until you are ready to upgrade. Try not to buy too big, but understand what you need for your target species, and if you are heading offshore for large fish, stash some cash and buy decent gear. All I know is that i have spent more than I should, learnt a bit on the way through, and am becoming more selective with each purchase, now starting to buy gear for specific purposes. Cheers Thy

Have a read of this Braid knots winners and losers. This guy did some teasing and found that braid gets better results with either 12 or 20 turns in braid. I prefer to plait mono, but will be trying 12 turn Bimini for my braid this weekend on the kings. Cheers Thy

FWIW 6.3m 21 degree deadrise, calm conditions, 1800kg without passengers, no wind or current to speak of. Suzuki DF175 four stroke. 1.0 litres per hour at 2 knots trolling livies 7.5 litres per hour at 7 knots trolling lures Wind and current make a heap of difference, have seen consumption at 12 litres per hour at 7 knots with a bit of current and 15-20 knot winds. Seldom get optimal conditions, seems the fishes prefer it a bit ordinary. Best bet is to do some testing with your boat, set distance at cruise to establish a baseline, then same distance and 1 hour at trolling speed, and subtract consumption on first run from second this will leave the amount you used for 1 hour trolling. Whatever you come up with, double it for the purpose of estimation when working out how far and how long to provide a margin for error. Crude but effective, I don't like the thought of paddling home. If in doubt, carry extra fuel. We have a 200 litre tank, and have been out 30 odd NM and trolled for 5 hours and used 110 litres fuel, more on the way home than the way there as the weather cut up. If your engine has NMEA, it should report point in time usage, and possibly amount used since last reset, you need a compatible gps or mfd. Very difficult to end up with an objective comparison against different hull engine combinations as pointed out above. At best you will end up with an indicative figure, but as conditions vary so much and the impact on consumption can be almost an additional 100%, the most accurate way is to spend a day burning fuel in your rig to establish your baselines, and then compare over a number of trips until you have a level of confidence in your estimates. Cheers Thy

If you check the piccie of the boarding platform you will see a pice of foam tape, this is where the step sits, cleared it quite nicely. The tabs are 12" wide x 9" long and edge mount, mid mount tabs would have sat a little higher and further out. Made an educated guess when I bought the tabs based on some rough measurements, and initially thought we might have to trim 20mm off the step, but as it turned out they fitted as I had hoped. Will get it on the water next weekend, so will provide my observations once I have had a chance to run it in varying conditions. Expecting big things from all the banter on the forums. Hoping to achieve a small reduction in minimum planing speed, and a better ride in a quarter sea with a crosswind. We run our clears year round, and with the hardtop, the hull leans into the wind. Tabs should allow the hull to sit up straight allowing for finer entry. SWMBO will be the finall judge, if she is comfortable in ordinary conditions my life is better and we can fish more often

Might be worth a chat with the guys from Solas, they sorted ours out beautifully.

About 6 months ago I bought a set of Lenco 12w x 9d Trim Tabs, and finally lucked the magic combination of weather and available time. The fitting was relatively straight forward once I worked out where I could fit them. When we first got the boat I fitted a deckwash, bolted to the port transom, which meant that I had to be able to locate the upper bracket without interfering with the pump on the other side of the transom. I also had to relocated the transducer, as it sat smack bang in the middle of where the tabs had to go. That meant unclipping and cutting all the zippy ties that hold the wiring loom to get the transducer plug out through the transom. Initial mark out was done by marking a line 100mm from the chine as a reference point, ideally the edge of the tabs should have been between that mark and 25mm from the chine. After lots of stuffing around, I worked out the edge of the tabs had to be 128mm from the chine. I used a set of wedges on the wobble roller mounts to hold a straight piece of timber up against the bottom of the hull. I used a piece of 10mm thick HDPE on top of the timber to get the correct height as per instructions. Using masking tape, I positioned the tab on the Starboard side to be able to take measurements, then applied those measurements to the Port side until I was comfortable that I had cleared the deckwash pump. I marked out the holes using the tabs as a template, and drilled the mounting holes. I used a countersink bit on each hole to avoid the gelcoat cracking as the screw went in. While I was about it, I countersunk the previous mounting holes for the transducer and cable. I filled these holes with resin and microbubbles paste, forcing it through the holes, and leaving it slightly indented to finish off with flow coat. I then used some clear plastic with some wax on it as an impromptu mold to fill the indentations with flowcoat, and wet sanded until it was smooth. Once the holes were drilled I fitted the starboard tab, with a liberal dose of below water marine adhesive silicone. Using a piece of 19 x 45 pine, I propped the back of the tab to the correct height, and fitted the ram to mark out for the top mount. Drilled the holes and fitted the top mount, running the cable through the transom (all glass in this area), siliconed the top mount and scews. Marked out the port side, and ran a 60mm holesaw through the boarding platform, and mounted the ram upside down so that I could mark out the correct diameter, as the hole is not round due to the deadrise angle. I used a flappy disc sanding wheel in a cordless drill to shape the hole, and then a couple of coats of flowcoat over the raw surface. I fitted the ram right way up and at this time discovered I had fallen victim to the sin of assumption, thinking the drains out of the bait tanks were symmetrical. As a result I had to fit the port side bracket upside down to clear the deckwash pump. I am confident that it will be fine, just annoyed that I did not pick up on it earlier. It was only a few millimetres the difference, but as I had mounted the tab on the bottom of the transom I was committed. I relocated the transducer using a sliding bracket. Not because I want the adjustment, but to avoid more holes. A 1kw transducer is on the list for the future. Will be interested to see how the transducer performs, I could not get it away from the tabs any further, and unless I move it to the centreline, I have thru hull fittings that preclude mounting anywhere else. Hindsight is a marvellous thing. Fitted the switch to the dash, new zippies on the wiring, ran the transducer cable away from the wiring this time. Hooked it all up and tested both tabs to full extension ensuring sufficient clearance in the cutout in the boarding platform. Fixed a few stonechips in the hull as I already had resin mixed, and fitted another couple of rod holders in the floor to store rods when towing to the ramp. Also handy to drop the trolling rods in when crew can’t reach the rocket launcher. Hanging for next weekend to see what difference they make. Outriggers will be the next project.

Suzuki DF175 four stroke 300 hour service Suzuki service pack (anodes, impeller, plugs, oil screen, filters) $168, labour $170 (2 1/2 hrs), oils $67 + $9 workshop materials and enviro levy. All up $456. Quite reasonable by my reckoning. Top customer service to boot at Fraser Marine Eden NSW. In all fairness, there were not any corroded bolts or other issues to slow him down, if it has been while since last apart, then an extra hour or so is clocked up easily.

Northern end of Montague is the same, also a grey nurse diving spot, also has a no wire trace rule.

Yep, the Pakula site is worth reading and reading again. I find myself revisiting as new experiences/screwups occur. Take from it what you will, but by my reckoning it is possibly the most comprehensive website on game fishing from whoa to go. I have learnt a lot from it. Haven't chased Marlin yet, but applied learnings meant that we ate a lot of tuna this year, and know that there is still lots to be learnedo before I consider myself as even a novice. Forums like this one are great if you know what question to ask and the right language to ask it in. There is a wealth of knowledge hiding behind the usernames, and more info is better when sorting yourself out. Good hunting, looking forward to the success stories. Thy

We picked up a Caribbean Reef Runner with a 175 4st Zook in January. Now has 190 hours on it. Great ride, full screen and hard top means you don't get wet ever, good cockpit space. If you are not intending any bar work then a 150 may help the budget. Good storage, large feel to cockpit, reasonably finished for the money. BMT package with a 150 Opti starts at around $63K, we ended up spending around $77k but fitted out as we wanted it. There is enough space for a crew of four to fish with relative comfort, and with 200l tank we can have an extended day trolling with no real concerns. We run out of Bermi on the south coast, and cop a fair bit of crap weather. Not always big seas, but quarter winds and rain storms, with the occasional stinking hot day. Shelter makes a heap of difference. Towing weight is almost 2000kg, hull is 1020kg, motor 235kg oiled, 205lt fuel and 540kg trailer. We didn't opt for hydraulic brakes as we only tow it 9k's to and from the ramp and drag it with a land cruiser. PM me if you would like any more info.

If you go to Peter Pakula's site you will find a wealth of info on setting up for and running lures. We haven't chased marlin, but enjoy chasing tuna and have had a good run. I reckon the advice above about not having too many lines out to start with is sound. First time out, knowing nothing and using our bottom bashing outfits to drag lures, we had six out, and five of them went off at once, with only three of us on the boat. Magic chaos with absolute bedlam, and boated five good sized albies but what a mess, gear thrown everywhere. Make sure you have your drag set sufficiently, had a mate out with us last weekend, knocked the drag off taking the rod from the holder and had a spectacular birds nest to deal with, lost the fish as the line snapped when the reel locked. I have had good results with the Pakula Dojo Peche lures trolled at 5 - 6 knots, find that we have to troll skirts at 7-8 to get the right action, and have some el cheap online shop jet heads that seem to work ok at 6-7 knots. have not had any success yet using the Bluewater livies. If you get cheap lures, replace the hooks and re-rig them. Lost a couple of fish early in the piece with snapped leaders. poorly crimped loops and cheap chinese hooks that broke or straightened. Am stashing some cash to have a splurge at Bermi Bait & Tackle next time I get down there, intend to score a couple of "sets" of lures, a set with a green/lumo theme and another with a purple theme. Chasing bait (Bonito's & stripies) we have had a good run with small pink metal headed skirts. Was looking through the lure bags last weekend and they are basically worn out. Best $7 we ever spent ;^) Hope this helps Cheers Thy

I can't afford to upgrade the tow vehicle so I'm not taking the wench any where near the boat show, last time she bought a boat

Click this for piccies Caribbean Hardtop Was a deciding factor in our purchase. Open sides with clears still work well and "makes" for more space on the nice days. Our screen is flat armored glass in an alloy frame. Having hardtop attach to top of screen has pros and cons, harder to see out of when its dark dark, but fantastic when the water is coming over the front. Wipers are a must if you go the full screen, otherwise the salt makes it difficult to see. Auto park wipers are also a thought, beats trying to switch them off in just the right place so they are not in your line of sight. Cheers Thy

We just had the 100 hour/4 month service done on ours and the mechanic found water in the fuel filter. All appears well with the engine, and it may have been just one dodgy batch of fuel or maybe a bit of condensation. Will be keeping a close eye on it. A water bowl filter is now fitted, filters are cheap in comparison to the potential for damage. Replace annually or every 100 hours sounds like solid advice Cheers Thy

Don't know how many they would let me have for that long at a time Mind you, the idea of doing one test a month that involved a hundred engine hours would be a great way to make a living. A true seachange.

Picked up our Caribbean Reef Runner from the dealer on the 5th January 2011. Initially we were to pick the boat up fully fitted out, however delays in the build and Xmas got in the way, so we chose to take it almost bare so as to be able to use it as we had 5 weeks holidays booked, and if we had waited, would have only had the boat for a week of that. As we picked it up, the boat was fitted with the Suzuki DF175 fourstroke, Dual batteries with BEP Switch combo with VSR, Garmin 750S, NMEA2000 backbone, factory covers and clears, rocket launchers, a 1250gph bilge pump and sat on an Easytow trailer with a reception rear and full length keel rollers. Towed it home to Canberra from Melbourne, arriving home at 5am on the 5th of January and set to work for an intensive 2 day fitout to sort the basics and get it registered in NSW. Finished the basic fitup at 2am on the 7th January, and headed for Bermagui, arriving at 5.30am, grabbing a quick bit of snooze and we were on the water at 2pm same day. The first item fitted was the bait pump and deckwash, a Johnson kit. These are fed through a stainless skin fitting through the hull approximately 200 forward of the transom and about 100mm to the port side of the keel. We fitted a stainless ball valve to the skin fitting, and the bait pump screws onto the valve, so it the plastic thread ever lets go, the valve can be closed. The locking device on the ball valve was removed to avoid jamming, if ever it needs to be used I did not want anything impeding the row of the lever. The deckwash pump was then mounted to the transom under the port side bait tank, nicely out of the way, but in hindsight, it should have been mounted closer to the side of the boat, as it is likely to interfere with the planned fitment of trim tabs in the current location. The deckwash was run around into the side pocket and the fitting secured through the rear brace/rod holder in the side pocket, allowing the coiled hose to sit neatly in the bottom of the pocket, close at hand without being in the way. When first fitted, we put the switches in the panel on the inside of the outboard well to minimise the length of the wiring. This turned out to be a mistake, as they became targets for knees when fishing. They have since been moved to the dash and the holes that were cut glassed up, coated with gelcoat and sanded/polished. We used right angle skin fittings to run the overflow from the bait tank out through the side of the hull. Another moment of 20/20 hindsight would be to place the overflow about 50mm lower in the tank, as at the current level, passengers sitting in that seat get splashed when travelling in a swell. The Johnson kit works well, and we have kept more than 20 good sized Yakkas 15-20cm alive for a full day, as we struggled to use them with the fishing being quiet that day. We then moved on to fitting radios, and initially we were going to mount them into the dash, we cut the holes and put the mounts in position, however when we fitted the radios to the mounts, the magnets in the speakers affected the compass. It was about then that I noticed that there is a void in the front of the hardtop, I removed the cabin light and had a look, then by taping the GME flush mount kits where I thought I could fit the radios, I drilled a small hole and used a piece of welding wire to confirm that sufficent depth was available to mount the radios. Happy that there was enough room, I marked out the cutouts and attacked it with an air hacksaw. I drilled a hole in the dash immediately above the in-cabin buzz bars, and inserted a length of split conduit, drilled another hole in the hardtop and inserted the other end of the conduit, and used Sikaflex to glue the conduit to the internal corner of the windscreen frame. I ran two 4mm cables through this conduit, and terminated them on the buzz bars. These cables supply power to the radios, and will also service the planned remote searchlight, LED docking and work lamps. At this time the radios are connected with crimps, but I will fit buzz bars inside the hardtop void to allow distribution for the planned lighting. Each radio is independently fused. Mounting the radios in the Hardtop means that it is practical to fit the aerials on the hardtop also. Not wanting to chance getting saltware into the void, I drilled a hole at the top of the void and ran the cable down through the hardtop exposed to the cabin and then into the void. The first set of aerial mounts we fitted were GME with the “colour coded” aerials, that scew together. This was a big mistake as the GME mounts rely on the aerial cable join to hold them in place. We had a day with some fairly rough weather, and the “whipping” of the aerials resulting in them pulling out of the bases and cracking one of the whips on the grab rail. I did get a full cash refund from BCF, so kudos where it is due. The GME mounts were replace with Pacific mounts and whips, these have a mechanical connection and push fit cable connection. They are a far superior mount for high load applications. In hindsight, I should have used rail mounts secured to the grab rails on the hardtop and avoided drilling as many holes in the roof, and ran the aerial cables straight into the void and used Sikaflex to seal it up. We then used a holesaw (at an angle) to fit eight rod holders, two 15 degree rod holders in each gunnel, fore and aft of the grab rail, a 30 degree in each rear corner, and two vertical in front of the ourboard well to mount the baitboard. This was no small task, with the port side rear rod holder needing to be shortened to clear a gusset under the gunnel. This is a design flaw, as the fuel filler prevents moving the rod holder any further to the rear. We shortened the rod holder and put a 3/16 stainless screw and nut to replace the locating pin. The final task for the initial fitout was to fit the compass. The dash has a molded platform that makes fitting a flat bottom compass very easy, with a 3mm hole to run the light wire through, and a couple of dabs of Sikaflex to hold it in place. Using the Garmin 750S as engine instruments means that the only things on the dash are the compass, the alarm light, and the switch panels. Since the initial fitout, I have fitted a Micks Winch, with its own novel to describe the fitting and the challenges faced. It works well for what we need to do. Anchor Anchor 2 Into the future as dollars allow, we will fit a set of trim tabs and a set of outriggers. I also intend to fill the void in the passenger seatbox with expanding foam to insulate it for use as an Esky. When that is done we reckon we will have an ideal fishing platform for South Coast NSW, economical and functional. So what have I missed?

We have now had out Reef Runner for four months, and have been lucky enough to be able to clock up 110 engine hours. Fitted with a 175 Suzuki four stroke with a 15 1/4 x 20 4 blade Solas prop, dual batteries, plumbed bait tank, deck wash, NMEA2000 backbone, Garmin GPS750S, rocket launchers rod holders, bait board, anchor winch, radios and full safety gear including EPIRB. In this time we have experienced a range of conditions and found the boat to be confidence inspiring in adverse conditions. The hardtop and wipers are a real bonus for south coast NSW, and with the clears fitted, you have a sheltered and dry ride. Into a 20 knot southerly with a lot of water coming over the bow, we traveled steadily and stayed warm and dry for the 25km trip home. It would be nice to have auto park on the wipers, as it becomes distracting trying to stop them so they are not in your line of vision. The hull holds plane at 16 knots, and returns 0.5l/km consistently at 21 knots, increasing to 0.6 with a headwind. Off the plane at 13 knots, consumption rises to 0.9l/km. At the top end, 6000 rpm buys you about 37 knots, and it comes out of the hole quickly. The Suzuki engine is very civilised, with only the slightest vibration just off idle. We considered the 200hp engine, but decided to fit the 175 as it is 45kg lighter. We are glad we did, as I think the 200 would make the hull sit bum down" when at rest. The fuel tank holds 205 litres so range is more than acceptable for a good days trolling out on the shelf. Engine instrumentation is presented via the GPS, and means that there are no gauges mounted in the dash. The Suzuki/Garmin combination provides accurate real time fuel consumption and overall usage is within 1% for more than 100 litres used. Anyone setting up a new boat should consider NMEA 2000 and GPS/Fuel usage interface as a must have, it makes all the difference to how you drive and trim the engine, you can see how correct trim can reduce fuel consumption by 20%. It doesn't take long to give a return on the investment. The ride is soft and smooth, and the 4 blade prop provides extra "bite" over the initial 3 blade, and there is no hint of broaching in a following sea. The Hardtop does have one minor disadvantage, with wind list being experienced in a crosswind. We intend to fit trim tabs to address this, however we should have had these fitted when the boat was being built. Ideally the Volvo QL tabs, but we may end up with Bennets or Lencos to avoid cutting holes in the floor. The cabin has a generous double berth, and it is fitted with a full flush marine toilet to allow the girls some modesty when they need to pee. There is a canvas door in the bulkhead (we chose to have the larger opening as we are all over six feet) to provide privacy. There are three large storage tubs moulded under the seats, with a shelf on either side. The cockpit is very roomy, however I would recommend fitting flush mount controls (were ordered but dealer forgot and fitted standard controls) to provide sufficient clearance for knuckles when turning the wheel. If not careful, you hit the trim button on the controls. The stainless wheel is a nice touch and the hydraulic steering means you don't have to wrestle it into a turn. The steering wheel is at a height where you can stand if you choose to, and the hardtop accommodates my 6'1" frame comfortably. Grab rails and foot rests are well positioned and allow you to brace yourself in the rough stuff. There are no drink holders or glove box, which is annoying. The factory rocket launchers are solid and do not flex or move, and the handrails on the hardtop allow walking around to the foredeck with confidence, very handy when launching or retrieving. The factory bow rails could be 150mm higher, but it may just be that I am tall. There is enough room to fish four adults with relative comfort. The back seats lift out and allow good access right along the side of the boat. The lip molded into the hull to support the seats is a real pain, just waiting to carve some skin off your shins. We have covered the lip with a pool noodle. There is plenty of "toe" space, allowing you to brace yourself against the gunnels when you're on a decent fish. The built in bait tanks are very functional and if both are plumbed, keeping 40 Yakkas alive is not an issue, or live squid in one tank instead. The seat box under the passenger seat adds to the generous storage, and we intend to line the tub at the rear with expanding foam to enable it to be used as an esky. There is a large amount of under seat storage in the cabin, and generous sidepockets along each side. We find it a comfortable and functional fishing platform. That said, there are a number of things that could make a really good boat into a fantastic fishing platform. An alternative method for supporting the rear seats is high on the list. The gussets under the gunnels are poorly placed, interfering with the fitting of rod holders, as are the "conduit" sections for running the wiring. The "rod holders" in the side pockets are impractical, and there is an opportunity to utilise a fibreglass molding allowing the attachment of brackets for gaffs or more effective rod holders. The side pockets do not have dividers, so they tend to become quite untidy. I have built a caddy out of 10mm white plastic as a test, and it works quiet nicely, making lip grips, pliers etc easy to find. The use of a fibreglass liner panel with molded pockets would almost double the usability of the side pockets. The current setup is not conducive to mounting vertical rod holders for storing rods while travelling. The hatches in the floor for the factory kill tanks are not heavy duty enough, flexing when stood on. It is hard not to stand on them when moving around the boat in ordinary conditions. I am looking at trying to put some reinforcing under the hatches to remedy this, but it really isn't good enough. The hatches are handy for storing an extra set of fenders, sea anchor I have spoken with the builder and suggested that the wiring to the hardtop could be run during the build to facilitate easier fitting of the radios, they are considering this. There is no facility to run wiring to the port side of the boat discreetly, a small annoyance that could have been easily accommodated. Another item that needs attention is the quality/fit of the foredeck hatch, which leaks when you have a wave break over the front, resulting in passengers/clothes stored in the cabin getting wet. I will build a "drip channel" and run the water into the anchor well to sort this. Where the forward bulkhead meets the dash it is higher than it needs to be, limiting where it is practical to cut holes in the dash. The factory wiring for the cabin light is also run across "prime" dash real estate, requiring relocation when fitting switches to the lower panel. Not a hard issue to resolve at build time, but it adds significantly to the effort required to fit out. The anchor well is designed to accept a gypsy style winch, however the divider in the anchor well prevents the installation of a drum winch unless it is cut out and the bulkhead braced to the foredeck. That said, the anchor well is quite large and would accommodate a couple of hundred metres of anchor rope. The anchor securing system on the foredeck is fantastic, and the bow sprite is fitted with a nylon roller, and did not require modification to use an anchor winch. The Easytow trailer is a breeze to drive off/on, and it tows very well. The rear roller setup makes it easy to line the boat up straight, even in a cross wind, and if your approach is a bit off, everything that could come in contact with the hull is coated in nylon. Overall we are very happy with the whole outfit. By the time I get around to fitting the trim tabs and a set of outriggers with fold out mounts we will still be just under $80k making it a relatively affordable practical fishing platform. Hope this helps those who may be considering one of these boats.

Yep, no more straining, no more handfuls of bluebottles, just a button push either way. Next project will have to be a tube off the bow rails for a reef pick I think. Still trying to work out a roller system to allow it to be winched right up without damaging the hull.

We had a 540 Quinnie bowrider, and the original socket in the gunnels for the all round light rotted out. We fitted a rod arch and I ran the cables up the tubing and mounted the all round light on that, 360 visibility with no issues, you could do the same on a bimini. Our current boat has a hardtop with the light mounted on that. On the odd occasion we are out and the sun isn't up we have a selection of cheap battery powered led lights we use for illumination. Still have to get to the under the gunnels illumination yet.

OK photos first, there several in this album on Picasa https://picasaweb.google.com/102989844761721690554/WinchFitup Here is the finished product And now the story. First up, let me say that the fitting of a drum winch to a Caribbean Reef Runner is quite a bit of work, and the scale of the job surprised me because I made some assumptions, the old story, you assume you make an Ass out of U & Me. When I first received the winch, I rocked out to the anchor well and worked out that while there was room to fit it, it would have to be off-centre because of the divider in the anchor well. Caribbean design these wells to take a capstan winch with gypsy, intending to have a chain well and and anchor compartment. I decided to proceed as it was now a matter of pride, I had committed to a drum winch and come hell or high water I was going to fit it. The first step was to cut out the divider in the anchor well, glass over the raw ply that had been exposed and flo-coat it to ensure that it was waterproof and looked ok. I then sat the winch in place trying the full range of motor angle configuration, and settled for the winch motor being mounted vertically on the port side at the rear, as even though I was running cables from the port side because there was not enough clearance to mount the motor on the starboard side at the front of the cradle and not have to cut a larger rebate in the front lip on the anchor well to clear the chain. I marked around the winch saddle and then used the backing plate as a template to mark out the drill holes. Holes were drilled and a liberal coating of Sika was applied to the holes and the back of the saddle for the final bolt up. I mounted the waterproof 80A circuit breaker as close to the battery as possible under the transom, and the solenoid on the bulkhead behind the dash. I used 2 B&S tinned marine cable sourced through Whitworths, with the lugs crimped using a hydraulic crimper and then sealed with dual wall heatshrink with an adhesive inner, All terminals were coated with WD40 and tightened while still wet, with a liberal coating of battery terminal protector sprayed over each terminal once dry. The size of the cables may be overkill, but with continuous operation, it does not get hot, and the winch runs at an acceptable temperature given the total length of the run is just over 15 metres. There is minimal voltage drop. The switch supplied with the winch is a Carlingswitch double throw momentary on action. As I was also relocating the switches for the deckwash and bait pump and these were the same style of switch, I found a 3bay flush mount block, cut a hole in the dash and mounted all 3 switches in the same hole. Looks very neat and tidy and is difficult to "bump" as they are tucked in behind the wheel. I ran a 20A tinned marine cable from the buzz bar to a fuse box and then to the switch and across the the terminals on the solenoid, all connectors were crimped and dual wall heatshrinked. I only intend to do this once this lifetime. Cables are supported at 180 nominal centres with d-clamps and zip ties, and are all neatly tucked out of the way, with sleeves where they run through conduits or bulkheads. Righto methinks, lets spool this puppy up, so I head off down the driveway with a spool of rope and put the munchkin in charge of the switch. Ran the full 125m of rope onto the spool and then spliced and eye around a stainless thimble and shackled the chain. I stood on the bow an held pressure on the chain while it was winched on. It was at this point I noticed the next problem, and that was the bulkhead flexing as the winch operated, and that was just with my weight hanging off it, let alone a boat on a swell. Having cut out the divider, I had inadvertently reduced the structural support for the bulkhead. The amount of flex woudl have resulted in long term damage to the bulkhead if left unresolved. I took a while to come up with a solution to this problem, and with weather looking good for fishing, a month passed before I had a suitable solution. The initial rough quote I got from the stainless guys was just over $2000 to build a custom brace and fit it. Nearly fell over when he told me that. A little bit more thought and I came up with a design that was a bit more economical. I had the fabricator fold a piece of 6mm x 100mm 316 flat bar to match the width of the winch saddle, this utilised the bolts through the "blue roller" and the foredeck, and allowed me to attach two 12mm x 30mm pieces of 316 flat bar with an 8mm bolt at each end either side of the winch. This made the whole setup rock solid. I have been on the deck while anchored in a 1.5m swell and there is no flex. I used 316 stainless bolts all round with washers and nylocs. With 8M of shortlink 8mm chain I had to remove 10M of the 8mm nylon rope to stop the chain hitting on the bolt heads. In hindsight I probably should have fitted a capstan & gypsy winch as it would have been far less effort, but pride and stubborness will see me through most things. I have now used the winch on several occasions in depths up to 35m. The winch is easy to use and with practice I will get my positioning spot on. The drop and retrieve rate is stated at 30m minute, which seems like forever when you are dropping 90m to anchor in 30m, but you really appreciate not having bluebottles wrap around your hands when raising the anchor. Freefall is possibly a better choice, but financial constraints applied. All up I am very happy with the final product. The winch is good quality and well made, and even though I had to do a lot of prep work, the end result is tidy and functional. The blue roller works, providing a more even spread across the drum. The original bow sprite works well, although I still need to fit two rub pads on the underside as the winch holds the anchor at a slightly different angle unless the winch is backed of an inch or so and the anchor locked into the chain cleat. Hope someone finds this useful. What do you reckon?