thylacene

I don't know what font, but take a close up of the letters you want to replace (take picture of the good ones) and the height and width and drop by your local signwriter, he can work with the photo if necessary to laser cut new ones.

I have the 3.0 D4D Auto Prado, and tow our 6.3M Caribbean @ around 2000Kg BMT if I don't fill it with fuel or gear. The Prado tows it well returning 16lt/100 Km traveling between Canberra & the coast up and down Brown Mountain. Get around 10.5 around town and 9 on the highway. There are only three hills between Melbourne & Canberra that required the auto to drop back to 3rd, as we picked the boat up in Melbourne. I can back the boat up our driveway which is quite steep, and using low range 4wd it just idles up comfortably. My Parents have a BT50 Dual Cab, also a good tow vehicle, but not quite the torque of the Prado, the old fella's boat tips the scales around 1800Kg and it pulls it with ease. The Prado has a 2500Kg tow rating, so if your really getting up there, as others have mentioned, the D-Max or the Hilux are worthwhile considering. We chose the Prado because we needed to cart a family of four industrial sized adults. It is worth noting that the SWB Prado has a tow capacity of 3000Kg, the LWB version is reduced to allow for the 7 seat configuration and carrying passengers and gear. I also looked at the Jeep, and while the price was lower, everyone I spoke to who owns one has had reliability issues, mostly electrical. I just don't have the time to deal with things like that. If you can afford to go new, the common rail diesels are well suited to the task. Hope this helps Thy

I have the same issue, and have been cruising the web and found this ***** towards the bottom is a gadget that screws to the coamings with 3 x rod holders and room for a knife and pliers. I am going to try one. **** have the two rod holder for $90 thereabouts in their winter catalogue. Cheers Thy

EPIRB = Mandatory, not just nice to have

Try tightening the socket on the end of the gun, adjusts the "grip" on the nipple and enables grease to be forced in. The gun will usually have a cap on the nozzle that can be screwed in to tighten, wind it up a bit once on the nipple and back it off to remove if necessary. Cheers Thy

Recently purchased a new Caribbean Reef Runner, we fish blue water only, no lakes or estuaries, and looking for ideas that other have used for fitout. To date we have fitted; 27 Meg radio & VHF radio Deckwash Plumbed bait tank (still to plumb the other side) Rod Holders x 4 Bait board NMEA2000 GPS/Sounder used for engine instruments also Rocket launchers Toilet Photos can be found here https://picasaweb.google.com/102989844761721690554/CaribbeanReefRunnerJanuary2011# Planned additions are; Trim Tabs - can't fit QL's due to limited access Anchor winch - Micks winch sitting in the cupboard ready to go this week Outrigger mounts & poles Still working on; Caddy to store knives, pliers lip grips etc so anyone onto a fish can get hold of them easily Net & gaff mounts Pockets/dividers for side pockets in hull to allow stuff to be stored separately Would be interested to know what others do to get their stuff organised and make their boats work well as fishing platforms. Cheers Thy

Recently purchased a Caribbean Reef Runner, piccies can be found here https://picasaweb.go...nerJanuary2011# Fitout Factory Hard top & Rocket Launchers Toilet Clears & storm cover Easytow Trailer Boarding platform & ladder Dealer Suzuki DF175 4 stroke Garmin GPS750S & NMEA2000 harness (no dash gauges required) Me & Posty 27meg & VHF radios Johnson Deckwash & bait pump Rod Holders Micks Anchor Winch Still to come Trim Tabs - to compensate for wind list while travelling Reelax Reef Rigger bases & 5M poles

Have a fine list of stupid things; Headed off from Bermi towards Montague, 10k's into the trip realised the bungs were still out. Took that long to realise the boat was behaving stramgely. A quick swim to put the bungs in and then another 10 minutes sitting waiting for the bilge pump to do its thing. New boat, 17 hours, dealer could service the next day but then booked out for three weeks. Put the boat in the lake to put another couple of hours on at an unfamiliar ramp and as it backed off the trailer dinged the prop on a shallow clam bank. How to get rid of a quick grand. Washed and flushed the boat in the caravan park and then set off with the engine down, ploughing the grass with the fin on the bottom of the motor for a good 20 meters before I realised. Fishing for livies about 3 meters from Montague, anchor dragged so I went forward to full the anchor, bluebottles wrapped around anchor rope meant I ended up with 8-10 wraps of bluebottle around my hands, dropped the rope and put a scratch on the new 4 blade prop as it just touched a rock. You pay for your education, whether it be university or the school of hard knocks ;^)

We had a 2006 540 Quinny bowrider with a 115 4 stroke EFI Merc until October last year,it was a great all rounder. Towing tubes in the lake, bottom bashing and the odd trip out to the shelf chasing tuna. I found it easier to drive on the trailer then to try and winch it, took a little time to set the trailer up so it coudl all happen nicely, took about two hours adjusting skids etc to get a nice even load, and sorting out the trailer depth, not quite enough to float it but deep enough to drive on easily. Winching sucks. Put a couple scratches under it getting it sorted out. The bowrider is a good all purpose fishing platform, we fished three at the rear comfortably and another off the front. My only complaint was the steering position, being speed boat style it was sit down, and as the helm is amidships seeing over the front becomes and issue in a bit of swell or chop. Standing meant being hunched over and if it was a bit rough would end up with a sore back and shoulders. If you are intending on doing more outside work than lakes then consider a glass boat instead, but if estuaries and the odd bit of bay work etc then the bowrider is a good choice. Cheers Thy

The wench has just ordered her new boat, to be christened "Bait Raped" on the day of delivery, vinyls made up and ready to go. She is hanging for her new toy. Thy