NickF

I have a Haines Sig 600 Bowrider, 175hp V6 outboard and holds 8 adults insured for $25k, so it seems we are paying similar amounts. Perhaps it could be related to the length of boat or something? I know with cars they take into account location and how you will store the vehicle.

I did this a few weeks ago, put the boat in the water and motored to the floating jetty to pick someone up, completely underestimated the time needed to slow the boat in reverse and gave the jetty a bump and somehow managed to find the spot with the metal cleat, nice chunk of clear coat and paint missing from the right hand bow section. Is it easy to put a bit of paint and clear coat/resin over to fix it?

Being confident is the major factor. If you believe you can do it, often it will come easier to you. I recently started launching my Haines Signature 600BR on my own, and pretty much got it right first time out. It's a 6 metre boat and quite heavy. I found that backing the trailer that bit extra into the water helped, but only so the rear tires of the car were on the water line. Start the motor, engage forward gear, walk up front unclip the winch strap, walk down back, boat in reverse, give it a few revs to work with and off comes the boat. Getting it back on was harder, had to account for wind and tide, but just took it easy, nosed the boat against the back of the trailer til it found where it wanted to sit and then gave it some juice and it just drove straight up onto the trailer. Used enough revs to get the nose to the top of the trailer and then dropped the revs to idle with the motor still in gear, walked up and put the winch strap and safety on, engine in neutral and switched off, motor tilted up, then drive away. Probably sounds easy in writing, and you might want to have someone watch you the first time you try it in case you do need a hand. Either way you'll love owning a fibreglass boat!

Unless you are going to chase schooling fish in deeper water in every tournament you fish you probably won't use the sounder much for picking individual or schooling fish. The majority of your fishing will be done fishing banks, jetties, pylons, bridges, oyster leases etc which won't require the use of the sounder for seeing the fish. As to whether or not bream have their own distinctive "display", not really. It all comes down to education. You'll get to know which sort of deep water areas are likely to hold fish, and that should reflect on your display. Whether they are trevally, bream or otherwise, only by throwing a lure down there would you be able to tell. In my experience bream don't like to pack into tight "balls" as such meaning they won't use up much of the water column, they more prefer to string out and will appear as a longer, narrow band holding just off the bottom. In spawning season however that can change and they will at times show up in more of a ball shape on your sounder. Hope my 5 cents worth helps. My suggestion is to go looking for fish holding in deep water and get your lure down there and get a feel for it. Plus it's good fun they turn out to be another species and surprise catches hit the deck. Best of luck Nick

The other question is, what type of boat do you own, what is the agreed value and how many people does it carry etc? I paid $440 this year with Club Marine, I'd be curious to see what boat you own vs what I own and see how it stacks up.

As long as your alarms are working then you will always know if your oil level falls low and you are at risk, and on the flip side, if you have your outboard regularly serviced by a mechanic you should be protected against failure of the oil injection system. I don't know for sure, but do any marine insurance policies protect you against failure of components which result in engine failure?

Personally for me Silverwater is closer, but I travel that bit extra to get to Wharf Rd, such a fantastic facility now that they have finished the upgrade.

Well, top end speed isn't really what I need, more about good holeshot and good cruising economy, plus traction when offshore. I ended up with a 19" Trophy Plus which is on its way as we speak. I reckon with a decent load on the new prop should still give me around 5600-5700rpm but much better cruise performance and holeshot.

I actually had an incident on Pennant Hills Rd, completely destroyed a tyre (dual axle luckily) strangely enough, on my way to get new tyres! Couldn't have come at a better (or worse?) time. I was liesurely strolling down PHR to Marks and Wallings in Silverwater, heard a bang looked in the side mirror to see blue smoke everywhere. Luckily was able to stop, treat and limp to Silverwater, 4 brand new tyres and a spare later I have done 2000km in a week to QLD and everything is perfect. I had just purchased the boat so hadn't had much time to get it all up to spec by that stage but rest assured it's a fine tooth comb with everything now. The boat and trailer is approx 1600kg and I tow up to 120km/h alot could have gone wrong had I been on the freeway at that time!

Used the new GPS unit to do some speed tests yesterday..... with 4 adults and 4 children on board I hit 48mph. That was with 50% fuel, underfloor esky full of ice and drinks against the tide. Looking forward to getting on the water tomorrow with just the 3 of us and see what the difference is. I also heard that moving from a Vengeance to an Enertia prop will give a bit extra top end as well. Anyone upgraded to an Enertia and experienced any benefit?

Hope you can help me here, I'll be out there tomorrow, how did you get them? Trolling or jigging? If so lure advice would be appreciated if you want to divulge a bit of info. Kind Regards Nick

I bought quite a few Xmas trees and other trolling lures (pre-rigged ones) and they have 150lb leader with a crimped loop. What is the best way to attach that to braid? Use a snap swivel???? Or tie some sort of knot? Feedback is very much appreciated. Nick

Huey installed one of these on my boat which I recently purchased, took it out to North Head today and trolled up some bonnies. Very good unit great detail. Big thanks to Huey for getting the service done at last minute notice on the week of Xmas. Looking forward to heaps more time on the water!

Nah mate no Skeeter, would appreciate your adice though! Would love to get onto some decent fish.

+1 what Hamerz said.

Had a look at Warrell Creek, looks good on Google Maps. Would anyone like to come out on my boat for a fish and show me around one day??

I am fishing the river, would love to know of spots to fish soft plastics, I have used google earth and there looks to be lots of drop offs and nice areas but if you have any specific spots I'd love to know (and keep secret if you wish).

I was gonna say, painting it yourself might be ok, but the clear coat etc must be considerably harder.

Will be up at Nambucca on the 26th and 27th before going on the gold coast, anybody else up there around that time with any local knowledge?

Yeah one of the electrics in the 70lb or 80lb range will move it just fine. That's something for the new year. For now some bottom bashing and trolling are on the cards.

What sort of skirts do you use for the bonnies? Size / color? What sort of speed to you troll them at???? Hoping to head out there Xmas day and would love some info!!!!! Thanks Nick

Picked her up today - Haines Signature 600 Bowrider. 175 Mariner Magnum EFI, spinning a Vengeance prop. Bloody fantastic condition can't wait to get it serviced next week then on the water Xmas day. It has a bait board, rod holders etc, expect to do alot of fishing from it. Also going to work on a removable casting deck for the front, and get an electric motor fitted to make it more fishable.

Huey, Can I book her in with you for this week for a full check? I need the injectors services, everything done with a fine tooth comb I bought her over the weekend. Haines 600 Bowrider with the Mariner Magnum 175. Tuesday or Wednesday ok??

We are buying a boat with a 175HP Mariner Magnum EFI motor. Does anybody have experience with this model? It's a 1994 model. Have seen it running everything looks great but all outboards have their quirks. Currently it has a Mercury Vengeance 21P prop on it and hits 5600rpm. Forward and reverse engage smoothly and it isn't smokey. Look forward to any feedback or advice.