offtap1

Hi All just thought id show others what i have down to stop the stress of finding good area for placement of rods after fishing trip for washing down and also storage afterwards. The stands are home made of course, the one outside behind the boat holds 12 rods for washing down and spray before stored, i also have made another 2 sets which hold 14 game rods and reels from 30s to 80s then another one that holds 22 smaller outfits, made from gal 50x 50 square light and 50 x 50 angle 3mm with 50mm Electrical conduit and tech screws, all stands are 2m long and solid but light cost around $200 complete for all three with some mig wire and 1/2 a case of Pure Blonde to complete, oh yeh and a ever willing deckie to help get beers while welding. Cheers Dave

Mate February, put the wedding back a month LOL

John it is hard to estimate how much fuel i saved due to different off shore conditions but must say the new 14.5 x 15" four blade prop had my revs up to 5500 on flat water fully loaded boat over 2 tonne on water 2500 on trailer,(used to get 5200revs with 14 3/4 x 17") and was able to troll north into a noreaster swell at 8knots and only 2000 revs. didnt stop motor once in 11 hours on water, On water at 4.30am and off at 3.30pm trolled for more than half this time and covered 200kms , Travelled home from 58ks from outside Sydney Heads."NO JOKE" and estimated used 175-180 lts fuel, This is the most ks i believe i have done in one trip. But once with old prop used 205 lts in rough conditions at PS on water for around a little longer but less ks travelled. Sea conditions play a big part in fuel useage as well as changing throttle settings constantly. Prop definately held boat much better in swell and kept trolling revs down, saving some fuel. I will get a true indication when i travel the same route as i have in past in as close as possible to same sea conditions. Cheers Dave

Hectic alright, just love the adrenalin pumping when that happens, it was a close call for my buddy as he was doing a number 1 over transom door when the short corner only inches from him took off and the rubber band lowering line to transom flew off at amazing speed almost causing him an injury that would of been hard for him to explain to his misses LOL, then the shot gun and long corner, with lines screaming and crossing over him he had to quickly change position

You give them a good kickin, it was just great out there today I didnt even realise he hadnt brought his shirt with him until we were on water, dont worry i gave him a good talking too.

Decided to take a run out wide and test out new prop as well as try and blood some new outfits the boys had, first stop 12 mile for 1 throw back king then browns to turn north and throw out a spread of black barts, hadnt finished setting spread before the 10kg shot gun screams off, a 15kg Yft is boated, Back out with the spread and not long after a triple hook up of YFT to 9kg, continued trolling north when we came accross some dollies and withing 20 minutes had 5 boated to 6.7kg. Blooded the new outfits for the boys and oh yeh the prop went well. Cheers Dave Sorry but no pics of 15kg YFT due to Camera shy Angler.

Thanks Anthony, you definately are running your motor at great effeciency, I am running around same generally using 120lts on a calm day and up to 150lts on a rough one doing same trips . But let me clear up 2 issues (1)You have had 15" x 15" prop which was giving you around 5800 i believe from previous discussions. I was not getting no where near 5800 only 5300 at WOT. Hence there is a fuel saving with your Prop. As discussed i have recently changed to a 15" prop to help me more with fuel and get revs to 5800 which will defeniately get my trolling and cruising fuel figures down. (2) Motor sizes Johns and my motors are the big block 200 3.3lt version which are the same size as a 250. Your motor is a 200 Etec but is a 2.7lt There is a big diference in size. John definately needs to contact Huey, but as you and i stated he needs to find out WOT rev range before any one can advise too much on prop size. CHEERS BUDDY

THANKS njsconst BUT IF YOU READ THE REPORT I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MY ETEC I ACTUALLY LOVE IT, CRAZY JOHN IS THE ONE WITH THE ISSUE. JOHN Obviously if you can run at a lower rev than 3500 then you will use less fuel. At 3500 revs with that size motor will be running at around 35-40lts per hour. FUEL GAUGE I have the electronic gauges suplied new with motor, they are a pain but the fuel level showing a percentage figure is accurate so i always know level.

"In the Game" all depends on what you will be targeting i suppose, but sounds good, with meaning. Cheers Dave[/b]

John i do 12 mile and browns constantly with trolling included, generally do not shut motor off for a minute in a 10 hour minimum day and only use 140-150 lts fuel. But i must say i generally run out at 4000revs if wanting to get out there quick at about 24knots, fuel consumption at 4000 and higher is much higher than sitting on 3500 or lower. I Can troll usually at 8 knots at no more than 2600 revs. But the major diference is i was running a 14 3/4" X 17" SST prop. You need to check your wide open throttle revs, it should be around 5500 revs flat out , if you are no where near this (And i dont believe you can be with a 19" pitch prop) then you will be labouring motor and using excess fuel. Please Note the last figure in prop size is the pitch not the diameter. The larger the pitch the slower off the mark your boat will be, but higher top speed, but lower revs,(No Good), You need a prop that gets you to at least 5500 revs at flat out. CHECK THIS. I have just replaced my prop to a four blade 15" pitch prop for better trolling effeciency but will reduce top end speed but increase revs to approximately 5700 . ( I am yet to try this prop but will gaurantee some fuel saving and better planning ability) I do believe you had a 19" pitch prop when you got your boat so double check what you have fitted now, Also height of motor plays a major part in drag and fuel consumption, if the cavataion plate on motor sitting level is below hull line then this will drop revs and increase drag and increase fuel consumption. YOU REALLY NEED TO WORK OUT WHAT YOUR BOAT REVS TO AT WIDE OPEN THROTTLE. Also did you note that your tank did hold the 219lts as you stated after you filled it up. One more thing is while travelling offshore , if you vary throttle setting often , for example up and down waves , you will use more fuel also, sitting on one constant rev with out varying will benifite. Cheers Dave

Good days fishing there boys, sounds like the 2 hours spent cubing would of been better spent on the troll, but thats fishing . It also seems the bottom dwellers are a bit harder to come buy lately. Cheers Dave

Good work boys, would of been a fun day, Geez the water looks much better than i thought it would have been out there yesterday. Cheers Dave

Great work guys, must of been a pearler of a day, im spewing i turning this weekend into a catch up with work day at home, first weekend ive missed in a while and the goods were produced. Cheers Dave

Hi Charlie i lifted my motor 2 holes to now have cavatation plate sitting just above hull level and i have picked up 400 revs at WOT and reduced fuel at cruise some what, There is no problem in what you have done with regards to lugs being higher than transom, i raised that question when i first did it with some concerns and found the lugs are mostly there for transport and initial location on transom. Cheers Dave

The water was 18.5 in morning and 20 at Browns, it was 18.2 in harbour at 7pm on return. Looking promising.

For the head to change colour and plugs to melt you definately had some major over heating issue, lack of oil would not cause this to happen, you may have picked up a plastic bag for a short time while travelling, then it has dropped off when you slowed motor, making tell tail still visible after damage was done, how did you know motor over heated while you were travelling , is there a audible alarm or did motor slow dramaticaly.

Good work boys, great fish there, so what did the old man end up with on his birthday.

I would of taken her for a feed if she was 2cm bigger , since my Misses and Daughter like them thrown on the BBQ , i was spewing later after realising i had returned her into drink without Tagging the baby. I now have all the Tags , Poles and applicators for Pelagics, Shark and Billfish but keep on forgeting to use them. Cheers Dave

Congratulations Glenn , surely must of brought some smiles on your crew for the day. Ross hope you and Glenn get fish on all of the five days, and hope this wind becomes a bit more kind. Cheers Dave

Good work boys, its suprising how good the water looks in pic, we had similar conditions last week even with a westerly blowing, but the change in sea conditions from around shelf line back to heads was incredible, sloppy as, anyway cheers boys, im yet to get a fin off sydney this season, hopefully wont be to much longer. Dave

The boat hanging over 30cm from last roller wont be an issue if you follow this advice. I would sugest that you ensure the rear outer rollers are as far out as possible towards side of boat which is were more strength is, these rollers should be set to balance boat with the keel roller supporting weight, but when you strap down you dont want to be pulling weight down on outer rollers positioned in middle of floor between keel roller and outer edge where there is not much strength, other than the keel the outer corners of hull are the next strongest point , especially since you have not only upgraded boat weight but added a heap with 15hp 4 stroke motor, so you want rear of keel to take weight and the outer rollers positioned close to outer edge of boat for much greater strength due to welded corner. The other point which was mentioned is to ensure your tow ball weight is at least 10% of total weight of boat, motor and trailer which will make a huge difference in towing. You can check this by placing trailer on weight bridge with jokey wheel down then just rolling rear wheels off weigh bridge and only place jockey wheel on scales. If you have moved your whinch post as far forward as practicle and weight on tow ball is much less than 10% then you will need to move your axle on trailer further back till you get it right. Hope i havent confused any one. Cheers Dave

Nice work buddy, im going to wait for Daylight saving before i get the bass boat out , hope i can do as well as you in 2 hours, but the usual BBQ after with the kids and a few friends will top off a great arvo as usual. Cheers Dave

Mate it all comes down to being smart and think ahead, towing wont be a problem if you remember that you have more than doubled your car length when changing lanes or turning corners, dont get distracted and keep your mind on the job, if reversing is an issue run down to your local Bunnings after closing one night and practice reversing into the alotted bays, get it right before you try a ramp, with the launch and retrieve pick a ramp to practice on first preferably with a sand bank to beach boat while you park car, pick a light winded day as winds can give even the experienced guys a problem, also pick a time of day (weekday arvo) when the ramp you decide to go to isnt busy so the extra time you may take at ramp aint going to bother the next guy in line and trying to rush it cause there is a line up isnt going to help the situation, practice makes perfect and slow and easy always wins the race with this game, The 4.9m aint going to be a problem if you are smart and keep your mind on job. Cheers Dave.

With what looked to be a decent day we hit the harbour 7 am after building up my misses confidence about reversing boat into water and assisting Caige with releasing, well all went well first time at kissing point ramp, not bad, slow cruise around for a look and then pulled up near snapper island just north of the Iron Cove bridge as i was setting anchor Caige said he saw a school of fish busting surface just behind boat, i turned to see what i thought was tailor, anyhow threw out the lines and burley, some time past before i got a run on one of the 2kg Viva sticks with a browning 20 with a 1/0 and mullet strip, i kicked it off bait runner and hooked solid, called it a good bream as it gave some good head thumps, gaining line quickly until it gets to 5m from boat then off she went as i saw a flash of stripped yellow shoot under boat, Kingie couldnt believe it , i had to increase drag slowly to try and stop it , now with the 5lb braid singing and tip of 6ft rod buckled into water, at one stage we were at a stale mate , i thoughy she had grabbed the anchor rope, but a bit of patience and another few good runs it lost its fight, after Caiges two failed attempts to net (The whole time trying to show mum how its done) a 63cm King hits the deck. Quick pic and back in she went while Chloe looked at me in amazment , her favourite eating fish. Pic is poor quality since i left camera at home once again. That was the first and last fish for the day no other takers, spend some time cruising and grabbing a seafood platter at markets before heading home as wind picked up. Cheers Dave

Custom Built 6.9m Hard Top CougarCraft, Put in search for " Cougar Craft 6.9m " to see build process Cheers Dave.