Fab1

Non tilt mate.

Hi mate, The most common cause of this is people submerging their trailers to deep causing the boat to float above the trailer all over the place,often without actually touching the trailer where it's needed.Risking damage to hull from things such as roller cradles/mud guards etc. This becomes worse when it's windy or there is simply a strong side current running or wash from other boats. I would do these things in this order: 1:Back trailer in until top of rear roller is just under the surface of the water. 2:Grab your boat and put its keel on this roller and winch her on,she should straighten up as you winch as you have a self aligning trailer. 3:If above fails rollers/skids may need adjusting. Here's how to adjust: 1: drop your skids down away from hull. 2: drop your rear roller down as far as possible. 3:set your front roller about 25-50mm higher than your rear roller. 4: Run a string line between the two. 5:Raise the rollers in-between the two rollers on each end until they are just touching the string. 6:Ensure boat is sitting level on it's keel rollers and raise the skids until they are just touching the hull ensuring they are placed as far apart as possible and are in-between the planning strakes. Note:Lubricate all rollers/pins with a good quality water proof grease as you go and inspect all roller pins and cradles are not bent and tighten all bolts/nuts well. Use a floor jack with a block of wood and mark heights of rollers and skids before you start so that you have a reference to work from. Hope this helps you out mate,if you do all these things right your boat will glide on and off like mine. Here's my trailer as a reference. Cheers.Fabian.

Top effort guys!

Hi guys, I've restored my plastic Cracked,faded,yellow head lights using one of the headlight restoration kits commonly available through auto parts stores for about 30 bucks for a dramatic improvement.The kits come with instructions. The photo speaks for it self the light on the left is restored and the one on the right is untouched. I've also made a spare wheel carrier with some scrap I had lying around which doubles as a step and works a treat.

Hi everyone, On Saturday at around midnight after leaving a BBQ in Wollongong and going up Mt Ousley through thick fog I came across a elderly couple pulled over on the side of the road just after a bend in which the gentleman waved me down and looked a bit frightened. Mind you he was lucky I didn't run him over as you could barely see anything. After I safely pulled over with my hazards flashing and warning triangles set out I went over to the man to see what was the problem. On approach to his combo I noticed no hazards or tail lights were on. I asked him what had happened and his reply was that his car had overheated so he decided to pull over on the bend of all places and his drivers side mirror was ripped of by a passing truck. Any way I got my trusty torch and asked him if I could have a look and on inspection I found a burst heater hose that was so old it felt like jelly that I replaced with a new one that I carry spare. I decided to take a look at his lights and was shocked to find the trailer plug was disconnected and worn down to nothing from dragging on the road which I replaced with yet again with my spare. Then I noticed his tyres looked flat,yep they were and to top it off one tyres inside edge was bald down to the steel belt. So I changed it with his spare for him and inflated them with my tyre inflator that I carry and yep his spare was low on pressure and after they thanked me very much I sent him and his wife on there way. Now this could have ended very differently for this elderly couple. Maintain your vehicles and always carry spares. Fabian.

From what I've seen alot of fisherman carry alot of unnecessary gear which doesn't get used leaving barely enough room for themselves in the boat.I follow the Kiss principle but that's just me.It,s no wonder it takes them an hour to prepare and 2 hrs to clean up on return.

Depends what value you put on your life,if I were game enough to take a small tinny outside I'd certainly prefer to have them then not.From what I've seen they add a lot of extra floatation.I spoke to a guy once fishing in the hacking and he said that he takes his tinny outside past the heads and it certainly helps with roll etc and felt safe knowing that if things turned turtle his boat would float. Cheers.

My advice is buy what you like all those brands will do the job...i have a quintrex 420 estuary angler runabout millennium hull and it handles chop and rough weather fine.You can get the dorys with the same hull.Here's some pics. Just remember pretty much everyone is bias on what they own.I wanted a boat that's easy to tow,maintain and run and is 3years old in these picks and hasn't missed a beat. Fabian.

I think it would be safer than this.

Hi mate, I was a spraypainter and panel beater by trade for 15 years working with euro prestige cars and the key to any paint work is the attention to detail in the preparation of the aluminum before the application of your etch primer and top coat a urethane finish( 2k) sprayed and baked correctly will give you the best results.If you need further advice pm me and I will try to give you a step by step to help you out. Here are some pics of my Monaro I'm restoring to give you a idea of what can be accomplished.cheers.

Thanks to all that have replied so far,some good ideas in that lot.

Hi mate, Could you post a picture of your front bench seat if you have any?cheers.

Hi raiders, I need advice on better storage for pfd,s,tacklebox,bait esky as I'm sick of it being on floor tacking up valuable space.I was thinking of some form of net/shelving under bow or some side pockets built in from timber and carpeted or storage hatch/s in floor if there's room.What are your suggestions?Also can I drive on and off this trailer as my boat is manual tilt/trim?Some photos provided. Thank you for any help you may provide. Fabian.

Fished the hacking this morning in several spots but not much luck besides a legal bream of 36 cm which I released to fight another day.Tried pilchards,white bait,Prawns and squid.Lots of undersized pinkies stealing baits,but all in all a good day out.

Hi Yowie, At least you got out and managed a feed,i like pan fried garfish also....ll be heading out to grays in the morning with the family to try my luck.

Hi raiders, I,m thinking of tacking my wife and son out for a fish in the morning before returning to work on Monday,i will be launching from grays around 6. Does anyone have a recent report of how it,s been fishing and if the holiday ramp/water congestion has died off at all?I would also be open to try some new fishing spots if anyone is willing to share as i don,t know the river very well.I usually only fish the south west arm in several spots such as,Warumbul,costens Pt,Scott,s Reef,Gray,s Point sand flats etc and do o.k most times.I would be most intrested in goodspots to try for LIzards,Whiting and Leatherjackets as they are my favorite fish. Thank you to all that Reply. Fabian.

No,their the hull,s registration number,you can buy the letters that make up the rego number at any Roads&Maritime.He,s talking about the small rego label that,s attached to the port side of the hull beside the hull,s registration numbers like on the windscreen of your car. Fabian.

If theres say 10 boats beached beside the ramp doesn,t mean that their trailers are comming down the ramp in order,as they could be parked anywhere from say 20 meters away to 1k up the road and as others have said they may be stuffing around,talking,going to the dunny,etc,etc.I watch and wait my turn patiently but when it,s my turn(i always ask other boaters first what my intensions are) i don,t stuff around, i load my boat and get well away from the ramp to finish tying down and get out of there.To me this is not pushing in it,s being organised and efficient.

My rego papers were sent in the mail,rego has been paid online by myself.I record the date/amount and receipt number then simply attach labels to boat/trailer.If you get pulled up by Maritime/Police, they can call through and check for records of it having being paid.It only takes them a moment. Fabian.

Thats a shame,holidays are never long enough,do you take time out during the year?i,m going back on the 21st and dreading it alrady but i hope you,ve had a great break anyway.

Hi Raiders, Comming back to the ramp at grays point i had beached my boat 4th boat down from the ramp and gone to get my trailer while my son stayed with my boat.There were no car/trailers on the ramp so i then backed her in and went over to get my boat and pushed it out and over to my trailer by the bow line around and over the other boats(I told them what i was going to do and thay said go for it),as i was winching my boat on one of the blokes and his mate accused me of pushing in, by this stage there was no car/trailer in sight the whole time....anyway i told them very politely that he needs a trailer to load his boat unless he want,s to carry his boat to the carpark to load it.They got all huffy and told me that their trailer was on it,s way.I told them it isn,t here now is it and left it at that.Anyway who has right of way the first boat in or the first car down the ramp as it,s common sense that your not going anywhere with out a SITTING ON THAT RAMP waiting to be used whether you are LAUNCHING OR RETRIEVING to me.What are your thoughts guys?What do you guys do upon retrieval? Thanks Fabian.

Should be serviced yearly as chrisg has said,not a difficult job.

What type of boat have you got?and what trailer damage was done?