Fab1

Let's take a step backwards.When was the last time all your electronics worked?When they failed I'm assuming they all did at once,yes? If you have good fuses,power at the switches,bus bar etc.You must have a loose,broken wire or bad ground from the negative side of the bus bar back to the battery. Think back to what occurred prior to the electronics ceasing to work. Cheers.

Don't blame you one bit mate.As usual,well done on the Lizards and the bream.

You don't mention any fuses. Normally the engine is powered independently of any accessories and a fused power wire is run to a Busbar which then the accessories branch off from there to your sounder,bildge,nav lights etc. Normally if you have power to the positive side of all the terminals on the Busbar bar but "All" your accessories quit working you don't have a ground/earth on the ground (Negative)side of the circuit causing what is known as an open circuit. The same goes for switches/fuses etc.You can have 12v going to one side but not the other due to a failure causing an incomplete circuit. Check all your grounds at the Busbar and battery that they are clean and tight with the wiring in good order. Without a good negative side on any circuit your accessories will not work. Hope I made sense. Cheers.

Thanks. It was Indeed Nathan. Thanks Dave,I can only imagine how much the ports been beaten up into a froth over the silly season. Thanks Tara,You only saw 2 this morning because the other 50,000 followed me home.Lol. Speaking of which,the bloody flies where terrible as they just would not leave you alone even after showering in aero guard. I don't recall them being that bad before. Life's to short to worry about wheather or not we've caught fish Neil.As long as we're out there with each other's company we always appreciate just being able to do that.Catching some fish is just the icing on the cake. As we get "really old "like me(I'm 42) we appreciate things more that perhaps we took for granted before in our healthier years. Take care mate.

Hi John,The hank your referring to if my memory serves me well was known as Paikea on this Very Forum and indeed lived in the shire(Cronulla) area with a Beautiful Tournament boat. Im 99.9% sure this is the gentleman your after as I use to talk to the man quite often and helped him with some trailer work he wanted done. I haven't seen him on this site for quite some time and hope he is healthy and well. Your best bet would be to contact admin through a pm and see if they can help you and please send him my regards if you hear from him. Fabian.

Hi Guys,We left home at 4:45am to arrive at Nowra bridge boat ramp at 6:15am to fish the last of the run out tide and into the rising tide as promised earlier to my wife and son.Our target was drifting for flathead and flounder along the islands an the mouth of the creeks etc for some bream which I know are there from past experience. Any way the day was overcast with a light wind and a few light showers throughout the day. I went prepared with our usual staples of fresh prawns,pillys,chicken and fish strips. Our first stop after leaving the ramp was the rocky out crop and the mouth of Bomaderry creek which saw us anchored and berleying hard for small bream,luderick and tailor on various baits but nothing substantial. After a good crack we decided to move further down stream to drift along pig island past the paper mill and picked up a small flounder on prawn and a small Flatty on pilly tail.Right species but still too small. Also on the drift where hundreds of jelly fish. By this time we where down a few hours with an empty esky but our enthusiasm hadn't waned and we knew we had to persist and went and anchored about 10m out from the hot water outlet at the paper mill and deployed the berley once again. Again we baited various of our baits and within 10min or so my son lands a bream in the 30's on the chicken and in to the keeper he went.Not long after another legal bream is landed by my wife on a tailor strip bait.Soon the bites stopped and I hasn't landed anything yet(Surprise) so we decided to have a drift from the paper mill to Numbaa island where after a few drifts my wife caught a nice flounder on a peeled prawn and my son caught a nice Flatty on a Berkeley gulp shrimp drifting. After a while the action died down and we headed down stream some more to the mouth of Broughton Creek where we sounded a nice deep hole and I got absolutely smashed on a half pilly first drop on the light gear. We persisted at this spot for an hour or so and landed quite a few bream,tailor and snapper but nothing legal other than two nice bream in the high 30's when I quickly ran the tape over them. By this stage of our trip we had had enough and decided to turn around and head back to port before we ended up in NZ and fishing various spots on the way back in. Again some spots/drifts produced something even though most where undersized and released,others produces some more bream and another 2 nice legal Flatty,s and a flounder. Overall it was a great day out all round and as usual we always have a blast whether we catch fish or don't and most fish where releases promptly and we kept the two flounder for my Mil and 2 Flathead for us. Sorry for the lack of photos as I was kept very busy today driving the car,boat,baiting ,keeping a lookout etc. This flathead is my sons caught on the gulp using just our usual 8lb mono. Even if we hadn't caught anything we just love the beauty of the shoalhaven river and really had a great time and will be back to have a crack at around Greenwell point hopefully sooner than we'd like. If your reading this Nathan,my Little Kia Cerato Towed my boat like a champ. Thanks for reading and tight lines.

Hi Mick,I think you answered your own question by using the word "ateast"1 metre above the side lights.My stern light is like yours and really blinds you at night also. I'm going to do what you are saying by mounting it on either a longer pole and extending the wiring keeping it at the rear port of my boat or windscreen mounting it. If you think about it the rules state that they must be seen "all round" and I can tell you that mine is hidden by about 40mm at least by the windscreen etc and at least 1m by me when I'm standing in the boat. Hope this helps and I feel your pain in regards to getting blinded. Fabian.

The weak point on the lights you have is the contact plate on the back of them allows water ingress inside and you'll find the contacts covered in green corrosion. The easy fix is remove that Central Phillips screw and pull the contact plate off then clean up the contacts with solvent,wire brush and sandpaper etc. screw plate back on and cover the outside in sikaflex and mount the lights back on. With the bulbs I solder mine on to the contacts and they don't move. In the event of a blown bulb on the road I carry a propane cigarette lighter to unsolder and solder a new bulb which is yet to occur. The problem with Leds is when and if a failure occurs (They can and do fail)you can kiss the light assembly good buy and need to replace with a new light assembly but usually they do last a long time. Good luck with your installation and enjoy your new lights if you go that route. Cheers.

That was pretty much my thoughts too as the buggers are quite heavy.Not to worry I'll use them elsewhere.

What's wrong with your current lights? If your worried about the cost etc,it's a heck of a lot easier and cheaper to replace an incandescent bulb than replace a whole led light assembly. As for your questions,yes you need to ensure they're 12v. How easy they are to fit will depend on your skill set but basically it's unscrew the old,feed some wiring etc. And if you have money to burn it's always easier to get someone else to do it. But in my opinion I would recommended you give it a go both to learn a new skill and to save a heap of coin. What you decide to buy is entirely up to you. I have the same lights as your old ones pictured and I have sikaflexed the rear plug and I solder the bulbs to the bulb holders and been on my trailer for nearly six years and the only failure I had was one of the end caps on a bulb needed replacing. Like I said it's up to you and if you need advice on installation just ask on here. Cheers.

I've had hotdogs out of a thermos heaps of times and there great both in the boat and at work.We get long rolls from the Chinese bakery and pack some butter,cheese,mustard and sauce and of you go. Sometines we do the usual home made soups like minestrone and chicken and corn etc as we need to keep it simple in regards to space.My mrs and son make a wicked sausage roll and we have those sometimes too although we eat them cold. Heck when I use to have my old bigger glass boat I use to take a webber and beach my boat to cook up some marinated ribs,steaks,chops etc with the salads my wife had made the night before. Im thinking of making up an ally frame that hangs on the outside of my gunnels to run a 2 burner gas stove again as I simply don't have the internal space in my tinny. I don't blame you and you'll find the gas stove burns a little hotter too and the obvious advantage of running the two burners at once. The thermos will solve the hot drink issue on its own but don't skimp if purchasing. These two thermoses that are around 22 years old have never let me down .One is a soup flask and the other is a coffee thermos.

It's always been the owners responsibility to secure any loose items from becoming dislodged or blowing out whilst travelling. It doesn't matter if your moving things in utes/trailers or towing boats etc. The best advice I can give you is ensure everything is adequately tied down with the appropriate load rated straps,cover with a net/tarp or a combination of these as there's a chance that you will be fined for what is known as unsecured loads or unrestrained loads. Why risk it? Cheers.

In between hospital visits I've been trying to keep busy and have a heap of 10mm diamond plate interlocking flooring I may install in my boat to get rid of the carpet for easier cleaning. My concerns are,it will be hot(when bare foot),slippery when wet.What are your thoughts?I know some of you guys have installed Regupol flooring but I just want to make use of what I have. No big deal if it's no good I'll just keep the carpet for now and use the flooring for my home gym or out in the shed. Thanks guys.

Your not wrong about taking things for granted while we are fit and healthy. The good news I have is we just returned from visiting him and was informed by his wife that the Doctors told her the Cancer isn't as bad as they first thought and are confident they can control it an get him back on his feet. And he is now eating and looking 10 times better than he did. We will keep our fingers crossed that he is back out and home soon while we continue to support the two of them. Cheers.

Hi Nathan,Can you imagine how boring life would be if we all had the same opinions/views? I'm glad your enjoying the company of family again mate and if I have something to offer on this site I will continue posting. Thanks Donna,Our Family circle has always been very loving and close especially when tragedy strikes.When this occurs we band even stronger together to help each other get through the tuff times. I always make it a habit of telling my wife and son I love them when I go anywhere out of the house. Sorry to here what your going through with your dad and father in-law as it's always a difficult time for all involved. I lost my Father 3 days short of my 21st b,day to lung cancer and not a day goes by where I don't think about the good times we had as a family when both he and my eldest sister where still with us.I'm glad you've found a way to show your love towards your dad and father in-law beyond a simple handshake by giving them a hug. I'm from Uruguay and it's common practice to give the adults a kiss on the cheek and a big hug when you see them for both men and women.The same when you see your friends,nieces,nephews and cousins. I guess we are happy,loving,merry people.

First of all happy New Year to all and I hope you are all safe,healthy and happy. As for me and my family it hasn't been the greatest Christmas and New year period we've had. Since Boxing Day my elderly father in-law has been struck by illness and had to be rushed by ambulance to hospital where he still remains in a serious state with my elderly mother in-law by his side. The rest of us have been coming and going and helping out where we can. Christmas/New year is normally a very happy/sad time for us as we have my nieces b,day on 22nd Dec,my mums on 24th Dec,We lost my eldest sister to a terminal brain Tumor on Boxing Day in 2006(She was 42,my age now.) To make things even worse is we just found out today(New years Day)my mother-inlaws b,day that her Husband of 57years has Prostate cancer which has spread to his kidneys and various other things wrong as he only has one lung due to contracting pneumonia in his early 20's back in the 60's. The point of my post is to cherish every moment you have with all your family and friends and do your absolute best to make time for all of them as time passes us by very quickly here on this earth and all that will be left of us is memories for those that are left behind. I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me and my family. I just ask that you all make the effort to go and see your parents/family more often before it's too late as I see and hear people making too many silly resons not to see their family's way to often. Thanks for reading and please stay safe and enjoy the rest of your remaining holidays. Fabian.

Photo of the transom would help if possible. Any transducer/s,Bait tank pickups,ladders etc back there? hopefully the engine height on the transom is correct also.

Good report mate.As usual you always manage something.I can only imagine the beating the waterways are taking with the holiday makers not to mention the chaos at the ramps. Cheers.

I've seen whiting caught at mainbar on poppers and at grays point flats when fishing from my boat.(I only fish baits)I've caught a few in both places fishing nippers (literally at your feet in both places)and squid strips on the drift and anchored up using frozen berley. Some years the whiting are few and far between and a better raider than me to give you advice would be Yowie. good luck with it.

Welcome to the forum Jordant I was only having a laugh as many of us reply to old posts without realising including myself.I hope to see many more posts from you in the near future as this site has many helpful knowledgable members and some fantastic reading on the different pages. Cheers.

I would use the highest octane fuel you can afford avoiding the ethanol blends. A little engine history with any recent service records would help us. How long has this fouling plugs issue been happening? Has the thermostats been changed recently? What's the compression in each cylinder? Are your plugs wet or dry fouled? What oil are you using? Think back to when the problem started for anything out of the ordinary to help us diagnose what may be happening. A cold running engine,poor spark,over fuelling/oiling,wrong plugs,poor compression,blown head gasket etc,etc can all cause fouled plugs. It's a process of elimination starting with the basics really. Why not try the sites sponsor also. It's very hard to help someone diagnose over the net without seeing it in person. Cheers.

Look forward to hearing how you went mate,stay safe out there as the weather isn't looking the best. Fabian.

I think after 10 years the bloke has worked out what to do.You realise this is a old post don't you.lol.

Cap,N Baitboy,Your not wrong as I'm the one doing all the chopping and baiting on our trips.

Do we really have to tell grown adults that rock fishing is dangerous and you could die?Be hit by a sinker/hooks?Where a life jacket?Put your rubbish in the bin?etc,etc. It appears humans have lost all capabilities to use their senses and brain function. Come on people let's start using our own brains a little more before we continue to die unnecessarily and end up buried under our own filth and destroying the planet more than it is.